Wednesday Reads - 19/2/2020

What I’ve just finished reading:
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Loved it. Loved it, loved it. I have got to chase down some of Evaristo’s other books, especially Blonde Roots.

What I’m reading now:
Two Wings to Fly Away by Penny Mickelbury which I’d told myself was a romance, when it’s kind of not, but I’m still hoping for the HEA/HFN (there’s a sequel coming). It’s set before the US Civil War, in Philadelphia, and the reason I’m having to rejig my assumptions is that there’s a man getting all in the way of things - Ezra MacKaye is a far more important part of this story than he would be if it had been a straighforward f/f romance. He’s an interesting man, serving an interesting plot, but I’m just hoping he gets well out of the way when the time comes.

Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine. (Pretty sure her actual name is Amy Tan, but then I remembered that there’s another writer by that name, and her decision to go with her crafting brand as pen name made way more sense. And yes, I have read at least one book by other!Amy Tan.) This one is a personal development book, and thus doesn’t violate my “only finishing books by Black authors in February” rule, which I’m sticking to when it comes to fiction. Meanwhile, Tangerine is still an author of colour and I promise I am not making a pun there. Tangerine is well-known in scrapbooking circles and I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while. It’s good. It’s designed with journaling exercises in the book and I have no compunctions about writing, highlighting etc all over this book. And I’m doing exactly that.

Still going with Anne Boleyn, but it’s down the priority list right now (see February rule above).

What’s catching my eye on the TBR:

Part of my Valentine’s Day present from my wife was Murder on the Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (published in the US as The Widows of Malabar Hill, according to Goodreads). I’ve read Sujata Massey before (never realised she had a Minnesota connection, though!) but this is the beginning of a new series, set in Bombay in the 20s!

I don’t know whether I’ll get to it, but I do still want to start Anita Heiss’ Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms as part of my Black History Month reading. That way I’ll have one author each from the UK, US and Australia...