The New York Times included When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele on their list of “new and noteworthy audiobooks!” Follow the link above to learn more.
“Pacing is one of those elusive elements that can make or break a novel. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all optimum pace. Some novels require a slow, methodical storytelling method, while others benefit from having a more frantic tempo serve as a foundation for the plot. In addition to that, the way an author manipulates pace has countless permutations as well. For example, chapter length, volume of dialogue, placement of action set-pieces, and vocabulary choices can all affect the reading rate. Fortunately, whether the intention is a meandering rumination or a rollercoaster race to the end, readers can often sense when the pacing is handled successfully, even if it is challenging to pinpoint the true reason. Take for example, Vanessa Lillie’s new novel, For the Best. It will not take crime fiction fans long to realize that even though the book has a typical page-length for this style of suspense tale, for whatever reason this is a novel that begs to be read at breakneck speed, and is written by an author with the technical skills to capitalize on this instinct by ratcheting up her technique in order to make that desire reality.”
Follow the link above to read the full review.
The Tulsa Morning Show interviewed Vanessa Lillie about her new novel, For the Best. Follow the link above to watch the full clip.
“Juliet Worthington-Smith, CEO of the Poe Foundation of Rhode Island, wakes with a blistering hangover one summer morning to find the police at her door. To Juliet’s horror Dr. Terrance Castle has been murdered—and she’s in the frame for the deed. Castle received a million dollar grant from the Foundation at a gala for his ground-breaking work on restorative justice, something Juliet planned to give the organization exposure beyond Rhode Island. From the get-go the knives are out for Juliet. Suspension from her job swiftly follows Castle’s murder, with his widow Dez and the Foundation board chairman leading the accusations against her. Juliet launches a vlog to cover her own investigation to clear her name.
Juliet’s memory of the night after the grant gala is hazy. Her purse was found with Castle’s body in an alley behind the bar where she got her hangover, but how did it get there? As she investigates, Juliet uncovers damaging secrets both Terrance and Dez Castle kept hidden. Juliet encounters fierce push-back from all sides, but she’s determined to press on, helped by a reporter, an ex-boyfriend, and hindered by her controversial father, Louis. The police are hovering, and the pressure on herself and her family increases as Juliet gets closer to the truth—but it might not be the truth she expects or wants to find.
In For the Best, Lillie shows her consummate expertise at weaving story strands into a deep and complex tale where not everything can be taken at face value. A genuine thriller with a vicious twist at the end that will make the reader gasp.”
Follow the link above to read more!
“2020 is a year wracked with one calamity after another. We’re in month seven of a global pandemic, with taciturn government response in multiple countries (including the U.S). Unemployment is skyrocketing, the end of moratoriums on evictions is coming, and the alarming militarization of the police continues forth. Authoritarianism is threatening our civil rights. The Black Lives Matter movement has a new life in mainstream media after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Almost four months after Floyd’s murder, massive protests are still growing strong in various cities.
The New York Times suggests that Black Lives Matter is the biggest movement in U.S history. Around 15–26 million Americans took part in the protests as of June. This year marked a sharp 26% increase in approval of the movement. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the national movement affected book media. In June, various book news websites shared lists of independent Black-owned bookstores and reported on the record sales. Some stores struggled with overwhelming orders. Many outlets like Buzzfeed shared essential reading lists about race and racism. If the movement was so massive that it affected coverage for many sites, then it’s worth looking at how Black Lives Matter directly impacted book media.”
Follow the link above to read more!
“A book can offer escape and transport you to a place you’ve never been before. It can also open your mind to different views and thoughts. The right book can even change your life.
Remember back in school when teachers would assign certain books that would elicit good discussion or maybe (if you were lucky) introspection and inspiration? As adults, it’s nice to get to choose the books you read, but sometimes it’s also nice to be transported back to the old days of having recommendations to guide you.
And that’s what we have here today. But instead of having teachers assign the books, TMRW reached out to seven inspiring and successful women for their must-read recommendations. Each of the books listed below changed the life of the woman who read it, and perhaps it can do the same for you.
