The Musa Writing and Reading Book Review

First time I heard the question, y porqué el? Not just romantic wonderment, but a trial. Why he, a string of accusations tucked into two words. Why an immigrant? Why someone with an accent? Why not an American like you?  And from the first person to the last person to ever ask, one thing became clear; they felt an immigrant was ... Read More »

The first time I read a book that authentically described the Brooklyn hood I grew up in was Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñónez. He used the slang my friends and I used. The book wove Spanish and English words together with the same elocution the people that surrounded me had. But Bedford Stuyvesant and Williamsburg have long changed. Describing things ... Read More »

I’m sure you all know who Charlamagne Tha God is and if you don’t know, well he is a TV, radio and social media personality who’s best known as one of the co-host of The Breakfast Club morning radio show alongside Queens’ own Dj Envy and Angela Yee. I must admit that like many at first, I was not a ... Read More »

These were my favorites this year. It was extremely difficult to choose one to review. I felt they were interrelated, serving a much-needed POC point of view on the art of grieving. I’ve pored over personal memoirs and books related to the grieving process. These two gems were therapeutic and magical. Both books deal with the author’s grieving of their ... Read More »

In Bruja, Wendy C. Ortiz allows us into the most private corners of her mind. Published in October 2016, this is not quite an exploration of her dreams, as she doesn’t give her interpretation of them, and not quite a memoir but a dreamoir. The dreamoir is defined as “a narrative derived from the most malleable and revelatory details of ... Read More »

The author, Beryl Gilroy explores chattel slavery, classicism, identity and feminism in the novel. Thomas Inkle is the protagonist you hate but respect. He is a young man from the British upper class that believes he comes from a superior race/nation. Inkle states “our civilization is superior and permanent. I hold others to be ephemeral-and at times grotesque that is ... Read More »

Kenia Nunez, Corona, Queens native and Latina wellness coach, published her first book in 2014. Surrendering: When Pain is Transformed Into Extraordinary Blessings was a collection of musings about Kenia’s awakening to her purpose in life after losing her husband to cancer. She was left to raise three children and face the ongoing depression she had been running from for ... Read More »

Hunger, written by one of my favorite authors Roxane Gay, is a memoir, where she lets us in what her life has been like living and navigating this world as heavyset woman. “This is a memoir of my body. My body was broken. I was broken. I did not know how to put myself back together. I was splintered. A ... Read More »