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Showing posts from 2015

An Open Letter to 2015

Dear 2015, You started out so nice.  I thought you would be a continuation of the great year that was 2014.  And January and February started out pretty uneventful.  Then March rolled in. One of my classmates from Burke and Carolina suddenly passed away.  And then my 90-year-old aunt died.  But I was gratefully that she lived to 90. Then you stayed quiet.... until the night of June 17 . I lost two friends that night. And so many of my friends lost relatives and friends.  It was so heartbreaking to go to funeral after funeral, wake after wake.  But Charleston, as always, came together. And I was still reeling from that when I got that call from my stepfather on September 18 that would change my life forever. I did not know that you would be the year that would take my mother from me.  There are days that I think that it's just a dream and that she will be calling me on the phone or walk in my house. And it seemed like after that, everyone was experiencing a loss.  I kn

Why I have been MIA....

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On the evening of September 18, around 9ish, I was talking to my mother on the phone about the day's events.  I asked her if I got a package from Amazon.  She said I did and at the end of the conversation, I told her to go ahead and open it. A few minutes later, she called back.  She thanked me for the cookbooks that she got for her birthday.  She was going to read one that night and the other one when she came home from work the next day. Little did I know that would be the last time I would hear her voice. Around 11, my stepfather called.  Paramedics had rushed my mother to the hospital. Turns out she had suffered a massive aneurysm and based on where it was, there was nothing doctors could do. On Monday, September 21, the day after her 59th birthday, my mother made her Heavenly transition. I don't know if and when I will be back to the blog.  I hope you understand.  Please pray for me and my family.

Book News You Can Use 9/18/15

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Congratulations to all of the National Book Award nominees ! The Man Booker Prize shortlist was announced this week. The New York Times has created a fellowship in the memory of David Carr. Maya Angelou's art collection sold for over $1 million . Looking for some new African-American female authors to read?   Kalisha Buckhanon has some recommendations . Legendary basketball star and author Kareem Abdul Jabbar is now trying his hand at fiction with a new book about Sherlock Holmes' brother . Beverly Jenkins was featured in a recent Book Riot podcast . Shout-out to romance writer Christine Jones, who started a new blog and podcast about African-American romance called  Girl, Have You Read . A woman wrote a book about hiking in the wild  and it's not called Wild. Girl on The Train author Paula Hawkins  may be coming to a city near you ! A new publishing company has been started by a daughter of one of the Koch brothers . Yes, those wealthy brothers who

Book News You Can Use 9/11/15

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Relax in Paradise Rhoda Lerman  and William Grier. Congrats to the winners of the PEN Literary Awards ! Congrats also go out to the nominees of the Scotiabank-Giller Prize ! President Obama presented arts and humanities medals Thursday to several people in the arts . Stephen King, Jhumpa Lahari and Larry McMurthy were some of those who received awards. I am still experiencing sadness from missing the Decatur Book Festival.  Looks like last Friday's main event with Roxane Gay and Erica Jong was tense.  Recaps are here and here .  And one writer from Book Riot got to attend the festivities . The National Book Festival was also last weekend.   This video  has Walter Mosley being interviewed by Book View Now host Rich Fahle and Kwame Alexander. Two beloved children's books are celebrating anniversaries soon: Harold and the Purple Crayon and (one of my childhood favorites) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry . A fully illustrated version of the first Harry Potter book

Book News You Can Use 9/4/15

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As some of you who have followed my Twitter feed know, I was trying very hard to get to the Decatur Book Festival this weekend. Not only because the awesomeness that is Roxane Gay is going to be there , but there will be a lot of authors I haven't seen in person.  But the universe was trying to tell me otherwise.  Got a medical bill that was almost $200.  Hotels were hard to come by (especially with DragonCon  and Atlanta Black Pride Weekend going on and being Labor Day weekend).  And then the unthinkable happened: the car I've had for almost 15 years broke down. Just decided to stop in the middle of the street.  So instead of going to the book festival, I will probably be at a car dealership to buy a new car.  And why did I just find out on Tuesday that Roxane was in Savannah last night ? *tears* Relax in Paradise Oliver Sacks , Dr. Wayne Dyer , Wes Craven and Noah Davis . Unless her unfinished works are in a closet, there are no other works from Harper Lee . Speaki

Mailbox Monday 8/31/15

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New books came in the mail last week, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! Two of the books featured today are ARCs from Harper Books  for books that will be released in October.  The other is a book I won on Facebook several weeks ago through DAW . Forgotten All The Stars in Heaven The Book of Phoenix Do you see any books that you would like to read?  Hit me up on the comments section!  Thanks to the publishers for the books!

