I Found This Great Book

In this episode, I discuss the autobiography of John H. Johnson who started Johnson Publishing. His most famous publications are Ebony Magazine and Jet.

Learn More at:

https://www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com/succeeding-against-the-odds-john-h-johnson

In this episode I am featuring the horror novella "The Ballad of Black Tom" and the graphic novel series "Destroyer" by Victor Lavalle.

• How did I find "The Ballad of Black Tom" by Victor Lavalle?
• Why do I like this book?
• More about Victor Lavalle's Destroyer series?

Click here to read the full show notes

In 2019, besides the 26+ books I will read for the podcast, I plan to participate in two challenges:

The Langston Hughes “Simple” Stories Reading Challenge

The Sherlock Holmes Chronological Reading Challenge

On this episode I share my experience of listening to the audiobook version of 72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell.

Pamela D’Pella is the narrator. She has a wonderful voice that captures the mood of the story.

This is the story of Keri Whitmore and her daughter Trina. It starts as Trina is turning 18 and the world is wide and wonderful for her, but a diagnosis of Bi-Polar disorder is about to shake their world apart.

• The challenge of having young adult child with a mental illness
• The challenges faced by a young adult with a mental disorder
• How mental illness is addressed or ignored in the black community
• The challenges faced by family members and person with a mental illness as they try to navigate their way through the healthcare system
• The challenge with other family members who cannot come to grips with the fact that someone they love has a mental illness
• The suspense as Keri takes drastic measures to get help for her daughter that is not within the guidelines prescribed by the health care industry

If you would like to get a better understanding of Bi-Polar Disorder, a good place to start is episode 92 of the Therapy for Black Girls podcasts. Dr. Joy is a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia and her goal is to help you become the best possible version of yourself!

• Compelling story
• I cared about the characters
• Bebe Moore Campbell makes you feel every emotion of the mother and the tension she is under constantly
• The narrator’s voice is wonderful. Deep, full of expression, just the right pace
• I gained greater insight into the challenges faced by persons with a mental disorder and their family.

I also give a brief update on my two reading challenges and a new directory of Black Mystery Authors on my website (www.ifoundthisgreatbook.com).

Chris Ferrie has created an innovative and fun line of books designed to introduce science to babies and when I say babies I mean infants. Chris Ferrie's books use colorful and simple images along with easy to understand language to explain concepts in Quantum Physics, Newtonian Physics, Chemistry and more. These books are designed for parents to read to their infants . By introducing babies to big ideas early, Chris believes that you can spark a lifelong interest in Science. In this episode we will learn more about this fascinating line of baby books and their creator.

Where can I get a copy and how many are there?

Go to the Fountain Bookstore's web site. They ship books to any state in the US. They have the full line of Chris Ferrie's books. Plus you will support a wonderful bookstore that is dedicated to connecting readers and authors. Let the good folks at the Fountain Bookstore know I sent you. I get no reward off of this except the pleasure of supporting a wonderful bookstore who introduced me to a wonderful series of books and hosted a great author events. That is reward enough.

The Fountain Bookstore

https://www.fountainbookstore.com/

Links to Chris Ferrie's web pages

https://www.sourcebooks.com/baby-university.html

https://csferrie.com/books/

The Amber Tamblyn author event at the Fountain Bookstore

https://www.fountainbookstore.com/event/amber-tamblyn-presents-any-man-special-guest-rekaya-gibson

I am in the process of building a directory of black mystery authors. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I post information on mystery author who is black. This directory will include authors from all over the world.

I am building this directory to expand on the great work started by Eleanor Taylor Bland and continued by Frankie Y. Bailey that resulted in Frankie's List on the Sisters in Crime website. This list contains the names of almost 100 black mystery authors along with Asian, Hispanic, Native American and LGBTQ crime fiction authors. This list of diverse authors is a great resource and my inspiration for building my directory.

So, you may ask, why do I need to build a directory when the Sisters in Crime site already has a list. Well, first I think there cannot be too many sources for readers to discover diverse authors. Also, I plan to expand on the list and provide more resources for readers to discover books.

When you go to the Black Mystery Author Directory on, I Found This Great Book, you are presented with three tabs. The first tab lets you browse the authors by presenting a picture of the authors along with the type of mysteries they write. The authors are listed in alphabetical order by last name. By clicking on the authors name or picture you are taken to a post for the author. The post provides a link to the author's website, the type of mysteries they write, a short bio of the author and the covers of the mysteries the author has written. You can click on a book and you will be taken to a page for that book. The page will include information about the book, the book's ISBN number, a Kindle Book preview if it is available and options to purchase the book via Amazon and IndieBound.org. I do use affiliate links for Amazon. If you make a purchase of a book or audio book from the purchase links, I do get a very small affiliate reward from the purchase. This does not affect the price you pay or the money the author receives. I include Indiebound.org to help book lovers who what to support local bookstores. Indiebound.org helps readers find local books stores where they can purchase a book.

The second tab allows you to browse the books by the authors in the directory. I wanted to create a bookstore experience for you. You can browse through all the books cover by cover. You can also browse the books in a particular style of mystery. I also make it very easy to find mysteries where the sleuth is a woman. I will probably expand on these browsing options as I learn about more authors.

The third tab provides information about the directory including the names of authors I plan to add in the future. I will update this section as the directory grows.

This directory will include authors of African descent from all over the world. I am actively seeking authors for Nigeria, Kenya, other countries in Africa and the Caribbean. If you know of an author I should add, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].