Hey everyone. I hope you are all doing well. I know I haven’t had any reviews up here lately. It’s been pretty gnarly lately trying to write them down, and I have a couple on my list that are in my draft that I’ve been working on. Hopefully I can finish them soon and start publishing them.

I may actually do some mini reviews to catch up and see if there are any books that people want a full review for. Who knows?! But then I’ll be able to catch up and still write down my thoughts.

Anyway, here’s one of my favorite posts of the week: WWW Wednesday. Thank goodness it’s the middle of the week. I need this week to be over already. It feels like it’s been a month already and it feels like it’s going by really slow. I don’t know. I think I’m just tired.

Thank you again to Sam @ Taking on a World of Words for hosting this weekly meme. I’m pretty sure you all know the drill by now, but in case you don’t and you want to join, here are the three questions we always answer:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you will read next?

• The Year of the Witching – Alexis Henderson
• A Touch of Darkness – Scarlett St. Clair
• Girl, Woman, Other – Bernadine Evaristo
• More Myself: A Journey – Alicia Keys
• White Teeth – Zadie Smith

I don’t know why I’m trying to read so many books at once. I can tell you that I took a break on the Alicia Keys autobiography because it was making me really emotional. I love Alicia Keys so much and I don’t know what it was but just hearing her journey and how she was able to just really grow and make her dreams come true and believe in herself really makes me so damn proud of her. And I’ve always loved her voice. Both her speaking voice and her singing voice. Hearing her telling her story is so soothing that sometimes I want to just sit down and relax and listen to her. I don’t want to fall asleep or anything but I feel so relaxed that I don’t want to do anything at all.

I pushed up reading The Year of the Witching because duh, Halloween is this month and I wanted to make sure I finished it before it’s over. It’s so freaking good! I kind of want to skip out on work and just finish it though so maybe I’ll do that. You know? Just forget work. Let me get paid anyway and then just read at home while I cuddle with my dogs. That should be okay right?

I have also been taking forever to read White Teeth, which sucks because I want to finish it before I need to start Malala’s November book club selection with Literati, but it’s hard for me to stay awake while I’m reading it. I think it’s just because the British nuances are going over my head, or maybe I’m just not into what our main characters are going through right now? I don’t know what it is right now. It could also be because I’m reading it right before bed so it’s putting me to sleep literally rather than me trying to read it earlier in the day… *sigh* I need to get it together.

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When I saw that there were gonna be some new book clubs from @literati , I knew I had to add some more books to my ever growing possibility pile 😂 I’m telling you, the pile never gets any lower and I’m okay with it! I decided to join @malala with FEARLESS and @stephencurry30 with UNDERRATED because they are both some of my favorite people ever and I can’t wait to support their clubs through this program. ✨ Malala has us reading WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith, a literary fiction novel about two different families that spans three different generations in London. ✨ On the other hand, Stephen Curry introduces us to THE OTHER WES MOORE by Wes Moore, a memoir and look into the story of two children named Wes Moore and how drastic their lives were from one another despite having similar backgrounds and upbringings. ✨ Both are way out of my comfort zone, but I’m excited to be able to engage in discussion through the Literati app and share my thoughts while reading both of these novels. Here’s to more book clubs! Some of the most fun types of interaction I appreciate while sharing my love for reading ♥️ ✨ #weneeddiversebooks #includedlit #literati #literatibooks #malala #stephencurry #fearless #stayunderrated #diversereads #diversebooks #literaryfiction #memoir #amplifyblackvoices #amplifymelanatedvoices #melanin #blackauthors #blackauthorsmatter #readersofig #readersofinstagram #bookstagram

A post shared by Leelynn 🌹 (@sometimesleelynnreads) on Oct 6, 2020 at 5:12am PDT

• The Other Wes Moore – Wes Moore
• Pet – Akwaeke Emezi
• Other Words for Home – Jasmine Warga
• Dread Nation – Justina Ireland
• The Diplomat’s Daughter – Karin Tanabe

This wasn’t all of the books that I read since the last WWW Wednesday post but I just put the last five books that I read since I think this was a pretty good round up. I loved every single one of these choices and I’m so glad that I had that opportunity to read and enjoy them. Seriously I wish I was able to bust out reviews quickly like I used to because I really want to share my thoughts on all of these novels. I have some of these on my Instagram, but long story short: I enjoyed them all. The Other Wes Moore was the novel for Stephen Moore’s October book club with Literati and I’m glad that I was able to read that one fairly quickly, especially since I’m not used to autobiographies! Apparently I’m slowly getting out of my comfort zone? I think that’s why I’m really enjoying Alicia Keys’ novel.

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“My brother wants to see things change, and I just want to hear him laugh again.” ✨ This was such a beautiful and heartwarming story, and I’m so glad that I got to listen to it through my public library. I loved it so much that I ended up getting my own copy so I could revisit it over and over again. Jude and her journey of being in middle school in Cincinnati is so reminiscent of what other young people go through growing up. But she has the added stress of dealing with people that don’t understand how to treat others with respect rather than fear and hate. Jude and her mother are just trying to make a life here, learning how to deal with the cultural differences in America and missing their family in Syria. There were parts of this story that made me laugh because Jude thought exactly like I would have in her situation; there were other times where I was angry for her because of what people said to her or about her. This story truly touched my heart, and it makes me want to continue to root for Jude, Layla, and all of the other children that are growing up and learning how to go through life. ✨ QOTD: Do you usually buy your books before you’ve read them or only after you read them and know you love them enough to read them again? Sometimes I’m both! ✨ #weneeddiversebooks #diversebooks #diverselit #includedlit #middlegradebooks #mgcontemporary #otherwordsforhome #jasminewarga #balzerandbray #booksbooksbooks #booklover #readersofig #readersofinstagram #bookstagram

A post shared by Leelynn 🌹 (@sometimesleelynnreads) on Oct 16, 2020 at 8:04am PDT

• Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The Deathless Girls – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
• Horrid – Katrina Leno
• Made in Saturn – Rita Indiana
• The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones

I was supposed to read The Deathless Girls and Horrid for TBR & Beyond and I thought I was going to have enough time to read it before the discussion dates but of course I totally ran out of time. So I’ll have to somehow catch up before the end of the month, or at least that’s my goal. I do also want to try to get a couple of more spooky stories before the month is out even though this whole year has been pretty damn spooky so maybe it doesn’t matter when I get to them but it would be cool to read them in October lol. We’ll see how it goes!

I feel like that was one of the hardest posts in a while because it’s been way too long? Or I’m just hella stressed with all the other personal stuff that’s been happening offline that I really need to just run away from but yeah. Oh whale. This post is done, I love it. I’m happy with it. I’ve read a few books this month and last month and this year I’ve read a whole lot of books so I think next year I’m gonna slow it down a bit so I can just relax some.