Where Is Your Bookmark? (Female Warriors / Ghostly Mystery / Connect Five: TBR Must Reads / BBHOP)

A weekly meme where readers share the first sentence (or more) of the book they are reading and say what they think. Hosted by the amazing Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader.

Today is the Ritual of Purity.

The thought nervously circles in my head as I hurry toward the barn, gathering my cloak to warn off the cold. It's early morning, and the sun hasn't yet begun its climb above the snow-dusted trees encircling our small farmhouse. Okai gather in the darkness, crowding the weak pool of light cast by my lamp. An ominous tingling builds under my skin. It's almost as if there's something there, at the edge of my vision . . . [opening of The Gilded Ones]

A weekly meme in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading. Hosted by the wonderful Freda of Freda's Voice.

As I finally allow myself to succumb to it, I notice something I didn't before. A little brown girl, about eleven or so, white shift fluttering as she runs away from us deeper into the forest.

"A girl . . . ," I say.

Then I surrender to the darkness. [excerpt from 56% of The Gilded Ones]

My initial thoughts: I am not too far into The Gilded Ones (Deathless #1) by Namina Forna yet, but I am already hooked. The opening gives the reader a sense of foreboding, although we can't quite be sure what it means just yet. 

I have not reached the second excerpt I shared yet, but possibilities are already swirling in my head about what it might mean. I look forward to finding out!

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity--and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki--near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be--not even Deka herself. [Goodreads Summary]

Does The Gilded Ones sound like something you would like to read? What are you reading this week?

Originally a feature called Last Year I Was Reading created by Maria from ReadingMaria. 

I liked it enough to continue on my own, but have tweaked it

 to feature Five Years Ago I Was Reading. 

(I would have gone back ten, but I read so little in 2011)

Five years ago at this time I had just finished reading Delia's Shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer. On the first Saturday of the month I post a TBR List Poll asking my blog visitors to vote for one of three of my TBR books and Moyer's book happened to be the winner of my February poll in 2016. Delia's Shadow is a historical paranormal mystery, featuring a former teacher who leaves her job on the East Coast to follow a ghost asking for her help. Nineteen fifteen in San Francisco and a murderer is on the lose.  It was an atmospheric dark and entertaining mystery with a dash of romance mixed in. I really enjoyed it and meant to continue with the series but haven't managed to yet. 

Have you read Delia's Shadow? What were you reading five years ago? 

Connect Five Friday is a weekly meme where readers share a list of five books, 

read or unread, or bookish things, that share a common theme. 

Hosted by the  Kathryn of of Book Date.

For my Connect Five Fridays this month I have been featuring books by Black authors in celebration of Black History Month. Of course February is not the only month we should be celebrating Black and other authors of color. We should be celebrating them year round. 

My TBR collection (books I actually own) is embarrassingly huge and among them are these five gems by Black authors that I am really looking forward to reading. I am currently reading The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, perhaps I will pick one of these up soon . . .

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

The Handmaid's Tale for a new generation . . .

In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet's word is law, Immanuelle Moore's very existence is blasphemy.

The daughter of a union with an outsider that cast her once-proud family into disgrace, Immanuelle does her best to worship the Father, follow Holy Protocol and lead a life of submission, devotion and absolute conformity, like all the women in the settlement.

But a chance mishap lures her into the forbidden Darkwood that surrounds Bethel - a place where the first prophet once pursued and killed four powerful witches. Their spirits are still walking there, and they bestow a gift on Immanuelle: the diary of her dead mother, who Immanuelle is shocked to learn once sought sanctuary in the wood.

Fascinated by secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realises the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her . . . [Goodreads Summary]

Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

A mesmerizing novel in verse about family, identity, and finding yourself in the most unexpected places—for fans of The Poet X, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, and Jason Reynolds.

Nima doesn’t feel understood. By her mother, who grew up far away in a different land. By her white suburban town, which feels both dangerous and familiar. At least she has her childhood friend Haitham, with whom she can let her guard down and be herself.

Until she doesn’t. As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen, the name her parents didn’t give her at birth: Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might just be more real than Nima knows. And more hungry.

This book is a story of mothers and daughters, of friends and enemies, of journeys and homecomings, and of realizing that sometimes the person you’re meant to be has been staring at you in the mirror all along.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. [Goodreads Summary] 

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

From an author of rare, haunting power, a stunning novel about a young African-American woman coming of age—a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, family, and country

Raised in Pennsylvania, Thandi views the world of her mother’s childhood in Johannesburg as both impossibly distant and ever present. She is an outsider wherever she goes, caught between being black and white, American and not. She tries to connect these dislocated pieces of her life, and as her mother succumbs to cancer, Thandi searches for an anchor—someone, or something, to love.

In arresting and unsettling prose, we watch Thandi’s life unfold, from losing her mother and learning to live without the person who has most profoundly shaped her existence, to her own encounters with romance and unexpected motherhood. Through exquisite and emotional vignettes, Clemmons creates a stunning portrayal of what it means to choose to live, after loss. An elegiac distillation, at once intellectual and visceral, of a young woman’s understanding of absence and identity that spans continents and decades, What We Lose heralds the arrival of a virtuosic new voice in fiction.[Goodreads Summary]

 

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

A novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.

Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony.

With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr. fiercely summons the voices of slaver and the enslaved alike to tell the story of these two men; from Amos the preacher to the calculating slave-master himself to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminate in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.  [Goodreads Summary]

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

From the New York Times -bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise. [Goodreads Summary]

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? What fiction or fantasy novels would you recommend by Black authors? 

Be sure and check out my to read Connect 5 lists of Memoirs/Essays, Romance, and Mystery/Thrillers by Black authors celebrating Black History Month.

Every Friday Coffee Addicted Writer from Coffee Addicted Writer poses a question which participants respond on their own blogs within the week (Friday through Thursday). They then share their links at the main site and visit other participants blogs.

Do you use Goodreads to keep track of your books? (submitted by Elizabeth @Silver's Reviews)

For the past several years, I have used Goodreads to keep track of the books I have read--since I started keeping track, that is. I have considered adding TBR books to Goodreads but so far have always decided against it. That would be a huge undertaking. I actually catalog all the books I own on LibraryThing, whether read or unread. I like LibraryThing much better than Goodreads for that particular purpose. As if that wasn't enough, because I love making lists, I also keep my own spreadsheet of the books I read with various stats I like to track. 

What about you? Do you use Goodreads to keep track of your books?  Or perhaps another web-based website? Do you use a spreadsheet?

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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