The Reading Diva

As of this writing, I have read 72 books in 2010. This is about 2-4 more books than I did in 2009. Some of my friends say that this is an accomplishment, considering I am six credits shy of my Master's in Library Science, bought a house and moved out of my parents' house, working a full-time job (and for a part of this year, a part-time job on Saturdays), becoming a member of my local library system's board of trustees and being active in Delta. This year brought us a variety of books that we enjoyed, and some we didn't. We looked forward to some books by authors who had not come out with anything in years, just to be disappointed in the end. We also heard from some promising new authors that gave us some of the best books of 2010. And we also read from favorites that kept us entertained and reminded us why we read their books. And now, I would like to announce the best fiction books I read in 2010 (in no particular order): 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter: As stated be...

While going through all of the books I read this year, I realized that I read a lot of non-fiction in 2010. Some were very popular books this year, like reading about how inconsiderate my soon-to-be former governor was in his marriage . Some were not. But here are my favorites of 2010, in no particular order. The Politician by Andrew Young : Short (but funny) story on how I able to borrow this book. I was on a long waiting list for this book at the library. At the time, I was working at Curves and I was talking to the ladies on the circuit about Jenny Sanford's book. And one of the ladies piped up that she was reading The Politician. What makes it so funny is that this member is a Republican who loves Glenn Beck (and she saw him when he was in Charleston with Bill O'Reilly). When I told a coworker about this, I think she nearly fell out of her chair laughing, because we truly could not see her reading this book. Young, who was John Edwards' assistant for years, was ...

As of today, I have read ten true crime books this year. I think out of all the ones that I've read, only one of them I really didn't like. Most of these books were released this year, but there maybe a few that are older. A Poisoned Passion by Diane Fanning: Air Force Staff Sgt. Mike Severance survived Iraq and Afghanistan, but did not survive his marriage to Wendi Davidson. Wendi, a vet, poisoned her husband and threw away his body in a stock pond. Fanning does a good job of highlighting both families affected by this crime. Savage Son by Corey Mitchell : Bart Whitaker hires two of his friends to kill his immediate family so he can inherit their million-dollar fortune. Only problem is that his father lives. It takes a while for the cops to catch up with Bart and his friends and now Bart is on death row. And his father still defends him (as much as you can defend a son who tried to kill you). Our Little Secret by Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie : For 20 years, the murd...

I have had my Nook Color for about three weeks now. So far, I have been able to read books (still working on the touchscreen highlight) and surf the Internet. I even took part in a Nook Color class that Barnes and Noble offers every Saturday (at least the one near my house does). But one thing I have been having trouble with is finding the right thing to read. Some e-books go up to $15, which is still cheaper than the would be at the store. And maybe it's because I still haven't jumped the e-book ship totally. It seems like with most new stuff I get (especially the ones I spend money on), I get a little hesitant about using it. I went to the library Saturday and ran into a good friend of mines who works there. She recently bought a Sony Reader . She was telling me about the hard time she was having with finding e-books, to the point where she thought about selling the Sony Reader and getting something else. I told her to check out Google Books , which does have a lot of ...

As you may know, e-readers have soared in popularity. They are the newest technology trend (even thought they have been around for years) and are one of the "it" items to get for Christmas. Several months ago, I started to think about getting an e-reader. And as a future librarian, I did a lot of research on what would be the best e-reader for me. I also looked at getting computer tablets at one time, but changed my mind. One reason was because I just bought a netbook right after Christmas 2009. I got it for a very good price (thanks Wal-Mart!) and it came with Windows 7. Another reason I ruled out tablets was because they were either too high or they were from companies that I had never heard of. I would research some of these "no-name" tablet computers and reviews would call them pieces of crap. An iPad was too high (despite my coworker rooting for me to get one) and I was waiting on Dell to come out with one. They will be coming out with one in a few days, but th...

