The Reading Diva

2013 was an eventful year in my literary adventures. 2014...not so much.  I did go to two literary events in Charleston: Nina Foxx (which I helped bring to my local library) and Pearl Cleage during the MOJA Festival.  And as of this writing on Christmas Eve, I have only read 35 books, which is low for me.  Somehow, I lost my reading groove this year.  But I was able to select my favorite books of 2014.  So here they are (in no particular order). Anybody's Daughter : This book was one of my book club selections earlier in the year.  This book about a teen girl who is kidnapped and is forced into the world of sex slavery and trafficking (and the efforts of her uncle and his girlfriend to get her back) was a great read. No wonder it won the NAACP Image Award for Best Fiction of 2013! And it reminded me of the stories I heard about sex trafficking in a conference I was at a few months before I read the book. The Prodigal Son : This is one of my favorite ...

Look what came and arrived under the tree for today's Mailbox Monday! The book on the left, Driving the King , came from Harper Books.  This book will come out in January. The book on the right, Brown Girl Dreaming ,came from Rock Inked! As many of you know, this book just won the National Book Award for Young Adult Fiction! Are you interested in any of these books? Hit me up in the comments section! Thanks to those who provided the books! Happy Holidays!

Relax in Paradise Norman Bridwell . The last of the Best of 2014 lists: Book Riot , Flavorwire ( fiction and nonfiction ), The Guardian (selected by authors), The O Magazine  and Booklist .  BuzzFeed even did a Best of 2014 list of women authors . Author Kalisha Buckhanon also list her favorite books of 2014 . A new Judy Bloom book is coming out in June ! Here are some African-American books to add to your TBR list in the new year. PW also featured some  recently released and upcoming African-American books  for you to check out.  Which ones do you plan to check out? Farai Chideya talks to Lalita Tademy about her new book , why she quit her job to write and how she got married at 55.  There's hope for me after all! Ceiling has been found! David Oyelowo has joined the cast of the movie adaptation of Americanah ! Publishers Weekly talked to six book industry professionals on how important diversity is in the book industry . This story cl...

Congratulations to all of the NAACP Image Award nominees ! To find the literary nominees, scroll towards the bottom. Congratulations also go out to Mitchell S. Jackson, who won the Ernest J. Gaines Award  and Tiphanie Yanique for winning the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize ! Gillian Flynn got a Golden Globe nomination for her Gone Girl screenplay! More Best of 2014 lists: The Daily Beast ( fiction , biographies and memoirs ), The Root ( fiction and nonfiction ), Entertainment Weekly ( fiction and nonfiction ), Vulture , Newsweek ,  The Atlantic (some of their books weren't released this year) and Shelf Awareness . We are already looking forward to books we want to read in 2015 . A former Occupy Wall Street activist lands a memoir deal . Brits are upset that YouTube star Zoella used a ghostwriter for her book .  Um...do they know how most books by celebrities get written? Lena Dunham's publisher had to clarified that a pseudonym was us...

Relax in Paradise Kent Haruf , Mark Strand ,   P. D. James  and Claudia Emerson . Congratulations to all of the Morris Award nominees. The Best of 2014 lists keep coming in with Slate  (they also had an overlooked books list ),  BookPage , New York Times  (they also have a children and YA list  and have narrowed it down to 10) ,   Huffington Post ,  NPR ,  BuzzFeed ,  PopSugar (over 200 books) and  Time  adding theirs. GoodReads users also got a chance to vote for their favorites of 2014 . Was 2014 the year of the debut author ? Jacqueline Woodson addressed the National Book Award controversy in an essay in the New York Times . Claudia Rankine didn't win the National Book Award for poetry, but she did get props from the New York Times . And spoke about the violent deaths of black men on PBS NewsHour. Musician PJ Harvey is releasing a poetry book in the new year. Vox suggested people read Men We Rea...

So I got a Kindle Fire HD 6 now. As many of you know, I go out of town a lot for my job and exhibit at conferences.  At the conference I was at this week, one of the tables was giving away the Kindle Fire.  The person at the table encouraged me to enter the giveaway. So I did and thought nothing about it...until yesterday when they called my name that I had won.  As of this writing, I have not turned it on and set it up (it was a long day yesterday).  And some of you also know that I've had a Nook Color for years .  So if you own one of these Kindles and would like to give me tips on how to work it, or even tell me if you like it (or not), please feel free to drop a line in the comments. Congratulations to the winners of the National Book Awards ! A special shout-out goes to Jacqueline Woodson, who won for Brown Girl Dreaming ! Sadly, Woodson's win was overshadowed by Daniel Handler 's (AKA Lemony Snicket) jokes during the award show .  But he has ...

