Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine where bloggers can showcase books that we are eagerly waiting for.
I’ve been blogging for some time now, and – for reasons unknown to me – I have yet to participate in this weekly meme. Which is a damn shame because this was one of the funnest blog posts to write.
So without further ado, I would like to share the two stunning titles that I’m eagerly anticipating:
Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you want to buy any of the books I mentioned in this post, just click on the images below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!
This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare by Gabourey Sidibe
Expected Publication: May 1st, 2017
Genres: Biography & Autobiography
Pages: 240
The Oscar-nominated Precious star and Empire actress delivers a much-awaited memoir—wise, complex, smart, funny—a version of the American experience different from anything we’ve read
Gabourey Sidibe—“Gabby” to her legion of fans—skyrocketed to international fame in 2009 when she played the leading role in Lee Daniels’s acclaimed movie Precious. In This is Just My Face, she shares a one-of-a-kind life story in a voice as fresh and challenging as many of the unique characters she’s played onscreen. With full-throttle honesty, Sidibe paints her Bed-Stuy/Harlem family life with a polygamous father and a gifted mother who supports her two children by singing in the subway. Sidibe tells the engrossing, inspiring story of her first job as a phone sex “talker.” And she shares her unconventional (of course!) rise to fame as a movie star, alongside “a superstar cast of rich people who lived in mansions and had their own private islands and amazing careers while I lived in my mom’s apartment.”
Sidibe’s memoir hits hard with self-knowing dispatches on friendship, depression, celebrity, haters, fashion, race, and weight (“If I could just get the world to see me the way I see myself,” she writes, “would my body still be a thing you walked away thinking about?”). Irreverent, hilarious, and untraditional, This Is Just My Face takes its place and fills a void on the shelf of writers from Mindy Kaling to David Sedaris to Lena Dunham.
I found out about this one just a few days back, and now it’s all I can think about. Gabourey Sidibe is one of the funniest, kindest and accepting people that I follow. And I’m more than positive that I’m going to love, love, love her memoir.
Initial reaction upon finding out that this was going to be published:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Expected Publication: February 28, 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 464
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor black neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.
A. C. Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty.
I read the inarguably important excerpt for The Hate U Give about a few days ago and simply put, I was stunned. This book is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and from what I’ve read and gathered so far, it seems like it could easily become my next favorite read. I can’t wait for it to come out already!!
Those were my Waiting on Wednesday titles, thank you for reading! Be sure to let me know of any upcoming books that you’re eagerly anticipating.