Happy Sunday!
We have two different non-fiction options, some fun sci-fi, and even a romance novel. I rarely pick romances for this feature, so it always feels like a big deal to me when I do.
Do you have any recommendations you’d like to share? Leave ’em in the comments!
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Black in Blues
M from the podcast discord recommended this one (and it’s on sale!). Their recommendation was quickly followed up by a couple comments of agreement.
A surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue—and its fascinating role in Black history and culture—from National Book Award winner Imani Perry
Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey—an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology.
Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as “Blue Black.” The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon.
Poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original, Black in Blues is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, it is every bit as vivid, rich, and striking as blue itself.
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He’s to Die For
I’m really surprised this m/m sort of flew under the radar. This is an opposites attract romance with a hint of mystery. I think the comparison to The Charm Offensive is a fair one.
Brooklyn 99 meets The Charm Offensive in this sparkling romantic murder mystery: it’s murder cute in the first degree when a detective finds himself falling for the lead suspect in a career-making case.
At 29, Detective Rav Trivedi is the youngest member of the NYPD’s homicide squad, and his future looks bright. He may be a bit of an outsider in the department – an ivy-league educated gay Brit with a weakness for designer suits – but his meteoric rise and solve rate prove he belongs.
So when his CO assigns him lead on the high-profile murder of a record executive, Rav is ready for action. He won’t be distracted by TV crews, tabloids, or what’s trending on social media, nor by the ridiculously hot rock star with a clear motive and no alibi.
This is it, his shot, and he is not going to screw it up—certainly not by falling in love with his number one suspect…
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I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
Do you like quirky, weird, and funny sci-fi? Pargin has a lot of series. If that feels a little too overwhelming to start something that may require a bigger commitment, I believe this one is a standalone.
A standalone darkly humorous thriller set in modern America’s age of anxiety, by New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin.
Outside Los Angeles, a driver pulls up to find a young woman sitting on a large black box. She offers him $200,000 cash to transport her and that box across the country, to Washington, DC.
But there are rules:
He cannot look inside the box.
He cannot ask questions.
He cannot tell anyone.
They must leave immediately.
He must leave all trackable devices behind.As these eccentric misfits hit the road, rumors spread on social media that the box is part of a carefully orchestrated terror attack intended to plunge the USA into civil war.
The truth promises to be even stranger, and may change how you see the world.
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Takeaway
This one popped onto my radar after seeing it recommended by an IG food account where a British woman makes recipes from other cultures from scratch. It looks like only used copies are the only kinds available. Fingers crossed your library has some!
An eye-opening memoir revealing the stories behind living in and running a Chinese takeaway.
Growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales, Angela Hui was made aware at a very young age of just how different she and her family were seen by her local community. From attacks on the shopfront (in other words, their home), to verbal abuse from customers, and confrontations that ended with her dad wielding the meat cleaver; life growing up in a takeaway was far from peaceful.
But alongside the strife, there was also beauty and joy in the rhythm of life in the takeaway and in being surrounded by the food of her home culture. Family dinners before service, research trips to Hong Kong, preparing for the weekend rush with her brothers – the takeaway is a hive of activity before a customer even places their order of ‘egg-friend rice and chop suey’.
Bringing readers along on the journey from Angela’s earliest memories in the takeaway to her family closing the shop after 30 years in business, this is a brilliantly warm and immersive memoir from someone on the other side of the counter.
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This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in
our posts, as well. Thanks!
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