Below, see a wide range of novels and nonfiction books to add to your own reading list.”
Karin Slaughter talks about the book that changed her life. Follow the link above to read more.
"‘I want to be everywhere Mama is,’ says a girl as she heads down the stairs one morning in the house she shares with her parents, her brother and her dog, Max. Her love for her family is clear, but she is especially taken with Mama, who sings a good morning greeting, ‘bright as sun,’ to her daughter.
The two spend the day entire together. They comb one another’s hair, take a walk outside, sing and splashing in puddles, read together at bedtime and more—but the book’s central focus is on the particularities of Mama’s world, the details that her daughter takes in over the course of the day. She lovingly catalogs items that belong to Mama, including a fragile, floral-patterned mug, a red toothbrush, an oatmeal bowl, a fuchsia hair barrette and a pair of tall, red boots, comparing them to her own possessions. In a deft touch, the items are featured on the book’s endpapers. When Mama reads to the girl and her brother at night, the girl even observes Mama’s shining teeth as she throws back her head to laugh. She’s deeply smitten, and it’s easy to see why.
Author-illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera occasionally incorporates evocative figurative language into the girl’s narration as to describe their day. ‘The clouds outside are wearing shadows,’ the girl declares before she and Mama leave for their walk. As they sing to the sky during their rainy stroll, Mama tells the girl that a song is ‘highs and lows.’ At bedtime, a ‘sleepy sun’ turns the sky pink before darkness settles in.
Cabrera brings a joyous Black family and their eloquent yet cozy home to vivid life in brightly colored, highly detailed acrylic illustrations. The book’s pace slows considerably toward the ending, as the girl falls asleep and recalls the day she and Mama spent together. One spread depicts merely darkness with rich shades of blue filling every inch of the spread; it’s a lovely moment in which Cabrera lets the story breathe.
Me & Mama is a picture book love letter that captures the extraordinary bond between a mother and daughter on a completely ordinary day.”
Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera received a glowing review from BookPage!
“Denene Millner is a publishing powerhouse. She’s a bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, the founder of a successful website and blog for Black parents (MyBrownBaby)—and in 2020, she launched the inaugural list of her eponymous imprint at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. BookPage spoke with Millner about the challenges and rewards of creating and running an imprint, how she finds talented new Black voices to work with and why she believes publishing still needs more books ‘that show Black children doing regular things.’”
Follow the link above to read the full interview.
“Vanessa Lillie’s debut novel, “Little Voices,” published last year, was a very tough act to follow. As I wrote in my review, the Providence resident ‘has arrived on the American literary scene with a flash of brilliance. Aficionados of mystery, thriller and horror will savor this intricately plotted page-turner that builds to a stunning denouement.’
Lillie was already at work on her next.
And with it, she easily escapes the dreaded sophomore slump.
While ‘For the Best’ lacks the stunning ending that I (and many readers, based on the 2,000-plus Amazon reviews) never saw coming, her new title is in other respects the equal of her debut — and, in some critical respects, superior.”
Follow the link above to read the full review!
“Told from a first-person point of view, this quietly engaging picture book unfolds on a rainy morning, with a Black girl who ‘want[s] to/ be everywhere Mama is.’ Waking up before Papa and younger sibling Luca, the girl narrates aspects of the mother and daughter’s morning routine (‘A shower is warm rain that gets you going’), comparing their respective cups and toothbrushes, oatmeal with toppings, and rain boots. Sensory details, fittingly tangential childlike observations, and familial dialogue make the narrative feel immediate and genuine (‘I don’t like the bumblebee barrette, I say..../ She knows I mean just today’). Cabrera’s striking acrylic visuals recall painters such as Jordan Casteel and Maira Kalman. While a few of the girl’s lines feel nebulously philosophical (‘Some things don’t let go. But for what?/ The stores are boxes filled with people’), the narrative offers an elegant testament to the love-filled bonds between child and parent.”
Me & Mama by Cozbi A. Cabrera received a starred review from Publishers Weekly!
