I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyonc | 
Thank you to each of these individuals for writing their stories and living in their truths. Their stories matter. Representation matters.
#nationalcomingoutday #qpoc #blacklgbtqiawriters #allblacklivesmatter 📚🏳️🌈✊🏾
Sharing books by black authors during the month of July. I will add the synopsis from Goodreads below and in the comments.
In the style of New York Times bestsellers You Can‘t Touch My Hair, Bad Feminist, and I‘m Judging You, a timely collection of alternately hysterical and soul‑searching essays about what it is like to grow up as a creative, sensitive black man in a world that constantly tries to deride and diminish your humanity.⬇️
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️ Picked this up for the catchy title. Stayed for the bold and honest personal stories. Journalist/essayist Michael Arceneaux unapologetically writes about self discovery, social issues, and coming out; specifically his very religious mother‘s reaction. He‘s a gifted, and often hilarious, storyteller. Loved the casually tossed in pop culture references. Solid author-read audiobook.
Made patriotic cake pops today while listening to the tagged book. 😋🇺🇸 Happy Fourth, US Littens!
#audiobaking
Some books are so much better for being read in the author's own voice, and this is one of them. Really enjoying Michael Arceneaux's hilarious and heartbreaking journey so far. #audiobooks #currentlylistening
pickI Can‘t Date Jesus is an essay collection from a gay black man about coming to terms with who he is in the context of being raised in a homophobic and very Catholic home. It‘s terrific, with the right blend of honesty, rawness, tragedy, humor, and pain. It is explicit in places, but it serves the narrative. I loved it.
#bookspinbonanza 4
I‘m fighting with A Gentleman in Moscow a bit so I thought I‘d grab the next book from my #bookspinbonanza stack to see if it‘s me or the book. Between this dedication and the Samantha Irby blurb “THIS BOOK IS MY BIBLE,” I feel like I‘m off to a good start!
panI did manage to finish this book for the queer book club last night. I was the only person who came for book club though which kind of sucked. Because in part I joined these book clubs also because I hoped to make friends. So it was just me and the librarian talking about the book. At least she had finished it as well but neither of us really liked it, she worried that‘s actually why people didn‘t come.
#icantdatejesus #michaelarcenaux #bookclub
Listening to this for a potential book club tonight that I‘ve never been to before. I‘m at 60% and idk if I‘ll fully finish it in time. But I think it would be okay to still go with this kind of essay type book. Time will tell.
#michaelarceneaux #icantdatejesus #beyonce #essays #memoir #bookclub #librarybookclub #funny #comical
Seems like a good one to start on Easter 😍😂
#mommyreads #sudiobook #librarylove
pickY‘all, I really enjoyed this. I found it cruising my library‘s Overdrive. From the title and prologue, I thought it would be about the intersection of being gay and being a Christian, but he deftly wove in race, being from the South, and pop culture. He even touched on politics, see names for a certain world leader above. He hit the right note between serious and funny. 4.5⭐️
#Nonfiction2019 #somethingthatturnedoutunexpectedly
Omg, I totally remember these! Does anyone else? I remember them being so scary. Now I know they‘re ridiculous, but as a kid 😬😬😬
pickI too am a southerner whose faith has been worn away by those that would prefer to beat you with a Bible than love like Jesus. I also feel very at home at the altar of Beyonce, so Michael Arceneaux's book called to me. Arceneaux is funny and honest here in a broken open kind of way. Reading this felt like belonging, as though seeing someone work through the shit of life with grace and wit proved it's possible for us lesser mortals.
pickAll of Arceneaux's grappling with religion, faith, and its implications on his identity as well as its impact on his relationship with his family were very relatable. Here for his wit and his rage. #24in48
pickThis was a great mix of essays. Combining funny and moving and from a voice we hear from so rarely. A working class, gay black man who grew up in a religious household.
This sounds like it should be all doom and gloom yet whilst touching he will also hit you with a zinger that will make you laugh out loud. I don‘t have enough space here to say why I liked this so much so maybe just give it a go.
My book choices are often inspired by what is happening in the world. I follow a few feminist blogs and the Kevin Hart thing is still happening with a rare misstep from Ellen. I decided to listen to a book by someone those sort of comments do affect and I have to say it‘s interesting.
I‘m not religious so hearing about it from someone who felt their religion sometimes tolerated them is hard going for me.
1. I need to clean my keyboard.
2. Yes, probably. That could always change.
3. Black.
4. What‘s a bedroom? I‘ve gone so minimalist that I no longer even have a bedroom.😂
5. The ham and sides my sister made last night.
#HumpDayPost @MinDea
Placed a hold on this. I just listened to his NPR interview and enjoyed it: Fresh Air with Michael Arceneaux On Growing Up Black, Gay & Catholic In Texas http://rssr.link/fLHq
so-soI have enjoyed Arceneaux‘s essays in the past, but this collection did not do it for me. Some essays were great but most seemed self indulgent to me. He was not speaking to me or trying to connect at all with my demographic.
Sometimes you just read the dedication and know you‘re going to love the book...
