I’m knitting a tank top—At least, I hope I am. We shall see what the end result is…

#knitting #knitknot

Just had one in my field getting pestered by two American Kestrels. So neat

On my TBR, for sure!

What a fantastic goal to read the works of one author through the year. Both authors on my TBR—I’ll be starting with Keegan.

If Beale Street Could Talk - James Baldwin
Audiobook 🎧
Length: 7 hr 7 min
Published: 1974
Genre(s): historical fiction
Accessed through Libby 📚

"Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind."

"It's a miracle to realize that somebody loves you."

"Our streets have days, and even hours."

James Baldwin's classic novel is a romance with the antagonist being the American justice system. Tish and Fonny are young lovers in 1970s Harlem, seeking a home of their own when Fonny is arrested for a violent crime that he could not have committed. Tish and Fonny's story evokes every emotion at some point - joy, tears, anger, and awe. By the end, I was left wanting more, which seems to be a common thread among the reviews I read. Baldwin's portrayal of Harlem is at the same time critical but loving, and I love books where the setting has a characterization of its own. I have not read much of Baldwin beyond some of his essays, but would love to read more from him in the future.

Happy reading, and happy birding 🐦

Bird highlights: "I walked out, to cross these big, wide corridors I’ve come to hate, corridors wider than all the Sahara desert. The Sahara is never empty; these corridors are never empty. If you cross the Sahara, and you fall, by and by vultures circle around you, smelling, sensing, your death. They circle lower and lower: they wait. They know. They know exactly when the flesh is ready, when the spirit cannot fight back. The poor are always crossing the Sahara. And the lawyers and bondsmen and all that crowd circle around the poor, exactly like vultures. Of course, they’re not any richer than the poor, really, that’s why they’ve turned into vultures, scavengers, indecent garbage men, and I’m talking about the black cats, too, who, in so many ways, are worse."

Tags:
#Bookstodon #Bookish #BookCommunity #BookReviews #BookReview #BookRec #BookRecommendations #IfBealeStreetCouldTalk #JamesBaldwin #BlackLit

Hey there, I'm Megan and hoping to find some friends in the bookish community here! Featured is my stack of library books for the month that I desperately need to get underway. Here also are a few things about me just to get it started. Happy Superb Owl Day! 🦉 🏈

Location: North Texas
What I do for work: social worker at a non-profit hospice
Pets: 3 dogs - Otis, Pippa, and Luna - and 2 birds - Echo and Sunny
Favorite book: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Preferred genres: nature writing, literary fiction, mystery
Favorite reading spots: in bed, on a reclined chair outdoors
Other pastimes: Birding, cross stitching when I feel like it, playing coop games with my husband, hiking
Travel goals shortlist: CA redwoods, Ireland, Maine and Nova Scotia, 100 Acre Wood in the UK, New Zealand, Arizona, Cuernavaca - though really I'm up for a road trip just about anywhere 😅
Other random facts:
- I'm left-handed
- I'm a very introverted Enneagram 9w1 and trying to work on my habit of inertia 🙃
- longtime vegetarian but half-hearted vegan at times; trying to get my diet together is tough because I'm bad about scavenging odd ingredients at home before they spoil. If I were a bird, I think I'd be a vulture 😅

@Justgiveusaname I watched it so long ago, I need a rewatch. But it is an incredibly heart breaking story 😢 Almost finished reading…

Feel like I entered into a story—keep it going! :)

So glad to see you over here, Megan! :) There are definitely some bookish folks over here (and lots of bird photographers!). It’s different finding people/interests through searching hashtags, but I remember that’s how it was on old IG :)

Dippers are so neat!

Reading The Color Purple for a banned book club. How have I never read this before?! (I do recall seeing the movie as a teen, I think.) I’m about halfway through and it is so heartbreaking—and yet, it has the relief of humor throughout. A tough read, and so well done.

#books #bookstaverse #fedibooks #alicewalker #amreading #bookstafed #reading

Sounds lovely! I’m hoping to pick up a knitting project I started and stopped a couple years ago—a cotton tank top. Seems like a good project to get back to knitting.

Just finished the second book today, and liked it better than the first. I’ll be interested to see how I feel about the third when it comes out.

Yes! I love the visual-ness of StoryGraph :)

So cute! 🥰

Nice with the snow-covered branches. And that sound! 🖤

Such a good capture! Love Osprey

Happy Caturday from Wisp and a watchful Hunka Munka :)

#cats #caturday #fedicats

These are worthwhile attempts, cuz…ramen

@absolute_quantum Almost too cute—except when she’s attacking us, but even then…still cute ;)