Friday Finds in a weekly blog event (hosted here) were particpants post their weekly finds. I do something a little different. Friday is one of the only days of the week that I allow to add books to my TBR. Most of these books I find from other book blogs on the web and sometimes from Shelfari or GoodReads.
Whether she is describing her restricted but romantic courtship with Rashid -- when letters were like dates, like "whispers on the slow, blue-light dance floor" -- or riding the bus upstate with the other wives and girlfriends, asha bandele creates haunting
images and reflections so powerful and unique that they beg to be reread and savored. At the same time that she recalls the extreme ups and downs that
accompany a relationship constantly scrutinized by guards and surveillance cameras, she confronts her own dark secrets and sadness. The love of a man with an ugly past but a firm belief in redemption is what heals her broken spirit and grants her the courage and confidence to embrace life again.
Something Like Beautiful by Asha Bandele
From the author of The Prisoner's Wife, a poetic, passionate, and powerful memoir about the hard realities of single motherhood
When Asha Bandele, a young poet, fell in love with a prisoner serving a twenty-to-life sentence and became pregnant with his daughter, she had reason to hope they would live together as a family. Rashid was a model prisoner, and expected
to be paroled soon. But soon after Nisa was born, Asha's dreams were shattered. Rashid was denied parole, and told he'd be deported to his native Guyana once released. Asha became a statistic: a single, black mother in New York City.
On the outside, Asha kept it together. She had a great job at a high-profile magazine and a beautiful daughter whom she adored. But inside, she was falling apart. She began drinking and smoking and eventually stumbled into another relationship, one that opened new wounds. This lyrical, astonishingly honest memoir tells of her descent into depression when her life should have been filled with love and joy. Something Like Beautiful is not only Asha's story, but the story of thousands of women who struggle daily with little help and much against them, and who
believe they have no right to acknowledge their pain. Ultimately, drawing inspiration from her daughter, Asha takes account of her life and envisions for herself what she believes is possible for all mothers who thought there was no way out—and then discovered there was.
From Readspace.
Morzart's Ghost by Julia Cameron
Meet Anna, a thirtysomething Midwesterner living alone in New York City. A schoolteacher by day, she is a medium by night, covertly helping people reunite with their lost loved ones. Anna leads a double life, guarding her secret as much as she guards her heart—until Edward, a gangly yet quietly handsome concert pianist, moves into her building.
Edward’s music fills Anna’s apartment with beautiful sounds that disturb her concentration and her lines of communication with ghosts. She and Edward fall for each other fast, but Anna is conflicted: By exposing her true identity, does she risk losing what may be her true love? And is music really his true love? Then a ghost begins to interfere—Mozart’s ghost—and while making a pest of himself to Anna, he begins to play matchmaker with unpredictable results....
An enchanting and irresistible love story in the tradition of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Mermaid Chair, Mozart’s Ghost will win Julia Cameron a whole new galaxy of fiction readers.
From Fresh Ink Books (Read the review, it is much better than what google books has).
Abigail is brought as a teenager to London from Nigeria by relatives who attempt to force her into prostitution. She flees, struggling to find herself and save her lover.
Thank you for visiting my blog & the shout-out! I've been meaning to read Chris Abani for a long time and have heard great things about his writing.
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