Percival Everett is a writer I have wanted to read for some time. I have come across online articles and social media posts over the past year about his work. Well, I finally did a Goodreads search on his books and chose Erasure for my first Percival Everett...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 10: The Cookout by Jacqueline Turner Banks
by MHill | Apr 9, 2022 | 2022 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
A stepfather-stepdaughter relationship can be challenging, especially when the stepdaughter is coming into her own. The Cookout by Jacqueline Turner Banks, a short story published in Shades of Black: Crime & Mystery Stories by African-American Writers, makes a...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 8: Recitatif by Toni Morrison
by MHill | Apr 3, 2022 | 2022 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Toni Morrison, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
Toni Morrison is one of those authors I have admired and respected but not loved her fiction. I have read Song of Solomon, Jazz, & Paradise of her work. Song of Solomon is my favorite but my feelings as a reader on a storytelling level have been lukewarm at best....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 94: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
by MHill | Dec 28, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
After reading this first book of The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, I have crossed two reading rules that I thought I would never break: 1) You must like the characters to enjoy a work of fiction 2) You must be able to relate to the characters in order to have...
Ciscoe’s Dance
by MHill | Nov 22, 2021 | Kammbian Characters, Kammbian Culture, Kammbian History, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Writing
Happy Pub Day to Ciscoe's Dance! Ciscoe's Dance is my fourth novel set in the fictional world of Kammbia and the first novel in the Dance & Listen Series. However, this novel can be read as a standalone story. There is a quote attributed to the great author Toni...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 92: Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
by MHill | Nov 15, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Does a son have to repeat his father's transgressions and life choices? It seemed like S.A. Cosby was trying to answer that question in his thrilling third novel, Blacktop Wasteland. I have seen this novel posted on my Instagram feed recently and several Goodreads...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 83: Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce
by MHill | Aug 6, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
If you live to be 110, how would you look back at your life? With Fondness? With Regret? Missed Opportunities? Or At Peace? The protagonist of Denny S. Bryce's debut novel, Wild Women and the Blues, gets to answer that question. Honoree Dalcour is in mid-1920s...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 3: Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler
by MHill | May 23, 2021 | Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Octavia Butler, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
What if you lived in a society where speaking is a threat to the social order? Octavia Butler speculated on the aforementioned question in her Hugo Award-winning short story, Speech Sounds. I came across this story when it was discussed on the Novel Pairing Podcast....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 78: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
by MHill | Apr 24, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"The easiest thing in the world is to be yourself. The hardest thing in the world is to be yourself." Those two sentences were appropriate for one of the two major characters, Opal Jewel, in Dawnie Walton's excellent debut novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 77: Joplin’s Ghost by Tananarive Due
by MHill | Apr 11, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
As a reader, you notice what kinds of books that you keep gravitating towards. Even though I'm an eclectic reader, I keep gravitating recently towards novels that are about the creative process (books, art, food, or music). Human creativity has always been...