I should be talking books but it’s Oscars Weekend + Reading Journal 140326

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This is linkup with one of my favourite recurring book blog memes (though we talk more than books), Readerbuzz’s Sunday Salon. It’s Saturday in Antigua as I type this so I think I’ll jump into the latest of Friday’s Book Blogger Hop.

But you know what’s on my mind? The Oscars. Yes, they’re still in my bad books as they’ve been since the snubbing of The Woman King. But they’ve nominated my favourite film of 2025 and of several years, Sinners, for 16 Oscars, a record, and I can’t look away. Though, with the Academy’s track when it comes to Black and POC films, I might be rubbernecking a car crash as they play in our faces like they haven’t since the OG The Color Purple went home with zero wins from 11 nominations. I’m going to pack the cynicism away and be seated and optimistic Sunday night though; let’s see how it go!

As I type this, it hits me I might not be the Academy’s audience, after all I’ve only watched one of the 2020s best picture winners (2022 winner CODA) and I liked it despite ‘real cinephiles’ seeming to rank it lightweight compared to the other best picture winners of the decade …the ones I haven’t seen. Widening the lens to the century so far, I’ve seen a lot more of the best picture winners, 16/25 (lucky number 16 i.e. the number of noms that Sinners has), to date, 17/26 when Sinners wins (optimism, remember?!). Of the ones I’ve seen, my favourite (let’s say top 5) best picture winners of the 21st century so far have been

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Moonlight (2016)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Chicago (2002)
Spotlight (2015)

When Sinners wins it will easily be my number 1.

What are your best picture winners of the century and who are you rooting for Sunday night?

Okay on to the bookish things.

Read

Not a book but I finished another short story. “Picking Crabs in Negril” by Diana McCaulay, whose latest, A House for Ms Pauline, is high on my TBR. I also still need to get to Dog-Heart and Huracan having liked her writing since well before  Gone to Drift and Daylight Come. Click links for my reviews.

Reading

Today, I’ve been reading on and off, here and there, the Cambridge School Shakespeare The Tempest (print, p. 64) and The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (audiobook, narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, 3:46:14). I’ve been wanting to read the latter for a while but I knew it would be rough after reading the short story, speaking of short stories, “The Reformatory“, that preceded it in 2018 in The Boston Globe, so I’ve also been waiting. I don’t know that now is the right time given…everything…but I’m up to my knees in it now, praying I don’t drown before the story’s end.

Finally, if you’re reading this and you’re in Antigua, you have a week to get in on this giveaway of Recipe for Leaving by Shakeema Edwards on my facebook page.

The bloghop asks if there are any genres I’m shy about reading and the post interpreted it as genres you shy away from reading, which, for me, is probably The Secret type books (what genre is that?); but which I interpret as any genres I read that I am shy about admitting to. The answer to that is, not anymore. And I don’t read a lot of it (anymore) but there was a time I probably wouldn’t have claimed erotica and fan fic and erotic fan fiction but I’ve been over that for a long time…like what you love, love what you like as long as you’re not hurting anyone.

This section also includes libro.fm affiliate links.

In other life things, the week blew by, I can hardly think what happened…only that through it all books really have been my happy place. Each day I pluck one at random from my TBR and get excited, like which book am I going to take out today, like the book is a friend and we’re going out together as I …deal with activities related to my Dad, post-hospital, or various errands, or whatever. I also enjoyed a meet-up this week with my most recent intern (we talked about Sinners a lot lol) and an impromptu hang with a friend whose guava tree, all but dead a few years ago, has been very bountiful since it catch itself…every shut eye nah sleep, as we say. Another reminder that it pays to be optimistic, right? It’s not my nature but I’ll work on it in other areas of life …I guess (lol).

Let’s see, what else…

My favourite recent musical find is young Aretha Franklin singing “Mockingbird” (I’ve always loved the James Taylor/Carly Simon version but if you’re a regular here you may know Aretha is my favourite vocalist of all time; so this is definitely a find

& oh, yes, a story from home…home being here in the Caribbean…

This video, by Bahamian, US-based lawyer and content creator, Olurinatti, isn’t exclusively Caribbean but it includes Haiti, Grenada, and Guyana and feels especially relevant in light of the squeeze the Caribbean has been feeling from the US for the past year and change (e.g. bombings that have made fishermen afraid to venture out, unprecedented travel and visa restrictions, and aggressive interventions in and pressure in relation to the region’s relationship to Venezuela and Cuba which is believed to have most recently led to the end of decades-long medical cooperation between Cuba and Jamaica – and earlier, reportedly, my own country and Cuba). I don’t have any inside knowledge (only an awareness of the anxiety and uncertainty and anger in the region), so have tried to link some news sources.

But I’ll end with this

I’ve been collecting rainbows. They make the grey days brighter. See what I did there? That’s me trying some of that optimism.

