The Reading Diva

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 ...