Books On The L

Books On The L BooksOnTheL is a Chicago-based book sharing program on public transit; intended to get folks excited about reading and enjoying their commute.

Take them, Read them, and Return them for others to enjoy!

Friends, I’m baaaaack!⁣⁣I know how much you’ve missed the author chats and this one will be even sweeter!⁣⁣ and I will b...
08/23/2022

Friends, I’m baaaaack!⁣

I know how much you’ve missed the author chats and this one will be even sweeter!⁣

and I will be in conversation with IN PERSON to discuss the SAVING RUBY KING prequel THE TWO LIVES OF SARA! Thursday, September 8th @ 7PM at .

If you’re in the city, please come I’d love to meet you. Otherwise, share with a friend who might be ☺️🫶🏽⁣

Event registration link in bio.

The All-Night Sun by Diane Zinna⁣⁣Thank you  and  for including me on this tour.⁣⁣A whirlwind friendship and a mystery t...
10/18/2020

The All-Night Sun by Diane Zinna⁣

Thank you and for including me on this tour.⁣

A whirlwind friendship and a mystery thriller element are what caught my attention with this one! Have you heard of it?⁣

Synopsis from Goodreads:⁣
Lauren Cress teaches writing at a small college outside of Washington, DC. In the classroom, she is poised, smart, and kind, well liked by her students and colleagues. But in her personal life, Lauren is troubled and isolated, still grappling with the sudden death of her parents ten years earlier. She seems to exist at a remove from everyone around her until a new student joins her class: charming, magnetic Siri, who appears to be everything Lauren wishes she could be. They fall headlong into an all-consuming friendship that makes Lauren feel as though she is reclaiming her lost adolescence.⁣

When Siri invites her on a trip home to Sweden for the summer, Lauren impulsively accepts, intrigued by how Siri describes it: green, fresh, and new, everything just thawing out. But once there, Lauren finds herself drawn to Siri’s enigmatic, brooding brother, Magnus. Siri is resentful, and Lauren starts to see a new side of her friend: selfish, reckless, self-destructive, even cruel. On their last night together, Lauren accompanies Siri and her friends on a seaside camping trip to celebrate Midsommar’s Eve, a night when no one sleeps, boundaries blur, and under the light of the unsetting sun, things take a dark turn.⁣

Ultimately Lauren must acknowledge the truth of what happened with Siri and come to terms with her own tragic past in this gorgeously written, deeply felt debut about the relationships that come to us when things feel darkest–and the transformative power of female friendship.

⁣New month, new author conversation!⁣⁣This month,  and I will be talking to  about her latest mystery thriller “And Now ...
10/14/2020


New month, new author conversation!⁣

This month, and I will be talking to about her latest mystery thriller “And Now She’s Gone.”⁣

I read “And Now She’s Gone” earlier this summer and it was quite the ride! I can’t wait to hear from Rachel how this story came to be. ⁣

Synopsis:⁣
“Isabel Lincoln is gone.⁣

But is she missing?⁣

It's up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray's search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman's secrets and the truth she's hidden from her friends and family.⁣

Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, And Now She's Gone explores the nature of secrets -- and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.”⁣

Scroll my feed to find a full review.⁣

See ya on October 27th at 7PM CT/ 8PM ET, bring a friend! Link in bio for event registration.

Happy Publication Day to “Black Sun”⁣(     )⁣⁣I was in a reading funk when I started “Black Sun,” and it was just what I...
10/13/2020

Happy Publication Day to “Black Sun”⁣
( )⁣

I was in a reading funk when I started “Black Sun,” and it was just what I needed to snap out of it.⁣

I‘m no expert on high fantasy but I can tell you that this book has an engaging story line, the characters are fully fleshed out, and the magic provides an escape that isn’t unrealistic. The first half is largely dedicated to world building but once the book takes off, it’s fast paced excitement through to the end!⁣

The winter solstice is typically a cause for celebration in Tova, but this year it brings the convergence; the moon’s shadow will create a Black Sun beckoning the return of a god. Power between the Sky Made clans and the Watchers of the Celestial Tower has been unbalanced for some time, and without balance the world tips into utter chaos. Who will set it straight?⁣

“Black Sun” is told from four perspectives, which is where the audiobook shines. Getting to hear the characters and their personalities was a gratifying experience. Apologies if you‘re thinking “duh, that’s the point of audiobooks,” I’m new here 😬.⁣

Bonus points for the inclusion of q***r, non-binary, and third gender characters that weren’t used as props but a nod to Indigenous cultures.⁣

I’ll definitely be tagging along for the rest of this trilogy, hopefully the wait won’t be too long. I’m looking at you 👀.⁣

Read Black, Indigenous, and Black Indigenous authors ✌🏾.⁣

Got any other science fiction/fantasy titles I should check out?