A lot of books came in the mail the last two weeks, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! Two packages of books came while I was in California.  One of the packages I received was from Kensingston Publishing . The Girl In the Woods Hades Caught Up Lights, Love and Lip Gloss Want, Need Love I also received a package from Random House . Glow A Map of Betrayal Last week, I received a package from Harper Books . God Loves Haiti Unrequited And I received one of the books I won on Goodreads, The Day The Walls Cried . Do any of these books capture your attention?  Hit me up in the comments section!

The (ugly) dispute between Amazon and Hatchette IS OVER .  And it may have been over a button . Speaking of Amazon, this writer says that Amazon is doing people a favor by crushing big publishers . Amazon has named their Best Books of 2014 . Here is a list of the 10 best self-published titles of 2014 (according to BookLife). This article claims that GoodReads doesn't care that you didn't read the books you reviewed . Barnes and Noble is starting a print-on-demand service . The fiancee of the only Ebola victim to die in the United States has a book deal . BEA and BookCon will have separate dates in 2015. Until this week I didn't know that there was a Bad Sex in Fiction Award . Gillian Flynn is going into the comic book world . Britain's children's laureate (who is a sister) is asking for teens to remix some of the country's best loved books . How are you going to have a book signing... without having written a book ? This month is Nati...

Relax in Paradise Galway Kinnell . Congratulations to the winners of the African American Literary Awards ,  All Things Literary Awards , the Hurston/Wright Foundation Awards  and the Lannan Literary Awards ! A lot of great books were named as Publishers Weekly's Best of 2014 ! A lost Malcolm Lowry book will be published for the first time . Amazon's dispute with Hatchette may be hurting its sales . Go The F*** To Sleep will never be on Reading Rainbow, but that didn't stop LeVar Burton from reading the book for a good cause. The first in-depth biography of Beyonce will be released next year by the author who's done bios of Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. USA Today reviewed the new biography on Aretha Franklin .  And the LA Times reviewed George Clinton's new book . The Boss (Springsteen, not Ross) talks about his favorite books . Watch this video of Mark Whitaker discuss his biography on Bill Cosby on C-SPAN. Two new fundraising efforts (on...

Relax in Paradise Park Honan . Congratulations to Roxane Gay and Marlon James because their books were named two of Library Journal's 10 Best Books for 2014 ! Congratulations also go out to the winners of the Kirkus Prize ! Why does "Nexflix for Books" has it limits ?  Because we have something called THE LIBRARY!! Amazon has inked a deal with S&S , giving them ammo with their fight with Hatchette. Add children's book author to Jimmy Fallon's resume. Shouldn't this author spend more time writing rather than stalking book bloggers ? She needs to get a life.  And Dear Author explains (in situations like this) why it's good that bloggers have pseudonyms .  And someone broke it down on why just stalking bloggers (and lying about it) is a very bad idea . So, I really want to read this book about Michael Jackson impersonators . Of course the top cities for readers of African-American literature are going to be cities with a lot of African...

Relax in Paradise Carolyn Kiser , Ali Mazuri , Margot Theis Raven and Deloris Phillips .  I know the last one was months ago, but I just found out last week. :-( Congratulations to all of the National Book Award finalists ! Congratulations also go out to Richard Flanagan, who won the Man Booker Prize ! We Need Diverse Books has created an award and grants and dedicated them to Walter Dean Myers. My alma mater acquired the papers of the late Elmore Leonard . Lena Dunham is adapting Catherine, Called Birdy for the big screen. No Paddington movie until January . Here is a first look at The Book of Negros miniseries that will be on BET in February. Yes, I said BET. Twin Peaks is not only coming back on TV, it's also coming in book form . Graphic novel Dark Matters will be adapted for SyFy . Pimp C's widow is not a fan of the upcoming biography about him. One writer talks about her love of New York City and the publishing industry . Please tell John Gri...