The first ever Capital Bookfest in Charleston was a HUGE SUCCESS!! Between 4,000 and 5,000 people showed up on a chilly Saturday to the Charleston County Public Library's main branch. This was really good considering yesterday was the last day for the Coastal Carolina Fair. I would like to commend Kwame Alexander and the Capital Bookfest staff and volunteers for coming to Charleston and making the event the great day that it was. It was great to see many of my friends, neighbors, coworkers and other people from the community at this event. This shows that Charleston loves their authors (if they live in Charleston or not). Many authors and poets including Nikki Giovanni, Haki Nadhubuti, Bret Lott, Mary Alice Monroe, Tina McElroy Ansa and many others shared their talents and works with the Lowcountry. Here are a few pictures from the event: Entering CCPL's Main Library Author A. C. Moore and myself Haki Madhubuti Nikki Giovanni signing books Victoria Rowell and myself (and I w...

Every weekday morning, I listed to the Steve Harvey Morning Show on my way to work. So when he started to promote his first book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man , I was interested in reading it. I reserved it from the library and was one of the first ones to get it when it finally arrived. The next thing I know, this relationship book on how to think like a man was getting big. Right after it came out, my friend tried to find it in the store with no luck. Then people started talking about it. And once Steve was on Tyra and Oprah, I knew there was no turning back. As I mentoned before , I personally felt that it was not the best relationship book since sliced bread (like most people made it out to be). Some of the advice did make sense, but I just didn't feel that wonderful feeling about the book that many people came away with. As turns out, I wasn't alone. I've heard a variety of comments about the book, from "This is for people your age" (my hairdresse...

It seems like yesterday that I had just heard about a new book festival coming to Charleston. That was back in February. Now the Capital Bookfest, which will be at the main library of the Charleston County Public Library is now 5 DAYS AWAY!! I am so excited because this is the first time I can go to a book festival and not have to travel for it. And there are so many big-named authors (several that live here in Charleston) that this is an exciting time to be in the Lowcountry! Some of the authors include: Nikki Giovanni : I admit that I love Soror Nikki. I saw her speak at the SC Book Festival several years ago and she is AWESOME!! She will be reading from her new book Bicycles . She will also take part in the annual meeting of the CCPL Friends of the Library , which is the next day. Victoria Rowell : Until a few years ago, I was a huge fan of The Young and the Restless. And of course, one of my favorite characters was Drucilla Winters. Who can come up from stealing jewelry from Fenmo...

Believe it or not, I actually started writing this post several weeks ago. I had a Sophia Petrillo storyline going and everything. But after last night, I changed my mind. Did you ever had a crush on someone in high school? A crush that was like, you fell head over heels for this person? What about not being accepted in high school? You were not one of the cool kids, but one of those kids who was teased because of their looks or the way they acted? I experienced both of those things while I was in high school. So when I read 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter , I could totally relate to what her main character, Davie Jones, went through. Davie lived in a small town in Mississippi and was treated cruel by her mother (also known as the town tramp). She copes by watching Molly Ringwald movies (like 16 Candles). When James, the hot football player, moves into town, she falls in love. But due to relentless teasing and becoming a victim to a horrible high school prank, Davie runs away to Los ...

Due to car trouble and getting the radiator replaced, I will not be attending the African-American Literary Festival in Columbia tomorrow. I am sorry that I will not be able to attend, but I hope that the people who will attend this event will have a good time. If they have this event next year, I plan to attend. I am sorry if I have let you down. Maybe I can get some more reading done. :-)

A brand-new literary event is happening in Columbia, SC this weekend and the Reading Diva is going! The African-American Literary Festival will be at the Columbia Conference Center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. I glad they picked this day because Carolina's football team is off this weekend, which means no traffic for the two hours I will have to drive. The event is hosted by the SistahFriend Book Club , which has book clubs in various parts of the country. The event will feature some well-known names in African-American Literature. Authors include Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant , Mary Monroe , Donna Hill and Marissa Monteilh . There will be author signings and forums, vendors and activities for the little ones. By Sunday afternoon, I will have pictures and highlights from the festival. I promise I won't take as long as the SC Book Festival.

