The Reading Diva

Can you believe that 2013 is almost over? A lot has happened this year: Attended the 51st National Convention of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., where I got a chance to meet (and re-meet) some of my favorite authors . Attended several author events around Charleston and the state, including Pearl Cleage , Sonia Sanchez and Carl Weber . Organized my first ever book signing event with Kwame Alexander. Went to St. Thomas for the first time (and ready to go back). Went to Nashville to attend my sister's wedding. Despite doing all of this, I was able to finish 64 books (as of Christmas Eve, when I wrote this). Here are my 10 favorites from this year.  They are broken up into fiction and non-fiction and are in no particular order. FICTION The Awesome Girl's Guide To Dating Extraordinary Men: Several months before this book came out, I had pretty much acknowledged (in my mind) that I wasn't going to hear much from Ernessa T. Carter for a while.  She just had twin g...

Relax in Paradise George Rodrigue ,  Janet Dailey ,   Paul Tourday  and Ned Vizzini . Trayvon Martin's parents are talking to publishers about a possible book deal , with faith as a possible element. God bless them. Viking has acquired the rights for the book that will be by two of the Cleveland kidnapping victims . Lindsay Lohan may be also working on a book . Here comes the train wreck. And speaking of train wrecks, please don't give her a show . PLEASE. And in more train wreck news, ARod is shopping a book deal . Wonder if Jeter's imprint will pick it up. Nikki Giovanni talks about her new book, grief and Nelson Mandela in this Democracy Now video . Random House has acquired a memoir from an African-American prisoner in the 1800s . A double dose of Walter Mosley here and here . The "myth and reality" of self-publishing is explained by a CEO of a publishing company . The Guardian released a best-of-2013 list of African fiction . Just in ...

Relax in Paradise Ida Pollock . Congratulations to fellow Charlestonian Sue Monk Kidd as her newest book is the latest Oprah's Book Club selection ! The Happy Ever After Blog chats with two of my favorites , Michelle Grant and Cheris Hodges, on being authors and BFFs. Leah Dunham got a chance to interview Judy Blume , which will be published. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings.   Here is a new book about the tragedy. Here is a review on Nikki Giovanni's new book . The couple that brought you The Bible miniseries and CBS have joined up to create a miniseries based on The Dovekeepers .  I though networks didn't do miniseries anymore. Terry Crews (the dad from Everybody Hates Chris) is writing a book . Wendell Pierce (from The Wire and Treme) is releasing a book on how he has helped rebuild his New Orleans neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina and the effects the storm has on him and his family . Here is a blog post of 10 books wri...

Relax in Paradise Mandela!! This is a short documentary of the behind-the-scenes preparation and inspiration for "Sheer Good Fortune: Celebrating Toni Morrison". It was a poetry reading at Virginia Tech that was hosted by Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou.  This was also going to be the head picture for today, but I changed it due to Mandela's passing. Relax in Paradise Andre Schiffrin . If Donna Martin can write several books, Kelly Taylor can write a memoir too ! #90210 Gone Girl will finally be published in paperback in April , almost two years after it released. Slate came up with a list of the most underrated books of the year .  I agree with two of these. Here's an article on how African fiction could (and should) grow . So teachers are assigning students to read The Help to learn about civil rights . This story got so much coverage that there is a Change.org petition to stop teachers from doing this.  Did these teachers ever heard of To Kill A ...

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I would like to take this time and thank everyone (sorors and those in the Charleston community) who came out to Charleston Alumnae's event with Kwame Alexander last Friday.  Special thanks goes out to the staff at the main library at Charleston County Public Library for being wonderful hosts.  I was event coordinator for this event and was nervous on whether it would be a success. And it was!  Hopefully this will not be the last literary event that my chapter will organize.  I have some ideas so stay tuned! And one more thing....GO GAMECOCKS!! BEAT THE TIGERS!! Relax in Paradise Wanda Coleman . Michelle Knight will also write a book about being held for more than a decade by Ariel Castro .  Personally, I don't know about this. I am still thinking about reading Hunting Season, which was recently featured on NPR . I saw the case on Fatal Encounters several months ago.  My ID addiction is showing. I don't...

