SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward’s historic second National Book Award–winner is “perfectly poised for the moment” (The New York Times), an intimate portrait of three generations of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. “Ward’s wr...

As we enter the eighteenth month of the pandemic, it is hard to believe that we’ve been stuck in quarantine so long. Many of us have ventured out to stores and churches, and occasionally restaurants, to get some semblance of our old lives back. Some of us...

I just celebrated my 70th birthday. After teaching thirty-six years and writing five books, I’m pretty comfortable with my life now. I usually wake up at dawn, sometimes drifting back to sleep, but more often than not, I lie there another thirty minutes or...

When the pandemic began, I started recommending a book a week online. I’m now on book number sixty-five, so I’m proud of my contribution to the cause of saving people from boredom who are stuck at home. What this process has forced me to do is gear up my o...

The first four books were recommended in April, National Poetry Month, so I chose to cover poetry books, a genre I had neglected. - THE HILL WE CLIMB by Amanda Gorman We were so taken by her performance on Inauguration Day, we missed some of the message!...

Throughout my life, I have been inspired by music. This began with the comforting sounds of the Baptist church I grew up in, and continued with the love songs that eased my broken heart as an adolescent. There were the protest songs of the Civil Rights Mov...

This is a verse that has followed me for decades. Almost forty years ago, I joined a church in Arlington, Texas, Mt. Olive MBC. The pastor, Rev. N.L. Robinson, had a signature verse that we read every Sunday. It was from Isaiah, Chapter 40, Verse 31. Over...

41. THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris With all the celebration of Kamala Harris and her "chucks & pearls," I thought her book would be a great fit. It also comes in a young adult edition. From Vice President Kamala Harris, one of America's most inspirin...

My life has been defined by the music of Aretha Franklin. Growing up in the 60s, my joy was the music of Motown. I loved the sounds of the Temptations, the Miracles, the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, I also loved Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. The s...