Happy Hump Day and welcome to the WWW Wednesday post for January 11, 2023!

What’s On My Nightstand is a sometimes weekly blog post, composed to update you all on what I’m currently reading. Why? Because I’m terrible at updating my social cataloging apps. I know. Shame on me.

Josh Winning’s The Shadow Glass wasn’t on my radar until a bookish friend of mine, Ven of Ven’s_Corner posted a review about it. He mentioned how the book had an 80s nostalgic feel to it because of the characters and storyline. ‘80s nostalgia’ seems to be a buzz phrase for me, so I took a chance and borrowed The Shadow Glass from my local library.

It’s common knowledge that artists can be sensitive about their work. In The Last Word, Taylor Adams zooms in on this and creates a fast-paced, action-packed, almost campy, good, old, wackadoodle time of a novel.

For June 2023 I will be reading and discussing the following books: Empty Vows by Mary Monroe, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, and ‘Til the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma. If you are interested in any of the titles, please consider joining me. I don’t want to read alone. 🙂 So join me this month in reading!

If you liked Mildred D. Taylor’s, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, then you are sure to enjoy Lesa Cline-Ransome’s, For Lamb. So I did.

Phew. These chapters were something else y’all. Daisy is continuously dragging the Wiggins family name through the mud and Oswald finally makes his first on-page appearance. How much can Maggie continue to bear before she completely cracks under the pressure?

Imbued with emotion and reflection, Call and Response will supply readers with a front-row seat into Botswanan life. In 9 beautifully written, self-revelatory stories, we experience the inner turmoil and contradictions of embracing cultural traditions in post-colonial Botswana, inevitable shifts and changes in shared bonds between people, coming of age, navigating familial expectations, and the all too familiar event and memories of homecoming. Be prepared to traverse around cities of Botswana, and witness the characters’ revelations of themselves as they answer their call.

Libraries are a necessary fixture in all communities. Their purpose for existing is more than housing books. Take the time to visit your local library more often. If you aren’t able to do that, get an e-library card and borrow ebooks from your library. Keep them open and active. Utilize their devices. They continuously support YOU, so support and amplify them wherever you can.

Garlic is warm, cozy, and fully embraces being wholesomely cute. It’s sure to be a family favorite.

Get in here! Diane Marie Brown’s, Black Candle Women checks these boxes: black and female characters of varying ages, family secrets, voodoo and hoodoo magic, and R&B music references. If this rings any of your bells, give it a read.

Beautifully written, Okra Stew: A Gullah Geechee Family Celebration is heartwarming, and compelling, and shines throughout with themes of family and food, and their emphasis on passing down cultural traditions.