What I’m Reading and Slow Cooker Dinners

This year I have set a reading goal for myself of 120 books. That’s 10 books a month. I am in 5 reading challenges, The Ultimate Book Nerd Challenge at my local public library, The Booklist Queen’s Reading Challenge, The Taylor Swift: Life of a Showgirl Challenge, The Goodreads Seasonal Bookmarks Challenge and I also participate in some of the seasonal book bingos in a Facebook Historical Fiction Group that I belong to. I try not to use the same book for 2 challenges but I will for a few or I would have to read closer to 175 books and that is just not going to happen LOL. I will put the challenge in italics in case you are in a challenge and need help finding books for tricky themes. Most of the books in this post were part of last years challenges and count for my last year total books read. This year I have read 16 books so far. I also add the Chapters/Indigo link for each book, but I have no affiliation and would suggest finding these titles at your local library, thrift shop, used bookstore and then your local bookstore. In that order lol.

I am starting my reading out strong with some super good and powerful reads. I always begin the year reading for Black History Month and most of them tend to be 5 Star reads for me, setting the bar extremely high for the rest of the year. This year was no different, as I read so many fabulous but heartbreaking books that I will be thinking about for a long, long time. For balance I also read some funny, emotional and spicy romances to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books, what you thought of them or if you have any on your TBR!

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant Spine Tingler OK this book is just a little terrifying lol. This book presumes mermaids are real but not the pretty, singing and innocent mermaids of Disney though. These are deadly creatures that hunt in the waters below Mariana’s Trench. In 2015 a TV studio sends a fake documentary team to go find mermaids and none of them come back. 7 years later a new team with scientists, including one that had a sister vanish in the first expedition, go looking for answers and mermaids. I really liked how much I learned about the ocean. There were a lot of storylines, a lot of science talk, and complicated relationships. I really enjoyed the deaf scientists storyline, constantly reminding us that they speak just fine, just not our language. I’m not sure if I was satisfied with the ending but I did think the majority of the storylines were tied up.

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer Bite-Size Books. Kimmerer uses the simple Serviceberry or as I know it, the Saskatoon Berry, to explain the entire cycle of the berry and why it is so important and reflects nature in general. If we only take what we need, there is enough for everyone. We have manipulated growing seasons and use chemicals to make things grow faster, bigger and more beautiful but nature gives us everything we need. And when we take we must give back, continue the cycle. She recognizes the digital gifts like TikTok videos, and YouTube videos where people give their time to entertain, teach, and share their stories, which are all gifts. She also discusses how taxes are involuntary gifts to the common good and how nations with higher taxes have higher happiness rates. This is a wonderful book as we move into a new year with the thought of Honourable Harvest and gift economy.

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett Murder Most Cozy This may be a classic Whodunnit mystery, but there’s absolutely nothing classic about it at all. This book is written like a documentary film/tv show proposal, using only text messages, emails and quiz results (the text messages between Lorraine and Andrew are hilarious). OK so between December 2017 and October 2019, Sue and Mal Eastwood run an English pub called The Case is Altered in the county of Herefordshire, northwest of London. Every Monday, they host quiz night. On Monday, September 9, 2019 a new player comes in, General Knowledge and brings a team to quiz night, and wins and continues to win week after week. When the body of one of the quiz “Cheats” that Mal threw out of the pub a week before the new team appears, turns up in the river next to the pub, the mystery of who killed him begins. As you read through the text messages and emails you get to know all of the regulars of the quiz at The Case. Andrew (poor guy, nobody listens to him) and Fiona are hilarious, Sid and his grief over his parents made me tear up, and Bianca is a sweetheart. Interspersed throughout the book are also short transcripts of recordings of a police operation made by Mal and Sue, while they were police officers. This was a different book but the cast of characters were endearing and for once I saw where the twist was going but had no idea where it led!

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson Choice Awards This book takes place in 2018 and in the months and years after Ebby is jilted at the altar. It jumps around to different years though, 2000 when something truly traumatic happens in Ebby’s life, 1803 when Ebby‘s ancestor is stolen from her home country and brought to America as a pregnant slave, and into the late 1800’s and even through the 1980’s when Ebby’s parents are carving their own path. Old Mo, an 1800s slavery pot is the tie between all of the storylines. This was such a good story. I loved all the characters, there weren’t any plot gaps, and everything concluded to my satisfaction.