Well That was Fast! Reading Journal 080326

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A day after my last reading journal, I’m back (per my plan to post to this journal whenever I finish reading something) because I’ve finished reading the 162 page Interviewing the Caribbean Vol. 5 No. 2. which features the cover of my book With Grace.

and includes an interview with me.

IC Vol. 5 No. 2Download

It has a lot more, of course, as I discuss in Blogger on Books.

There is also a new link to Paradise Once by Olive Senior, the first book I finished in 2026.

It’s been a rainy weekend here in Antigua and I’ve been trying to catch-up on some rest by prioritizing reading. Which, since my last post, includes –

Middlemarch by George Eliot (audiobook narrated by Juliet Aubrey, 8:36:03)
Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo (ebook, p. 59)
Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson (audiobook narrated by Ron Butler, 3:26:43, chapter 3)
All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (print, p. 85)

I’ve also been reading and revising my own writing but more on that to come in the Journaling Writing collection on my patreon.

Link ups:

It’s Monday, What are you reading? – covered.

Fantasy with Friends – and to answer this week’s question (What are your thoughts on fantasy adaptations of classic literature that originally had no fantasy elements?), Pages Unbound, it depends on how well it’s handled. I remember enjoying the gonzo energy of the movie Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the dark interweaving of reality and fiction in the book Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Much more so than the movie which was more action tropes, I think. This is more of a prequel than a rewrite but Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea, mentioned in my last post, along with the book it revisits Jane Eyre, specifically Mr. Rochester and the wife he keeps in the attic in a way that humanizes her and provides a less favourable take on him. I will add, since it’s mentioned earlier in the post, that when I wrote With Grace, which is a Caribbean faerie tale, a goal was to subvert the traditional/classic fairytale tropes. If you read it, let me know how you think I did.

*post includes bookshop.org and libro.fm affiliate links.

I’m Back, Baby; Reading Journal 070326

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My last Reading Journal and link up was mid-February, after a year of regular Sunday check-ins followed by a resolution to post book blogs only when I actually finish something. So you know what this means right? I’ve finished something. So, let’s link up (this post’s linkups will be with Readerbuzz at the Sunday Salon and Books are My Best and Favorite for Six Degrees of Separation) and talk about it.

Finished Reading

I finished reading Fences, the book publication of the play by August Wilson.

I had picked up the physical copy in the bargain bin of a bookstore that has since gone out of business (it may have been part of their going out of business sale). So it’s a bit bittersweet how it came to me but as someone who has enjoyed film adaptations of Wilson plays, I felt moved to finally read him. And I see why his ouevre is legendary and why this one in particular is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Fences, the movie, is on my to-watch list and I may feel more primed to do so now. Meantime, I’ve shared, not a full review, but my abridged thoughts on finishing Fences, the book, in 2026’s Quick Takes 2 in Blogger on Books.

Reading

Fences, you’ll note when you visit Blogger on Books 2026, is only the second book, alongside 9 short stories (already 5 more stories than I read in all of 2025), I’ve finished so far this year. I don’t feel stressed or pressured about it, I just want to continue to enjoy what I’m reading and I have to say my reading has been filled with moments of surprise and discovery, pain and rage, all towards a fullsome experience that I have been enjoying greatly.

That said, here is the other reading I’ve been doing between the last Journal and this one and where things currently stand with that reading –

(with my dad at the Sabga awards in 2023)

Anthony N. Sabga Awards – Caribbean Excellence 20 (physical book, p. 88) – this is the anniversary collection of the laureate programme that recognized me in the arts and letters category in 2023 per the image above.

Version 1.0.0
Version 1.0.0

Josephine against the Sea by Shakirah Bourne (e-book, p. 147) – and as I did on my Threads, where this month I’m doing a female writer a day after a month of doing a Black writer a day, for Black History Month and Women’s History Month, this week, I also want to shout out Shakirah on her latest release Here Lies A Ghost.

Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri (physical book, p. 75) – a book, a gift from someone who picked it up at a lit fest in Mumbai, I DNF’d some years ago and have now returned to; a reminder that DNFs are not necessarily forever.

Heated Rivalry: The Long Game #6 by Rachel Reid (audio, almost 1 hour in) – because, yes, I watched the show and then wanted to see how Ilya and Shane’s story continued.

Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020 by Ronald Cummings and Alison Donnell (e-book, p. 101) – this is a non-fiction book received, at my request, directly from one of the authors; yet I admit I’ve been skimming and skipping rather than reading every word or chapter.

Crossing Over by Ann Morgan (e-book, p. 189) – another request, with the book being graciously supplied by the author, a reading the world blogger, whose blog and previous book, Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer, I’d engaged with and enjoyed.

BIM: Arts for the 21st Century vol. 12 May 2025 (e-copy and physical book, p. 64) – I have both versions because I am a contributing author with a poem and two stories in this volume.

Maid for More by Kimolia Mings (physical book, p.126) – I don’t read a lot of pure romances these days but this is a local author whose poetry I’ve enjoyed and after featuring her in “CREATIVE SPACE #4 OF 2023: WRITING CARIBBEAN ROMANCE” , I was past due to engage with a longform version of her main genre, one of the most reliably popular genres in a shaky time in the book industry.

