Last week I shared part of the list of books I read last month. June was a busy month for me as far as books go. I squeezed in NINE books. I’ve slowed down a bit for July. I’ve been busier doing other things too. We’re in the thick of Summer and there’s lots to do. We celebrated my daughter’s birthday at the top of the month with a quick trip. My husband and I just celebrated our anniversary with another trip. Between those things and doing activities with the kids AND working, I’ve been busy. All that being said, here’s part two of the books I read in June. Maybe, you’ll find your next poolside read.
June Reads Pt. 2
I chose this book for the title and the cover photo. I hadn’t heard about it. I saw a Black woman on the cover and I’m always supporting Black stories.
I was completely drawn into this book. I wanted to fight for the main character. More than that, I wanted her to fight for herself. She struggled to find and USE her voice. Her parents are Jamaican. They moved to Canada which is where she and her sister were born. Their parents divorce and they don’t see their dad as much since he’s moved back to Jamaica.
One Summer they are sent to Jamaica to spend the Summer with their father and his side of the family. The oldest daughter (18) immediately feels the disdain of the family and has no idea why.
Her father leaves the girls there with the family in the country and he goes back to the city for weeks. While he’s gone they treat the older girl horribly! They lie to her father about her and make her Summer hell. He believes every word and it goes crazy from there.
A memoir. So intensely personal. So vulnerable.
Nadia’s story is all of those things. She grows up as an American, kinda. She talks about her complicated lineage.
Her mother is Armenian American. She’s married to Nadia’s father who is a diplomat. His home country is Ghana. Nadia is born in Zimbabwe. Though since her mother is American, she is too. Confused yet? Imagine trying to make sense of it as a child. She struggles with how to explain who she is while her family is living in Italy.
Making matters more complicated, after her parents divorced, her mother abandons Nadia and her sister, leaving them and moving back to the US. They’re left with their father, who they adore. He eventually remarried. The relationship with the stepmom is strained. It gets even worse when their dad dies. They go back and forth from seeing and supporting one another to despising each other. Nadia is 14 at the time and her life begins to spiral wildly.
I was glued to the pages of this book. She went through so much that I wanted her to be protected from. Hers is a story of what it looks like to navigate life from abandonment to triumph. There’s so many layers between these pages. She’s a remarkable lady. Incredibly strong.
This book kept popping up in my timeline. It is on a few book club lists this Summer. So much so, that there was a 6 month hold at the library. That being said, I figured, I needed to give it a read.
It surrounds a family that lives in Malibu. They’re not the dreamy, house on the beach, wealthy family that you associate with Malibu – in the beginning. Their road to wealth is not one you’d volunteer for. There’s lots of struggle, tragedy and family drama. The kids in this family end up raising themselves AND saving themselves. You want to see them win! Their dad – not so much.
He’s a whole other beast and I kept waiting for him to redeem himself. Your jaw will drop many times over because of him. You’ll want to see him fail – HARD! This was indeed a great read.
This one is a book of poetry. It’s kind of like a love letter to Black girls everywhere. Those who are on the journey to finding, loving and becoming themselves. It explores themes of race, feminism and queer identity. It captures the essence of the path to adulthood as a Black woman in this country. One of my favorite poems is about Whitney Houston. She’s always been my favorite singer and it was nice to see her acknowledged and loved in these pages.
This was such an interesting read. It covered so much ground. It’s a collection of speeches and essays from Audre Lorde. She, of course, covers feminism. Aside from self care, feminism is what she’s known for. She also gives her take on racism and homophobia among other things. I was so taken by her essay about her time in Russia. It’s a country we’ve heard so much about but never in intimate detail. She offers that here. Another thing that struck me is how the themes covered in this book, written decades ago, are still relevant today.