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine Holiday Blues – Blue anywhere on the cover This book takes place on a cotton plantation during the fall of 1860 to the summer of 1861 at the dawn of the civil war. Junie is a 16 year old slave who works as a housemaid to the plantation owner’s daughter. This is a book about grief, slavery, and friendship, but mostly this is a book about privilege. Junie grows up around her family and is treated well by her Master’s daughter but over the course of one defining year, she comes to realize what and where she stands in the grand scheme of things. This is a story about what people are willing to do when their backs are against the wall. What people deserve and what people are willing to do to be free. The ending is hopeful and satisfying after so much darkness and hopelessness. There is also a bit of a ghost story in this book that for me was a bit distracting and while I understand what it brought to the story, I think it could have been either left out or more fully explained. There is also a bit of a romance in this book which was nice because the book is pretty heavy without it but the flip flopping of the relationship seemed forced.

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson Merry and Bright – A colour in the title This book is divided into 3 parts. In the first part Pheby Delores Brown is a 17 year old slave girl that lives with her mother on a plantation in Virginia. She is the daughter of the Master and was treated very well by the Master and his sister. After the sister does, he marries a woman who doesn’t treat the slaves as well as they once had. After a series of traumatic events, part 1 ends with Pheby leaving the only home she has ever known. Part 2 begins with what Pheby describes as “the bowels of slavery.” This part spans the next 5 years of her life becoming the mistress of the jail. The lengths the Jailer will go to show his power and dominance, made me sick. This book describes the horrors of slavery very well. In the 3rd part, there are happy moments and meaningful reunions but Pheby’s life is not her own so she cannot control her own fate. She is a mother that will do whatever is needed to keep her children safe. Very good book but the ending seemed rushed.

The Book of Negros by Lawrence Hill 🇨🇦 Flip the Switch – Written by an author of the opposite gender of you Wow. There are some books that you read and you just know you’re going to remember them forever. This is one of those books. It is split into 4 parts and in book 1, young Aminata is kidnapped from her home in West Africa at age 11. However, her parents had already instilled a sense of worth, independence, and had planted deep seeds of critical, thinking in her mind before they were murdered by Ger kidnappers. From the long walk from her home to the ocean, the reader can see how much her life has changed. Lawrence Hill describes the march to the ocean in graphic detail. The nudity, the blood, the carcasses, and the smell smells. In book 2, she is sold to an indigo plantation and then sold to a new master in Charles Town. In book 2, she learns many things love, loss, arithmetic, how to read, and that white men stole African gold to pay for African people that they had also stolen. She learns that having more answers, leads her to more questions. Aminata is a strong, smart and determined character. In book 3 she finds herself with a once in a life opportunity while visiting Manhattan with her owner. This part in the book describes her life in Manhattan from the beginning of the American Revolution until the very end when she travels to Nova Scotia. This part, like all parts of her life, brings her so much devastating loss but also her biggest dream is so close. In part 4 takes Aminata home, or as close to home as possible. She learned many things over her years like all 3 major religions are the same when it comes to slavery and that freedom is the most precious thing of all. I learned a lot from this intense book and could not put it down until I finished Aminata’s story.

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray Tale Spinners. Meddy is different. She is mortal, unlike the rest of her family and she has a moral compass that doesn’t stray. She will do what is necessary to protect the people that she loves. This is the story of Medusa a mortal girl whose every step in life is a direct consequence of a man’s decision or actions. In part 1 we meet 17-year-old Medusa, who is smart, beautiful, and loyal. In part 2 we see Medusa as an acolyte competing for a position as a priestess to the Goddess, Athena. We also see that Medusa has a decisive view on justice and revenge as she is warned that trying to avenge every wrong can consume a person. Part 3 is when Meddy achieves her goal of becoming a priestess and Part 4 is about consequences. This book is an honest look at abuse. Meddy and her sisters discuss consent well and what excuses are used and why it is so hard to get justice when it is a woman’s word against a man’s, “… Men with power are always the first to be believed.” This is the story of the monsters that made Medusa and her sisters the myth that we all know today.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi Choice Archive I read Gyasi’s first book and while this has a completely different subject, her writing style is the same. She uses beautifully described memories mixed with present day questions to draw the reader into Gifty’s very sad and very real world. Her parents and older brother immigrated from Ghana and she was born and raised in Alabama. She is a 6th year PhD candidate working in the field of neuroscience. This is a book that tackles religion, depression, addiction, grief, abandonment and racism in the Deep South. Gifty questions her Pentecostal childhood and finds science to help her understand the traumas she has faced in her life. This book is heavy but thoughtful. It really brings up so many important issues and although Gifty’s narration is very clinical/scientific you get to see viewpoints from a different perspective that I found very moving. I also really like the conversation about God, our belief system and how religion doesn’t change, people do and how we interpret things like the bible and to an extent, mental health. Her description of addiction is absolutely heartbreaking and her quest to find answers to the opioid crisis is admirable. I liked how Gifty explains institutionalized racism in a way that is clear and simple even though her memories growing up in Alabama are complicated. I was satisfied with the ending although it felt rushed.