WCBD-TV: News, Weather, and Sports for Charleston, SC Relax in Paradise Barbara Park , Doris Lessing ,  Charlotte Zototow , Sylvia Browne , John Egerton , Herbert Mitgang and Syd Field . The book world was surprised (again) Wednesday night when James McBride won the National Book Award for Fiction . Also, as ZoraToniMaya mentioned, Toni and Maya were on the same stage during the awards show . Shonda Rhimes will be publishing a book in 2015 .  Maybe she has a little free time now that Private Practice is over. George Carlin's daughter is writing a memoir based on the relationship of her famous father . HBO will be developing a show based out of Walter Mosley's Socrates Fortlow, with Laurence Fishburne in the lead.  So what happened to the Leonid McGill series that HBO was developing? One of Charleston's most famous residents will also be featured in a HBO adaption of a book . Terry McMillian speaks the truth in this video from the New York Times . In a ...

St. Thomas, here I come! So, um.... why is Roots being remade ? This list about young adult books that have minority LGBT characters is EVERYTHING.  Speaking of young adult books, Ya'll Fest is this weekend . Terry Pratchett keeps writing despite having a rare form of Alzheimer's . The title of this book makes me laugh. Comparing book vs. movie: 12 Years A Slave edition . Brought to you by booksploitation. I am down for any book to movie adaptation that involves Julianne Moore . Issa Rae is working on a book ! Amazon has announced their best books of 2013 . Here is the list of the most famous authors from every state . Amelia Bedelia (or the lady that created her) represents my state! Pics from the Hurston-Wright Awards ! There will be no Book News You Can Use next week. I will be in St. Thomas for the National Conference on Health Disparities . I will be working, but hope I can at least sit on a hammock and read books while I'm the...

Chain Letter Rules!! The Hurston/Wright Awards were given out last weekend in Washington, D.C. Speaking of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, they recently had some leadership changes . Sad that I missed Attica Locke in Spartanburg last week, but happy to see she has won the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence ! Congratulations! #woohoo Read bell hook's thoughts about the Lean In book and movement. How did I miss that Reese is going to be in the movie based on Wild? Sometimes, I think adults read into too much of things that kids enjoy. This is a perfect example. A documentary on Alice Walker will be screened at a upcoming film festival . Alice's daughter Rebecca talks about her new book with The Root . Dear Dr. Murrary: Do not write a memoir . I need for you to find out where Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman are hiding. And wherever they are, I need you to disappear there. FOREVER. Willie Nelson is writing a memoir . And Morrissey's autobiogra...

My Friday Reads is Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward.  Just started reading it, but so far, so good. Congratulations to the Whiting Writers' Award winners ! Blame Uncle Steve and Supahead for this one: Will the celebrity self-help book trend ever die ? Following Jaycee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart, two of the three women held captive in Cleveland for a decade are writing about their experience .  BTW, Jaycee's book was really good. Be on the lookout for the tons of books coming out about JFK . Edwidge Danticat talks about her new book in Ebony . In light of Grambling State's troubles, it may be a good time to pick up Breaking The Line .  Author Samuel Freedman writes about it in this essay for ESPN . James Bond, Jeeves and Philip Marlowe have returned , thanks to new authors who have picked up the characters after their creators have passed on. Here are five things you didn't know about Maurice Sendak . And speaking of Sendak, this year is the 50th an...

In case you didn't know, I am a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc .  I know, the blog's background and the 1913 on the end of my website address gave it away.  But something awesome happened this year: on January 13, we celebrated 100 years of sisterhood! To celebrate this milestone, Delta held their biggest National Convention yet in our nation's capital! They pulled out all of the stops to make sure the 38,000 people in attendance had a good time.  And two of the programs that are always popular (at least, in my opinion) they have for the sorors during conventions is the author and artist pavilion and the Literary Cafe, which were on July 15-16.  And I like going to the step show too. This was the second National Convention I went to.  In 2008, I attended the convention in Orlando.  The big draw that year was Hill Harper, who just came out with Letters for a Young Sister.  And E. Lynn Harris was there (sadly, this will be the last time...

