When author Alina Garcia-LaPuerta tagged me on the Chocolate Challenge, I felt I could not resist! First of all, Alina's new book, La Belle Creole, is a biography of the Condesa Merlin, a Cuban-born Parisian superstar. I've always wanted to learn more about this woman, and Alina has gone and written a book that I can't wait to read. Check out the book trailer here:



The Chocolate Challenge asks authors to name three books that remind them of three different kinds of chocolate--Dark, Milk & White. And because I LOVE chocolate. And I LOVE books. And Alina is obviously amazing, I could not say no!

So, here are my selections!

I'm usually reading three books at once, and so I thought it might be easiest to try to categorize those three, and give you a sense of what's on my nightstand at this very moment.

Let's start with Dark Chocolate. Rich, intense, a little foreboding, dark chocolate requires a prepared palate--you need to be ready for the bitter sweetness.  I'm currently reading Amor Towles' Rules of Civility. The novel, set in 1930s New York City, tells the story of Katey Kontent, the daughter of Russian immigrants, and the year that changed her life forever.


 Katey is a brilliant mind, is sharp-tongued and observant, and her observations are spiked with both wide-eyed sweetness and a wise outlook that protects her. She sees the world as it is--in terms both dark and hopeful. As a character, she's that perfect blend I think of when I think of dark chocolate.


Ah, milk chocolate. My favorite. Sweet, smooth, comforting. When you unwrap a little Hershey's Kiss, you know you won't be let down. Part of the joy is that absolute knowledge that you are about to have a wonderful experience even before the first bite. I don't always feel that way about books when I start reading them. I'm tentative, hopeful that the author won't let me down, but skeptical. Not so with Marie Manilla's beautiful novel, The Patron Saint of Ugly. 

It only took me about three pages to know, deep down, that this book was going to make me happy. The "saint" in the title is the young Garnet, an Italian-American woman living in West Virginia, with a fascinating past, port wine stains in the shape of the world's countries all over her body, and the supposed cause of multiple miracles. Garnet is funny. I mean, hysterically funny. It's a page-turner, too, and really, everything I wanted in a late summer read.

White chocolate. Ok. White chocolate is sort of the worst. It's not even chocolate. HOWEVER, the book I'm placing under this category is marvelous. It's the amazing Sarah Vowell's Unfamiliar Fishes, about the colonization of Hawaii. I figure this one is the only nonfiction book on my list, and white chocolate is not really chocolate, so, I'm pairing these two odd ducks together.


I love Sarah Vowell. I LOVE HER. Acerbic, glib, erudite, brilliant. Her nonfiction can be described as a blend between history and social observation. In this book, she takes on a historical place and time that have always interested me--the Polynesian triangle and the exploration of the Pacific. I'm a total dork for it all, and I'm learning a lot from Vowell's book.

There you have it! Chocolate Challenge complete. And now the best part is I get to tag a marvelous writer for the next round.

Angela Jackson-Brown is a novelist and professor. Her newest book, Drinking from a Bitter Cup , is a coming of age story set in the Deep South of the 1970s and 80s.



Angela will also be appearing at the Auburn Writers Conference this fall, and I can't wait to meet her! Make sure to look for her version of the Chocolate Challenge in the coming days.