Note: There are pictures from this event. They are on my old digital camera, since I bought a new one a few months ago. My old camera is at my parents' house, so I will post them once I get the camera. I know the SC Book Festival was back at the end of February. But since I am attending two more book festivals before the end of the year, I feel that I need to post about the one I went to before I went to the new one. So a few things that I remember from the book festival: There was one guy who was selling a lot of self-published books, mostly African-American themed. But what drew me to his booth like a moth to a flame was the big Obama book he was selling. I collect Obama items, so this was up my ally. It was a long coffee table book of the front covers of African-American newspapers when Obama won. I started to think that I would buy this for myself and a friend that is a bigger Obama collector than I am. And then he told me the price: $70. Then this Chris Rock skit came into m...

After 16 days, a missed book club meeting, two big class assignments, helping with a play with my sorority, and countless events than one does while decorating a house, I have finally finished Terry McMillan new book Getting To Happy . Since it has been 15 years since I have read Waiting to Exhale (I read twice in high school - including once before I saw the movie), I had to picture the main characters as what they played in the movie . For example: when I read Savannah's part, I thought of Whitney. It helped me keep track who was who. Since I know that some people haven't read the book, I'll give some thoughts about the book without giving it away. To me, it felt like most of the main characters have not learned anything in the last 15 years. I think one character was not in the book because of what happen to the person who played him/her (in the Waiting to Exhale movie) in real life. And I'm not talking about Whitney. Why were the teenage girls, particuarly Sp...

So, here I'm am, at my local Kmart (and yes, people still shop at Kmart). I happen to glance at the book section and found this. I know sometimes publishers release books before the date they are suppose to be released, but I just checked Amazon and this book is still due to be released on Tuesday. I don't know what the deal is, but this may be good for those who can't wait to read the book. If I didn't pre-order it from Amazon and if it wasn't cheaper (they were selling it for $20 and got it for $15 at Amazon), I would have actually bought it. I've waited more than five years for this book, so a few days more won't hurt me. It may benefit some members of my book club. :-)

not to go to the Eric Jerome Dickey book signing in Columbia. This morning, my body nicely reminded me that I am in my 30s now and I would be pushing it if I decided to go. So after class tonight. I will go home, watch Big Brother and some Gamecock football, and maybe finish Tempted By Trouble. And most importantly, sleep.

Since September is here, fall book festivals and author appearances are popping up. Since I live in the great state of South Carolina, here are the events that I either want to go, may go or will go. Tomorrow night(September 2) at 7 p.m., Eric Jerome Dickey will be at the Sandhills Books-A-Million in Columbia. I really want to go to this, because he is one of my favorite authors and one of the very few I haven't met. There are two things that are stopping me. One is that I have an online class from 5-7. But I could be MIA and watch it on video later. But the professor says it's mandatory (emphasis on the an). This is the second reason: Even though I am a very proud alumni of the University of South Carolina and love Gamecock football (despite the highs and lows), I know that traffic is going to be hell. And this is the first game. And there will be drunk people on the roads on my way back. So I'm still thinking about whether I should go. I did drop him a line on Facebook to...

Since I wrote a blog post. Between moving, classes, getting ready for a new boss and other things that have happened in this thing we call life, I haven't had time to post. I hope to post more often in the future. I'm going to try to do this once a week (hopefully more). Even with all of this, it seems like my reading has actually speed up. I have completed almost 50 books so far this year, compared to about 70 all of 2009. I don't think I can get to 100 (and not going to try), but I think 80 may be feasible, depending on my schoolwork. I just finished reading a book called Queen Pin . It's about a women who was a major drug dealer in LA back in the 80s and found God while spending over a decade in prison. Short read, but nothing to write home to. Do you like the new look? I do! I didn't like the pink background (must be the Delta in me) and when I saw that I could change it to red, I was very happy. I also like the background print as well. I'm still considerin...

As some of you may know, I an currently working on a Master's Degree in Library Science. So when I heard about This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All , I wanted to see what it was about. Through this post, I am going to tell people who I interact with and you why you should read this book. Why my coworker Candace should read this book: There is a chapter about tattooed librarians. And you are a tattooed librarian! The tattooed librarians in this books participate hang out with each other and participate in book cart performances. This sounds cool! Why my professor Dr. Tu should read this book: There's this huge chapter about Second Life! You have been telling me how you can do virtual reference with Second Life, but I didn't know that a lot of the virtual librarians hang out with each other and provide help to hundreds of avatars per day! I think it should be mandatory for you to read this! Why the archivists at my job should read this book: Th...

