Venturing into identity and color, one word at a time
Happy Black History Month! I had originally planned on posting this recommendation last week, but because I am a proponent of celebrating romance every day of the year, I figured I'd wait a couple of days and send you all a dose of love after the chocolatey, red-petaled euphoria of Valentine’s Day had fully waned. …
Continue reading A Love Made for the Resistance: Voicefull Recommends Let It Shine
Happy 2019, lovers of books! It’s been a while, I know. I can’t apologize for the time I took away from Voicefull because in that time I, among other personal feats, outlined and wrote 36,000 words of a novel that’s been in my brain since 2012, which for me is freaking stupendous. I learned a …
Continue reading Hope and Imperfection: Voicefull Recommends White Dancing Elephants
Every time I’m in a new city, I make it a point to visit at least one local bookstore. If I’m lucky, I get to check out a few independent stores, like The Ripped Bodice right outside of Los Angeles or Rhino Booksellers in Nashville. And if I’m there for a few days, I will …
Continue reading No Shame, Only Romance: Recommendation of Wrong to Need You
When I was a senior in high school, I wrote an essay arguing against affirmative action in the college admissions process. Rooted in the belief that non-white students deserve to be treated exactly the same as white students, I argued that the only true way to achieve this kind of equality was through a merit-based …
Reading is highly subjective. We all know this. So for me, the stories that I love most are those that allow the ordinary, everyday experiences of human life to commune with the divine. Writers whose stories oscillate easily between micro and macro, and who center their characters, real or fictional, with feet firmly rooted in …
Continue reading There’s A New MJ in Town: Recommendation of This Will Be My Undoing
Some books don’t need an introduction, an engrossing connection to “my life” as a reader/blogger and what I’ve been doing with it. The Hate U Give is one of those books. (very mild spoilers ahead) Written by first-time novelist Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give opens with protagonist Starr Carter at a party in her …
Continue reading Black Readers Matter: Recommendation of The Hate U Give
It physically pains me to say this, but I used to hate feminists. I can distinctly recall talking on the phone with my sister while at college one afternoon. I remember rolling my eyes at the word “feminist” – like, why weren’t we all just equalists? Or humanists? What was the point in dividing people …
Continue reading All You Need Is Self-Love – Recommendation of Communion: The Female Search For Love
I’ve been thinking a lot about conversations lately, namely the conversations Americans are willing to have and not willing to have with their fellow citizens or residents. Conversations about politics and Confederate statues and race relations and a million other crucial topics. Sure, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are alight with these discussions, with various …
Continue reading Mandatory Reading for All American Citizens: Recommendation of Americanah
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t realize that today’s eclipse was a serious thing. I mean, I believed it was happening because I believe in science, unlike some people in our government, but I missed the fact that solar eclipses don’t come around very often and today is a pretty big deal. Don’t …
It is a truth universally acknowledged that attending high school in the United States just completely blows. The best, and by best I mean the least harsh, description I’ve heard of someone’s high school experience is “meh, it wasn’t too bad, but I wouldn’t go back for anything.” If THAT is the top of the …