Interviewing the Caribbean Vol 5 No 2 (e-journal, p. 80) – I actually thought this would be the next thing I finished; I’m soooo close. Also you may have noticed that one of my books, with art by Cherise Harris, With Grace, is the cover image for the journal (not the last time I’ll say that in this post; what are gifts I never thought #thewritinglife would gift for $1,000,000, Alex)

Love Songs make You Cry by Lasana M. Sekou (physical book, p. 63) – This may actually be the MVP of this reading period because how have I had this book for so long and not realized how engaging it is.

Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo (e-book, p. 56) – Another author-supplied copy; not the only book I am currently reading by this author – I’ve purchased the others, I promise.

All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (physical book, p. 60) – like this one I bought during CARIFESTA, the Caribbean arts olympics, last Summer.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (e-book, 1:55:56) – This book is as good as I knew it would be and that ‘knowing’ is one reason I’ve taken my time to get to it because…the trauma.

Middlemarch by George Eliot (e-book, 3:59:22) – Sticking with it.

Cambridge School Shakespeare The Tempest (physical book, p. 60) – The first Shakespeare I read, back in secondary school, and it’s feeling slightly less like a foreign language this time around.

News of home

I still haven’t settled on a name for the paragraph I’ve been dedicating this year to news from home, my home, Antigua-Barbudan and the wider Caribbean, nor on what news specifically I’ll feature. But this weekly prompts colour challenge, the colour for March being yellow, which I learned about thanks to this post on my mutual-in-words Ivor’s blog, is a timely opportunity to share two cultural touchstones.

Peep the yellow? Okay, so this is Susie’s Hot Sauce. The Susie in question is Susannah Tonge, who started the brand here in Antigua in 1960. When I came to know it, I was a young reporter and the brand was going international, winning awards across hot sauce competitions in the US, under the stewardship of Ms. Tonge’s daughter, Rosie McMaster, a travel executive turned hot sauce entrepreneur. McMaster passed in January of this year. Management of the brand had reportedly already passed to her children who continued her flex of rolling out special editions. The most recent one, pictured, is of Team Antigua Island Girls, the first all-female, all-Black woman rowing team to row the Atlantic Ocean. Both Susie’s and Team Antigua Island Girls are cultural icons in Antigua-Barbuda, and agents of excellence. RIP, Rosie…and may your dream, once articulated to me, of building a farm to table heritage and agri- tourism venue built around Susie’s, one day be realized.

Okay, now to new things from…

Life

When I decided to share the pic, upthread of me and my dad, I figured I’d be mentioning (because why pretend that everything’s golden) that …I don’t know, ERs feel interminable…and hospitals and testing labs and all of it have the power to make you feel powerless. But my dad’s out of hospital and …I’m going to try to have faith that things will continue in that direction. That’s all on life.

This Blog (& My Patreon)

New CREATIVE SPACE Uploads (Yes, Plural)

Black History Month Reading List Abridged

(You’re not seeing double; my book, with art by Danielle Boodoo-Fortune, The Jungle Outside, as mentioned in the second linked post above, is the cover image for the current Collins secondary school catalogue)

My Patreon –

Journaling Writing 2 – If you’re a regular here, you know I use this series to track my own writing and hold myself accountable; it now comes with writing tips.

CREATIVE SPACE #5 OF 2026 – MANGO MEMORIES; CREATING CARIBBEAN FILM – My desire to keep the award winning CREATIVE SPACE art and culture series going now that it’s no longer platformed in my local newspaper is my main reason for pushing my Patreon so hard; so I hope, if you’re reading this, you’ll support, either with your coin by becoming a member, gifting memberships, or contributing in other ways, even simply passing on what you find there. I hope to continue to learn about and grow that space with great content and opportunities to create together while sustaining what I do as an independent writer.

What I’ve been listening to

Not so new. 80s Music mostly – it’s what I grew up on and maybe what I find comforting just now…or maybe, just maybe, it’s just the best music era ever.

What I’ve been watching

This YouTube short caught my eye

Before that, well, nothing’s pulled me out to the theatre in a minute; maybe if they returned Sinners to the big screen where I am before it sweeps the Oscars, #manifesting, I’d catch it a third time. I did catch two interesting Netflix watches. One was the Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. I was never a big reality TV person but I did catch some episodes of Top Model, so I am as complicit as anyone in the mess the series revealed. The other was a docu-film, Descendants, I had never heard of, about a fascinating part of American history I had no knowledge about, a town called Africatown in Alabama, started in the 1800s by illegally trafficked enslaved Africans and the search for the ship, Clotilda, that transported them and then was burnt and sunk to cover up the crime. A big recommend. I like how they used extracts from Zora Neale Hurston’s posthumously published Barracoon to tie the narrative together.

Beautiful shots, meaningful and poignant storytelling; why wasn’t this nominated for an Oscar? was it not eligible? Because…

Anyway, to end, Six Degrees.