Book News You Can Use 8/28/15

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Relax in Paradise Tony Gleaton  and Soror Amelia Boynton Robinson . This year's Hugo Awards brought a whole lot of drama .  And here's a nice little reminder that women have always been in science-fiction . People who live in Harper Lee's hometown are concerned about the lawyer who has been handling her affairs . An African-American book club was removed from a Napa wine train tour .  The company apologized, but the damage has already been done. This article talks about the history of African-American romance novels. African-American editor and publisher Dawn Davis talks about her career in the publishing industry . Jonathan Alter is working on a biography of President Jimmy Carter . Model Beverly Johnson's memoir was released this week.  Here is an interview with Time . One book that has been getting press is the memoir Negroland.  Read about it here and here . Another book that has been getting press ( and a brand new movie deal ) is the YA boo

Book News You Can Use 8/21/15

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Relax in Paradise Julian Bond and  Russell Poole . Congrats to the nominees of the First Novel Prize  and the St. Francis College Literary Prize ! Sir Elton is not here for banning LGBT books . Other writers are not here for Jonathan Franzen's recent comments . Remember the story about Pat Conroy opening a gym?   A medical scare inspired him to live a healthier life , which eventually lead him to open the gym. Attica Locke talks about writing for books and for the small screen . Here is a new review of The Turner House . This fantasy book written by an African-American man (and with an African-American narrator) sounds interesting. R.L. Stine says  he doesn't like to read nonfiction books . One writer admitted that she hasn't read most of the classics .  I feel you, sister. A new children's book claims to get children to sleep in minutes and people say it works. Soccer star Cari Lloyd will be releasing a memoir . Ballerina Michaela DePrince&

Mailbox Monday 8/17/15

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More books came in the mail, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! These books arrived in the mail two weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around writing about them.  All three books are from Harper Books and will be released next month. The Art of Memoir Where Everybody Looks Like Me A Free State Do you see any books that you may be interested in?  Hit me up in the comments section!  Thanks Harper for the ARCs!

Book News You Can Use 8/14/15

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Today's Friday Reads is God Help The Child by Toni Morrison.  My book club is meeting for the first time in a while on Sunday and this is the book that was selected.  I'm more than half-way through and I'm still trying to figure out where this book's going.  It seems like several of the members have read it and enjoyed it. At least the place we're having the meeting has awesome food. Relax in Paradise Ann McGovern,   Brook Stephenson  and David Nobbs . A 100-year-old J. R. R. Tolkien book will be published . Another deceased author that will also have his work published is Truman Capote .  There will also be a book about his friendship with Harper Lee. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay TOGETHER  in one article, interviewing each other. Roxane is also working on a Young Adult novel that will be released in 2017. James McBride's next book will be about James Brown . Romance writer Beverly Jenkins talks about her frustration when she starting wri

Book News You Can Use 8/7/15

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Relax in Paradise Carol Brown Janeaway and Alan Cheuse . Congrats to the nominees of the African-American Literary Awards Show ! Publishers Weekly has suggestions on what you should read this fall . NPR was able to compile 100 great romance novels based on listeners' and readers' recommendations. A bookstore is giving refunds for those who didn't like Go Set A Watchman. A female author got a rude awaking when she tried to publish a book in her name and a male nom de plume .  Guess who got the most inquiries? Judy Blume came to the rescue of a man who accidentally gave away his wife's copy of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." Steve Hamilton left his publisher a few weeks before his new book came out, based on (what he felt was) lack of publicity for the new book.   Luckily he was able to find a new publisher . N.K. Jemisim was able to get a review for her new book in the New York Times ! Walter Mosley writes about how Louisiana

Book News You Can Use 7/31/15

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Book News out of Charleston this week: A woman wrote a letter to the local paper's editor complaining about a book her daughter (who will be a freshman at one of the local high schools) had to read for English class.  Her complaint was that it was too vulgar and that the book should be off the summer reading list (even though the child could have read another book off the list).  To make a long story short, she got her way and the school pulled the book almost three weeks before school starts.  One, if her daughter doesn't know some of that stuff that's mentioned in the book, she will by the time she graduates.  And if I was a kid or a parent of a kid who read that book and it was pulled from the reading list, I would be ticked.  Just because one parent has a problem with it doesn't mean that other parents feel the same way.  Here are reactions from the local library's YA department and the author of the book .   There is a campaign to raise money to buy copies

