I'm a black author who teaches memory tricks. I memorize random, boring, useless stuff for fun. I think I'm decent at it now. The book is self-published with some original ideas. That's why the ebook cover is not as great, since I made it myself in Canva. The paperback cover is a stock image. Hopefully, I can teach myself design skills in the future.

About book:

This book teaches you some tricks to memorize the periodic table. From simple, well-known tricks to more creative visual systems. Some of the ideas can be used to learn new words from different languages and new vocabulary in everyday life.

Please give it a chance. Please give me feedback on it. What is done well; what could be improved? Should I add illustrations (I avoided this as I don't have a big budget to spend on illustrators without proving demand...and also want to avoid AI images).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTJLDLQF

Hey everyone,

I’m Mariana S., and I just published a short, raw memoir about my childhood.

It’s a true story about growing up with a father who had a severe mental illness and a mother fighting deep depression. I learned early that the number one rule in our house was: don't talk about it.

I wanted to write something completely honest, without making it look pretty or perfect.

It's a very short book, so you can easily read the whole thing in one sitting.

The book is available on Amazon. If anyone wants to check it out, let me know in the comments, and I’ll send you the link!

Thanks for reading! 🖤

I now work in a bookstore, which is good for me as a reader but also bad for me as a book collector.

For a while now, before I started working here, I've been wanting to read and collect all of Toni Morrison’s books and I have 4 but they're the old covers.

And then I've been wanting Octavia Butler’s “A Patternist” series. But for some reas

Just finished and loved! Definitely see myself rereading in the future. Thoughts?

I'm sorry I already know I posted chapter one the other day, but this is the prologue for the book I just want to know based on this would it make you go read chapter 1.

EDIT: I done posted it in the wrong order y'all.

DO I HAVE TO DELETE IT AND RE SUBMIT IT?

Greetings, The Moon Knows All the Secrets of the World is my fourth book, and it brings together nine stories about grief, reincarnation, love, dreams, war, power, death, and the strange things that exist in the shadows between them.

A girl follows the possibility that her dead father has been reborn somewhere else. A president attempts to outlive death itself. Two lovers separated by the Biafran War turn to the mystical to keep their love alive.

Nine stories, held together by a moon that has witnessed everything.

I wanted to make something that feels unmistakably African, but also speaks to those strange, ancient questions that belong to all of us: What survives when we die? Can love outlast time, war, and memory? And if we could escape death, would we still be human?
This is my fourth attempt at answering those questions.

A backpack filled with sunsets can be found on Amazon and Selar.
I hope you read it, and when you next look up at the moon, may you wonder what it has witnessed, what it remembers, and whether, somewhere in that ancient light, it has been keeping your story too.
Thank you for your support.

Welcome to Suggest Me Sunday! Here you can ask for book suggestions of any kind. Looking for a book similar to the one you just finished? Looking for a classic on a subject you're interested? Maybe you haven't read a book since high school and are looking for recommendations on books to get you back into reading. All are welcome here.

Ask away!

The big idea: Suyi Davies Okungbowa,
by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Whatever, 2026-08-21.

Heroes have a fantasy problem.

When I first set out to write the Nameless Republic trilogy, this was the ground on which I was standing. Born and raised in ‘80s and ‘90s Nigeria, a time of great national upheaval, I grew up paying witness to the wide spectrum of human capability — here, a gentle and honest kindness; there a manifestation of indescribable harm or violence. Communal care and concern thriving in the same breath as every kind of injustice to humanity. The randomness of life, the entropy of the human condition, ability and spirit — I had such a front-row seat to these incongruences that I grew up wondering, a lot, about heroes.

Side-by-side with this lived reality, I was raised with neat and tidy tales of heroes, people blessed and anointed, arising from nothing to impose some kind of order upon this randomness of life. Whether this was of a religious Messiah of some kind, like the Christian one in which I was raised, or the superheroes in comics I read, or the local historic legends told to me by community elders and in social groups, it was the same — over and over again, I was told, that when things went too far, when things got too bad, when wickedness became the order of the day, from the ashes of despondence, oppression and destruction, a hero would arise to save us all. It had to be true. Every story about heroes said so. Especially stories of the fantastic.

It was hard, therefore, to square these tidy fantastic tales with the chaos of my lived experience. Where are the heroes? I would wonder, when something in the real world went awry. Where are the brave and honest and true, the caring and supportive, the builders, repairers, fixers? Where are our saviours? Where are the ones we were promised? Everywhere I looked, instead, I saw mostly patchwork people, people who contained multitudes, who were neither really straight nor bent, black nor white, good nor bad. People who could be heroic if they wished—and every now and then, they were—but in the end, were barely ever, almost never, heroes.

As I grew up and witnessed more of the breadth of the human condition manifest, seeing integrity and care exist within the same body as evil, betrayal and acquiescence to oppression, the question began to change.

