A Bit Bookish

I read for pleasure, and for purpose. 

Here is a NON-COMPREHENSIVE list of what I have read/listened to over the last few years.
I find it odd that one can claim to know so much, but are scrolling with thumbs on platforms that truncated whole existences into a small viewing frame. 
I cannot do digital readers because there is a sensory experience omitted. 
Maybe I just believe in the power of placing a pen/pencil to paper.
 And, I believe it is an intimate thing to actually touch and engage what has been released in the lines. 
But, that intimacy is superceeded by hearing the author deliver their language in their own sonic UID.

There are authors that I am still processing. 

Their art, I cannnot rapidly consume, as it requires bovine digesting.
Greens, chewing, cud, chewing, fermentation, absorption, and expression.
Their themes that have come to life, and given dreams, and directional awareness to floating on a blue ball in the middle of nowhere.
There are authors that shattered my heart and soul. Genius in relay of the complexities of existence.
There are writers that I have no desire, nor intention of giving any more of my precious time. 
The place where I am kept requires words, wisdom, and constant washing away ways that harm my existence...
If it creates disorder that does not create space, fertile fungi, beneficial bacteria, or lure pollinating pleasure…
Slash & burn in my soul for Spirit’s place to measure.

Speaking of measuring… the search functionality of Google AKA Alphabet, is now fully flooded with SEO, generative and adaptive AI……amongst other things. 
This is where colonialism, now having disenfranchised collective critical thinking… is now at the helm of commerce. 
The corporate mind controlling your clicks.
Get lost in a book for a while. 
Re-read a old page-turner banger. 
I do.

Books I Read in 2020

  1. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

  2. The Baddest Bitch in the Room by Sophia Chang 

  3. The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

  4. Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, PhD

  5. Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  6. You Are Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

