I read the self-help book called The Girls' Guide to Sex Education: Over 100 Honest Answers to Urgent Questions about Puberty, Relationships, and Growing Up by Michelle Hope. Let me be the first to say, this is not an area I often venture into. However, when you get to meet the author and hear why she created a book, even if it is not exactly directed at you, you read it!

I think the third Friday of the month is one of my favorites! I get to read just about anything I want and then write about it!! Anyway, the book we are reviewing and talking about in this post is The Consent Guidebook: A Practical Approach to Consensual, Respectful, and Enthusiastic Interactions by Erin Tillman, The Dating Advice Girl! First of all, let me tell you that this book is wonderful! I will tell you why in a few moments, but I wanted to make sure I said that up front, in case we (...I) get lost in the sauce and go off on the tangents that seem to make me happy.

For this 3rd Friday’s Turn the Page, I have decided to challenge myself and read the book Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo by Zora Neale Hurston. I am calling this journey challenging because as some of you know, this book was meant to be published a long time ago, but was not because no one wanted to read about the slave experience of a man who would implicate the people in Africa. It was thought to be a book which could tarnish the integrity of the movement. Which, even now, I would understand. To tell this story aloud, is to have some who were directly involved, or their ancestors, or white people who feel resentful of the history of slavery--mostly as it relates to talking about white privilege and such, to feel vindicated in what occurred because African people were complicit.

It’s the third Friday, so you know what time it is. Turn the PAGE!!! This week’s book is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Yall. When I heard about this book. When I heard the title. When I heard the authors name. When I saw the book cover. I. HAD. ALL. THE. FEELS! As a Nigerian-American, I was super excited to see and hear about this book. I was even more excited (and anxiety filled) when I started reading the book. Now, I got this book when it came out. I was reading it way back then. The question is: why has it taken me so long to write this Turn The Page for it? The answer is really simple: I have not finished reading the book.

Click to Read on!

Here is a little disclosure about me, I don’t generally like autobiographies. I find that they can be terribly dull and full of pomp. I know I read The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish, but if you’ll remember, I also said that the writing left much to be desired. But Gabrielle Union's book We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and Are True was a delight to read! It was finished before I was.

Within this book, there were so many nuggets can could be the area of focus. We could talk about how we pretend to be something/someone we are not so that we can fit into various groups. We could also talk about what can happen to a relationship when our significant others' family doesn't like us. We can talk about the impacts of sexual assault, being with the wrong person, or finding the right person. But what I want to talk about is the process by which Gabrielle Union, not only created a wholly new unit with her husband, Dwayne Wade, but also what her experience in Blackness confirms and re-teaches us.

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If I’m writing about a book, it must be the 3rd Friday of the month. This month, I want to focus on an oldie but a goodie. I allow myself to read 12 books a year. For some, this seems like a lot. For others, is seems a small amount. Allow me to give you context. I have been a person who has had a goal to read 100 books in a year and exceeded my own expectations. I could go through a book in a matter of days. The problem was, it didn’t help my social life at all. I constantly was reading (enjoying every minute of it, if i say so) but suffering socially. In my efforts to have more social time, I reduced my goal and reduced it again. This year I am at 12 books….but I cheat. I cheat by saying I mean 12 NEW books, not 12 books that I may have read before. LOOPHOLE! It is in this way that I am writing this blog on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince…

For this third Friday of Blog writing, just days after Valentine’s Day, the focus is on none other than Tiffany Haddish’s The Last Black Unicorn, synopsis here. Like most Black folk, I was slightly pressed to read this book. Not only because I am “Rooting for everybody Black” but also because I am in a book club, and that was the assigned book. Let me tell y'all that it took FOREVER to track down a copy. Amazon was sold out. Barnes and Noble was sold out. And being the bougie princess that I can be, I wanted the physical book, not just an electronic version I don’t have anything against electronic books, FYI, my kindle account is popping! For some books though, I always want a physical hardcover copy. The for biggies, I usually  get a physical copy like the HP series, Awkward Black Girl, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, or the New Jim Crow---a girl may have no name, but she still likes what she likes….

Welcome back to another Friday blog! By now, if you’ve been following, you’re probably guessing that I am doing my part to ensure there is a blog post here EVERY Friday. B**** you guessed it! You was right. B*****, you guessed it! Grah-Grah! Sorry, I got into my OG Maco Moment. I’m coming back out. Anyway, the point is that every Friday, for the year there will be a new blog post. And because I am a fairly avid reader, on the 3rd Friday of the month, there will be a book review. Now, it won’t all be fiction, but it will all be reviewed from my perspective as a sex(uality) educator and therapist…