I started out the month of September in Florence, Italy, where I continued to prioritize reading some amazing works in translation. Back in the U.S., I finished up the longest book I’ve read this year (maybe ever?), David Blight’s Pulitzer Prize winning, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. At a whopping 912 pages, the book is a detailed look at Douglass’s life, and well worth the time for any U.S. history buff. The reading experience was made all the better by a living history lesson, as my Literary Society visited the place where Douglass stayed during his brief escape to New York City from Maryland in 1838, and we also celebrated the 185th wedding anniversary of Frederick and his wife of 44 years, Anna Murray Douglass.

And, as I am in the process of putting the final touches on my first poetry collection, I read several poetry first collections by some amazing poets, including adoptee poets Jessica Hairston, Mariama J. Lockington, and Lisa Marie Rollins.

Head over to your local indie bookshop and check out these titles. You can also find them at my bookshop.org storefront here.