Awesome audiobooks Black History Month

Audiobooks continue to be the ideal way for me to absorb books.

Besides being given the contemporary fiction genre, The Other Black Girl is also tagged as a thriller & mystery, creating more intrigue.
Nella Rogers, 26, is tired of being the only mid-level Black employee at Wagner Books in Manhattan. So she has high hopes when another Black editorial assistant, Hazel from Harlem is hired. But newbie Hazel quickly becomes the favourite, & Nella starts to receive threatening anonymous notes "LEAVE WAGNER. NOW." Nella questions Hazel's intentions & begins investigating the notes.
Debut author Dalila-Harris got the cringy competitive office dynamics down, & the dialogue was skillfully nuanced. I was impressed with Nella's ability to control her thoughts & feelings and not lose it on her boss & co-workers. She figured out how to navigate her isolating workplace filled with microaggressions.
I'm eager to watch the series!

What a joy it was to hear Antonio Michael Downing narrate his poignant memoir Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming.
With poetic detail, Downing shares how he was sent from Trinidad to a small indigenous community in northern Ontario after his grandmother's passing. He takes us through his childhood trauma & isolation, detailing the racism,
family dysfunction & colonialism he dealt with. It was a treat hearing some of what I grew up with & from in-laws, the folklore (Soucouyant), the "granny" phrases (Who don't hear will feel!) & lovely snippets of hymns. Listen to this to hear his sing-song Trini voice! Saga Boy's search for home is a common quest. It's about resilience.
My Trinidad raised Mr. also listened to this, & we've been enjoying his music.

🤯Leila Mottley wrote Nightcrawling when she was just 17! This powerful story is inspired by true Oakland PD events in 2015.
It's all up to 17 year old Kiara. She must pay rent as her aspiring rapper older brother doesn't have a job, & a neighbour child is abandoned. She works the streets & is exploited by the corrupt police. With her expressive voice, she details her sex work, abandonment & social injustice. Quite a strong statement that she chose family over her own body. Narration by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, who also narrated TOBG,💯! 

I borrowed these audiobooks from the library (Overdrive). 

Until next time,

~Kara

L❤️ve People Use Things

Torontonians, can you believe this green January? 😮

Wow, did I ever select the right book in my TBR pile at the perfect time.
I started purging & donating excess clothing in 2020, and didn't buy clothes for 2 years. I moved on to decluttering all other household items as well, but came to a standstill last year.
What I needed was a push, a catalyst, & that sure came with L❤️ve People Use Things.

I realized what I was doing has a name, it's being a well organized hoarder, as author Joshua Fields Milburn explains.
You know, organizing, not getting rid of your stuff.
Keeping a well organized mess.
I thought of the fact that our society has storage facilities, container & closet stores for ALL OUR STUFF. Garages don't have cars, but store MORE THINGS. We alphabetise, colour code or label over flowing collections.
Fields Millburn & fellow Minimalist Ryan Nicodemus share their past experiences, & break up the book into thoughtful chapters with our relationships with stuff, truth, self, values, money, creativity & people. They give us useful questions we can ask ourselves at the end of each chapter.

Some gems that stayed with me:
💎Our memories aren't in our things.
💎The things we own end up owning us.
💎Consumption isn't the problem - thoughtless consumption is.
💎You can't buy a meaningful life - you can only live it.
💎Quality is greater than quantity.
💎Create consciously.
💎Contribute beyond myself.
💎Getting rid of the clutter is the 1st step.
💎 Instead of FOMO, consider the joy of missing out.
💎Minimalists don't focus on having less: they focus on making room for more.
💎More passion, creativity, experiences, contribution, content and freedom.

So now I'm tackling it again, making room for more.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
I watched their documentary with my Mom, & listen to their podcasts. My Mr. listened to the audiobook.
As Fields Milburn said, the best time to simplify was a decade ago; the second best time is now.