“Alexander Smalls is a classically trained musician who became a renowned, professional opera singer. He’s also a James Beard Award-winning chef, a restaurateur, and cookbook author.
He will be appearing at the Decatur Book Festival to discuss his new volume, “Meals, Music, and Muses: Recipes from My African American Kitchen.” Smalls will discuss his book virtually with “Local Palate” editor, Lia Grabowski Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.”
Follow the link above to learn more!
“In their ebullient new book, The Writer’s Library, America’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America's most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark. The Writer’s Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today’s favorite authors (including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon) — the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America's literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is.”
Follow the link above to listen to the full interview with Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager.
“The Writer’s Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager is an interesting look into 23 award-winning authors and how they came to their writing careers through the books they have read.
Pearl and Schwager begin each interview with a comfortable setting where the interview takes place, then introduce each author with a brief background and accounting of the various awards they have won.
They interview each author with a basic set of questions, primarily beginning with questions like ‘What are you reading now?’ or ‘What do you read for pleasure?’ Although such questions appear to be very elementary, they get the interview off to a good start and give the interviewee an opportunity to express what type of literature is interesting to them, and how their reading choices set the stage for their own writing.”
Follow the link above to read the full review of The Writer’s Library from New York Journal of Books!
“Releasing on September 8th from Thomas & Mercer, For The Best by Vanessa Lillie follows a troubled woman who is suspected of a murder she can’t remember, so she takes an unusual approach to proving her innocence. We have an excerpt to share with you that will definitely get you interested in this gripping thriller!”
Follow the link above to read the full excerpt of For the Best by Vanessa Lillie.
“When people ask me which is my mother tongue, English or Spanish, I usually respond that when it comes to language I have two mothers. Just like my own children, I add.
The idea that we can only have one mother is a narrowing assumption, both in our familial and linguistic lives. And yet, it’s also true that our relationships to our mothers—and our mother tongues—can be infinitely complex, nuanced, primal, and ever-changing. This why, when I was invited to translate my own novel Cantoras into Spanish, I knew immediately that the task would be transformative, in ways I couldn’t yet fathom.
I have spent most of my life yearning for more intimacy with the language of my country of origin, Uruguay. I was primarily educated in English; it is the language of my intellect, the one in which I can best vault and flow along the curves of syntax as I reach for meaning. The era of my adolescence and early adulthood that I spent swallowing hundreds of novels—which, unbeknownst to me then, helped make me a writer—all happened in California, and in English.
That said, though English dominates my intellect, Spanish is the language of my bones.”
Follow the link above to read the rest of Carolina De Robertis’ beautiful essay.
“Zombies, grave robbers, and grief feature in this trilogy finale fictionalizing author Zora Neale Hurston’s early years.
In 1905, 14-year-old Carrie and her best friend, Zora, begin eighth grade, their final year of primary school in their hometown of Eatonville, Florida, the nation’s first incorporated Black-run town. When a violent White lynch mob arrives hunting a Black fugitive and terrorizing Zora, Carrie, and their families and neighbors, the future seems uncertain. A grave robbery and talk of hoodoo and zombieism heighten tensions within the community. In the midst of the turmoil, Zora’s self-important father decides to run for mayor against the town’s founder as Zora’s mother’s health worsens. Zora, smart, ambitious, and sharp-tongued, boldly challenges traditions, especially those that limit opportunities for girls and women, even as she navigates uncertainty and loss. Bond does the real-life storyteller Hurston proud, weaving an absorbing tale of the everyday horrors Black people faced in the South at the turn of the 20th century, even within the bounds of communities such as Eatonville. Both fans of and newcomers to the award-winning Zora & Me series will thoroughly enjoy this thrilling conclusion.
A sweet, lyrical, finely crafted mystery and a testament to the deep bonds of friendship.”
The third and final installment of the Zora & Me trilogy received a starred review from Kirkus! Follow the link above to read more.
The Writer’s Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager is a New York Times title of interest! Click the link above to read more.
The Silent Conspiracy by L.C. Shaw and For the Best by Vanessa Lillie were both included in this round-up from Hasty Book List! Click the link above to see the full list.