  7. Celebrations by Maya Angelou*

  8. Don’t Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson

  9. Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston**

  10. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi**

  11. Let Love Have the Last Word by Common

  12. The Three Questions by don Miguel Ruiz

  13. The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú** 

  14. I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

  15. Defining Moments in Black History by Dick Gregory*

  16. We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta’nehesi Coates***

  17. More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth

  18. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi**

  19. Dear Girls by Ali Wong

  20. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

  21. Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall*

  22. The Book: on the taboo of knowing who you are by Alan Watts

  23. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis**

  24. Our Life on Earth by Sir David Attenborough**

  25. God-Level Knowledge Darts: Life Lessons from the Bronx by Desus and Mero

  26. Highway of Tears by Jessica McDiarmid**

  27. Still the Mind: An Introduction to Meditation by Alan Watts

  28. Things We Lost in the Fire Stories by Mariana Enriquez 

Books I’ve Read in 2021

  1. Sensuous Knowledge by Minna Salami

  2. The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward*

  3. Race for Profit by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor*

  4. Pocket Guide to Lactation Management, 3rd Ed. by Karin Cadwell & Cindy Turner-Maffei

  5. Late Bloomers by Rick Karlgaard*

  6. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson

  7. Im Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi*

  8. Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones*

  9. We are Each Others Harvest by Natalie Baszile**

  10. Black Indians by William Loren Katz

  11. Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna -Samarasinha*

  12. Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo

  13. Woman Evolve by Sarah Jakes Roberts

  14. Sacred Woman by Queen Afua

  15. Other People’s Children by R.J. Hoffman

  16. Cack-Handed by Gina Yashere

  17. Ain’t I a Woman by bell hooks

  18. The Spirit of Intimacy by Sonbonfu Somé**

  19. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi**

  20. Ritual: Power, Healing, and Community by Malidoma Patrice Somé*

  21. We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union

  22. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

  23. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson*

  24. Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá*

  25. The Joy Plan by Kaia Roman

  26. Red Medicine by Patrisia Gonzales*

  27. The Evolutionary Glitch by Dr. Albert Garoli*

  28. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer*

  29. Thought Vibration: The Law of Attraction in the Thought World by William Walker Atkinson

  30. The Body Keeps Score by Bessel van der Kolk

  31. The Bhagadavita*

  32. The Yamas and Niyamas*

  33. The Sword and the Shield by Dr. Peniel E. Joseph*

  34. Breaking Bread: insurgent black intellectual life by bell hooks & Cornel West*

  35. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi**

  36. Feminism is for Everyone by bell hooks

  37. She Begat This by Joan Morgan**

  38. Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks*

  39. Caring for the Dying by Henry Fersko-Weiss

  40. Shoutin in the Fire by Danté Stewart**

Books I’ve Read in 2022

  1. Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay**

  2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer**

  3. Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran

  4. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love by bell hooks**

  5. Sound Medicine by Kulreet Chaudary, MD

  6. Recitatif by Toni Morrison 

  7. The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman

  8. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin**

  9. You Got Anything Stronger by Gabrielle Union

  10. Feeding the Soul by Tabitha Brown

  11. This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley**

  12. Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

  13. Heavy by Kiese Laymon**

  14. Of Sound Mind by Nina Kraus

  15. Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry

  16. South to American by Imani Perry*

  17. black looks: race and representation by bell hooks*

  18. Toxic Positivity by Whitney Goodman

  19. One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race by Yaba Blay, PhD**

  20. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin*

  21. Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad 

  22. Long Division by Kiese Laymon

  23. God is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland**

  24. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong*

  25. Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez, PhD*

  26. An Abolitionist’s Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World by Patrisse Cullors

  27. Iwígara by Enrique Salmón*

  28. Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone by James Baldwin

  29. White Borders by Reece Jones*

  30. My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem**

  31. African Goddess Initiation by Abiola Abrams

  32. Belly of the Beast by Da’Shaun L. Harrison**

  33. The Art of Communicating by Thich Nhat Hahn**

  34. Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, et al

  35. Opening to Grief by Claire B. Willis & Marnie Crawford Samuelson

  36. Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien

  37. It’s Ok That You’re Not Ok by Megan Devine

  38. Remote Control by Ndedi Okorafor

Books I’ve Read in 2023

  1. Grief is Love by Marisa Renee Lee**

  2. Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab

  3. Time is A Mother by Ocean Vuong*

  4. Nobody Knows the Trouble Ive Seen: The Emotional Life of Black Women by Inger Burnett-Zeigler, PhD

  5. Noor by Ndedi Okorafor*

  6. Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie**

  7. Done With The Crying by Sheri McGregor

  8. Rock My Soul by bell hooks**

  9. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra 

  10. Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros

  11. killing rage by bell hooks*

  12. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt*

  13. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

  14. Sisters of The Yam by bell hooks***and

  15. Breaking Bread: insurgent black intellectual life by bell hooks & Cornel West**

Books ive read in 2024

  1. Shigidi and The Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi

  2. all about love by bell hooks

  3. Owner of a Lovely Heart by Beth Nguyen*

  4. 100 Ghosts by Doogie Horner

  5. Patriarchy Blues: reflections on manhood by Frederick Joseph 

  6. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

  7. Uncut Funk: A Contemporary Dialogue by bell hooks & stuart hall**

  8. Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother by Peggy O’Donnell Huffington***

  9. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

  10. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 10th Anniversary Edition by Michelle Alexander

  11. Night Vision by Mariana Alessandri**

  12. Soil by Camille T. Dungy

  13. Scenes from My Life by Michael K. Williams & Jon Sternfeld**

  14. Sensual Faith by Yvonne Briggs**

  15. Come As You Are, Revised & Updated by Emily Nagoski, PhD*

  16. American Whitelash by Wesley Lowery*

  17. 1984 by George Orwell*

  18. Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen

  19. Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde**

  20. When Your Adult Child Breaks Your Heart by Joel Young 

  21. Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas*

  22. Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsk

  23. Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto

  24. Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean**

  25. The Death of Innocents by Sister Helen Prejean

  26. The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford**

  27. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie**

  28. On Death and Dying, 50th Anniversary Edition by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross* 

  29. The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones**

  30. Shadow Speaker by Ndedi Okorafor

  31. The Smell of Rain on Dust by Martín Prechtel

  32. The Stolen Wealth of Slavery by David Montero

  33. A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen

Photography by Rasalin Neudeck