Goodbye, South Carolina Book Festival

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South Carolina Book Festival in 2012 News came out of Columbia yesterday that the  South Carolina Book Festival is no more .  Instead, the state Humanities Council decided that it would be best to do author events across the state.  To be honest with you, I have not been to the state book festival since 2012 when they brought Kimberla Lawson Roby, Zane and Eric Jerome Dickey.  I was in Chicago last year and the other two years they didn't bring people that interested me enough to roll out of bed and drive almost two hours to Columbia.  There were a lot of things I think they did wrong, which lead to the book festival being the thing of the past. Inviting the same people OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I can see them inviting Dorothea Benton Frank every year because she comes out with a new book every year.  But inviting Pat Conroy (and some others) just for the hell of it got old. NOT ENOUGH DIVERSITY.  There were some years (like this one) you can count how many African-American aut

Book News You Can Use 7/24/15

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Relax in Paradise Chenjerai Hove , E. L. Doctorow and Tom Moore . Prayers go out to Alan Cheuse , who was seriously injured in a car crash. Congrats to Deborah Johnson for winning the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction! Is Go Set a Watchman an indictment of the limits of liberalism ? Sebastian Junger is writing a book about how solders deal with stress after returning from wars. Pledged, a book about how it goes down in (mostly white) sororities, has been recently updated.  Author Alexandra Robbins talks about how some sororities deal with sexual assault claims . Reshonda Tate Billingsley talks about stereotypes and violence while promoting her new book Mama's Boy. Edwidge Danicat talks about how she wrote her first Young Adult novel . Toni Morrison talks about the inspiration behind The Bluest Eye . Nigerian author Dillibe Onyema talks about the many authors that have come from his home country . A new book discusses the impact of the late 60s-early 70s PBS

Book News You Can Use 7/17/15

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Congrats to Tracey K. Smith, who was named director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing ! Ida B. Wells was honored with a Google Doodle  yesterday. Is there a third Harper Lee novel out there ?   A fourth ? A Charleston native spoke about his feelings after reading Go Set A Watchman and how it relates to his family and life.  And Jabari Asim has been rethinking his thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird. Another book that received a lot of hype this week was Ta-Neishi Coates' new book, Between the World and Me.  Based on his Facebook post, Dr. Cornell West wasn't a fan (and Michael Eric Dyson told him to get over it).  And this guy from the New York Times missed the damn point. Booksellers and authors are demanding the federal government investigate Amazon over anti-trust violations. Publishers Weekly is already talking about fall releases.   And The Million has also dropped their list of books to look forward for the rest of the year. Speaking of Publi

Book News You Can Use 7/10/15

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Many people are awaiting Tuesday's release of Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman , which is the "sequel" for To Kill A Mockingbird.  PBS will be showing the American Masters episode chronicling Harper's life tonight and will include an update about the new book.   Here is a picture of Harper receiving a finished copy of the book.  And you can read the first chapter here . Relax in Paradise James Tate . Congrats to the Andrew Carnegie Award winners ! Congrats to  Chimamanda Ngzoi Adichie, who is expecting a little one ! Congrats to Lawrence Hill, who was honored with the Order of Canada . The huge news that is coming out of my home state is that the Confederate Flag is FINALLY off the Statehouse grounds. THANK GOD. This recent interview of Percival Everett (who is releasing a short story collection) and his thoughts on the Confederate Flag were…interesting. Speaking of the flag coming down, poet Nikky Finney wrote a passage to commemorate this day.

Happy Independence Day!

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Hello!  I'm still in recovery mode from what's been happening in Charleston the last few weeks.  I'll be back next Friday with the return of Book News.  Have a safe and happy holiday! Picture is from Healthline.

Donations in Memory of the Emanuel Nine

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Program at the Charleston NPHC Prayer Vigil on Saturday Several of you have asked about ways you would like to help the families of the Emanuel Nine or donate funds in their memories.  Here is a short list (which will probably grow in the next few days) on ways you can help. Picture I took at Mother Emanuel when I visited the church on Tuesday The biggest fund is the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund.  This fund will help family members with funeral and burial expenses.  Any remaining money will go to the AME Church, in which the leadership will determine how to use it.  There are three ways to donate: 1. By check to: Mother Emanuel Hope Fund c/o City of Charleston Post Office Box 304 Charleston, SC 29402 2. Stop by any Wells Fargo Bank nationwide and make a donation. 3. And texting 'prayforcharleston' to 843-606-5995 or going to www.bidr.co/prayforcharleston .  Passcode is FAMILY. Another fund that was started is the Lowcountry Unity Fund. The Unity Fund will be

