briana

I’ve been watching a couple of Rungano Nyoni films like “I Am Not a Witch” (2017) and “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” (2024) and I’m very interested in watching more contemporary African films. Particularly Sub-Saharan Africa but I’m getting around to MENA films too at some point.

My Twitter account is behaving weirdly so now I’m back.

Hollywood Shuffle (1987) dir. Robert Townsend It is the last day of Black History Month, and as Hollywood faces Paramount buying out Warner Brothers and the whole N-word saga at this year’s BAFTA Film Awards, I thought Hollywood Shuffle&n…

For the last day of Black History Month, I watched Robert Townsend's 1987 satire, Hollywood Shuffle. I wrote a review of it on my little blog if you want to give it a read. #BrianaWatches

Alexandre Dumas being the one-fourth Black son of a Haitian military general always takes me out. The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and The Man in the Iron Mask are all partially inspired by his father's life.

Library books that are next up on my reading list.

Everything you need to know about the International Booker Prize 2026 longlist | The Booker Prizes From witchcraft to warfare, trauma to transformation, resilience to cruelty, this year’s longlist shines a light on a vast range of experiences

Everything you need to know about the International Booker Prize 2026 longlist via @thebookerprizes.com

Planning my March TBR and I'm reading Anais Nin, Clarice Lispector, Joan Didion, and Eve Babitz next month. That one friend who takes literary depression seriously.

I’m reading Zäria Ware’s “BLK ART” book that goes into the history of Black art models and artists, and seeing Black people depicted in 15th-19th century paintings and antique sculptures who look like relatives/recent ancestors of mine has been crazy. I have to look twice.

I will have to check this out!

I love movies that feel like reading a book. Like the ones with that literary vibe. That’s how Éric Rohmer and Joachim Trier films make me feel.

Has anyone noticed the amount of food and dinner table covers on literary and contemporary fiction books lately? Is this an extension of the food as a luxury fashion trend?

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens A Southern Black literary fiction book that is worth the hype, sign me up. I don’t know why it took me this long to read Dominion by Addie E. Citchens, but it’s Black History …

I just finished reading "Dominion" by Addie E. Citchens and wrote a review for it on my blog. Spoiler alert: I thought it was perfection. I love Southern fiction by Black female authors, and she went to an HBCU - Jackson State University! #BrianaReads reviewsbybriana.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/d...

I just found out that Addie E. Citchens, the author of “Dominion” is from Mississippi, lives in New Orleans, and is a graduate of Jackson State University. An HBCU Alumna from the South with one of the buzziest books. Bonus points because she went to a SWAC school.

I’m excited to see more Black female authors who are getting more contemporary and literary fiction books published. I have seen a pretty big jump the past couple of years. We love to see it!

A ★★★★½ review of All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023) An extremely tender and emotionally evocative look at a young woman's life in Mississippi. It's about the way our people and nature shape who we are. I was so engrossed in the Mississippi landscape an...

I also want to shout out Raven Jackson for what feels like a spiritual descendant of Daughters of the Dust with her film All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. That movie certainly tee’d me up when I watched it for the first time on Sunday. Anyway, I haven’t been okay and now I am.

boxd.it/cXaBuJ

A ★★★★★ review of Daughters of the Dust (1991) The first time I watched this, I was in total awe of the imagery and lyricism of this beautiful film. Watching it again after so many years has filled me with a renewed sense of hope for the world. Ye...

I rewatched Daughters of the Dust (1991) yesterday for the first time in years and felt a deeper spiritual realignment than I have ever felt from religion. I desperately needed this. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that art doesn’t matter. I owe so much to Julie Dash.

boxd.it/cY2RBf

I’m back in my contemporary literary fiction bag. I have been missing the girlies who blow up their lives.

Unfortunately for you all, I have started reading the plays of Lillian Hellman and I feel #seen.

I love that we can say that The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is the trendy and hot read in literary community right now.

Why did fashion make us so mad in 2025? | CNN Fashion! A delight to the senses, a thing of beauty, a source of pleasure, pain and, in its determined ridiculousness, humor. But this year, fashion was more likely to inspire something else: pure, un...

Why did fashion make us so mad in 2025? By Rachel Tashjian www.cnn.com/style/fashio...

Is Vogue Still Relevant? Rachel Tashjian on Fashion’s Power Shift "Anytime a Vogue cover comes out, there’s such a strong reaction to whether or not this is 'Vogue' or not," says Tashjian.

Is Vogue Still Relevant? Rachel Tashjian on Fashion’s Power Shift
open.substack.com/pub/amyodell...

I'm not a big fan of heavily curated ways of engaging with film, music, books, and art.

I like anti-Booktube "influencers" who read "ugly" books and lesser-known backlisted titles and classics. People who don't just read whatever hot litfic book just dropped by some "weird girl" author.

Should I go for 144 books or do 120 books again for my 2026 reading challenge?

I really enjoy Classic Hollywood and New Hollywood.

I also read Samuel Beckett’s final play “Happy Days” and it’s the work of a mad man in all the best ways. It’s also such a great opportunity for a female actor to have a character that has the same punch as a Hamlet or Willy Loman. #BrianaReads

Yesterday I read “Mother Courage and Her Children” by Bertolt Brecht and Margarete Steffin and I am not a fan of war stories so that okay was not a pleasant reading experience for me. I loved the anti-fascist and anti-war messaging though. #BrianaReads

Beyond Handbags and French Bad Boys: Reconsidering Jane Birkin

BOTD Jane Birkin!!
MCCT5: 5)Je t'aime 4)Piscine 3)Jane B/Agnes V (Varda) 2)Daddy Nostalgia 1)Belle Noiseuse
More:
@oldfilmsflicker.bsky.social: www.rogerebert.com/tributes/fai...
@evincentelli.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/a...
Joumana Khatib re new bio: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...

I just finished reading Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and I fully understand why Pauline Kael called it “the finest work of American theater.” I am at a loss for words but I love some family drama and unaddressed resentments! #BrianaReads

Today I read Luigi Pirandello’s play “Six Characters in Search of an Author” which is a play within a play. I like a good meta moment but all I will say about this is that it’s…. A lot! #BrianaReads