Member dsstukes

9,221 Books 17 Collections 16 Reviews 54 Recommendations

Collections: All collections (9,221), Black Feminism - Womanism (133), Your library (8,265), Library Reads Not in Collection (44), 2017 Reading Challenge Selections (401), eBooks (476), Wishlist (890), Espanol (2), 2017 Read (31), 2016 Read (64), 2015 Read (57), 2014 Read (7), 2013 Read (29), 2012 Read (78), 2011 Read (127), 2010 Read (123), To read (129), Currently reading (1)
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Groups: 2013 Category Challenge, 75 Books Challenge for 2012, 75 Books Challenge for 2013, African/African American Literature, Ancient Egypt, Arthurian Legends, Author Theme Reads, Banned Books, Book Collectors, Bookcases: If You Build/Buy Them, They Will Fill, Books on Books, Club Read 2013, Club Read 2014, Favorite Bookstores, Flash-Mob Cataloging, Happy Heathens, I heart metadata, Literary Centennials, Monthly Author Reads, National Book Festival, Read Mo Yan, Reading Globally, Science Fiction Fans, The Green Dragon, The Prizes, US Presidents Challenge (USPC), Used Books
Joined: Jun 18, 2008

About Me

Hmmmm, so a little bit about me. I'm a Black woman in my late 60s and a recent transplant to McDonough, GA. I spent most of my teen and adult life in the suburbs of DC (Northern Virginia and Maryland). Currently, I work in the Library at UNC @ Chapel Hill. I have degrees in Black Studies and Library Science and have earned the nickname of Inspector Gadget for my love of tech toys. Since you're reading my profile, then naturally, you've guessed that one of my favorite activities is reading.

My first vivid memory of books and reading was the day my grandmother took me to the public library as a small child. While I felt there was something special about that day, it was only years later that I learned the significance of this event. My mother, also an avid reader, and her sister were only able to visit the "Colored" library growing up. Once the public library was de-segregated and I was old enough, my grandmother walked me up those marble stairs to a whole new world.

As a pre-teen, I made a private haven in my closet where I would sit for hours, propped up on pillows reading. The one book that made the most impression on me was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I was taken by her non-sense, bookish persona and wanted to build my own "castles in the air." During these private moments, my readings consisted of adventure and fantasy stories, like Treasure Island and the Oz series, an encyclopedia of fairy tales, detective stories (Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys).

During high school and college, I devoured the classics of Western literature and discovered African-American literature and non-fiction. Reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X made a huge impression on me.

"I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading opened to me. I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke in me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive" -- Malcolm X

It was during this time, that I started filling my personal library with non-fiction books about and by Blacks in the African Diaspora; as well as, books about Egypt and African classical civilizations. In my adult years, I started reading and collecting science fiction books, biographies/memoirs, and literature.

While I used to be a book blogger, I just read mainly for pleasure or school now.

Location

McDonough, GA

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