⁣Blistering heat. Homemade ice cream. Mosquitos. Red dirt on my white shoes. The pool on Mondays. Family reunions. That’...
10/09/2020


Blistering heat. Homemade ice cream. Mosquitos. Red dirt on my white shoes. The pool on Mondays. Family reunions. That’s how I spent my childhood summers in the South.⁣

Even if I wasn’t from there, my roots were.⁣

This collection of essays took me back to those fond memories.⁣

In “A Measuring of Belonging,” twenty-one writers of color share their experiences living in the American South.⁣

My favorite essays:⁣
“Nuisance: An Essay About Home”⁣
Latria Graham talks about the constant flooding of her family home and how they lose a bit of themselves with each rain; memories, heirlooms, security, and possibly their home — the only proof that their family has made it.⁣

“Treacherous Joy: An Epistle to the South”⁣
Tiana Clark discusses her lack of appreciation for the South until moving North. She dreamt of all the things she missed and now imagines a reverse migration of Black folks to the South.⁣

“White Devil in Blue”⁣
A small Methodist Historically Black College plays Duke, a white Methodist University in basketball. Christena Cleveland grapples with the racial and religious power dynamics at play for herself and the athletes.⁣

This is a beautiful anthology that touches on everything from cuisine, to loss of a child, to physical disabilities.⁣

The collection was refreshing, hopeful, and a poignant reminder of all that the South has and continues to contribute to the fabric of this country.⁣

Thank you for the review copy.

I bought my first audiobook so I could hear Nate read the words as he intended while I read along, it was the best decis...
10/07/2020

I bought my first audiobook so I could hear Nate read the words as he intended while I read along, it was the best decision I could’ve made.⁣

After reading FINNA, Nate and I are cousins. Those are the rules.⁣

FINNA is an homage to everything Black. Everything our ancestors fought for, the things they left us, and the covering they still provide. FINNA is a celebration of the joy we find in our language, our dance, our music, our card games. FINNA is mild sauce. FINNA is a dream. FINNA is all that is yet to come.⁣

This collection of poems is masterful, serious, playful, confrontational, resilient, hopeful, an experience.⁣

finna. hecky naw. Joe. On ____. fiddy’leven. oo w*p de bam. &nem.⁣

To know ebonics is to love it.⁣

Chicago over Everything. South Side over that.⁣

In short, Nate, “i like your poems because they seem so real.” 😉

⁣“We cannot know love if we remain unable to surrender our attachment to power, if any feeling of vulnerability strikes ...
09/29/2020


“We cannot know love if we remain unable to surrender our attachment to power, if any feeling of vulnerability strikes terror in our hearts. Lovelessness torments.”⁣

Today’s my 1-year wedding anniversary 💍! It’s only right that I share THEE book that helped prepare me for marriage. “all about love” was gifted to me by my sister, , in 2017 and it’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.⁣

Before I could embark on marriage, I had some growing to do, baggage to shed, and therapy to attend. Some of that therapy came in the form of an earth toned room, with a comfy couch and white noise machine — and some came from words written by a Black woman, on a few hundred pages, bound by two covers.⁣

bell hooks.⁣

Undoing, unlearning, relearning, questioning, affirming, reimagining, dreaming. I did all of those things with this book.⁣

bell hooks gave me the words to interrogate what it means to love children, parents, friends, myself, and my partner; and appreciate the synergy between these types of love.⁣

Happy Anniversary to my equal, DGM 💚! This year has been one for the books 😉.

See y’all tonight at the author conversation with , where we’ll be discussing her debut novel “Luster.”⁣⁣I finished this...
09/28/2020

See y’all tonight at the author conversation with , where we’ll be discussing her debut novel “Luster.”⁣

I finished this weekend and my only regret was not having time to read it twice 😩. Long story short, I loved it. Having lived in NYC in my twenties, I’ve definitely met an Edie or two.⁣

If you’ve read Luster, then I know you have questions/thoughts/feelings, so I hope you’ll bring them to the discussion tonight.⁣

Link to event registration is in bio. You can watch via Facebook Live or Zoom @ 7PM CT/8PM ET.⁣

Drop a comment if you’re looking forward to the chat!

Happy Publication Day to a few of my recent reads!⁣⁣Thank you tagged publishers for the review copies.⁣⁣“Hench” by Natal...
09/22/2020

Happy Publication Day to a few of my recent reads!⁣

Thank you tagged publishers for the review copies.⁣

“Hench” by Natalie Zina Walschots⁣
An (anti)superhero story where the villains are out to prove that power and greed can turn anyone bad.⁣
* Witty⁣
* Action packed⁣
* Unique⁣

“Every Body Looking” by Candice Iloh⁣
The coming of age story of a first-generation college student who uses dance to find herself.⁣
* Written in verse⁣
* Emotionally gripping⁣
* National Book Award Young People’s Literature Longlist 2020⁣

“And Now She’s Gone” by Rachel Howzell Hall⁣
A private investigator looking for a woman who doesn’t want to be found. Secrets, lies, and crime that will have you on the edge of your seat.⁣
* Suspenseful⁣
* Dynamic⁣
* Unputdownable⁣

Check out my individual review of each book for more thoughts!⁣

Got any of these on your TBR? Excited about any other releases today?

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