I was going to do the six degrees book challenge, which I found out about when visiting What Cathy Read Next’s blog, using Zora or even my most recent read, Fences, but I see the rules require me to start with Wuthering Heights, a book I’ve never read. Never let it be said that I don’t embrace a challenge. I am, after all, a fan of the Micheaux Mission film channel on YouTube and their six degrees of D’urville Martin running efforts to connect the blaxploitation era actor to actor-picked-at-random from any era.

*cracks knuckles*

Wuthering Heights was written by Emily Brontë who is the sister of Charlotte Brontë who wrote, a favourite of mine, Jane Eyre, which prompted fan fiction about Bertha, Rochester’s wife, or the lady in the attic, that became the Caribbean classic Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Bear with me here but there was a film adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea in the ’90s starring Karina Lombard whom I remember from a couple of early 90s films, the most relevant to this chain being The Firm by John Grisham who had a chokehold on both book lovers and movie goers in this era, as he also wrote A Time to Kill which similarly became a big feature film co-starring Samuel L Jackson who was also in the recent Netflix-platformed adaptation of The Piano Lesson, which brings it right back to August Wilson, craftsman of that and my most recent read Fences.

*whooo*

Did it.

*This post contains affiliate links for bookshop.org and libro.fm meaning I should get a percentage of each purchase if you use the relevant links.

Black History Month Reading List Abridged

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February’s winding down but remember you can #ReadBlackBooks all year round. Books like…

(Cover of Collins’ Caribbean Schools 2026 catalogue, left, is
my children’s book The Jungle Outside, right)

This morning I revisited the CREATIVE SPACE #4 OF 2026 – A Black History Month Reader from a Caribbean Perspective & What Black History Month is to a Caribbean Person post on my patreon for an appearance on The Breakfast Show on ABS Radio.

(Promo flyer, left; me in the waiting room at ABS Radio, right)

See also my Appearances page and my Media page.

I singled out some of the books but not with any throughline, I don’t think – translation: internally, everything I said felt scattered and I know why; real life is real life-ing hard – but books/reading are my happy place; so as the day winds down and I try to soothe my …worry, join me there for a minute with my top 10 of personal favourites from the reading list you can read in fully on my Patreon.

  1. To Shoot Hard Labour: The Life and Times of Samuel Smith an Antiguan Workingman, 1877 – 1982 by Keithlyn and Fernando Smith
  2. New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent by Margaret Busby (editor) and 200 writers from Africa and the diaspora
  3. The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
  4. Book of Night Women by Marlon James
  5. From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969 by Eric Williams
  6. Victoire by Maryse Conde
  7. Triangular Road by Paule Marshall
  8. Is Just a Movie by Earl Lovelace
  9. Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
  10. My Stories have No Endings by Gayle Gonsalves

Caveat is I limited each author to one book as this might have been a favourite Danticat list or something. Also, looking up, I realize my top 10 is mostly Caribbean and as Black History Month, while mostly global now in some way or other wherever Black people are, more or less, was started in America by Carter G. Woodson in 1926 to address the erasure of Black people, the month, February, chosen to coincide with the birthdays of two Americans Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, I’ll also share some of my favourites by Black Americans here on Blogger on Books.

  1. The Known World by Edward P. Jones
  2. Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
  3. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  4. The Black Rose by Tananarive Due
  5. The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemison
  6. Passing by Nella Larsen
  7. brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woods
  8. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  9. James by Percival Everett
  10. Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston

I was also encouraged to talk about my own writing and writing inspiration, and to share a reading. While I talked about my books, an excerpt from my slavery era historical love story ghostly fiction “Black Gregory” seemed most appropriate to share. You can read it in BIM: Arts for the 21st Century, volume 12.

Remember to support my Patreon for more CREATIVE SPACE, Journaling Writing, and more to come. …soon as I can (this week hopefully); like I said life is life-ing.

New CREATIVE SPACE Uploads (Yes, Plural)

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Early Patreon access for CREATIVE SPACE #3 OF 2026 has ended and it is (mostly) available for free consumption on the CREATIVE SPACE wordpress platform.

CREATIVE SPACE #3 OF 2026 – THIS ART IS PRIMAL

In case you missed it, CREATIVE SPACE, my art and culture column, no longer appears in my local paper and I’ve now pivoted to a reader funded approach through patreon – hence, the early access, extras, and exclusives behind the paywall. I hope you’ll support so I can keep it going.

Meanwhile, you can already read CREATIVE SPACE #4 OF 2026, kicked off by my friend Cedric’s Black History Month reading list, on patreon; this one’s for free from me to you.

Do me a solid and pass it on. Thanks.

Reading Journal and Link Up (150226)

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This is this week’s reading journal and link up with the popular book blog memes The Sunday Salon hosted by Readerbuzz, The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Reviewer, and It’s Monday, What are you Reading? hosted by The Book Date. That’s right, I’m here two weeks in a row after last weekend’s reading journal.