Relax in Paradise Oscar Hijuelos . Eleanor Catton became the youngest author ever to win the Booker Prize . Due to poor health, Alice Munro will not be able to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony . Here is the short list of the National Book Award nominees. We Need New Names might have lost the Booker Prize, but NoViolet Bulawayo is still getting some love from the press . Next year is the 75th anniversary of Madeline and she's still a hit among the kids. By the time Goosebumps came along, I was into Fear Street.  This is what would happen if Goosebumps were written for 20-somethings . Neil Gaiman gave a lecture on why our future depends on libraries .  He rocks. This essay explains all of the awesome things you can learn from reading Jane Eyre . DMC (yes, from Run DMC), has started a comic book company and has his own comic . The guy from Sons of Anarchy probably made the best decision of his career and dropped out of the 50 Shades movie .  You can't ...

Tamika Newhouse visited North Charleston on March 23 and visited the Sistah Reading Sistah Book Club. Weeks before this event happened, two friends told me that Tamika was coming to Charleston.  One didn't know an actual date and when the date was revealed, she had to work.  The other friend who told me the date was suppose to come, but never showed up.  Luckily, my friend Nadia showed up and we were greeted warmly by the Sistah Reading Sistah Book Club, which is a book club for single mothers (despite the fact that Nadia and I are single, but don't have kids).  The meeting was at an Extended Stay America meeting room and representatives from Thirty-One was there. Tamika talked about her life journey, from becoming a teen mom to a published author.  She also talked about the writing process and why she decided to go the independent route when it was time to publish her books.  Tamika has her own publishing company, Delphine Publications , and how...

Sonia Sanchez made her first visit to South Carolina in years when she visited the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston on March 22.   This event was packed! Close to 100 people came to Avery to see Sonia, in which I got a chance to see many of my neighbors.  There would have been more, but an African writers forum was going on the same time at the nearby Marriott.  There was a ting on sadness at both events due to the passing of Chinua Achebe the day before. Growing up in Alabama, Sonia said she started writing at age 6 when she wrote a poem about her grandmother.  In between stories about her life, she shared several of her many poems.  Sonia also talked about how she is helping put up peace murals in Philadelphia (where she lives) and how she reaches out to children, saying that "they are human beings."  "We have to be innovated about peace, but we have to be peaceful ourselves," she said. Sonia said that the new c...

Back in February, a librarian friend and I were talking about authors we had seen in person.  She told me that Pearl Cleage was coming to Claflin University in Orangeburg (where she works), but didn't know the exact date. I filed it in my memory bank, waiting to hear on the date. Several weeks later, the thoughts of Pearl coming to Claflin returned in my head.  When I did a Google search to find out when she was coming, I found out she would be on campus THE NEXT DAY, which was March 19.  After finding out that she was doing a 6 p.m. lecture, I gather up my books and camera and decided to leave work early to drive one hour to see Pearl. And it was worth the drive! Pearl talked about her journey as a writer, which first started when she started reading Langston Hughes and from that point, knew that she was going to be a writer.  Pearl also talked how she finds a way to make her stories relevant to the times, saying that African-Americans and other minori...

Team Stacey Forever!! Congratulations Alice Munro ! I was shocked when I found out that Elizabeth Smart was found alive.  More than ten years after her kidnapping and rescue, Elizabeth tells her story in a new book . Malala Yousafzi is my new shero . E-books are changing reading habits . Duh. The movie based on The Fault In Our Starts will have a summer 2014 release date . Michael Hastings' novel will see the light of day . A new Richard Scarry book is coming out . The six-year-old in me is very happy. Kimberla Lawson Roby was featured in the New York Times ! I remember reading one of my mother's Lois Duncan books as a teenager. Now she's reaching a new generation of teens. I didn't go see Terry McMillian in Atlanta. But Our Literacy Lives and Bernice McFadden did! And my friend Valinda got to see Terry at the National Book Festival . They can only come up with 16 best things about being in a book club ? So Raj from The Big Bang Theory (wel...

