Black Coffee discussion

New Author (DEBUT) will be the theme for our August Group Read. Nominations can be posted until 7/18 and the poll will be open 7/19 - 7/23. The group read will start on 8/15.

Below please nominate a book you would like to read from a new author. Authors please feel free to nominate your own book. If you haven't read the rules to nominating your own book please click here.

I think this book is a good read. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

Debut.

Carol wrote: "Lulu wrote: "Debut."

Thank you!"

Thank you! I updated the original post! :)

I nominate What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons.

This excerpt is from the Kirkus Review:

When her mother dies of cancer, Thandi must come to terms with the loss—including her strongest link to family in Johannesburg. Caught between two continents—between American blackness and South Africa's legacy of apartheid—she sets out to discover what makes life worth living after tragedy hits. In the process, she produces an honest, propulsive account of grief, interrogating the relationship among death, sex, motherhood, and culture. Written in compact episodes that collage autofiction with '90s rap lyrics, hand-drawn graphs, blog entries, and photographs, the novel pushes restlessly against its own boundaries—like Thandi herself. Clemmons manages to write with economy without ever making her book feel small, and with humor and frankness, so the novel is not overly steeped in grief. This is a big, brainy drama told by a fearless, funny young woman—part philosophy, part sociology, and part ghost story. “My theory is that loneliness creates the feeling of haunting,” Thandi confesses during a rough patch. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, prepare for Thandi's voice to follow you from room to room long after you put this book away.

Chained in Silence by Talitha L. Leflouria

I would like to nominate Where the River Bends by E Matthews. I read it a while ago, but it has stuck with me.

--- description from Amazon ---
Where the River Bends: The Story of a Tragedy tells of a mother and son fighting to save themselves -- and each other -- from the destruction that sex, money and power can cause, set in a turbulent and decisive period of American history.

On a rainy day in November 1931, two years after the crash of the New York Stock Exchange, Celeste Vandenholm's husband drives his car over a cliff and ends up in a coma. When the secret of his bankruptcy comes to light, Celeste is left with a teenage son, an autistic daughter, a Park Avenue lifestyle and a negative bank balance. She struggles to hold her family together against the forces of the Great Depression, but one setback after another sends her life spiraling out of her control.

Until the night of his father’s car crash, David Vandenholm’s life is idyllic and his family’s wealth has assured him a golden future. When his world shatters before his eyes, as his father’s deception comes to light, he does his best to care for his sister, help support his mother, and maintain his sense of self in an increasingly hostile environment.

However Celeste has a secret as well. When she makes the crucial decision to reveal it, David reacts with anger and blind emotion, creating a situation that leads to a deadly tragedy which claims victims in more ways than one.

That Church Life

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I would like to nominate a new author Jaketa A. McClure. Her book's name is Rodeo. I bought the book from the Carson Book Fair back in April. An excellent read. I think it's available on Amazon. It's about the life story of Rodeo.

I nominate Landis Lain's young adult novel, Daddy's Baby. This book was published by Brown Girls Books in 2016. Set in the Midwest, the novel takes up the issue of teenage pregnancy from the father's point of view.
Landis is a member of my writing group in Lansing, Michigan. This is a quick read and poses many questions for group discussion.

Dedria wrote: "I nominate Landis Lain's young adult novel, Daddy's Baby. This book was published by Brown Girls Books in 2016. Set in the Midwest, the novel takes up the issue of teenage pregnancy from the father..."

That sounds interesting.

I nominate Book of Addis: Cradled Embers byBrooke C. Obie

In this epic tale of love, loss and the cost of liberation, Addis, a 17-year-old enslaved girl, escapes from her enslaver, the first president of a young country. On the run for her life, with unlikely friends and a nation of enemies, Addis becomes the most wanted person alive and a global symbol of hope to enslaved people longing for freedom. (Description from publisher)

It won the Phillis Wheatley award for First Fiction.

A New Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton.

Brina wrote: "A New Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton."

Brina, I think you meanA Kind of Freedom.

Yes, that one. Thanks, Shomeret.

The poll is now open and will remain open until 7/23. Please check out the poll and cast your vote here.

I will be closing these thread.