The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Natasha, an undocumented immigrant set to be deported back to Jamaica alongside her family, randomly meets Daniel. Whiting the course of a day, two teenagers who don’t have much in common fall in love. Though it sounds clique, it’s a surprisingly touching story about love, fate, and struggles.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

This is an incredible, true story about black female mathematicians who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes, and overcame gender and racial biases to succeed in their challenging field. This is not only an inspiring story but also a part of history that often goes untold.

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Marie Mitchell, an African American intelligence officer with the FBI, feels her career has stalled and is often overlooked an under-appreciated at her male-dominated field, sounds familiar?

That is until she’s given an opportunity to join a task force aimed to undermine a communist president, in the name of American intervention. Inspired by true events, this spy thriller tells a compelling story worth reading.

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

Fabiola Toussaint, a young girl from Haiti, was convinced she would finally live a good life once she immigrated to the United States. Her hopes are shattered as her mom is detained by U.S immigration upon their arrival and she is left alone to navigate a new city, a new culture and a new love interest, all in her own. Author Ibi Zoboi draws inspiration from her own experiences as a young Haitian immigrant, and the challenges of adapting to a new culture, while trying to hold on to your own.

I Can’t Date Jesus by Michael Arceneaux

This is a collection of soul-searching essays about what is like to grow up as a queer black man in a world that constantly tries to deny and suppress your identity. This is a thought provoking look inside an unrepresented and marginalized community.

Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley

This is the first book with an African American lesbian protagonist, which was quite groundbreaking when it first came out in 1974. An incredible yet heartbreaking love story, that addresses racism, homophobia, and prejudice, a story that is still relevant today, 45 years later.

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

This is the story of Marvin, a young man searching for answers after the death of his twin brother Tyler, who was shot and killed by a police officer. This is a very emotionally charged and culturally relevant story, that touches on what is like to grow up black in America.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-Yearn-Old Starr Carter’s world turns upside down, after the witnessing her best friend be shot and killed (yet again). This is another culturally relevant story that touches on police brutality and how quickly young black youths are stereotyped. Although heartbreaking, this is an important story and a more personal look inside a recurring tragedy.

I Am Enough by Grace Byers

Described as a book that everyone needs, I Am Enough is a very special story for the younger readers. Easily relatable while also transitioning into important conversations. Positive affirmations, self-acceptance, inclusion, and diversity, all in one inspiring book.

The post 10 Amazing books by black authors you should read appeared first on RG Magazines.

by Rachel Slade

5 out of 5 stars

I’m generally not a fan of non-fiction – as in I’ll rarely pick up a true story on my own volition.  So to have read not one, but two non-fiction books in the span of a couple months is pretty incredible (especially if you saw the contents of my to-read pile). However, I still can’t stop thinking about Into the Raging Sea– or recommending it to people, fiction and non-fiction lovers alike.

Journalist Rachel Slade brings to life the story of the ill-fated El Faro, which sunk off the coast of the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015. Slade takes this story, with an ending, sadly, we already know, and manages to make it as gripping as any psychological thriller all while bringing to it the heart and soul of each and every one of the 33 souls lost on the ship.

Through hours of voice recordings from the ship’s “black box” to interviews from the family members of the ship’s crew and maritime experts, she weaves together a story that still brings me to tears. There are lessons to be learned here, including the devastating power and unpredictability of hurricanes as well as the cutthroat history of the shipping industry. While we’re still deep in hurricane season, this is a book not to be missed.

Available at Bermuda Bookstore.

Here are some more suggestions from the staff at the Bermuda Bookstore:

There’s a theme in book publishing this fall and it’s all about Greek mythology. First up is “Circe” by Madeline Miller, telling the story of the daughter born of the gods but who turns to the world of mortals for companionship. Passing down the Greek myths through many millennia means there are many interpretations. Stephen Fry’s “Mythos” brings together these stories in Fry’s entertaining and informative retelling.

Sarah J Maas has a new “Throne of Glass” book out at the end of October, but in the interim fans who can’t get enough of Maas can indulge in DC Icons Series and enjoy her take with “Catwoman: Soulstealer”. Other Icons in the series written by other sought-after YA authors include “Wonder Woman: Warbringer” by Leigh Bardugo and “Batman: Nightwalker” by Marie Lu.