More books arrived in my mailbox last week, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! I received two packages of books last week.  The first one was from Atria Publishing .  I won Citizens Creek , the long-awaited book from Lalita Tademy, from GoodReads. I also received a package from Harper Books .  These books will be released in December. Asylum City Woman With A Gun Becoming Richard Pryor Do you see any books that you like? Hit me up in the comments section! Thanks to Atria and Harper Books for the ARCs!

So last Friday (on my day off), I saw the Gone Girl movie.  And I was pretty impressed.  Even Madea was good. And it stuck very close to the book. But there's been debate on what was left out of the book and changes were made (and what was left out/changed didn't change the outcome).  Here are some stories about it here  and here .  And you can download the Amazing Amy covers  featured in the movie on iBooks. Relax in Paradise Geoffrey Holder  and Zilpha Keatley Snyder . Congratulations to Patrick Modiano, winner of the Noble Prize in Literature ! Congratulations also goes out to Malala Yousafzai, who became the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Prize ! Sinead O'Connor is writing a memoir that will be released in 2016. Here's a preview of Billy Idol's new memoir , which comes out in two weeks. When do librarians every stay quiet, especially when it comes to privacy and government surveillance ? Gloria Steinem and bell hooks were...

If you are a child of the 80s and love to read (like yours truly), you most likely remember the Book It! program from Pizza Hut.  You know the one where you are rewarded a personal pan pizza if you read so many books/pages per month.   Book It! is celebrating their 30th anniversary  and now there is an alumni program where adults can celebrate and get a free personal pan pizza!  Woo-hoo!! Congratulations to all of the 5 Under 30 Honorees  and the Kirkus Prize finalists ! Finished reading Gone Girl? Here are some books (that are similar) to read . What happens when your book gets a shoutout by Stephen Colbert? Amazon and Hatchette find a way to ignore their beef... when it come to Paul Ryan . #rollseyes Speaking of Amazon and Hatchette, authors are trying to get the Department of Justice involved in the dispute. The oldest independent bookstore in the Twin Cities is closing . The new book We Are Not Ourselves has been optioned to become a movie...

“In truth, love is everything. You can live without money. You cannot live without love…of someone or something. Everyone is forever trying to find love in some way. Everyone is trying to win something. Wanting some satisfaction.” — Paul from “In Search of Satisfaction" by J. California Cooper Relax in Paradise J. California Cooper  and Alastair Reid . Congratulations to all of the Amtrak Residency Program winners! Publishers Weekly wrote about diversity in the publishing industry and realized that it was sorely lacking . Duh. The mother of one of the Columbine shooters is writing a book .  Um...I don't know about this. I'm looking forward to reading The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace.  The author, Jeff Hobbs, spoke to an NPR station about the book. Another book I am looking forward to is New York Times columist Charles M. Blow's memoir.  Read an excerpt here . Gabriel Garcia Marquez's books will be released as e-books . R.L. Stine supp...

More books have arrived in the mail so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! I received two books from Harper Books .  One is about college basketball and one is about education, so I may eventually give them to the parents.  My mother is a principal and my stepfather likes reading about sports. Bleeding Orange Lessons of Hope Does any of these titles interest you?  Hit me up in the comments section! Thanks to Harper Books for the ARCs!

Congratulations to all of the National Book Award nominees! The MacArthur genius grants were announced this week and the winners include Columbia native Terrance Hayes. A Brooklyn poet is moving to Detroit after winning the Write a House Project contest . Is Oscar Pistorius trying to pull an OJ and write a book about killing his lover ? Yamma Brown, the daughter of the Godfather of Soul, talks about her parents' abusive relationship and how she fell for an abusive man . Meanwhile, her brother Daryl thinks that James Brown was killed by those in his inner circle .  He must be comparing notes with the Jacksons. The war of Amazon vs. Hatchette continues with Hatchette authors going after Amazon's board. Speaking of Amazon, new Kindles and Kindle Fires were just released , including a version for children. Barnes and Noble has suspended the ability to download their e-books on your personal computer . Maya Lang read To Kill A Mockingbird for the first time and ...

More books have arrived in the mail so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! I received these books two weeks ago.  But due to my busy schedule, I was unable to post them last week.  So here are the books I received from Kensington Publishing : As Close As Sisters The Pleasure Trap Boy Trouble Do you see any books that you would like to read?  Hit me up at the comments section!  Thanks to Kensington for the books!

