Hello my fellow bookworms,
Happy New Year and Happy Lunar New Year! This Lunar New Year is the Year of the Snake. According to the NBC News, beginning on January 29th (which is also National Puzzle Day!), this year is about renewal, regeneration, letting go of the past (whether it is anger, lost love, etc.), and start a new beginning. This year is about growth, creativity, and positive transformation - so be sure to clean your home, decorate with red to add good luck, and celebrate with your family and friends (Google).
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| Photo by RDNE Stock project from Pexels |
I hope you have been enjoying the winter weather so far! It has been a mix of warm and cold weather with us, and I am definitely enjoying the warmer part! We already had our first snow, but we have been having a lot of rain, so luckily I have a good stack of books to read ready to go!
February marks the beginning of Black History Month! Libraries all over the United States have some really cool events planned. DC Public Library is hosting "Historically Black Phrases Live!" LA County Library is hosting many different book discussion and live music events. New York Public Library is hosting an innovative Book Design Workshop with Blk + Brwn Book Designers, in which patrons can learn book binding basics! If I lived closer, I would totally go to this event!
Something really cool that the Chicago Public Library is doing is hosting tours of the Pullman National Historical Park Museum. Pullman National Historical Park is a part of the United States' National Parks Foundation, designated in 2015, and the first one in Chicago. In middle school, I had chosen the Pullman estate as a topic for a history project, and thought it to be fascinating and unfair. The town of Pullman became one of creating Pullman cars (a type of railroad car), factories, homes, and basically a ploy that trapped workers in the area. Workers would have their pay deducted if they lived in the town of Pullman. There were many issues with how the workers were being paid, which led to the Pullman Strike of 1894, to which George Pullman was criticized for his policies and experimentation of how he ran his company, town, and factory workers, and the Supreme Court ultimately ordered the Pullman Company to sell its non-industrial land holdings (no more controlling the workers!). The success of the company came back to fruition under the leadership of its next president, Robert Todd Lincoln. I had pictures and postcards from my time visiting the area, but if you happen to visit, please share what you learn / your photos!
There a lot of books, music, and movies that you can consume and learn from this upcoming month. I recently learned there is an audiobook of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speeches and sermons, which would be a pretty neat experience to hear! If you are not sure what you would want to read/listen/watch, here are some options:
- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
- By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
- Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
- Coming to America
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson
- The Deep by Rivers Solomon
- Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
- Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
- The Hate U Give
- Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Just Mercy
- Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Essential Box
- The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae
- Moonlight
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave
- One Night in Miami
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
- Real Men Knit by K. M. Jackson
- Run by John Lewis
- The Unspoken by Ian K. Smith
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
- Temptations (the cat treats brand) released a series of fabulously purrfect reads featuring cats as the main characters. Check them out here!
- Book Riot released their annual Read Harder Challenge! I hope to finally tackle some of these fun book challenges this year, now that I do not have to read my homework anymore! :)
- Starbucks partnered with Oprah and is hosting a book club. The one for December featured Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These. It is a short book covering heavy topics, one that was gifted to me by a friend, so I hope to catch up on my reading and read it. The latest title is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.
- Goodreads hosted their Goodreads Choice Awards last year, of which you can now see the winners, voted on by readers like you! A few of the currently nominated books that I want to read include:
- James by Percival Everett
- The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
- A Touch of Chaos by Scarlett St. Clair (the last in a series!)
- Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
- Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
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| Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels |
