Throwback Read

Sister Souljah will be releasing her third novel and fourth book in April, entitled Midnight and the Meaning of Love. Her new book is a sequel to Midnight: A Gangster Love Story, featuring the character Midnight who was first introduced in The Coldest Winter Ever, her most popular book to date.

Over this week, I will be re-reading Midnight: A Gangster Love Story just to help me remember the details of his personality and his relationship with Akemi, whose character will be continued in the new novel.

I love Sister Souljah and own all 3 of her books. She writes real stories with real people and doesn't hold back. I cant wait to buy her new novel on April 12th.

Stay tuned to my post later this week about Midnight: A Gangster Love Story.

--BK

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

A forgotten group of women in American history are the black mistresses of white slaveowners. Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a great book that tells the story of these women who were brought to the Tawawa House, described on the back cover as "an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses."

Perkins-Valdez was able to succeed in engaging her readers in an immensity of feelings. Occasionally, I had to put the book down to keep from getting upset. One character, at a point in the book I did not like AT ALL. Even through these setbacks, I was thoroughly intrigued without being overwhelmed by the sensitive nature of the subject.

Wench gave me a deeper understanding and sensitivity to slave women who were used as sexual objects for their masters. Perkins-Valdez was able to use her research and imagination to help readers become a part of the womens' lives and how they each coped with their situation. Through reading this book I thought about the strength of these women and how I personally wonder, "Could I have been that strong?"

Does the title "Wench" encourage you or discourage you from reading this book? Do you think the subject of this book is too "heavy?"

--BK

More by Austin Clarke

Don't you hate when you read the back of a book and it intrigues you and when you begin reading you are confused as all get out?

I just began reading Austin Clarke's More, which I feel is his attempt to gain critical acclaim for being deep and complex. Reading this book made me want to reread a book that we were assigned in my senior year of high school, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. For example, in the first chapter Clarke compares a bell chiming to a man reaching up the main characters skirt.

Perhaps Clarke's experience as a professor of literature at prominent universities makes him want to go deeper into the intricacies of a character's feelings and emotions. I expect him to do that, but the last thing you want to do is lose your audience because you want them to dive in the deep end of the pool before they are even used to the water.

I will continue to read More to the best of my abilities so that I can give a more comprehensive review. Hopefully Clarke's experience in writing novels (11 novels since 1964) will bring me back to why I bought the book in the first place. (To understand the single mother and her role in her wayward son's actions)

-BK

BK's Bookshelf has Moved!!!

BK's Bookshelf has moved!! I was previously posting book reviews and information on Tumblr, but will continue posting via Blogspot. You can see my old posts at www.bksbookshelf.tumblr.com.

I plan on reviewing books as I read them, providing spotlights on MUST-HAVES, and commenting on themes seen in a book I may be reading at the time.

I hope you enjoy!

-BK