I would say I’m on a roll but…well, you’ll see.

First, I came across a diverse reading challenge on Storygraph that I thought might be an interesting drop for the blog given that it’s Black History Month. I am planning a BHM themed reading list for my Patreon (where, sidebar, I have also migrated in addition to CREATIVE SPACE [early access and exclusives], my Journaling Writing series) and have been sharing a Black book a day from my Blogger on Books archives on Book Threads. But I thought I’d share here some of my responses to the Storygraph challenge, which I took it as an opportunity to ask and answer for myself are you reading diversely?

An interesting (perhaps redundant?) question to ask myself as a Black, female, Caribbean reader and writer, as these are identities outside of the book publishing and book reading mainstream. I already exist – as a writer, reader, and person – diversely. But at the time that I took the survey I was working on my 2025 year in reading and used it as an opportunity to evaluate the diversity of my year in reading and now I’m using it as an opportunity to share books from those responses that align with Black History Month edition. If interested in the list’s full range (which includes various genders, sexualities, races, religions, ethnicities, ideologies, issues, countries, continents), click the storygraph link in the previous paragraph. I’m showing the relevant covers and when titles repeat I’ll name them. For full reviews of any books pictured, check Blogger on Books. Where titles re

Fiction Book(s) by a Black Author – 8/18 (maybe?)

Non-Fiction Book(s) by Black Authors – 3/18

Books by Authors from Africa, set in their country – 0/18

I need to do better here – none is not enough.

Classic by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Authors – 1/18 (plus 1 remix of a classic)

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick stories Zora Neale Hurston plus a remix of a classic, Percival Everett’s James, a remix of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Memoirs/Autobiographies by influential BIPOC authors – 1/18

Kamala Harris’ 187 Days

Books with a Black illustrator – 1/18

Jamaica Kincaid’s An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children illustrated by Kara Walker

Books with a Person of Color on the Cover – 2/18 (3 if feet count)

Anacaona, Golden Flower, Haiti 1490 by Edwidge Danditact, The Diary of the Stray Dogs: The Wounded by Nigel Lynch author with illustrator Juan Carlos Francisco and colourist Edward ‘King’ Bola; and Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

Graphic novels by POC – 1/18

The Diary of the Stray Dogs: The Wounded by Nigel Lynch author with illustrator Juan Carlos Francisco and colourist Edward ‘King’ Bola

Books about the African-American experience – 5/18

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick stories Zora Neale Hurston, Percival Everett’s James, Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler, Kamala Harris’ 187 Days, and Homebodies by Tembe Denton-Hurst

Have you read any of these books? Will you, now that I’ve recc’d them? Do you have any recs for me?

Returning to this week’s reading…

I’ve made some progress on –

Mastering AI by Sonyque Suriel (physical book p. 24) – sigh

Fortune by Amanda Smyth (e-copy p. 221) – so close…so far

Cambridge School Shakespeare The Tempest (physical book p. 50) – this was actually my first Shakespeare in secondary school; am remembering that it was not my favourite…I’m just griping over the Elizabethan English, don’t mind me

Interviewing the Caribbean literary journal Vol 5 No 2 (e-copy p. 80) – thought I’d finish this but reading time is stolen time lol

Middlemarch by George Eliot (audio book 2:15:07) – allegedly

Naruto: Naruto’s Story―Uzumaki Naruto and the Spiral Destiny by Masashi Kishimoto and Jun Esaka (physical book p. 29) – really enjoying this book that technically belongs to my nephew (I bought it for him at Antiguacon two years ago and he hasn’t cracked it yet) more than I expected to

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (audiobook 3:46:13) – still enjoying even if the characters are frustrating

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (audiobook 6:55:00) – a really good read so far

As for what I finished, it’s…another short story…look, it is what it is. I shared my thoughts on “You Ok?” by Charlie Fish, a flash fiction, literally published in Flash Fiction magazine, in Blogger on Books – Quick Takes 2

I promised to share some news from my part of the world and today I’ve got two links; one, a throwback, is a BBC report on Caribbean Voices, the programme credited with jumpstarting or popularizing Caribbean literature in the early to mid 20th century; one, a sign of our times, from Caribbean Life, “Jamaican Students exit Cuba amidst Deepening Crisis” – the crisis being “a string of recent sanctions from the U.S., including efforts to starve the country of crucial fuel supplies”. Good times.

Let’s end on an artier note with what I’ve been listening to …

Jill Scott’s new album To Whom It May Concern on Spotify; peep this from her promotional run…

I think this may be my favourite Jill Scott album after her debut Who is Jill Scott? and the live album Experience Jill Scott 826 that followed.

& watching; i.e. this hilarious Oscar nominated period short…

As for my own writing, I’ve been doing some of that this week finally thank God and I’ll be Journaling Writing over on my Patreon if you want to keep up with or support that part of my journey. Either way, thanks for hanging. I appreciate you.

Post includes libro.fm affiliate links.

