I know I say this every year but 2024 will be amazing year for persons who Read Caribbean. Some amazing debut Caribbean Authors will be hitting the shelves in 2024 and I am here to let you know about all of them! We will be reading novels, books from authors we haven’t read in a while. I am really excited to hear more from debut Caribbean authors as they add their perspective and writing to an already establish diverse cannon. While I love a great debut novel, I am super excited for the works of our favorite authors. Yes! 2024 is gonna be an amazing year for Caribbean Literature and you won’t ..read more

BookOfCinz Book Club is going into its sixth year in 2024. For the last five years we have been meeting in person in Trinidad and Tobago and online so we can have people from all over the world joining. In 2023 we started reading Caribbean and African male authors. We do continue to read and celebrate Women- Caribbean Women, Women of Caribbean heritage, Black Women and Women of Colour. In 2018 I decided to start BookOfCinz Book Club to meet and engage with Readers. I read a lot, but getting to sit and discuss one book with a group of persons, that experience in and of itself is unmatched. For ..read more

This is the gold standard of memoirs. Brilliant, moving, an emotional journey, layered, spectacular, heavy, redeeming, unforgettable and un-putdownable. I read this book a month ago and I am still unable to put into words how brilliant this memoir is. My life is forever changed reading this book. Safiya Sincliar’s writing is forever in my heart and I need everyone to experience this masterpiece and for it to win all the awards. How To Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir by Safiya Sinclair’s explores childhood and adulthood growing up in a very strict Rastafarian household in Jamaica where she and e ..read more

WOW!!!! This book has everything! Stop what you are doing and go read this. In Angie Cruz How Not To Drown in a Glass of Water we meet Cara Romero who is originally from the Dominican Republic, she’s been living in NYC for decades after leaving DR and her abusive husband. She’s hit a bit of rough patch with the great recession so she’s now job hunting. In order to find a job she must go through an agency, Cara turns the agency interview into a therapy session that we get to listen (read) in. Angie Cruz was showing off when she made the character Cara, this book is phenomenal, talk about a char ..read more

An exceptional collection of short stories that will leave you breathless. Friends, I am still unable to put into words how profoundly moving this entire collection is. Chimeka Garricks is a master storyteller who deserves to be read widely. I need to see more people talking about this book that left me speechless. A BROKEN PEOPLE’S PLAYLIST is a collection of twelve stories from song. At the start of each story the author lets you know the song inspiration, which I think is truly unique. Of the twelve stories my favorites are: LOST STARS HURT SONG FOR SOMEONE I’D DIE WITHOUT YOU BEAUTIFUL WAR ..read more

A novel that holds your face and shows you the reality that some people live and does not let go of you till you are weeping…. We waited six years for the author to write her second book and trust me when I say, this did not disappoint. As with her first book, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ tackles a subject matter that is current, real and with characters you cant help but to fight for. In A Spell of Good Things we are taken to a city in Nigeria where we meet two families from different social and economic backgrounds. We meet Eniola’s family, who were lower middle class, things were going great for them ..read more

This is what I mean by a stellar debut! I am blown away! Soraya Palmer was flexing on us when she wrote this debut novel and I am here for it, because it is truly an experience reading this book and I need everyone to engage with what true storytelling looks like. The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts has everything, from folklore, to spirits, to contemporary Caribbean and Brooklyn setting, themes of family, sisterhood, mother-daughter relationship, infidelity, coming-of-age, sexuality- it is all there and it is very well executed. What a brilliant book! This book is ..read more

The God of Good Looks steps on our necks and doesn’t let up until the very end! A satisfying, bold page turner with a heroine you can’t help but cheer for! In Breanne McIvor’s sizzling debut we are taken to Trinidad and Tobago where we meet Bianca Bridge, a budding writer who is starting over after a major scandal. Bianca recently graduated from a University in London where she headed back to her home country to persue her dream of becoming a writer. Things are looking up for her, she’s got a remote job, an apartment, a car and while she is a bit lonely- her mother died and her father remarrie ..read more

Every now and then a book comes along that makes you cancel all your plans and spend the entire time enveloped in the pages of the book- never wanting to leave- Maame is such book! Engrossing, engaging, beautifully written with a main character you would go to war for. Let me start with saying MAAME is one of my favorite books for 2023 and it is just February- but I am calling it. This is a must read. In Maame we meet Maddie, in her twenties and should be living her best London life but with everyone of her family member shirking their duties she ends up being the primary caretaker for her fat ..read more

BookOfCinz Book Club is going into its fifth year in 2023. To celebrate we are changing things up a little bit. When I first started this book club, I wanted it to be a space where we celebrate Women- Caribbean Women, Women of Caribbean heritage, Black Women and Women of Colour. We managed to do this successfully over the last four years! For our fifth year, we are opening up the Book Club selection a bit by reading Caribbean Men! Yes, you read that right, we will be reading men! Not just any men… some amazing Caribbean male authors and I cannot wait to introduce you to their work! In 2018 I ..read more