I’ve always been scared of reading books that are deemed classics, more so books that are deemed classics and happen to be written by black women.

For as long I could I avoided reading anything by Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and up until today I have yet to bring myself to read “The Colour Purple” mostly because the movie has haunted me so much with it’s perfection that I am simply afraid what will happen if I even look in the direction of the book.

Of course every time I have read these classic books written by phenomenal writers who happen to be black women I have been blown away and have devoured each and every single word never stopping and coming up for air.

Zola Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is at the top of the list of books I’ve been terrified to read and I am finally breaking my fear and daring to finally let Ms Hurston tell me her story. I am ready to meet the characters, I am excited to get lost in their worlds and I am looking forward to falling in love the way so many before me have fallen in love with this book.

I had deemed 2018 the year of bravery and to my memory throughout the whole year I tried my best to ask myself if I was being brave in whatever I did. At the beginning of this year I had decided that this is the year of finishing things off and to a large extent it will be that for me. Some things I cannot avoid finishing off, for example my twenties, that is simply time and that is something that I welcome with bated breath. I have decided that this year will also be the year of not allowing myself to hide behind any excuses. So I stopped saying I don’t have time and I am finally learning French, I have stopped saying I am not flexible enough and I have conceded to the yoga mat calling my name, and I am finally ready to get lost in worlds that are rich in beauty and that require me to rise above my intellectual laziness.

So here’s to reading and getting lost in books – you know like back in the day when we used to read without the need to blog about it first.

🙂