Heads up! Early Access to Primal CREATIVE SPACE Caribbean art and culture column Now Available (on Patreon) & Reading Journal (080226)

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Early Access to Primal CREATIVE SPACE Caribbean art and culture column Now Available (on Patreon)

&, while I’m sharing something I worked on that I hope you’ll read, I can also share that I myself have finished reading the first set of stories shortlisted for the 2025 Commonwealth prize and posted on their Adda platform. Making my last 5 stories read “Beasts” by Tess Little, “Broken String” by Stephen M. Finn, “A Room Full of Teddy Bears” by Dorechi, “Bread and Butter” by Dushi Rasiah, and “Final Effort of the Wind” by Gillian Leasunia Katoanga linked through BLOGGER ON BOOKS XIV (2026) – QUICK TAKES 1 or the main BLOGGER ON BOOKS XIV (2026). That’s just issue 1 of 4 issues to get through 20 shortlisted stories. I previously read and talked about the 5 stories that moved on to become regional winners in BLOGGER ON BOOKS XIII (2025) – GRANTA: COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE REGIONAL WINNERS 2025.

As for what else I’ve been reading,

I’ve made several attempts to continue Middlemarch by George Eliot and have mostly, I think, zoned out or fallen asleep, rewinding my way through to 1:27:38 in terms of time – it’s an audiobook and, for what it’s worth, I know enough about my audiobook reading patterns to know it’s my fault, not the book’s.

I’ve restarted Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson, read by Ron Butler, five or so times, case in point, but I think I’m in it now; I’m up to chapter 2, 1:29:42 in terms of time.

I’m allowing myself to slowly (no pressure in a week where I’ve been hard on myself and dealt with pain flare ups) continue BIM: Arts for the 21st Century, volume 12 (print and e-copy, p.46)

I’m beginning (just as the week ended with a friend’s birthday and a post-birthday lime) to see the finish line of Fortune by Amanda Smyth (e-book, p. 205)

I’m enjoying Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, an audiobook with a mix of voices (including Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer etc), in part because my brain is treating it like Fleetwood Mac fanfic; love Fleetwood Mac. I’m about 2 hours 57 minutes in.

I’m continuing to appreciate the narratives in the Anthony N. Sabga Awards – Caribbean Excellence 20, the laureate programmes 20th anniversary publication, in a week where the newest cohorts of laureates (including Barbados’ Sheena Rose, an accomplished visual artist, the latest arts and letters laureate, my lane) were announced. So, “Five Caribbean leaders honored with 2026 Anthony N. Sabga Excellence Awards” from Repeating Islands is this post’s promised Caribbean news headline, because I feel like sharing some good news. Fun fact: Sheena was one of the first artists I ever intereviewed for my CREATIVE SPACE column, back when it ran in the LIAT inflight magazine – as a reminder, the column continues through Patreon and will continue to continue with your support (hint hint).

I’m inching along in Creole Clay: Heritage Ceramics in the Contemporary Caribbean by Patricia J. Fay (physical book, p. 36), All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (physical book, p. 55), 𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘦’𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘦: 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 (e-copy, p. 51), and Mastering AI by Sonyque Suriel (physical copy, p.23) – my irritation at this week’s barrage of AI cartoons in my social media feeds is my latest reminder that this work read is hardening, not softening, me on AI.

& as if my current list of active books, never mind my TBRs and wish lists, isn’t already unweildly, I received the copy of Offset Book 2: Children of the Gulf by Delvin Howell and Hans Steinbach I won in the Light in the Cracks giveaway on Instagram, shortly after I’d featured the graphic novel writer (Howell) in CREATIVE SPACE.

That’s it (the only activity on the blog since last Sunday has been …pretty epic actually, check it out) and this is my link up with Stacking the Shelves, the Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon book blog memes. Until next time.

*post contains affiliate links to libro.fm and bookshop.org

I have NEWS! re CREATIVE SPACE and More

/ jhohadli / Leave a comment

This is me on a call with a publisher this week discussing one of the book projects that’s occupied my last few years – can’t say more than that right now (there are still details to be negotiated and solidified) but it was a happy call.

Secondly, the January 2026 CREATIVE SPACE summary is up here on the blog and on the CREATIVE SPACE platform. CREATIVE SPACE, if you’re a regular here, you know is my art and culture column spotlighting Antiguan and Barbudan (where I am) and Caribbean (where I also am) and global (as relates to who I am; a Black woman) topics. It predated but has run as a column in the Daily Observer by Newsco since 2020. But as stated in the post summary, that arrangement has come to an end and the column will become the first regular series on my Patreon – launched December 2025 – where it will be available for early access along with the extras, exclusives, and more. The reader-supported model of independent media is becoming even more vital as the ground beneath traditional media gets shakier and shakier; if you’re reading this, I’m hoping my patreon and the mission to keep this column going (and do other things) can count on your support.

