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Black Literature Black Writers Book Club Pick Monthly Reads

April BOTM: If I Ruled the World by Amy DuBois Barnett

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50 Poetry Collections by Black Poets That Belong on Every Black Reader’s Shelf

African Literature Black Canadian Authors Black Literature Black Writers

30+ Books by Ghanaian and Ghanaian Canadian Authors to Read for Ghana Independence Day

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Book Club Season 8
Rooted in Reading Journal
Book Reviews Uncategorized

The Best New Books of 2020 That I Can’t Wait to Read

by LalaaLeave a Comment on The Best New Books of 2020 That I Can’t Wait to Read

Wassup my book lovin’ sistas and brothas You guys know how much I love talking about books and I had such a great time talking about books in my end of year round up. Putting …

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Book Life Book Reviews

Top 10 Books of 2019

by LalaaLeave a Comment on Top 10 Books of 2019

Hey book lovers This year your girl read 113 books! Whew, child, I’m tired just thinking about it. And of course, reading all those books I read a couple of great ones. So this year …

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Book Life Book Reviews Monthly Reads

The month of October was a whirlwind but I read 11 Books & I LOVED a few of them

by LalaaLeave a Comment on The month of October was a whirlwind but I read 11 Books & I LOVED a few of them

The month of October was a whirlwind but I read 11 books and although I felt like quitting my book goal of 113 a few times in October, I kept pushing through. But for real …

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Book Reviews Community & Culture Monthly Reads

The 10 Best New Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List

by LalaaLeave a Comment on The 10 Best New Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List

We’re about halfway through summer, I know I can’t believe it either; But I’m happy to say that this summer I’ve eaten some great food, attended some awesome events and of course I’ve read some …

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Book Life Book Reviews Community & Culture New Releases

If you Love Flavour & Sweetness You’ll Love ‘Frying Plantain’ by Zalika Reid Benta.

by LalaaLeave a Comment on If you Love Flavour & Sweetness You’ll Love ‘Frying Plantain’ by Zalika Reid Benta.

Full of flavour and sweetness, that’s the only way to describe this book. I truly believe that the core message in all literature both fiction and non-fiction is identity. People ideally are seeking meaning and …

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Book Life Community & Culture

Representation Matters, Here’s Why You Should Care

by LalaaLeave a Comment on Representation Matters, Here’s Why You Should Care

Last month I was invited to a Toronto Book Blogger meetup, and although my weekend was swamped, I was determined to go. Why? Well, because when book lovers gather magical things happen! I had to …

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About Me

Hey I'm Lalaa
Hey I'm Lalaa

library curator + literacy advocate and certified Black book enthusiast. I share recs, reviews, and soft-goodie vibes for anyone building a better bookshelf (and a better self). Come read with me. 🖤📚

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  • Book Reviews94 Post(s)
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Looking for a simple way to track your reading life? Check out the Rooted in Reading Journal!

Looking for a simple way to track your reading life? Check out the Rooted in Reading Journal!

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    April BOTM: If I Ruled the World by Amy DuBois Barnett

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April always feels like an invitation to begin aga April always feels like an invitation to begin again. To soften a little. To bloom a little. To return to ourselves in quiet and honest ways.

And for me, part of that return is reading.

As women, so much of our time gets claimed before we even get a chance to hold it. Work. Family. Caretaking. Expectations. The endless doing. So this month, I wanted to offer a gentle reminder: making time to read is not frivolous, and it is not something we have to earn.

It can be one way we take our time back.

One way we remember that our inner lives matter too.
That joy matters.
That rest matters.
That beauty, reflection, and being with ourselves on the page matter.

May April bring us books that root us, words that open us, and small reading moments that feel like spring in the body.

May we read in a way that honours lineage, welcomes joy, and reminds us that we belong to ourselves too. 🌿📚

What’s one reading intention you’re carrying into April? 🤎

#ThisBlackGirlReads #ReadingIsResistance #newmonth #readingisjoy
New book day and I’m exciteeeddd 🖤📖 Thank you @br New book day and I’m exciteeeddd 🖤📖

Thank you @brandy , @htpbooks and @harpercollins for sending me an advanced copy of this one.

Today is pub day for Phases and I’m so glad it’s finally here.

This is the kind of book that makes you pause and reflect on who you’ve been, who you’re becoming, and all the versions of yourself you’ve had to carry along the way. Thoughtful, honest, and full of heart, Phases is one of those reads that stays with you.