Yesterday, I got an email that Blair Underwood is coming to one of the Books A Million in Columbia on next Tuesday (May 25). He is promoting his new book From Cape Town With Love from the Tennyson Hardwick series, which I love. But that has me wondering: Why aren't the African American authors coming to Charleston anymore? At one time, they did. A lot of them came to the Books A Million at Northwoods Mall. Several years ago, I remember standing in line to meet E. Lynn Harris when I Said A Little Prayer came out. I also remember meeting Essie Mae Washington-Williams and Omar Tyree (who was happy to sign my first edition copy of Flyy Girl ). But sometime last year, it all stopped. In recent months, I have received emails about book events, but they all have been out of town. I do admit that I have met a lot of authors, but also a lot of the time I've had to travel to meet them. I have met some during the South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia. I have also met authors when I ...

Every morning when I drive to work, I listen to the Steve Harvey Morning Show. One day early last week, Shirley Strawberry and Steve were talking about an event Steve did the previous weekend and the plans that it will air on ABC's Nightline. It is a part of their "Face-off" series and this new discussion, which was filmed in Atlanta, is called " Why Can't A Successful Black Woman Find a Man?" There was a panel for this event, which includes Jacque Reed and The View's Sherri Shepard. But the women didn't catch my attention (no disrespect to them). It was the men's portion of the panel that did. Including Steve, there was Hill Harper and jimi izrael. As one of the 43 percent of the African American women who have yet to be married, I wanted to see what I can do so I won't be a part of that 43 percent anymore. And one of the things I did was read. So I read all three of the gentlemen's book I just mentioned. I read Steve's book Act Like...

Aphrodite Jones is one of the reasons why I love true crime. One of the first true crime books I read was All She Wanted , which was the story of Teena Brandon, who was killed because she was transgender. The case became the basis for the Oscar-winning movie Boys Don't Cry . Now Jones, who has done trial commentary for a number of TV shows and was a frequent guest on The Montel Williams Show , has a show of her own. On her show True Crime with Aphrodite Jones , Jones get to examine famous crimes that has captured the nation's attention the last 20-plus years. Her first episode will be about Scott Peterson (who killed his wife Laci and their unborn son). Future episodes will feature cases involving OJ Simpson (the second time around), the Menendez brothers and Michael Jackson's child abuse scandal (one of her most recent books examined the case and how much of a joke it was). True Crime will premiere Thursday (March 11) at 10 p.m EST on Investigation Discovery. For more inf...

This weekend (February 27-28) marks the return of the South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia. Many well-known and up-and-coming authors will be there. Several African-American authors will be there including Francis Ray, Clarence Nero and Tiffany Warren. Trista Thomas, author of the "Napply" series was suppose to be there, but I just saw on the festival's Web site that she has canceled. :-( Because of this, I may not go. But I don't rule out the possibility. Most of the events will be at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. For information, visit their Web site at http://www.scbookfestival.org/ . ETA 3/4/10: I did attend the SC Book Festival on 2/28 (Sunday). I hope to have the story and pictures up here by the end of the week. I've been busy with school and work lately.

Hello!! My name is Maya and I am your Reading Diva. I will be writing book reviews, giving you information about books (and events involving books) and other information that I would like to share. I will mostly be focusing on African-American literature (no Urban Lit, yuck), but I will also write about true crime, biographies and any other book that I find interesting. I do have some plans for this blog, such as a book club, but those will be in the future. I live in the beautiful state of South Carolina, where there are smiling faces, beautiful places and Republican leaders who like to find ways to embarrass us. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always love the written word. I love it so much that I graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in journalism. When that didn't work out, I decided to go back to Carolina and now I am working on a Master's degree in Library Science. Besides reading, I like to write, do volunteer work, surf on the Inter...