Tag: Nnedi Okorafor

Coffee Break

Decatur Book Festival 2017!

India

I know I’m really behind on putting up this post, but better late than never right?! This year I went to the Decatur Book Festival with my mother and with Maddy and I had a fantastic time. There were tons of big authors there including Leigh Bardugo, Jason Reynolds, and Nnedi Okorafur. I’ve lived in Atlanta my whole life and have gone to the Decatur Book festival a few times with my mother when I was younger, but I never really paid attention to the author line up and did not know they got such big and amazing authors to do panels at DBF.  The festival is held every year during Labor Day weekend in downtown Decatur, and there is a lot of food, festivities, and books to keep you entertained the whole weekend.  I managed to vlog the two days I was able to go this year so make sure to check them out!! Down below I also have a video of all of the books I got, and which ones I got signed from the author! Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India

The first day my mom and I went to the festival, but they weren’t quite ready yet, so I was just able to have a great afternoon with my mother walking around the beginnings of the festival.

 

On Saturday I woke up early and got down to Decatur to in order to go the different panels and get a tons of books signed. I bought way too many books this weekend!

Finally since my Saturday video was so long I wanted to just have a video where you got to meet my best friend in the entire world, and how we enjoyed the festival together, eating and everything, and buying a lot of books!

In this video you can see all of the great books I got and also got signed. I also got a lot of bookish merch from some great companies you can find online.

Book Reviews

Binti, Nnedi Okorafur

India

– Short Story – 

Binti is about a girl, Binti, who is the first of her kind to ever be invited to this grand Oomza University where only the brightest are accepted from around the world and the galaxy. For her family leaving is not an option, it’s not something that they do. The people of the Himba tribe stayed where they were and created amazing things that were used throughout the world.
The majority of people are Khoush, who believe that they are better than the Himba people, but they really just don’t understand them. Binta has certain things that her and her people do including braiding their hair down, and using a mixture of natural ingredients called otjize in their hair on their body. They never washed it off and were called “dirt bathers” because of it.
Binti knew what it meant to leave her village and her home, but she also know what it would feel like to not go to a place where a whole new world awaited her. She knew that she was going to learn amazing things while gone, but she never thought that she was going to learn so much about herself, and invoke so much change in the world.

– What I Thought  –

I really enjoyed this novella and wished that it was longer…of course then it wouldn’t be a novella…. There are more after Binti, but I’ll read those later. It’s a sci-fi- novella and that made it a lot of fun to explore the different worlds, but even through out it there are a lot of places for discussion. The novella brings up what it is like to be different, and looked down upon based on what you look like and what society has deemed you are to be.  Okorafur also brings in the ideas of stereotyping other individuals, and trying to come into your own. There are more books in this novella, which is good because I felt that it ended rather abruptly and did not answer any questions. There are a lot of holes in the story, but overall it is a good story. I can’t wait to read the rest of them. As always there is a more detailed review on my YouTube channel! Until next time,
Keep turning the Pages
90s Born Reader
Coffee Break

Noir Reads: April Unboxing!

India

You know, I never knew how big book subscription boxes were, until I was out of school. Honestly now that I’m done with school I have learned so much has been happening in the Bookish community, and I’m so excited that it is evolving and growing! One of the subscription boxes that I am apart of is by Noir Reads.

Noir Reads is a box that features topic on black, African, and African-American cultures, history, and political issues, and also features black authors as well. I started receiving the box in February, it was a gift from my mom after she saw it in an article, but April is my first video unboxing! I will link the video below, but I’ll also list what was in the box.

Contents of April Box: Theme, “Black to the Future”

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, a graphic novel adaptation

“Black to the Future” sticker

Bookmark with a quote by Octavia Butler

Sankofa post card project: This project is to write a postcard to people who have been imprisoned, fighting for the rights of black individuals.

Those were some of the main things from this months box! Check out my video below!

Until Next Time,

Keep Turning the Pages

90s Born Reader