If you love a book that feels real, affirming, and speaks to growth in a tender way, add this one to your list.

Are you picking it up? 👇🏾🖤

#Phases #brandymemoir #thisblackgirlreads ##booksbyBlackWomen
April BOTM is here 🖤📚 And this one? You chose it. April BOTM is here 🖤📚

And this one? You chose it.

After putting it to the community, the votes are in and we’re reading:

If I Ruled the World by @amyduboisbarnett

This book feels like a conversation about the lives we’re building as Black women... ambition, love, power, identity… and the choices we make in between.

It’s reflective.
It’s grown.
And it’s going to give us a lot to talk about.

We’re reading this in April because we’re asking:
✨ what does it mean to choose yourself?
✨ what does power look like in your life right now?
✨ and what would shift if you moved differently?

You already know the vibe: bookish baddie meets healing circle.

As always there are two ways to join: 

💻 Virtual (Online) Thursday, April 30 at 7 pm Eastern
📍 In-person (Toronto East) Friday, May 1 at 7 pm Eastern 

Link in bio to register or COMMENT "April" and I'll send the link to register.

Drop a 🖤 if you’re joining! 

#bookclub #thisblackgirlreads #booksbyBlackWomen #ReadingisResistance
Words for Sunday, from my little corner of the wor Words for Sunday, from my little corner of the world where we read in peace. 🤎

I’m learning that a soft reading life is not laziness.
It’s not “doing nothing.”

It’s not something I have to earn after the world is done with me.

It’s a return.

To quiet.
To imagination.
To the parts of me that don’t exist to be useful.

And for us, reading has always been more than a hobby.
It’s how we kept ourselves.
How we passed down wisdom without permission.
How we remembered who we are when everything tried to name us otherwise.

So this week, I’m choosing pages over pressure. I’m reading slowly.

I’m protecting my joy like it’s sacred, because it is.

Tell me what you’re reading this week, sis. Let’s hold each other through the pages. 📚✨

#ThisBlackGirlReads #ReadingAsResistance #BlackWomenRead  #ReadBlackAuthors
In honour of World Poetry Day, I wanted to gather In honour of World Poetry Day, I wanted to gather a list that feels full of voice, beauty, belonging, tenderness, memory, longing, and truth.

Black poetry has always known how to hold us. These are just some of the collections that remind me how wide and layered Black life really is.

Save this for your next bookstore trip or library run. And tell me in the comments: which collection would you add to this shelf?

Want the full list say 'poetry' in the comments and I'll send it straight to you. 

#WorldPoetryDay #BlackPoetry #BlackReaders #PoetryLovers #thisblackgirlreads
People really still think librarians are supposed People really still think librarians are supposed to come in one look, one voice, and one vibe. Whole time, some of us carry books, culture, rhythm, and big joy all at once.

Am I the only that has to catch a vibe before work? 

#thisblackgirlreads #blackbookstagram
Just a little reminder for the readers heading int Just a little reminder for the readers heading into the weekend: your reading life does not have to be perfect to be meaningful.

It can be quiet.
It can be slow.
It can be one chapter between errands, one poem before bed, or an audiobook playing while you clean up the house and mind your business.

Around here, reading is not just a hobby. It is joy. It is care. It is lineage. It is a way back to ourselves.

So this is your sign to make space for the book that’s been calling your name in whatever way works for your life.

What are you reading this weekend, goodie?

#ReadingIsResistance #readingisjoy #ThisBlackGirlReads
Happy Pub Day! Shut Up and Read: A Memoir from Har Happy Pub Day! Shut Up and Read: A Memoir from Harriett’s Bookshop by Jeannine A. Cook 

This book reminded me that bookstores are never just bookstores. At their best, they are a sanctuary, a meeting place, they are a testimony; they are a way for people to find themselves, each other, and the words they need to keep going.

What I loved most about this memoir was learning about Cook’s life through the building of Harriett’s Bookshop; her advocacy, her vision, her pain, her persistence, and the deeply personal journey that shaped the space she created. You can feel that this bookshop was born out of longing, purpose, and a refusal to let the world make small what was always meant to be expansive.

One line that stayed with me is:
“I realize now that part of building the bookshop is me seeking to build a home for those who need one again and again.”

If you love bookstores, literary community, and memoirs about building something meaningful against the odds, this one is worth your time. It is tender, visionary, and deeply rooted in the power of books to make a way out of no way.