This isn’t a blogger on books update (though you should definitely check out my last read if you haven’t already). But, as I’ve shared, I’m holding Reading Journal posts for when I have finished a book and have something to share. That said, I do have a book review to share – only it’s about one of my books, Musical Youth…

“Musical Youth is a wonderful coming of age novel told over one summer. …I really enjoyed this read, even though I spend some time looking up some of the phrasing used to make sure I understood what the characters were saying. It is 100% a YA coming of age novel, with a sweet romance that pretty much ends at holding hands, but that is at the same time so strong and supportive, that many grown-ups can learn a thing or two about communication. But it is not just that story of a summer romance. There is a lot of social commentary (particularly around caribbean colourism) that taught me so much while not being too obvious. It explores the bonds of friendship, mostly that of young teenage boys, and coming out of peer pressure. It teaches us that, as long as there are people who care, whether it is a local teacher, priest or radio dj, youth can accomplish so much.” – booksdiceandeverythingnice & one of the responses “Wonderful review! This is one of my favourite books. Glad you liked it.”

I’ve used my bookshop.org affiliate link in the paragraph above and I am also a libro.fm affiliate which has some February offers I want to tell you about. Both platforms support independent bookstores (with Libro.fm, you choose which bookstore you want to support – mine is the African American Literature Book Club) and as an affiliate I should get a percentage of any sale using my link. & if you purchase libro.fm’s annual membership plan, using the SWITCH promo code, via my affiliate link, you get two free audio books. If you need Black History Month suggestions, check their Black Authors link; I checked the books they have listed and some of the ones I’ve read and reviewed in Blogger on Books are Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (review), The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin (review), James by Percival Everett (review), The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (review), An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (review), Fledgling by Octavia Butler (review), 107 Days by Kamala Harris (review), and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (review), I’ll stop there, but seriously, read Black books, and read diversely, all year round.

So no new reviews but links to past reviews – I think that qualifies this post for the Chocolate Ladies Book Review Blog’s Throwback Thursday Link-up! Didn’t think I’d be doing a link-up when I started writing this but there you have it.

Last thing I want to share is one of the best musical tributes I’ve seen in a while, ICYMI

Back so soon? (Reading Journal, 010226)

/ jhohadli / 1 Comment

Hi,

I didn’t expect to be back here so soon after my January 26th reading journal, but I did hope to finish a book in January; so this is close – my first book of February and first completed book of the year. & I’m here because I did say that’s when I’d post and link up, when I had finished something and had something to share.

It’s Sunday which is right on time for Caffeinated Reviewer’s Sunday Post, Readerbuzz’s Sunday Salon, and Cocoon of Books’ Best of the Bunch So…

Let’s go.

Read –

Paradise Once by Olive Senior (fiction; audio book narrated by Almarie Guerra)

we feel the stakes, even more than they do as we have the benefit of knowing what they cannot know

That’s a teaser and here’s a link to my review in Blogger on Books.

New Books/Reading Material –

Caribbean in the news – Something I thought I would add to this section, as I myself try to keep up, because, in the moment we’re in, my book space is not disconnected from the real world (much as I sometimes want it to be), is a link to a news item (local and Caribbean, ideally, but branching out to international press if necessary). Starting with, Funding cuts force Caribbean conservation groups to pivot strategies, Program Manager says Excerpt: “International funding cuts linked to geopolitical shifts have forced environmental organizations across the Caribbean to scale back operations, lay off staff, and restructure projects, according to a local conservation leader.”

Books I’ve been reading this week include Josephine against the Sea (fiction, e-copy, p. 140) by Barbadian writer Shakirah Bourne; Miri’s Magic Recipe (non-fiction, e-copy, p. 50) by Antiguan writer Miriam Samuel; Jane and Louisa will soon come Home (creative non-fiction/fiction hybrid, physical copy, p. 16) by Jamaican writer Erna Brodber; and Walking after Midnight: A Journey to the Heart of Nashville (non-fiction, physical copy, p. 113) by Zimbabwean writer Lauren St. John.

& journal read this week is BIM: Arts for the 21st Century vol. 12 (e-and-physical copy, pgs. 44-45)

As for my Best of the Bunch for January 2026, there are three contenders. Only they’re not books. See, I read three short stories in January, each of which you can read about in my Best of the Books quick takes, and my best of the bunch is “A Grave of Fireflies” by Nosaka Akiyuki.

Re my writing –

No writing, to be honest, since my last post. But it has not been without writing related news – a rejection that came with a nice note (“This story pulled me so deep into an unfamiliar world…could spend a whole novel with the main character”); a nice note (“such an original and engaging story”) that came with an acceptance …but too early in the process to say more than that. Speaking of, there’s another maybe-acceptance (of a “beautiful piece”)…maybe because sometimes there’s a yes, then the line goes silent or you’re left on hold. This journey is really a roller coaster; highs and lows and curve balls…just gotta keep writing which I am admittedly not doing enough of, and submitting.

That’s all for now.

A reminder to support for my Patreon and thanks if you already have.

