The Portable Promised Land
By Toure'

     The Portable Promised Land is an eclectic mix of short stories, masterfully written by a wonderful new author. Toure's use of the English language is page-turningly superb. The book contains 24 short stories, of varying lengths, all different styles and all undeniably interesting.

     The style, the imagery and cadence allow you to "know" how the story continues, an improvement on the usual dissatisfaction with the shortness of short stories and makes for satisfying reading. I did find, that I wanted to read other books in between some of the short stories, so it took me an incredibly long time to read this collection. I also found that I had to call up my girlfriends on occasion to read passages aloud. We enjoyed many a late night laugh reading some of the stories - in particular, "Afrolexicology Today's Bi-Annual List of the Top 50 Words in African-America." Make no mistake, some of the stories have wonderful endings and by the time it is finished, you would be out of breath and drained, but fully in awe of the writing and the message conveyed.

     This is definitely a love/hate type of book. Either one is completely enthralled or thinks that the author is mad, which is apparently the reaction the author is going for. Stimulate your mind to think in unconventional ways, how simple words and phrases are shaped was sweet music to my senses. Even the titles of some of the stories, invite you to read them to see just what they are about. Try "The Steviewondermobile" on for size, followed by: "The Playground of the Ecstatically Blasé", or "A Guest" or "The Commercial Channel: A Unique Business Opportunity". If you love to read and you read to expand your horizons and kindle and excite your imagination, The Portable Promised Land must be on your To Be Read pile.