❤️

I received L❤️ve People Use Things in a Goodreads giveaway, thanks!🙏🏼

Until next time, 

~Kara

Non Fiction November

 
It's Non Fiction November, and this time I have 2 very different books and two backlist audiobooks with sad similarities.

Fans who want more of #thecrown will enjoy Elizabeth & Margaret The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters.  I'm not a monarchist, but I like royalty series & movies because I'm intrigued by their unique fascinating lifestyles, so different from my own. Well known biographer Andrew Morton supplies quotes from royal insiders on HRM Queen Elizabeth II and her notorious glamorous sister Princess Margaret. I learned about how their closeness from childhood continued to the end, and about how Margaret loved a party and men. This tell-all biography will interest you if you can't get enough of the Windsors.

To say that Hunger and Heavy are difficult, essential memoirs is an under statement. Both authors Roxane Gay and Kiese Laymon share their childhood traumas, unhealthy relationship with food as comfort & protection, and ultimately learning to accept and love their bodies.
From a writing standpoint, Gay was often repetitive, and included a few very short, abrupt chapters. Hunger cannot help but leave a deep impact on every reader or listener, but with the trigger warnings, it's not for everyone.
Laymon's style is so unique, authentic and intense. Just the poetic way he begins admitting he wrote a titillating lie, but learned nothing, so started over, sends shivers. He puts it all out there, never holding back about the abuse he suffered from and his troubling complex relationship with his mother.
These books are surely forms of therapy for the authors. I'm interested in reading more of their work.

In Baek Sehee's debut Korean best seller, she documents her recorded conversations with her psychiatrist. This mental health memoir was not intriguing to me, but rather repetitive & gave off a self indulgent feel unfortunately. I found her dialogue to be too perfect. She used the exact lingo, which is curiously remarkable to have such insight right in your appointment. Her psychiatrist validated everything she said so perfectly. This non-fiction didn't work for me because I was uninterested in the author. I just couldn't get why I should read it and I wasn't able to make a connection with her.

What interesting non fiction have you read this month?
📓📔🎧🎧

I received Elizabeth & Margaret in an Instagram giveaway,🙏🏼thank you @arrow_reads Caroline. I received I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki in a Goodreads giveaway. 

Until next time,

~Kara

Run, Rose Run

Every song tells a story.

She's a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her.
She's also on the run: Find a future, lose a past.
Nashville is where she's come to claim her destiny. It's also where the darkness she's fled might find her. And destroy her.
🎸👢🎤🪕

I chose to give Run, Rose Run a listen because it was marked as thriller, suspense and mystery. And, who doesn't like Dolly Parton?! 😍 It only started to get a bit thrilling at Part 3. The focus has been on the Nashville music scene. The story is quite predictable, with scenes about stereotypical honky tonks and sleazy music producers you'd expect. But the witty dialogue of main characters AnnieLee, Ruthanna and Ethan is fun.
I'm enjoying Kelsea Ballerini cast as AnnieLee and the icon herself Dolly Parton narrating Ruthanna. I recently liked listening to Soneela Nankani narrate His Only Wife. Her formal voice with exact enunciation feels off here as the main narrator though. For the style of this book, her specific tone is not the right fit. I wonder why this part wasn't given to someone with a Tennessee twang. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Listening to a book about country music, you would expect the narrators to sing the song lyrics parts, right? It's disappointing they aren't.🧐
I figured there'd be some songs at the end to look forward to, but there aren't!😮‍💨
I'm at Part 4 now, and am compelled to continue to find out what happens to AnnieLee.
I've not read any of James Patterson's novels, they're not really my type. I'm afraid to say, this one doesn't make me want to read any more.
The album Run, Rose Run was released this March, and the movie is in pre-production, so country music fans can hear & see AnnieLee / Rose come to life. I'm curious and will check both out.
I haven't seen this on Booksta, has anyone listened to / read it?

I borrowed Run, Rose Run from the library (Overdrive). 