Also a reminder that book mentions may include libro.fm or bookshop.org affiliate links from which I should get a percentage if you click and buy.

Reading Journal 260126

/ jhohadli / 2 Comments

My last one of these was on January 4th 2026 and I wasn’t in a great place; and, don’t get me wrong, the world is still a shit show but…I’m coping. Actually, it being my birthday month, the days around that were quite lovely, and today, I’m actually feeling energized, though recently thrown another curve ball. I’ve been listening to a lot of Short Shirt and BeeGees – one reminding me that we must fight always; one reminding me that the world still has beautiful melodies; both a reminder that we must dance, literally and figuratively.

After a year of near weekly Sunday Posts and Sunday Salons, and regular contributions to It’s Monday, What are you reading and Stacking the Shelves, I did decide to step back; though I will post other things, I’ll be posting reading journals only when I’ve finished something. Which is what brings me here today.

Here’s what’s up.

Read –

“A Grave of Fireflies” by Nosaka Akiyuki, an e-copy of a short story written/published in 1967 about a young boy and his sister trying to survive World War 2 in a Japan under heavy bombing. Heartbreaking. I have to brace myself to check out the 1988 film which I believe is on Netflix.

I’ll share if I do; meanwhile, click for my take on the story and other stories I’ve posted so far this year in Blogger on Books Quick Takes 1

New Books/Reading Material –

I’ve got my hands on an e-copy of another Akiyuki story “American Hijiki” and used my libro.fm* credit to get Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory audiobook. I’ve previously read/watched her Black horror short stories (“The Knowing” and the short film version of The Reformatory) and short films (“Danger Word”, “Lost”), and blogged one of her non-horror books The Black Rose (print) about the life of Madame C J Walker. I’ve been longing to AND dreading reading The Reformatory for a while, so it’s good AND terrifying to now have it in hand…so to speak.

I have, meanwhile, already started listening to audio ofHeated Rivalry: Game Changers #2; I’m almost two hours in, prompted by the series which has my timeline atwitter .

Other reads –

& here’s what else I’ve been reading likkle likkle, bit by bit…


-books-
Caribbean Literature in Transition, 1970–2020 by Ronald Cummings and Alison Donnell (e-book, p. 99…more or less; mostly skimming)
Anthony N Sabga Awards – Caribbean Excellence 20 (physical book, p. 52)
Sweet Cherie by Maëlla K. (e-book, p. 87)
All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (physical book, p. 53)
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (audio book, 4+ hours in…it was more like 5 hours but I had to rewind)
Creole Clay: Heritage Ceramics in the Contemporary Caribbean by Patricia J. Fay (physical book, p. 36)
Freedom Song by Amit Chaudhuri (physical copy, p. 60)
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (audio book, a little over 20 minutes in)
Paradise Once by Olive Senior (audiobook, almost 4 hours in)
The Way We Are, A Cultural Exploration of Antigua and Barbuda, So arwe tap, by Joy Lawrence (physical books, p. 32)
The Illustrated Story of Pan by Kim Johnson (physical book, p. 182)
Maid for More by Kimolia Mings (physical book, p.114)
The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (audio, over 40 minutes in)

-plays-
El Numero Uno by Pamela Mordecai play (e-copy, p. 33)
Fences by August Wilson (print book, p. 78)
Cashpandora by Kendel Hippolyte (e-copy, p. 3)

-journals-
BIM: Arts for the 21st Century vol. 12 May 2025 (print book, pgs. 44-45) – remember I have two stories in this one & a reader just told me “I really liked both of them, but especially “Black Gregory”
Interviewing the Caribbean Vol 5 No 2 (e-book, p. 78)
2025 Commonwealth short story prize shortlist (e-copy about 4 stories deep)

-other-
Bravo! Spanish for the Oral Exam by Ana Maria Plymen (print, p. 11)
Encanto Jumbo Coloring and Activity Book

Re my writing –

I started a story on my birthday. I’m just under 3,000 words deep and hope to return to it before my birthday month is over. Fingers crossed as this month is literally blowing by. In the interim though I’ve returned to play revisions put on hold last November due to book revisions, with the goal of FINALLY getting it to the playwright I workshopped with last summer who offered to look at it when I was done with revisions. I’ve dipped into my other WIPs, I’ll call them StoneSpring and Caribbean Wedding for now, and done some other scribbles, one, a poem, “The villain is a hero only in his own mind”, shared as an extra with my first CREATIVE SPACE of the year, “CREATIVE SPACE #1 OF 2026:  IS THE ART WE’RE CREATING MEETING THE MOMENT WE’RE IN?”

My other CREATIVE SPACE of January 2026, “CREATIVE SPACE #2 OF 2026:  ON MUSIC DOCS AND FILM CULTURE“, as it turns out, will be the last appearance of the column in my local newspaper – but stay tuned, I plan to keep it going online.

My Patreon will be a part of that plan; so support if you can.

patreon.com/jhohadli

*page includes libro.fm affiliate links which means I should get a percentage from each sale made using that link.