#ShutUpAndRead #BlackReaders #LiteraryCommunity #ThisBlackGirlReads
The literary world is not built by authors alone. The literary world is not built by authors alone.

It is also held by women who teach, lend, edit, recommend, preserve, gather, review, publish, and pass stories hand to hand.

Today, I’m celebrating the women doing the work in these literary streets... the writers, librarians, booksellers, teachers, editors, book club hosts, bloggers, reviewers, and literary advocates who keep stories alive and help readers find their way home through words.

So much of reading culture is built in community. And so much of that community is shaped, carried, and protected by women.

Tag a woman in the literary ecosystem you love below... your favourite author, librarian, bookseller, educator, publisher, reviewer, bookish content creator, or literary community builder. 

Let’s give them their flowers today. 🤎

#InternationalWomensDay #ThisBlackGirlReads #WomenInLiterature #LiteraryCommunity #BlackWomenWhoRead
Happy Ghana Independence Day 🇬🇭✨ Today I wanted t Happy Ghana Independence Day 🇬🇭✨

Today I wanted to celebrate Ghana through books, through story, memory, history, womanhood, language, and voice. This list features books by Ghanaian and Ghanaian Canadian authors across fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and it feels like such a beautiful reminder that a country can live in its literature too.

From classics like The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born and Our Sister Killjoy, to contemporary reads like His Only Wife, Maame, and Homegoing, there is so much richness here.

And I really wanted to make space for Ghanaian Canadian voices too,  because Ghana also lives across the diaspora, in memory, in migration, and in the stories Black writers continue to tell.

Which book have you read, or which one would you pick up first?

✅️ want the list? Comment "Ghana" 🇬🇭 and i'll send it to you. 🙌🏾

#GhanaIndependenceDay #GhanaianAuthors  #AfricanLiterature #DiasporaReads #BooksByBlackAuthors
March is BLACK AUTHOR MONTH, the way these release March is BLACK AUTHOR MONTH, the way these releases are set up 😮‍💨🖤📚

I pulled together a full list of books by Black authors dropping in March, and it’s giving memoirs that heal, romances that spin you, thrillers that keep you up, poetry that blesses you, and nonfiction that feeds your brain.

Here’s what I need from you:

Comment “MARCH LIST” and I’ll send you the full list. 

Which title are you claiming first? 👀

Because, listen… we’re not letting this month pass without adding something Black, brilliant, and brand-new to our shelves.

#ThisBlackGirlReads #BlackAuthors #NewBookReleases #MarchReads #Bookstagram #BlackGirlReadingJoy #CanadianBookstagram #BlackWomenRead #BookList #TBR #ReadingCommunity
New month, new reading intentions for March 🌿📚 Th New month, new reading intentions for March 🌿📚

This month we’re reading with softness, honesty, and a lil bit of discipline (because the TBR not gonna read itself 😮‍💨).

 Drop yours below: what are you calling in for your reading life this month.

#ReadingIsRestAndResistance #ThisBlackGirlReads #ReadingCommunity
March is here, and we’re stepping into something t March is here, and we’re stepping into something tender.

After the beautiful turnout in February (still smiling about that room 😭🖤), I’m so excited to announce our next read: The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley.

If you’ve been craving community that feels like living room energy , not performance, this is your sign.

We’re reading.
We’re reflecting.
We’re growing.

Register through the link in my profile, or drop 'I'm in' and i'll send you the details. 

And if you were at the February book club, tell the people what they missed 👀✨
If i leave my house without my kindle, it's not a If i leave my house without my kindle, it's not a trip.... it's a mistake. 🤭🤦🏽‍♀️ 

Kindle girlies, tell the truth 👀 comment 'kindle girlie' if you never leave home without yours. 

Stickers from @da.book.nook

#kindlegirlie 
#thisblackgirlreads 
#blackbookstagram
Here's last month's reading recap. 10 books down Here's last month's reading recap. 

10 books down and I've officially passed my reading goal for the year. Excuse me while I rest 🫡

Journaling through my read has become my favourite ritual. 

#thisblackgirlreads #readingjournal #readingwrapup #bipocbooks
Logging books in my reading journal each month has Logging books in my reading journal each month has become one of my favourite things.

Last month I read 12 books, and surpassed my reading goal of the year. 

My favs last month: 

✨️ All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby 
✨️ The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson 
✨️ Don Caselli by Jahquel J

What should I read next??? 

#readingjournal #ReadingWrapUp #ThisBlackGirlReads
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