hellokyleec

[hellokyleec]

Got some new content for yal up over #ontheblog. I reviewed “deep condition” by Elle Jeffries @ellewrites_ 👀 • • “This book read like jazz — in fact, I’m listening to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme right now to stay in the spirit of the novel as I write. Interestingly, Elle’s main character and narrator, Nia, is a writer, and the two of them have a deeply poetic sensibility in the way that they use words. Our author has created a character who is deeply fractured, yet has put the pieces together just so; we are able to see Nia’s infinite potential if she were to commit to doing the work to become whole herself.” • • I was excited to read this book. I’ve been enamored with the title since I first heard about it, and Elle was kind enough to send me a copy to read. It’s a phenomenal story with such strong writing. I’m looking forward to dropping our companion interview about her writing process & journey to publishing this book next week! Also, can we talk about this cover art? It’s gorgeous. 📚 #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #deepcondition https://www.instagram.com/p/BpHvYN4nh8v/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19hbdb0oziotq

[hellokyleec]

LA is my new fave kick it city. Be back soon. 🏖 (at Santa Monica Pier) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpAzKkEHBFQBGCuIpjk54q8dfs37sS3oT4U3Uw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=tkiwlsswwkls

[hellokyleec]

This week on the blog: Stay with Me by Ayòbámj Adébáyò! Hit the #linkinbio to check it out! 🤓 • • “This is a book that I had been wanting to pick up for a few months now, and it was also super great to purchase it from one of my new favorite local book stores. It’s a a cozy little spot complete with a resident cat, and every time I go there it lifts my spirit. I feel at home. So there were already great vibes surrounding this title before I even opened it to read. But when I did… I was wrapped into a complicated and intimate portrayal of a marriage that was full of unexpected surprises. Sorry folks — spoilers ahead.” • • Yal. Read this book. It’s rich & complex and has the kinds of characters that I rarely get to see. It still sits deep in my spirit long after I’ve read the last page. If you’ve already read it (or not!) check out my review & let’s chat in the comments because this is too good not to talk about. 📚👀 #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #staywithme #africanstories https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnt-i8qFCDZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1dx5rrfl8v8hg

[hellokyleec]

Happy Labor Day! We have fresh content over here at Literary Black Girl! My review for Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi is now live! #linkinbio 👀 • • “You should read this book (and give it to the children in your life to read!) because it opens your eyes to what Black imagination looks like. We should have the space to imagine ourselves in every way possible. Science fiction is not a genre reserved for people who do not look like us; I’ve never considered any of the faeries or wizards I’ve read about in my youth could have been Black like me. In Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi reminds us that we can be anything.” • • Read the full review at the link in my bio! I loved this book. I had planned to take my time & read it slowly, but I found myself up at 3am on night 350 pages deep 🙃 Have you read it yet? What were your thoughts? What do you think about Black Imagination in Science Fiction as a genre?? Let’s chat in the comments section! 📚 • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #childrenofbloodandbone #tomiadeyemi #blackimagination #scifi https://www.instagram.com/p/BnRNZ48lPB4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xs0ugv0tns9z

[hellokyleec]

A new review is up over at LitBlkGrl on White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Check it out at #linkinbio! 👀 • • “Past and present are tethered to us all. White Teeth unravels the history of the Jones and Iqbal families and leaves you pondering the baggage you may be carrying from your own bloodlines. I may have plodded through, but at it’s conclusion, I think all the history and context were necessary. It frames the present more clearly.” Read the full review at the link in my bio & let me know what you think! 🧐 • • This was super challenging read for me. I haven’t had a read like this since I read Great Expectations in high school. But I kept treading through & was awarded with a beautiful thread of a novel. Have you read White Teeth? Lemme know in the comments below! (Also this was ready to go yesterday but in the midst of a very busy bday, it’s going up at 7am this morning 🙃) • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #whiteteeth #zadiesmith #blackwomenwriters https://www.instagram.com/p/BmnviMfFFSd/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15k2yhuew5v6w

[hellokyleec]

I took this one home 🚘 🙌🏾 // thanks to the folks at @strongvw for making my 1st car buying experience golden! #adulting (at Strong VW)

[hellokyleec]

This resonates with me a lot today. The past is fraught with tension, & the future always seems like it could be perfect, but what about today? What about today? • • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #whiteteeth #zadiesmith

[hellokyleec]

The Reading & Discussion Guide for What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons is now live #ontheblog! 👀 check it out at the #linkinbio • • “In this book, Zinzi Clemmons challenges us to consider: What do we lose when we lose a loved one? It’s more than simply that person’s physical presence in our lives… it’s everything as we had come to know it.” • • This was such a rich, dynamic & complex little book. I need to read it again I think. Clemmons tackles a lot here — loss, racial identity, family, love & relationships — with a very deft, particular hand. I love the way she crafted this story & I hope the guide helps you do so too! Tell me what you think! Let’s chat! 🤔🤓 • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #whatwelose #zinziclemmons #debut #novel

[hellokyleec]

It’s July, which means we’ve got two new Summer Reading Community Picks! This month, we’re reading What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons & So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. Grab your books, grab your friends! Let’s get to reading! 📚 • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #summerreading #bookclub