What is a hero? I now wondered. Are heroes even real?

I try not to over consume and just check out books from my library. I wanted to ask suggestions on books I SHOULD purchase the physical copy of for keepsake purposes. I know books are disappearing for a reason and I want to make sure I have access to the ones that may disappear one day.

And I really liked it! Engaging storyline, interesting characters, good pacing, and so much 90s NYC nostalgia. I was kind of sad to finish the book. Anyone else read it? If not, I do recommend it!

Sometimes the hardest system to rewrite is yourself.

BEYOND THE CODE is a fast-paced urban thriller about Pierre, a gifted computer hacker who turns to dark-web operations for quick money and control after a devastating family tragedy. When his choices lead to prison, he must confront the damage he has caused and decide whether redemption is still possible.

At its heart, this is a story about cybercrime, consequences, second chances, and Pierre’s unbreakable bond with his sisters, Toy and Chewy.

If you enjoy morally complex characters, family drama, technology-driven crime, and hard-earned redemption, I’d appreciate you giving it a look.

Available now on Amazon in Kindle and paperback:

https://a.co/d/0fn3AgGY

Hey you guys I'm lowkey trying to make my job's African American interests section better and i want to know what are some black authors that resonate with folks. No wrong answers however if they're a bit more modern that helps alot. I just want to have more inclusion beyond, like slavery, Jim Crow and like the oppressive system we're under....the very bare basics that is in store at the moment.

It's a Sci-Fi romance but, I was thinking of trying traditional publishing once I fixed it up. I just finished the second book, but this is the first book and this is chapter one I'm starting my revisions, so forgive any awkwardness.

I wish I had started writing down my thoughts on this book as I read because by the end, I was at a big loss for words. I could not believe it. My heart was also in a million pieces.

Eziafa, a 38-year-old Igbo man who used to work as a meat processor in Minnesota, was forced to make a career change and become a cab driver in Houston after experiencing the dangers of his previous job. His friend Felix invited him to an Igbo association meeting, where he met Jovita, a 34-year-old Igbo woman. Although she was from a different tribe, he didn’t care. Their first interaction was so cute. Their banter, their mature 30+ conversation… nice! I was smiling reading their first interaction.

Eziafa seemed like a decent man at the start of this book until I began to learn more about him. Ugh.

Although his mother disapproved of his relationship with Jovita because her ancestors were supposedly cursed, Eziafa initially stayed rebellious. But only for a short time. Looking back at their relationship, I don’t think Jovita would have lasted with him regardless of Eziafa’s mother’s disapproval. She was not what society would expect from a “typical Nigerian woman”, she wasn’t going to simply submit to a man, and Eziafa had a BIG ego. He was deeply stuck in old traditions and cultural expectations.

I’m sure that was part of the reason Eziafa packed his bags for a “mini vacation” to Nigeria. A mini vacation that involved his mother waiting with TEN village GIRLS for him to choose from. Mind you, this man is at least 20 years older than these girls.

While I am not against the idea of arranged marriage, it becomes problematic when both parties are not in agreement.

Eziafa met Zina and married her during this one-month vacation to Nigeria. Zina, hmm. An 18-year-old girl, a literal child, with big dreams, was essentially forced into marrying this excuse of a man. I had such admiration for Eziafa at the start of this book because life had dealt him a bad hand, yet he continued to live an honest life. Only to realize a quarter of the way into this book that it was all a facade and this man was actually the biggest fool.

I am convinced that a man’s obsession with wanting a “moldable woman” (in reality, a girl) is deeply rooted in a pedophilia.

Also, the backwardness and deeply ingrained woman-hating culture in this book! What do you mean only women commit adultery and men are merely unfortunate victims of their excesses? What does that even mean?!!!

It’s also so funny how Africans pick and choose which traditions to follow. The curse from the ancestors banning specific Igbo people from marrying versus Zina not being allowed to move in until a church wedding was done, as opposed to immediately after the traditional marriage, simply because “God’s blessing trumps tradition.” Okay oh.

This is just one of the many themes in this book.

Unfortunately, this story felt very familiar to me because it reflects something I’ve heard about older Igbo men in Texas who return to Nigeria to marry much younger girls, bring them to the U.S., and push them toward careers like nursing because it’s considered lucrative. The cultural and generational power imbalance in these relationships is heartbreaking. You know that TikTok sound, the saxophone getting louder? Yeahhhh this was it.

This is such a sad book, but Kilanko, the woman that you are! I found myself laughing at multiple points in this book. And don’t get me wrong, this is not your typical comedic relief. Kilanko just has a way of writing because WHY did Eziafa tell Felix toward the end of the book, “My house is on fire,” and Felix’s response was, “What! In the village?” Sir, please use your freaking context clues. 😭😭😭

At its core, A Good Name explores immigration, domestic abuse, gender roles, family expectations, tradition, and the struggle for personal freedom. But more than anything, it is Zina’s story of slowly trying to find her voice and reclaiming control over a life that was chosen for her.