Prayers for Charleston

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Hey ya'll. Today's normally the day I post Book News You Can Use, but not today. As many of you had heard, my hometown was struck by an unthinkable tragedy Wednesday night. Nine people were shot and killed at (Mother) Emanuel A.M.E. Church, right in the heart of downtown Charleston. Some of you may have also heard that I knew three of the victims.  The pastor was a state senator who represented the area that my parents live in. Another was the manager of the library that I often go to and would have conversations about library issues and life in general.  And one was a member of my beloved Delta and was in my alumnae chapter. Many of my friends and neighbors lost loved ones during this tragedy.  And our area has gone through so much already this year, with the killing of Walter Scott (who several of my family members knew), a killing of a mother who was driving her car and just left a Mother's Day celebration, another woman who was killed in her car while she

Mailbox Monday 6/15/15

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More books came in the mail last week so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! All of the books today came from Harper Books .  Two will be released in July and everyone knows the third book. Crooked Heart You Don't Have to Live Like This To Kill a Mockingbird (to reread in time for the release of Go Set a Watchman) Do you see any books that you would like to read? Hit me up in the comments section! Thanks to Harper for the ARCs!

Book News You Can Use 6/12/15

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Relax in Paradise Vincent Bugliosi . Congratulations to the winners of the Nebula Awards! Congratulations also go out to Juan Felipe Herrera, who was named U.S. Poet Laureate ! I hope the person who stole the new 50 Shades of Crap Gray manuscript did the world a favor and threw it in the recycling bin. The new Robert Galbraith book has a cover and a release date. The Fault in Our Stars was the best-selling e-book of 2014. Authors,  just stay away from Goodreads reviews . Kim Kardashian impersonator Glee star Naya Rivera landed a memoir deal . A new book about Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina Brown says that Whitney was extorted over a possible lesbian affair and gives theories on what happened to Bobbi Kristina. A cover has been released for Sara Bareilles' book. I already had mixed feeling about making movies based off the Flyy Girl series (because the first one is the only one worthy of a movie), but I really can't see Sanaa Lathan as Tracey .

The Ultimate Betrayal

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I received an ARC from Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley .  Opinions are my own. Drama in the Black Family continues in Kimberla Lawson Roby's new book, The Ultimate Betrayal , which is out TODAY!  This book focuses on Alicia, Curtis' oldest daughter, and her best friend Melanie. Alicia is engaged to Phillip, her first husband.  They broke up years ago because of Alicia's addiction to shopping and her affair with Levi, a drug dealer.  Levi's been locked up for a few years and now he's out of prison. And wants Alicia back.  Will she stay faithful to Phillip or will the Black genes kick in and cause her to be unfaithful again? Melanie has a weight problem. Or so she thinks. She's the ideal weight for her height, but constantly thinks that she's fat.  Will her weight problems cause her to loose her marriage and her life?  And what's up with the money that her husband Brad keeps taking out of the bank account? If you are a fan of Kimberla&#

Mailbox Monday 6/8/15

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More books came in the mail last week, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! I was suppose to receive both of today's featured books from Harper Books several months ago when ARCs were available.  Since they ran out of the ARCs, I was able to get the finished copies!  They are: Pleasantville  (the sequel to Black Water Rising , which I loved several years ago) Finding Samuel Lowe (which was written by a soror) Do you see any books you would like to read? Hit me up in the comments section!  Thanks to Harper for the books!

Book News You Can Use 6/5/15

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Congrats to Jacqueline Woodson for being named Young People's Poet Laureate ! Congrats also go out to Ali Smith for winning the Baileys Women Prize ! Flannery O'Connor was recently honored with her own USPS stamp . Be on the lookout for a signed copy of To Kill A Mockingbird that is missing from Blue Bicycle Bookstore. Maybe the book will show up in the auction where Harper Lee's letters are being sold . Judy Blume gave some advice to the people of the Internet. Why is there another 50 Shades of Crap Gray book coming out? Showrunner Shonda Rhimes will be releasing her memoir in November . Also working on their memoirs are Gabourey Sidibe and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell . Speaking of possible memoirs, publishing insiders are wondering how much a Bruce Caitlyn Jenner memoir would be worth . Wendell Pierce's book about Katrina and New Orleans' recovery now has a cover . Pharrell's book for children also has a cover (with lots of happy