After the release of The Man in 3B, Carl Weber returned to the Northwoods Books-A-Million February 1. There were not as many people who attended this book signing as the one in 2011 , but Carl still entertained us with his stories, opinions and future plans. The event started off with a laugh when my friend Cat noticed that Carl was wearing the same sweater that he wore when he visited Charleston the last time.  He said that he doesn't pay attention to those kind of things. LOL. Carl mostly talked about his plans for the Family Business series.  He said that Family Business 2 was finished (it was released late August) and that he plans to expand the series to at least 15 books.  Since then, another book (To Paris With Love) has been announced and will be released in November.   He also talked about The Choir Director 2, which was scheduled to be released in February 2014, but has since been pushed back to next June.  There are also plans to turn s...

Last year, the College of Charleston picked Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals as their College Read book selection. This was part of the reason why the Charleston County Public Library chose Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as last year's One Book Charleston County selection.   Last October 23 (2012), I spent part of my birthday at the TD Arena to hear Foer speak about both books. But the event, since it was at C of C, was mostly about Eating Animals.  For those who don't know, Eating Animals is about how meat are manufactured and consumed by the public. A student introduced Foer, saying that Eating Animals changed her life so much that she gave up eating meat. More power to her.  Foer reacted to her introduction by saying that the success of a book depends on the conversations that people have after reading it.  Some people may feel uncertain about reading this type of book or it may make them think.  He also said that young people ...

This post has been a year in the making, so here it goes! When many people were getting ready to enjoy the last unofficial days of summer, many people packed the Sottile Theater last August 31(2012), to see noted feminist and scholar bell hooks at the College of Charleston . I was surprised to see how many people, especially students, attended since the event happened the Friday before Labor Day.  The college, especially the Women and Gender Studies program, did a great job in promoting this event. bell discussed a variety of topics during her time on stage. She talked about how it is a perilous time to be an African-American woman in the age of Michelle Obama.  She said that when you see an African-American woman, you can see "all of our journeys".  She also said that feminists theories from an African-American standpoint must not be ignored. bell also said that despite all of the trials we go through, "love is the necessary foundation that keeps us whole...

Some of you may have seen this story already via Facebook and/or Twitter, but if you haven't seen it, here it goes. On September 22, I ordered The Awesome Girl's Guide to Dating Extraordinary Men from a book store that was not called Amazon.  I knew the book was scheduled to come out two days later, and I figured by the time I returned home from Washington, D. C., it would be there.  And they were offering free express shipping since I was a member of their discount club.  I get an email on Friday, September 27 (last Friday, which was five days later) that the book was on back order and it would take up to four weeks to get the book. NO MA'AM.  I canceled that order and ordered through Amazon.  Monday, I got an email saying Amazon had just mailed it off and it arrived on Tuesday. And I didn't do express shipping (Amazon has two warehouses in the state and they may have come from one of them). Lesson: when in (serious) doubt, order from Amazon.  I hav...

I have not featured a book event on the blog in a while.  More than a year, as a matter of fact.  So starting on Monday, October 7, I will be (finally) starting to put the book signings I've attended over the last year on the blog.  They will be in order of the event.  Here is the schedule: Monday, October 7: bell hooks Wednesday, October 9: Jonathan Safran Foer Friday, October 11: Carl Weber Monday, October 14: Pearl Cleage Wednesday, October 16: Sonia Sanchez Friday, October 18: Tamika Newhouse Monday, October 21: Author's Pavilion at the 51st National Convention of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Wednesday, October 23 (My birthday): Tina McElroy Ansa Friday, October 25: Terry McMillian There may be one more book event preview this month, with Attica Locke coming to the Spartanburg County Library on October 24.  I am still debating on whether to attend this one, since I would have to take at least a day and a half off of off work, woul...