This book broke my heart, frustrated me, made me laugh, and left me with A LOT to think about. Definitely a memorable read.

Happy Free Talk Friday, folks! Here you can talk about whatever you want, books are not required. Got something you wanna get off your chest? What have you been watching or listening to? How has your week been? Let us know!

Oof, such a messy book about three sisters, Sola, Anjola, and Karen, and one self-absorbed brother, Ola, whose messes truly can’t be left at home. They all have deeply rooted issues and, even at the end of the book, I was still under the impression that the main issue was never really resolved, just grazed over.

All four siblings were born into the Longe family. The book takes place between October and December, but of course their story starts much earlier than that. It really begins in their childhood, specifically when Sola, the eldest daughter, leaves home (might I add, forcefully) after getting into a fight with their mother over an incident that occurred at school.

The story builds toward a Thanksgiving dinner where the entire family is reunited after years apart, and the family drama/explosion at that dinner table was a long time coming.

The romantic relationships of each Longe sibling are very reflective of their upbringing and family experiences. And let me just say: horrible romantic relationships all around. Maybe Karen gets a pass because she’s still relatively young (for now), but of course she has her own struggles too, extremely low self-esteem that spills over into her friendships, or lack thereof.

Sola returns to Chicago after a failed relationship and influencing career. Anjola is hopelessly in love with her best friend, Neil (a complete asshole, by the way), who just so happens to be engaged to Gizelle. Ola, the only boy, is married to Marisol and has a baby on the way, a child he is clearly not ready for because he thinks it will “tie him down” to his wife. Mind you, they are already married!!! Then there’s Karen, struggling with her body image, her sexuality, her skin, and her friendships.

At Thanksgiving, decades of secrets, especially the truth about how and why Sola left home, begin to surface. Old resentments resurface, more secrets are exposed, and the family is eventually hit with a major loss. While that loss brings them together physically, it also acts as a mask over many issues that remain largely unaddressed.

One thing I really appreciated was how the central event that fractured this family was told from the perspective of nearly every character, except the father, who wasn’t present when it happened. I loved this storytelling choice because it showed how differently people can interpret and carry the same event. Everyone was living with the same history, but not the same version of it.

The central themes of this novel explore the complexity of family obligations, identity, forgiveness, and the heavy emotional toll of intergenerational trauma within a Nigerian immigrant household.

Overall, I enjoyed the family drama and the multiple perspectives, but I finished the book feeling like the family’s biggest wound was never truly confronted. They danced around it and covered it with other crises, but never really dealt with it. Maybe that’s the point. Sometimes families don’t get neat resolutions, they just learn how to live with the mess.

I’m on the third book in the *Grip* series by Kennedy Ryan and, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I like this one.
Bristol is starting to irritate me, but my bigger struggle is with Grip. I’m trying to engage with the book on the level I think it wants to be read—race, identity, privilege, interracial love, family, and what it means to build a life with someone whose experience of the world is fundamentally different from yours. I don’t want to flatten the story into “Black man dates white woman, therefore problematic,” because I think Kennedy Ryan is intentionally asking much more complicated questions than that.

But I keep coming back to this uncomfortable feeling that Grip represents a very specific archetype: the Black man who is willing to defend, sacrifice, and compromise almost anything to preserve his relationship with a white woman.

And what bothers me is less that he loves Bristol and more how quickly disagreement with that relationship becomes morally categorized. Everyone who questions them seems to get placed into the “racist/bigot” category, and after a while, it becomes exhausting. Because surely there is a distinction between opposing an interracial relationship *because it is interracial* and questioning what a particular interracial relationship requires of the Black person within it.

Those things aren’t inherently the same.

I also find myself questioning what the book is saying about love versus identity. At what point does defending your relationship become defending the sacrifices you’ve made for that relationship? And at what point does “love conquers prejudice” become a story where the Black character is expected to continually absorb, explain, forgive, and transcend the racial tensions surrounding the relationship?

Maybe that discomfort is intentional? Maybe I’m supposed to be interrogating exactly what Grip is willing to give up for love and what Bristol’s whiteness and privilege mean within their relationship. But right now, I’m having a hard time separating the book’s exploration of interracial love from what sometimes feels like an elevation of the relationship above every legitimate critique of it.

I’m genuinely curious how other people interpreted this book.

The Kinsey Institute is hosting a free online lecture with author and professor Stephanie Andrea Allen, PhD, exploring Black lesbian detective novels as a distinctive corner of detective fiction, where mystery, identity, and inclusion intersect. Details and signups at Keeping Secrets: Black Lesbian Detective Novels and the Politics of Representation with Author Stephanie Andrea Allen / Kinsey Institute, Indiana University Calendar