Relax in Paradise Graham Joyce . Congrats to all of the short-list nominees of the Booker Prize! Here is the 20 most beloved books of all time... according to Facebook . In light of what happened last week when a review about a book about slavery wasn't received well , what happens when book reviews don't go so well ? Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has a book deal . YA author Jane Quin-Harkin says that 80s teen lit never gets old . We are three weeks away from the Gone Girl movie and author Gillian Flynn interviews Rosamund Pike (who plays Amy) for Glamour . Judge Judy is offering her new book for free. There is a new project that will adapt novels to become television series. Don't be surprised if the Lambly (also known as Mariah Carey's fans) come after Nick Cannon for leaving her name off a children's book they were suppose to write together. A teen secretly publishes his mother's manuscript , which boosts her writing career. Please...

Relax in Paradise Joan Rivers ,  Charles Bowden  and A. J. Langguth . Labor Day is over which means lists of fall's anticipated books will be making their arrival.   Here is USA Today's .  And Jason Mott got featured in Wednesday's book section ! A teacher in Maryland was suspended from his teaching job for writing a book about a school shooting .  The school district said that is not the case . Here are 10 things that happen when you can't put down a good book. Sony Pictures has hired someone to find books and develop them into TV shows and movies .  That sounds like a cool job! I'm still trying to figure out why there is a 50 Shades of Gray movie.   Why are there plans for a sequel and why is Kendall Jenner possibly up for a role ? Speaking of those who hustle on a regular basis, Nick Cannon is coming out with a poetry book for children .  And what's going to happen with that children's book he was working on with Mariah since th...

Relax in Paradise Desmond O'Grady and Robert Sherrill . Congratulations to Robert Hass for winning the Wallace Stevens Award (and the $100,000 that goes with it).  Congratulations also go out to the American Book Award winners. The UK children's laureate (who happens to be Black) received racist taunts after calling for diversity in children's books. Here is a New York Times review of Brown Girl Dreaming . Speaking of children's books, check out an expert of Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Essence editor Patrik Henry Bass.  Headline on the top of the article's a little misleading. Check out this new app that helps you find children's and YA books from African-American authors. Here is an article (with audio) from NPR that talks about the struggle of achieving diversity in publishing . Kobo is introducing a waterproof e-reader.  Didn't know there was a need for such things. If you were watching the Emmys this week, you probably saw this ne...

Barnes and Noble and Samsung released their Nook tablet  this week.  Those who have been reading the blog for a long time know  I bought a Nook Color (the first tablet Barnes and Noble came out with) when it came out four years ago.  Even though I raved about it then, it is now showing its age (and the lack of power that it never really had).  I have been wanting to get an iPad for a long time because I have an iPhone and my work computer is a Mac. And I have been buying more ebooks on Amazon (I have the Kindle app on my phone, but small screens can be a struggle). But the $179 price for the Nook tablet had me thinking about buying one, compared to the $400+ price tag for an iPad.  But my coworker (who owns and knows everything Apple) talked me off the ledge.  So I guess I will wait and see what the new iPads will have next month. Relax in Paradise Simin Benbahani  and Samil al-Qasim . Congrats to all of the Hugo Award winners ! Congrat...

I received a new book in the mail, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! The book I received last week is Beyond the Velvet Rope by Tiffany Ashley.  As a matter of fact, I thought about buying this book a few weeks ago at Books A Million!  Thanks to Rock Inked for the book! Are you interested in this book?  Hit me up in the comments sections!

So like this famous scene from Network, I am mad as hell. I'm mad as hell because a young African-American man can't walk the streets without being shot by police.  And people can't peacefully protest about said incident because police are coming out in riot gear and snipers.  And also try to block journalists from doing their jobs. I'm mad as hell because a man who brought so much light and laughter to millions lost his battle to mental illness. I'm mad as hell because it was announced that Malaika Adero at Atria was laid off this week .  This may cause a huge blow to the African-American literary scene, because a lot of the African-American themed books that are released are from Atria. Unless the books are from Strebor or Cash Money, most likely Malaika had a hand in it.  I'm also mad that Publishers Weekly buried this news to the bottom. And I really should be happy because my baby cousin came into the world on Wednesday. But I'm still mad (and...