It's Banned Books Week! Read banned books and celebrate the right to read! Relax in Paradise Kofi Awoonor , who was killed in the Nairobi terrorist attack.  Fellow poet Kwame Dawes gives a tribute in the Wall Street Journal . Relax in Paradise Alvaro Mutis Jaramillo. More news on NoViolet Bulawayo , who is on the short list for the Booker Prize. Looks like Kelly Clarkson won't get Jane Austen's ring . Maya Angelou and Junot Diaz have won Mailer Prizes. Goodreads has told users to play nice . They should have done this a long time ago. And good news in time for Banned Books Week, the school district in North Carolina reversed their ban of Invisible Man.

Grace Jones is writing a memoir , which is planned to be published next fall. I guess this is the year that ignorant people attack The Bluest Eyes. This time it's from Toni's home state of Ohio. And a school board in North Carolina has banned Invisible Man. Paula Deen has come out of hiding and has made her first public appearance in months . As my hopes for a decent Gone Girl movie continues to get dashed, meet the model who will play the other woman in Nick's life . The National Book Award nominees were announced this week . Thirteen of James Baldwin's books have been released in e-books. James Patterson is giving independent bookstores $1 million . Wild meets Silver Sparrow : Cheryl Strayed recently met her long-lost half-sister . Jesmyn Ward talks about how she wrote Men We Reaped. Terry McMillian gave some insight into the state of African-American authors and big publishers in this article . The movie based on Zane's Addicted has gott...

Book Club Mafia with Natasha Lyonne, Taryn Manning & Tracee Ellis Ross from Natasha Lyonne       Since today is Friday the 13th, I though about putting a picture of Jason Voorhees up.  But I decided on this instead.  It's NSFW, but it's funny. Sonia Sanchez turned 79 years young Monday. A documentary has been created about her life and a Kickstarter fund has been started to raise $55,000 to complete it. Who would have though Dennis Rodman would be an unofficial diplomat, much less write a book with the leader of North Korea? Author NoViolet Bulawayo and Anthony Marra discuss their coming-of-age books. And speaking of NoViolet, We Need New Names made the Booker Prize short-list . Another story about "Who Asked You?" comes in as Terry McMillian's new book is released next week. So how come I didn't know that MSN had a book website until it shut down ? Jesmyn Ward received coverage of her new book Men We Reaped in the New York Times . ...

Football season has started and I'm excited, especially for college football.   LET'S GO GAMECOCKS!!!! True Crime author Carla Norton released a novel inspired by on one of her previous TC books. Terry McMillian talks to Huffington Post about "Who Asked You?", which will be out on the 17th. The people who select books for Oprah's website/magazine did a good job in selecting September's reading list picks .  Why? Because four of them are on my to-be-read list! Good news for Agatha Christie fans: there will be a Poirot novel , the first one in almost 40 years.  But she's not coming back from the dead to write it. CBS Films has secured the rights for The Husband's Secret . Writer Mary Gaitskill doesn't like Gone Girl . And speaking of Gone Girl, whose idea was it to cast Tyler as Nick's lawyer ? SERIOUSLY??!! USA Today has a preview of the most anticipated books of the fall.  And so does Kirkus Reviews . Maya Angelou will...

June marked six years since nine Charleston firefighters lost their lives in the Sofa Super Store fire .  This tragedy has made people in my hometown more aware of the work and dedication that firefighters have, especially in light of the recent tragedies in Houston and Arizona . But what happens to the widows and families that the deceased firefighters left behind?  How do they move on? After hearing that many widows of firemen who died in 9/11 married other firemen, Victoria Christopher Murrary decided to examine what happens in Never Say Never . Miriam is married to Chauncey and Jamal is married to Emily.  They are all best friends and both Chauncey and Jamal are firefighters.  When Chauncey dies in a school fire, Miriam feels that her life is over.  Luckily, Jamal and Emily are there for her.  But as time goes on, Jamal and Miriam get close. Very close, if you know what I mean. How will this affair impact the surviving friends? This book ...