[hellokyleec]

“Lynchings were terrorism.” • • The Reading & Discussion Guide for When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & asha bandele is live #ontheblog. • • Photography is a little different today not only because I’m traveling this week & I forgot the book jacket at home, but also because I visited the @eji_org National Memorial for Peace & Justice today & I’m moved beyond words. I’m so grateful for how they took care to connect what happened during slavery, during Reconstruction, during Jim Crow, during the Red Summer, is directly tied to mass incarceration & the violence that our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, cousins — FAMILY — are enduring in prisons across America & especially in atrocities like Parchman Farm & Angola in the Deep South. • • It was eerie to me that I had just finished this book when I began this trip to Alabama to come here. In her memoir, Patrisse tells us in detail about the arrest of her mentally ill brother, Monte, & how he was charged with terrorism. Black Lives Matter is on a list of terrorist organizations under government surveillance. The community that Patrisse grew up in was constantly terrorized by the police... Black bodies hanging from trees was terrorism. And yet, they call us terrorists for daring to declare the fact that we matter. • • Clearly, I am deeply moved by the book and the way in which is connects to the structures that exist around us today. What did you think? Have you been to Montgomery yet to see the National Museum & Memorial for Peace & Justice? • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #whentheycallyouaterrorist (at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice)

[hellokyleec]

As someone who was raised to value and understand my own family history with slavery and white supremacy, it was amazing to hear the voice of someone who had the opportunity to be recorded unlike my ancestors. Hurston did a remarkable job of not overly projecting her thoughts and opinions onto Cudjo’s story, and Deborah G. Plant provides excellent supplementary information and materials. I am incredibly grateful for her editorial insight. You should read this book if you care to go back further than any of our school history books ever will and learn more about the history that America would prefer to forget. • • The Reading & Discussion Guide for Barracoon is live #ontheblog! Hit the link in bio & check it out! Let’s chat! I wanna know what you thought of the book. 🤓👀 • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #barracoon #zoranealehurston #cudjolewis

[hellokyleec]

The Reading & Discussion Guide for Barracoon is now LIVE #ontheblog! #linkinbio • • Here’s one question I asked: Was the experience of reading in dialect difficult for you? Did it make Cudjo feel more or less believable to you? Why? Let me know what you thought in the comments below! We’ll be getting into more questions over the weekend! • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #barracoon #zoranealehurston #slavenarratives #freedom #cudjolewis

[hellokyleec]

“Blue Steel” Two summers ago, a little white boy named Jacob and his classmates were talking about skin color in that innocent way some children have. The two little black boys were explaining to him that they were brown. I said, “I’m brown, too. See?” pointing to myself. Jacob turned his face up toward me. “No, you’re not black. You’re blue.” Blue like inky midnight sky. Blue like deep dark berries toiling under the peak of the South Carolina summer sun. Black so mahogany it looks blue. Blue like Blue Steel. Blue like you, Papa. Blue like you. And a six year old has paid me my life’s greatest compliment. — words by me. I miss you, Papa. Grateful to be carrying this skin, this name, these Bloodlines. #Bloodlines #BlueBlack #BlueSteel

[hellokyleec]

Literary Black Girl is super excited to announce our Summer Reading Community! School is letting out and the summer heat is finally here. @litblkgrl is here to help you find the perfect book to keep you entertained poolside or during your summer travel. Click the link in bio to join the email list to get specially curated reading and discussion guides in your inbox! Grab a friend and let’s get to reading! 📚🙇🏾‍♀️ • • June’s reads are Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neal Hurston and When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele. • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #summerreading

[hellokyleec]

And so we dream... 🙇🏾‍♀️What are you dreaming of today? • • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #mayaangelou #dreaming

[hellokyleec]

This week #ontheblog, an oldie, but goodie — Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde 🙌🏾 • • “You should read Sister Outsider because Audre Lorde is critical reading for understanding Black feminism broadly, but also because her way of writing and speaking is incredibly insightful, sharp and articulate. Much of her work was originally delivered in the 70s and 80s, but it just as timely and applicable now as it was then.” Read the full review at #linkinkbio 🤓 • • My life has been a busy whirlwind of late & i honestly haven’t had a chance to start anything new. S/o to my full bookshelf for looking out when I’m in a pinch 😂 Seriously though, I love Audre Lorde. Read the review to find out why! 📚💕 • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #audrelorde #sisteroutsider #thankthelorde

[hellokyleec]

#ontheblog this week: My Soul Looks Back by Jessica B. Harris 📚 • • “Jessica B. Harris was a part of Baldwin's New York circle in the 1970s, and while this book is about her life as a part (and outsider) of that circle, I was initially intrigued by the opportunity to gain another perspective on the great James Baldwin -- and from a Black woman at that. Harris offers much more than that.” Read the full length review at the #linkinbio • • This was such a cool read, full of incredible stories of Harris’ experiences & amazing recipes to dishes that were central to those experiences. Have you read My Soul Looks Back? Lemme know what you thought in the comments! 👀 • • #literaryblackgirl #litblkgrl #blackgirlsread #wellreadblackgirl #blackstories #literacy #reading #jamesbaldwin #cookbook