We are thrilled to be back for Season 6 of the This Black Girl Reads Book Club! Let’s GO!!! If you’re new here welcome gurl! The ‘TBGR Book Club is a crew of book-loving sistas who connect through lit’. If you’ve been here before welcome back gurl!
So how does it work?
Well, joining is simple… Each month, we choose a book — written by a BIPOC author — and use it as the framework of our discussion.
Welcome to Season 6 of the TBGR’s Book Club. The Book Club Runs from September until May and takes place monthly. Meetings take place online and happen on the last Friday of every month.
About the Book Club
The TBGR’s Book Club creates a safe place for women of colour to connect through lit. It is a sisterhood made up of women of all shades and hues, connecting, listening, and affirming each other.
You can also join our community on Facebook.
Here’s Our Season 6 Lineup
September Book Club Pick: Only for the Week by Natasha BishopMeeting Date: Thursday, September 28th, 2023 at 7 pm Eastern.
Brief Summary: Janelle’s ex-boyfriend and sister are getting married. The couple has whisked their closest friends away for their two-week destination wedding. Janelle is the maid of honor, Rome is the best man, and let’s just say sparks begin to fly. This book is delicious with the right balance of beautiful romance, vacay vibes, dope-ass friends, and a little bit of drama.
October Book Club Pick: Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli
Meeting Date: Friday, October 27th, 2023 at 7 pm Eastern.
Brief Summary: Someday, Maybe is a stunning, witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband. Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Depression, Grief, Family turmoil
Find the book here: https://amzn.to/3RLehSJ. To register for the discussion go here
November Book Club Pick: Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield
Meeting Date: Friday, December 1st, 2023 at 7 pm Eastern.
Brief Summary: It’s 1976 and Jamaica is on fire. The country is on the eve of important elections and the warring political parties have made the divisions between the poor and the wealthy even wider. Irie and Jilly come from very different backgrounds: Irie is from the heart of Kingston, where fighting in the streets is common. Jilly is from the hills, where mansions nestled within lush gardens remain safe behind gates. But the two bond through a shared love of Reggae music, spending time together at Irie’s father’s record store, listening to so-called rebel music that opens Jilly’s mind to a sound and a way of thinking she’s never heard before.
As tensions build in the streets, so do tensions between the two girls. A budding romance between them complicates things further as the push and pull between their two lives becomes impossible to bear. For Irie, fighting—with her words and her voice—is her only option. Blood is shed on the streets in front of her every day. She has no choice. But Jilly can always choose to escape.
December Book of the Month: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Synopsis: The book for December is short and sweet because it’s December! I know that we’re all busy winding down but if you have time to read then read. If not, please still stop into our last book chat of the year as we discuss reading goals, books we want to read in 2024, and all that good stuff.
Brief Summary: A stirring, intimate reflection on the nature of race and American nationhood that has inspired generations of writers and thinkers, first published in 1963, the same year as the March on Washington. In the first of two essays, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” Baldwin offers kind and unflinching counsel on what it means to be Black in the United States and explains the twisted logic of American racism.
Find the book here: https://amzn.to/4a3rs8j. To register for the discussion go here.
January Book of the Month: Sisterhood Heals by Joy Harden Brandford.
Meeting Date: Friday, January 26th at 7pm Eastern
Brief Summary: Sisterhood is that sacred space where all the masks that are worn for the world fall off. It’s the place where you lay down your load, refill your cup, and laugh until your belly aches. Our sister circles prolong our lives. However, building and keeping healthy friendships takes work. How must these friendships evolve as we age? What practices can we put in place to maintain them? Can they be the key to unlocking a more fulfilled existence? The answer is yes. Dr. Joy Harden Bradford has been doing the work to help Black women heal together for over twenty years. In a sisterhood community with more than half a million members, she’s the go-to therapist for Black women looking to prioritize their mental health and become the best possible versions of themselves. Now she’s sharing all she’s learned using the tenets of psychology and group therapy to help us foster relationships that are not only positive but transformative.
Find the book here: https://amzn.to/3vmPqM2. Register for the discussion here.
February Book of the Month: What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy
Our discussion will take place via Google Meet on Friday, February 23rd at 7pm
Synopsis: At the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster—Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all. Artfully weaving together these lives, witness is given to the desolation wreaked by nature and by man.
Find the book here: https://amzn.to/4bd7Ij3. Register for the discussion here.
March Book of the Month: All I Wanted All I Needed by A.E Valdez
Our discussion will take place via Google Meet on Friday, March 22 at 7pm Eastern
Synopsis: Harlow Shaw feels naïve for believing in happily ever afters but she craves a love that lights her up.She thought she had it all with her boyfriend. Until his promising baseball career overshadows their relationship and he asks her a life changing question. It causes her to wonder if what they have is all she ever truly wanted.
Harlow is yearning for more than the curated life she is living, takes a trip to Bali that changes everything. As she searches for her place in the world she finds a little more than expected.
Find the book here. Register for the discussion here.
April Book of the Month: Fast by Millie Belizaire
Our discussion will take place via Google Meet on Friday, April 26th at 7pm Eastern.
Synopsis: Synopsis: Fast is a crushing story of a young girl (Caprice Latimore) who had her innocence stolen from her, and the boy (Shaun Taylor) who loved her.
After the untimely death of her mother, Caprice has to move in with her grandmother. At eight years old, life as she knows it is turned upside down. The trauma of losing her mother is made worse with the introduction of Marcel, her grandmother’s adult son who still lives in the home. Shaun Taylor, the boy across the street will do whatever it takes to make sure no one ever hurts Caprice again. This is a beautiful friends to lovers story that is loaded with plenty of hardships and life experience.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Child abuse, assault in prisons, mental instability, etc. Some themes touched upon in this story may trigger you. Please protect your mental health.
Find the book here. Register for the discussion here.