New non-fiction currently burning up the charts includes “21 Lessons for the 21^stCentury” by Yuval Noah Harari, one of today’s most innovative thinkers exploring some of the world’s most pressing issues. And for Bruce Lee and martial arts fans fans “Bruce Lee” by Matthew Polly is an authoritative and most comprehensive account of the actor’s life that also features dozens of rarely seen photographs.

The post Book Review: Into the Raging Sea appeared first on RG Magazines.

Publisher: Macmillan Australia

3 out of 5 stars

It wasn’t until recently that I took note that some of my behaviors have been anxiety masking itself as bad habits. Procrastination, for one, has been a bug bear for years that I’ve regularly pushed aside as being a typical habit of deadline-driven creative. However, and maybe age has something to do with this, I’ve taken a hard look at some of these bad habits and realized that the more and more I was putting things off, the more anxious it would make me when I was rushed to get something done.

When I got down to it (and this is where anxiety creates a pretty vicious cycle) the anxiety I was having over producing work was basically stopping me in my tracks, and those fears I had built up in my head were keeping me from getting things done. So, my anxiety was causing my anxiety – I told you it got loopy!

I was intrigued by this book’s name, which references a Chinese proverb that states that before you can conquer a beast you must first make it beautiful. Sarah Wilson navigates through her journey with anxiety in this book. While I found some parts helpful, the structure is a bit chaotic and a little hard to follow.

There’s a lot of memoir thrown in, and while Wilson’s story is engaging, I found it difficult to wade through her story to find the tools she uses to manage her own anxiety. However, one of the things that did stand out for me is to view my anxiety as purposeful and accept that it is part of who I am. I’m learning to work with the fact that the fretting about the work I create is just part of the creative process. Instead of letting it get to my head and stressing me out more, accepting it and letting it be part of the process makes it all the more beautiful and unique to me.

This review was originally published in the Fall 2018 edition of RG Magazine.

The post Book Review: First, We Make the Beast Beautiful appeared first on RG Magazines.

Frank, the owner of a vinyl record shop in the late ‘80s, in a UK town at risk of gentrification, is insistent that he will never stock new-fangled CDs (or even cassette tapes, for that matter), even if they threaten to make vinyl obsolete, and he’s pretty happy being alone and never falling in love. But while Frank may swear off love and any new technology, he has a knack for finding the perfect music to help people get through life’s challenges (he uses Shalimar to save a marriage. I had to look that one up!). But Frank’s life gets complicated when a mysterious woman makes a dramatic entrance into his life, and she convinces him to meet her once a week for “music lessons”.

Frank’s story and his own music lessons from his eccentric mother, Peg, are spread throughout the book and were, honestly, my favourite parts.  Frank’s background story is complicated, and Peg’s descriptions of famous composers like Beethoven and Handel had me laughing out loud – she swears a lot and talks about their sex lives like some Hollywood gossip columnist. However, she also did a good job of screwing up Frank and contributed to his reclusive nature.

While it seems that everything is going to go wrong with this story as there are plenty of mishaps, this does have a very sweet ending. While I wouldn’t outright call this Chick Lit, if you are a music fan, this novel is a love letter to music and it’s ability to heal us.

The Music Shop, published by Doubleday, is on sale at The Bermuda Bookstore, Hamilton.

Check out these other popular titles suggested by the booksellers at the Bermuda Bookstore:

An intriguing novel about a Russian aristocrat sentenced to live out his life inside a luxury hotel, A Gentleman In Moscow, by Amor Towles, is the perfect antidote to escape reality.

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, couldn’t be more relevant to the world’s current situation. The National Book Award-winning author delves into topics on race, Barack Obama’s presidency and the “jarring” aftermath with the election of Donald Trump, in this book of essays.

Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz, is The New York Times bestselling author’s fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller that weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.

Fans of The Fault in Our Stars will be thrilled to get their hands on another John Green book. Turtles All the Way Down, as with most of Green’s novels, is a novel about resilience and the power of lifelong friendships that is sure to break your heart.

The post The Music Shop, by Rachel Joyce appeared first on RG Magazines.