Books
Book reviews and other book related information
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{Book Review} The Revelation of Dionne Daphne by Mara Brock Akil
As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. I want to thank NetGalley for gifting me an advanced copy of this book for review. BOOK REVIEW In my graphic, I stated that I enjoyed reading this book, but I think that may be a little too “happy.” I enjoyed the honesty, realness, and grace with which the story was written. In reflecting on her sexual past,…
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{Book Review} My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. The Hubs and I spent last weekend binge watching His & Hers on Netflix, and I was so *mind blown* by the ending that I wanted to read the book to see what was left out of the series. During my search for the book, I ended up taking a deep dive through Alice Feeney’s catalog and found…
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{Book Review} Yellow Wife: A Novel by Sadeqa Johnson
As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. BOOK DETAILS Title: Yellow Wife: A Novel Author: Sadeqa Johnson Publisher: 37 Ink Publication Date: 28 December 2021 Genre: African American Fiction, Historical Fiction, Popular Fiction Format: Paperback Print Length: 288 pages ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the book) Sadeqa Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels. Her most recent novel, The House of Eve, was an instant New…
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{Audiobook Review} The Tennant by Frieda McFadden, Narrated by Will Damron and Christine Lakin
I cannot stress this enough, I’m a Frieda McFadden fan and will read or listen to any book of hers that comes across my desk. Her characters are twisted and the inner dialogue so diabolical that I cannot help but to enjoy them. I also like that I can listen to her audiobooks at work without any NSFW surprises. For the graphic, I decided to try something new: highlighting a few of the visuals from the book. I picked up this idea from booktok. Digital book journalists like to use graphics to help them remember details of books and I thought it’d be fun to do that here. Let me…
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{Audiobook Review} The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick, Narrated by Lisa Flanagan
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Focus for providing me with a free copy of this book for review. As an undergraduate, I had a wonderful English professor who introduced me to vintage chick lit. Though the term “chick lit” can be used derisively, I use it to refer to literature written by, for, and about women. In this course, I read The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, so a book about a women’s book club centered around Friedan’s work naturally grabbed my interest. I’m happy that I was selected as a reviewer, as this novel is everything I hoped it’d be. BOOK DETAILS Title: The Book Club for Troublesome…
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{Book Review} Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review. This book cover is absolutely stunning. The vibrant flower crown and the model’s lovely brown complexion beautifully capture the essence of the story within, which centers around Black women and the integral role of flowers and herbs. The model’s serene expression is so tranquil, it’s as if I can almost hear her gentle exhale. The cover provides a nice introduction to the stories of Queen Luella, Mother Rita, and Nikki. BOOK DETAILS Title: Happy Land Author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez Publisher: Berkley Publication Date: 8 April 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction, Popular Fiction Format: Paperback Pages:…
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My Book Rating System
I finished my first two reads of 2025 last week and started to post my reviews when I realized that I’d updated my rating system and hadn’t shared it with you all. But before I go into detail, let me preface this by saying reading and rating books is very subjective. I’ve read reviews where people have deducted points because they were reading outside of their usual genre {and out of their comfort zone}, and didn’t “get” the subject matter. I try really hard not to do that. My goal is to read and rate each book on its individual merit {unless it’s series, then you have consider continuity between…
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Meet the Reader: My 2025 TBR Shelf
Hi, I thought I’d do a little introduction since it’s the beginning of a new year and there may be some new faces around here. I’ve had this blog for about 15 years now. I know, I can’t believe it has been that long either. I started this blog as part of an assignment when I was in library school. Social media was just starting to take off and our instructor wanted us to connect using blogs, FriendFeed, and other social media platforms. I think I may be the only one who still has my blog, although it has undergone a lot of changes over the years. Where I used…
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I was a Podcast Guest
I don’t think of myself as a social media expert. In fact, I kind of have a love hate relationship with social media. I love it for all the things it has taught me, but I also hate it for all the things it has made me aware of {I won’t be too specific here, but SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE?!}. I don’t hop on the trends because I lack rhythm and I overthink everything — is the lighting OK, is the video too hazy, what is that weird background noise, etc. Still, I’m primarily responsible for the social media accounts for our college. My responsibilities consist of taking pictures, posting information about…
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Reading for My Mental Health
As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. “Reading is political.” Or, at least, it has always been so for Black people. Enslaved people were forbidden to learn to read because the enslavers knew and understood the power of the written word. As Frederick Douglass said: “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Reading teaches you empathy, expands your vocabulary, helps you develop…