🎸👢🎤🪕

Until next time, 
~Kara

Beach Read

 

🔥👀Talk about a hot read summer!
This isn't your typical easy breezy beach read that you can get through quickly and leave behind. It's unique story and interesting characters are memorable. There's quick, witty dialogue and lots of fun back and forths between January and Augustus. Besides the cute notes they hold up for each other and some ♨️, Beach Read has moments of introspection and awareness. Bravo author Emily Henry! 👏🏼
If you haven't read it yet, you still have time, there's 22 days left of summer!🌞

I received Beach Read in a Goodreads giveaway, thanks!🙏🏼

Until next time, 

~Kara

Must listen audiobooks

🎧🍁If you haven’t already, you NEED to listen to these books on audio! Both are narrated by their authors, personalizing the experience even more, adding rich emotion.

Tessa McWatt does a deep dive into her multi-racial identity in her memoir Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging. She shares her encounters and experiences of growing up questioning her identity and colour through body part chapter titles like Lips, Nose, Hair, and Ass. What box do you tick when you have Chinese, Scottish, Portuguese, Indian, African and French ancestry?
Having a mixed racial background, and been asked “What are you?” throughout my life, I can relate. I also struggle with enjoying the dance-able Trinidad (my father’s homeland) Calypso / Soca music that unfortunately is problematically filled with sexual innuendo, and an overt focus on the female body.
It was also informative and interesting to learn about Guyana’s colonialism history.

🎧🍁
Disturbing and determined. Powerful and peaceful. From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way is this, and more.
Jesse Thistle’s subtle yet strong voice details his abandonment, abuse, trauma, addiction, and ultimately, redemption. His story is told without fear, and is truly inspiring. It’s one I won’t forget. He is the definition of a survivor!

I can’t recommend enough listening to both of these memorable audiobooks! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What awesome audiobook would you recommend? I’m currently absorbed with Kiese Laymon’s intense and well, heavy memoir, Heavy.
I borrowed both these books from the library (Overdrive). 
🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦

Until next time,

~Kara

Pride month reads

 
For Pride month, I'm sharing a couple memoirs, a beach read, & an evocative love story.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Adam Rippon's Beautiful on the Outside memoir.
He shares how he made his journey from struggling with poverty to becoming a figure skating Olympic medalist.
He's confident yet self depreciating. Being anxious and outgoing are what make him relatable.Turns out he details everything with humour & modesty, making it a fun, easy read.
🌈
A "modern classic" to me, Call Me by your Name is filled with lovely, vivid quite different style prose. I found constant poetry throughout the pages.
Elio speaks in a fast, flustered, muffling way, exactly what you expect from a 17 year old.
There are 2 pages devoted to how he felt being touched the first time. An average writer would say he was shocked. But author André Aciman spends time on his emotions, each reaction, and the reasons why. What a wonderful writer.
Elio's father was very intuitive and supportive. How I liked that character! This was a novel that was brought to life so well on the big screen. A must read erotic romance.
🌈
Fans of Queer Eye will appreciate hearing it's shining stylish star Tan France tell his story in Naturally Tan. His memoir is told in fun chapter titles like jeans, sweatpants, brogues & cowboy boots. Some are PSAs on jeans, accessories & little black something.
It was his first chapter shalwar kameez that I liked the most actually. He talks about growing up in a small county in England in a traditional Muslim Pakistani family.
Something that I took note of, recognizing the sentiment that others feel, is when he said "I always had to be polite, always be nice, always be kind. You can't be another crazy brown person who's upset."
🌈
In Right Before the Weather, 40 something Cate realizes she has to start adulting. She's struggling from a recent break up, is in a new relationship, has a dead end job, & an ex husband staying with her. A violent assault of her close friend that she happens upon brings her into that tragedy.
A lot happens in this book, much sad & unfinished. And the 2016 president Trump election is featured.
Did you read any of these? What did you think?                                                                                                             🏳️‍🌈

I received these books in giveaways, thanks Bookstagrammers! 

Until next time, 

~Kara