Keeping archives is an act of care.
Recording what you love is a personal history making.
I have longed for a more systematic (but colorful) way of sharing the books I love and inviting community into deep reflection. So I love that Bookshop exists!
Of course, this page is loaded with bird metaphors & affiliate links. So click, click, click away. And if you do end up buying something from my Bookshop, thank you!
You can use the link here ^ to explore more generally, but if you love a little journey, here are a bit of background on the lists I am curating:
The Aviary: A Poetic Sanctuary
This is where the poetry books I loved reading are stored. Aviaries are considered sanctuaries for birds, mimicking the natural world they allow more space to roam than a cage. Much like poetry, aviaries are places we can go to study.
Some of my favorites in this collection include of course, the works of Lucille Clifton, How to Carry Water & The Collected Poems, June Jordan’s Passion, and Maya Angelou’s Poems.
Foraged: gathered with scholarly affection and care
Often found in the footnotes of A Gentle Landing, this collection is curated for those who wish to dive deeper into the concepts and narratives that have shaped me.
Some of the heavily referenced or reflected upon as of late include A Burst of Light and Other Essays by Audre Lorde, All the Black Girls Are Activists: A Fourth Wave Womanist Pursuit of Dreams as Radical Resistance by ebonyjanice, and Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books, and Questions That Grew Me Up by Remica Bingham-Risher.
Woven: ideas that [in]form foundations.
I don't often do "self-help," but some books included here could fall into that category, along with more theoretical texts. These books don’t all talk to each other, but they speak to me.
Be mindful: some of these books I love fantastically, while others I take pieces off to build something else. This collection includes Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski & Emily Nagoski, Black Aliveness, or a Poetics of Being by Kevin Quashie and How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell.
Black & Alive: A Black Coffee and Theology reading list
This reading list was curated for a podcast I host alongside my friend
called Black Coffee and Theology around the current theme, “Black and Alive.”
“Reading will always be a space where abundance lives for me. Even when all other aspects of life force me to navigate a scarcity maze, reading allows me to see from above, just how close hope is.” — Rose J. Percy, 12.8.2023
Become a Patron of My Scholarship
“In My Own Words”
I have been an avid reader since in the 4th grade, during a time when I shared a room with a family-friend-cousin who was a few years older than me. Watching her read and wanting to be like her, I picked up a book during a school vacation. Spending a whole day reading, I also filled up the reading log my teacher. When I returned to class, instead of being impressed by how much I read, she called me up to her text and had me write something so she could compare my handwriting.
I didn’t think much of it then, but it marked the beginning of a track of independent learning that has never stopped. A track that had to run alongside institutions that were not always fashioned to cultivate my passions and curiosities.
Much of what exists on A Gentle Landing comes from years of sustaining these practices. In many ways, what I write here is like a reading log, only here, there is no one to call me out for cheating. I cannot help but think of my enslaved ancestors, who would write things like “this is __, writing in her/his own words.” They were writing during a time where literary brilliance and Blackness were not categorically connected. I think of Audre Lorde recognizing the power of subverting traditional categories, in her embodiment and in her practices as a librarian.
I currently write unconnected to academic institutions. I often use funds generated here from paid subscribers of AGL to invest in building my personal library and pay for learning opportunities.
One day soon, I plan to publish a book…in my own words, of course. You can be part of that journey, by clicking “Grow My Library” to see what’s on my wishlist or “Buy Me A Book,” to make a one-time donation to my book buying budget.
