I'm going to reread Ninth House this week before starting Hell Bent. I actually really enjoyed Catherine House, and I keep waiting to see if there will be another book by the author.

Looking for some great authors, poets, and books? I recommend pretty much every writer I heard at the Key West Literary Seminar the past four days. You can read their names and the titles of their talks here:

[link]

Where to start? Well if you haven't read everything Jacqueline Woodson has written (she's known from children and YA but also writes for adults) maybe start with her. Her gorgeous novella "Another Brooklyn" or longer memoir in verse "Brown Girl Dreaming" are both ways to dive into her work. For middle grade fiction, check out "Harbor Me" (and for smaller children, "Visiting Day" or so many others).

Who else...hm, maybe the incredible memoir "Somebody's Daughter" by Ashley C. Ford or the horror of "Lakewood" by Megan Giddens or the gorgeous, rich poetry of Jericho Brown or Rowan Ricardo Phillips or the inimitable Kevin Young — or go all in and check out the incredible poetry collection he edited: "African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song."

Want history? Read anything by intellectual geniuses Annette Gordon-Reed and Kerri Greenidge. If you just want a taste, Gordon-Reed's historical, personal book on her family and Texas might be your in: "On Juneteenth."

Horror or gritty reality? Sure, how about S.A. Cosby, Tananarive Due, or Victor LaValle?

I could go on, but you can Google the authors from the link to see more. I have so much rich reading in my future!

Pix, I'm so jealous, what a great list of writers! Especially Jacqueline Woodson.

They were amazing! I wish I could win that scholarship every year.

Key West Literary Seminar

Driving to the dog park this morning NPR had a story on the Key West Literary Seminar! I may have said out loud that I knew someone there. It was in the top 5 stories at the top of the hour. It sounded like it was amazing.

It was! Here's the blog they asked me to write about Jacqueline Woodson: [link]

What a delight to listen to her! I wondered how you were doing on the coldest night of the year!

I’ve started my reread of Ninth House. I listened to the audiobook the first time around. This time around I’m reading it on my kindle.

I’ve started my reread of Ninth House. I listened to the audiobook the first time around. This time around I’m reading it on my kindle.

Next time read it in Braille! Then...have somebody relay the story to you via semaphore. And finally an interpretive dance.

And finally an interpretive dance.

I feel like this would be a legit option at my library.