Open Water is a lyrical London love story that lets you learn languages laced with lovely feelings that leave you longing for lost lessons in the lanes of lasting summers, lazy mornings under luscious sheets. The heart leaps to the left, those lunar lights left on long long ago. Caleb Azumah Nelson created a great love story, a fluid love song.

Song mentioned in the podcast: Wretch 32 - His & Hers (Perspectives)

Music credit: Soulful Grove by Chelikok

REMINDER:

“If you love life, nothing is worth closing over. Nothing, ever, is worth closing your heart over.” - Singer

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A Thousand Splendid Suns is a step into Afghan culture. We think about how perceptions can be affected or altered when we place a culture against the backdrop of war. Marriage, education, and family have so many layers when we analyze them through the lens of a culture and how these affect men and women.

Music credit: 57 Lapis Lazuli by TOOONE

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Join Vee and Tee, Deka, and others as we dive into The Gilded Ones. A book that questions traditions and the status quo, which for too long have kept us from union, love, and growth.

Wherever you are and whoever you are, this book is for you.

This episode is a heartfelt conversation about The Gilded Ones as it applies to our lives today in the 21st century.

Music credit : Kizomba Instrumental by Noel Ntasambala

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A call for us, as the intricate beings we are, to be more aware and conscious of ourselves as we navigate the world. Reclaim your life through internal excavation and seeking to understand. Be still, and give yourself time to do the work, whether that’s with your psyche, emotions, or experiences.

Music credit : AmbientAUDIOVISION - Coverless book (Lofi)

DISCLAIMER - We apologize for the noise in the background and the audio at intervals. During this episode, we had a dog in our space who caused more disruptions than we expected.

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A holiday special. Our year in books has been one of learning, laughing, feeling, and growing. Sometimes, you need to sit down with somebody who gets it, and reflect on what you have read. We gain more than we realize when we give ourselves time to reflect.

2024 in books:

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans and the making of the Modern World by Howard W. French

The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera

A New Concept of the Universe by Walter Russell

To Be A Drum by Evelyn Coleman

I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

Hanukkah In Alaska by Barbara Brown

Deep Work by Cal Newport

The Reader On The 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim

2025 Recommendations:

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles by Bruce H. Lipton

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

African Holistic Health by Llaila Afrika

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

Labours Of Love by Tawanda Bwerudza

Music credit : Joy Together

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There are layers to this book. The goofball tendencies came through, and the bookworms enjoyed every moment. Love. Language. Society. Coming of age.

Music credit : Africa Maasai Kids by SOFRA

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A celebration of Black History & Black Present. Join us as we explore a piece of prose and the beautiful lines between. It’s noticing how prose mirrors life in the seasons when recorded reflection is most important.

Get your copy on Etsy:

https://mupeneguriwrites.etsy.com/uk/listing/1795976734/would-you-recognise-me

Music by Mikhail Smusev.

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Join us as we explore this magical work by Ralph Ellison. A book that, like earth itself, is so deeply layered. At its core, lies the reality of life for black men in white supremacist societies. Join two bookworms as we breathe in 1950s America and diffuse the lessons and poetry into our hearts.

Music by Oleg Brnic on Pixabay.

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Angela Y Davis’ book ‘Freedom is a constant struggle’ is a one that must be visited on regular occasions. The book covers significant ground in such a few pages.

Join us as we distill the revelations from this work. Drop by drop, we’ll flow through topics in the book and how they might help us all, in our constant struggle for freedom. 

Music by Praz Khanal

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What a year it has been, right? We have been away for a while, so what's been going on? Tune in and find out what's coming on Books & Black Coffee. Bookworms unite!

Books mentioned in this episode :

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Overture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R James 

Things Fall Apart by Chenua Achebe

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by Bell Hooks

Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Ardent 

Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

The Mind of Africa by W.E Abraham

Oh my Gods - Fiona Stoffer

C. L. R. James interview on his book "Black Jacobins" (1970) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUnO8lfoVBk

Music Credit : Africa Maasai Kids by SOFRA

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Akala’s Natives led this conversation in several directions as we explored its layers through class, community, race, poverty, and lived experiences. The hope is to collectively work to ease the human experience by accommodating its diversity, complexities, and suffering.

Other resources:

100 Amazing Facts About The Negro - With Complete Proof by Joel Augustus Rogers

What's Wrong With Being Black: Celebrating Our Heritage, Confronting Our Challenges by Matthew Ashimolowo

Microaggressions and Modern Racism - Endurance and Evolution by Charisse C. Levchak

Music credit: Best Time - FASSounds

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The Glass Bead Game is hoops we jump through and streets we navigate with a map that we create. It is an invitation to check our nature and our traditions and let them collide with our education. Fight mentally with our perspectives as we engage in a to and fro complicated by stories and concepts that don’t consider chronological order, just application. 

Music credit: Miyagisama - Savannah Time Travel

Music mentioned:

UB40 - One In Ten

Nispsey Hussle - Blacc Ice

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I'll bet on my Black Coffee hot spring that you won't be the same after reading this book. Do you need a reason to consider exploring the gender data gaps? This episode will be enough to fuel the fire of your curiosity. Get something to drink, and let's explore. Women have a lot of life’s keys. Don’t find yourself locked outside of doors you could have access to because of a bad attitude AND a lack of data.

Music credit : Whip - Prazkhanal

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It all started on World Book Day. One bookworm read this book for the third time, while the other was amazed by its depth. Listen as this conversation turns a kid’s book into layers of dialog that we can all explore at different levels, ages, and stages in our lives.

Why are our reactions so exaggerated when it comes to things that deviate from the norm? (Ponder on that one)

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You’ve heard about Walden through lessons in solitude, dissected its epiphanies, and immersed yourself in the analysis. This week we move to interactions with more humans, the power dynamics between men and women, navigating love and intimacy & what we discover through reflection. Eleven Minutes is a different type of conversation - it has questions and some uncomfortable discoveries. Above all, there is something for us each to take and explore a little deeper.

Music credit : ComaStudio

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The analysis, conversations, and lessons we learn from Walden never end. From this episode’s discussion, you can hear the discovery and rediscovery of things we overlooked or words that have resonated with us. Walden requires a notebook, pen, pencil, highlighters, post-it notes & whatever tools you need to take notes.

Music credit : Ashot-Danielyan

Link to exploring Walden:

https://pebblesblogger.blogspot.com/2021/08/exploring-walden-henry-david-thoreau.html

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Welcome to the Books & Black Coffee podcast. A little introduction on why books are important to us, how we met, and the journey from opening those first pages to living out all bookworm tendencies. You will laugh with us, learn with us and explore much more. Each book is a portal, a path to a place you didn’t know you needed.

Books Mentioned: 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

The Awakening Of Intelligence by Jiddu Krishnamurti

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde

Native Son by Richard Wright

Music credit : BeachVibesMusic

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Bookworms in conversation. When the philosopher teaches the poet and the poet expands the philosopher's perspective, these conversations create a podcast like Books & Black Coffee. We're here to empower you through reading, making the messages accessible.

Music credit : Chillmore

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