#black book stack

[tinynavajoreads]

Black Book Stack

I finally got to go through my books to find what ones I had for a black book stack! And October is a good month for it! And I've actually read 7 out of the 10 books in this stack, which is quite good for me!

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (not read yet)

Arrival by Red Chiang

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen (not read yet)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (not read yet)

Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I also know that a lot of people have done their Black Book Stacks already so I'll just leave it here for others to look through!

Which of these have you read? What did you think of them?

[bookishfreedom]

Q: what’s black and white and queer all over?

A: this book stack!!

[pawswithprose]

October 2nd

my tbr for the month and the cutest (also most distracting) study buddy you could ask for

I’m being optimistic with this book stack but I want to read everything this month so fingers crossed I actually read something from it

🎧 Francesca by Hozier

[ed13d1]

rushes of ecstasy

#DRCL Midnight Children • Shinichi Sakamoto

[honey-bri-books]

Book to screen adaptations, starring...

[themelodyofspring]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge

October 15, 2023 - Black Books

[torpublishinggroup]

no posts last few days bc we were painting a horror gnome

[in-the-stacks]

Presenting Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen. Reviewed by Read Local for In the Stacks.

https://www.inthestacks.tv/2024/07/read-local-bad-men-by-julie-mae-cohen

[classic-asian-art]

Stack of books and plum blossom flowers on a table by Shibata Zeshin 

[daisywords]

the good news: finally started* my new bookbinding project (making a sketchbook for a birthday present for my brother—I think I'm going to do some variant of a sewn boards binding if I can find some kind of card with the right weight. thinking of doing some kind of loz design or at least a sword on the cover? also I found the scraps of gold leaf I scavenged from the trash this has so much potential)

the bad news: it's 1 am and the high of starting something is making me. not tired

*folded the signatures and that's all

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Absolutely-NO-Shelf-Control August is Totally A Thing, Right??

I might've, uh. Acquired Some Books This Month (Oops). Between preorders and impulse little press purchases AND impulse IRL-but-it's-buy-3-paperbacks-get-1-free-and-look-we-have-so-many-Tor-things-that-have-been-on-your-list, I was only ever doomed.

[grimini]

[artificial-horizon]

TIL about Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman, a badass aviation pioneer who was the first Black and Native American woman to obtain a pilot's licence. Not sure if the Americans of Tumblr already know about her, but as a Brit I unfortunately did not until now, so I wanted to share her story here! (Image IDs in alt text.)

Born in Texas on January 26, 1892, Bessie was the tenth of thirteen children in a family of sharecroppers. From the age of six, she attended a small, segregated school, where she excelled as a student and eventually won a scholarship to the Missionary Baptist Church School aged 12. When she turned 18, she moved to Langston, Oklahoma to study at the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University, but had to drop out after one semester due to financial difficulties and returned to work at the acorn fields back home.

When she was 24, Bessie moved to Chicago, Illinois and worked as a manicurist in a barber shop, where she discovered her passion for aviation after hearing the stories of some of the clients, who had been pilots during World War One. She then decided to become a pilot herself, taking on a second job to save up for flight school. However, no flight schools in the US would admit Black or women students, so another of the barber shop's clients, Robert Abbott - a Black philanthropist and publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper - suggested that she move to France and learn to fly there. He and Jesse Binga, another Black philanthropist and banker, gave her the financial support to do this, so in November 1920, Bessie set off for France to begin her training.

On June 15, 1921, Bessie Coleman was awarded an international pilot's licence by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, becoming both the first Black woman and the first American to do so. Following this, she returned to the US, but found it difficult to make a living as a pilot, as commercial flight did not yet exist - her only option was to become a stunt (aerobatic) pilot. Once again, the US's racism and misogyny prevented her from receiving stunt training there, so in 1922 she went back to France, and by September that year was back home again for her first stunt flight. On September 3, Labor Day, she became the first Black woman to stage a public flight in the US, flying at a show sponsored by the Chicago Defender and held in honour of the veterans of the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment of WWI.

Bessie soon became a media sensation, earning herself the nickname "Queen Bess" and performing at air shows across the US and Europe in a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane (example pictured above). She refused to fly at any shows that did not permit Black people to attend, and went on speaking tours at schools and churches to encourage fellow Black aspiring aviators to take to the skies. Her dream was to open a flight school to train Black pilots, and she tirelessly raised money for this with her shows.

Sadly, on April 30, 1926, while flying with her mechanic William D. Wills, Bessie's plane unexpectedly went out of control and dove into the ground, killing both of them. An investigation revealed that this had been caused by a wrench that had been accidentally left in the plane and had jammed its controls. It was a devastating loss, and her funeral, which was held in Chicago and led by Ida B. Wells, was attended by around 10,000 people. In 1929, the Bessie Coleman Aero Club was founded to continue her work promoting Black participation in aviation, and to this day there are several scholarships in her name aimed at high school students interested in careers in aviation.

"I knew we had no aviators, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn." - Bessie Coleman

Fly high, Queen Bess, blue skies forever! 🛩💙

[rasheednewsonauthor]

One of the immense joys of going on book tour is that I’ve gotten to meet and become friends with many other Black authors who dazzle me with their talents and impress me with their humanity. (This post is not an exhaustive list.) But, if you haven’t already, add these books to your reading list. Black History Month ended last week, but on your bookshelves it should remain February forever.

[cemetery-baccanal]

the collection is thriving

[livvyofthelake]

if i’m not meant to be up at 4am why are there so many things to do.