Black by Popular Demand
Welcome to the 4th week of January where there is space for everyone!
Every week is about supporting Black-owned independent bookstores and Black authors! We are sending you to Charnice Milton Community Bookstore of Washington D.C.
Happy Reading!
Space for Everyone
When Zainab runs down the stairs in the morning, she knows what she'll find: Papa cooking at the stove, Mama pouring tea, and then everyone gathering around the family table. Neighbors stop by, and there's plenty of room for them, too. There are so many beloved rituals that happen at the table: homework and crafts, aunties coming to plait hair, and festive gatherings with neighbors and relatives. But soon boxes start piling up around the house, and Zainab worries about the move--will the rituals feel the same in her new home?
In the new house, the family table still feels cozy to sit around. And soon, old neighbors and new friends stop by, and everyone is welcome at the table. Meg Medina's Evelyn Del Ray is Moving Away meets Peter H. Reynolds's Our Table in this heartwarming story about how difficult it is to move, but how connecting with community makes everything better.
(Children’s)
Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis
In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean Island of Guanahaní to find an Edenic scene that was soon mythologized. But behind the myth of paradise, the Caribbean and its people would come to pay the price of relentless Western exploitation and abuse. In Dark Laboratory, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe embarks on a historical journey to chart the forces that have shaped these islands: the legacy of slavery, indentured labor, and the forced toil of Chinese and enslaved Black people who mined the islands' bounty--including guano, which, at the time, was more valuable than gold--for the benefit of European powers and at the expense of the islands' sacred ecologies.
Braiding together family history, cultural reportage, and social studies, Goffe radically transforms how we conceive of Blackness, the natural world, colonialism, and the climate crisis; and, in doing so, she deftly dismantles the many layers of entrenched imperialist thinking that shroud our established understanding of the human and environmental conditions to reveal the cause and effect of a global catastrophe. Dark Laboratory forces a reckoning with the received forms of knowledge that have led us astray.
Through the lens of the Caribbean, both guide and warning of the man-made disasters that continue to plague our world, Goffe closely situates the origins of racism and climate catastrophe within a colonial context. And in redressing these twin apocalypses, Dark Laboratory becomes a record of the violence that continues to shape the Caribbean today. But it is also a declaration of hope, offering solutions toward a better future based on knowledge gleaned from island ecosystems, and an impassioned, urgent testament to the human capacity for change and renewal.
(Nonfiction)
Set Me Free: The Good News of God's Relentless Pursuit
Under the weight of America's racial history, church traditions, and cultural pressures, Lecrae found himself trapped in the belief that he had to earn his freedom or prove his right to be on the stage, or even in the pews of a church. As he learns to shed these old ways of thinking, Lecrae beckons you to step out of the beliefs that are holding you captive and to reconstruct your faith.
(Poetry & Essays)
Power of Persuasion
Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery
In six short months, Damon has gone from gallery owner to controversial politician. When his cabinet hires A.J. Grayson—without his consent—he gets ready for a battle. Expecting a computer geek, and skeptical of A.J.’s highly touted secret invention, he is stunned to find a strong-minded beauty who arouses much more than his suspicions. But someone in his inner circle is in league with a treacherous adversary who threatens his throne, his nation’s tenuous peace … and his future with a woman he’ll risk everything to have and to hold.
(Fiction)
Catching Feelings
For some people, the act of finding their soul mate, falling in love, and living happily ever after is inevitable. Sabrina Chambers is determined to be one of those people. She knows that there is a partner out there just as amazing as she is, and when it comes to love, she refuses to settle for less. Sabrina doesn't have a problem finding a man or keeping one, but when you're talking about marriage, a girl has to have standards, right? But with three and a half broken engagements in the past five years--all by her choice, of course--it may be time to reevaluate things.
Sabrina's older sister, Tennille, is married. Her husband, Brandon, is a good man with a good job, plus he's a great provider for his wife and his stepson. The problem is, Tennille isn't in love with him--never has been and never will be, and after faking the funk for years, she's miserable. Despite her failing marriage, Tennille's business is growing. And now, she has the opportunity to expand even more, but she needs a partner to make it happen. The good news is, she's found one. The bad news is, it's not the man she married. It it the one she should have?
Their brother Nick has it going on, and he knows it. Being single with no kids, a great job with benefits, and owning his own home makes him a hot commodity, in addition to his being fine as hell. Nick goes through women like bottled water, having no desire to commit to anyone. He made that mistake once, and, although he tried not to, he ended up hurting not only one person but two. Now, the only vow he plans on making is never to allow that to happen again. But he may soon discover that he isn't as strong as he thought he was.
(Fiction)
