I just love the way that your voice change when you talked about how much you loved it!

That really means something!

It definitely does.

Ugh, I think about that book often.

Hey readers, I'm Ann Bogall, and this is What Should I Read Next Episode 243.

Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader.

What should I read next?

We don't get bossy on the show.

What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read.

Every week we'll talk all things books and reading and do a little literary matchmaking with one guest.

Today I'm chatting with Charlotte Landra Jenkins, a Florida reader who is on the hunt for stories

that reflect her life, love, grief, and humanity back to her.

For Charlotte Landra, new book releases and recent bestsellers by Black authors are a joy,

but she's also yearning for some history.

Backlist titles by women of color that say, hey, we've always been here, we've always existed.

So my task is to recommend three backlist titles suited to Charlotte Landra's taste for complex,

fully realized female characters, and I love the way she describes them,

finding their way through life and finding themselves along the way.

We discussed Charlotte Landra's recent breathtaking reads and her enduring love for Zora Niel Herston.

We're digging deep into novels that carry the reader through grief, southern literature,

classics you might not have heard about in school, and you'll definitely want to hear about

the book. Charlotte Landra expects will become a classic of our time. Let's get to it.

...