The Reading Diva

 More books arrived last week, so it is time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! All of the books listed are from Random House . Two are ARCs and one is a Goodreads win. And The Dark Sacred Night Astonish Me Every Day is for the Thief (this is the book I won on Goodreads) Do you plan to put any of these books on your to-be-read list?  Drop me a line at the comments section!  Thanks Random House for the books!

Monday was the 102nd birthday of Dorothy Height.  And as you can see from above, she was honored with her own Google Doodle.  She was an activist for civil and women's rights, the long-time leader of the National Council of Negro Women and worked on the national staff for the YWCA .  And did I mention that she was the 10th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc ?  And if you want to read about her incredible life, her autobiography Open Wide The Freedom Gates will be a great start. Relax in Paradise Lawrence Teacher and Ken Forsse . Congrats to all of the nominees for the RITA Awards  and the winners of the Anisfield-Wolf Awards . Here are 30 classic books to inspire African-American kids . Whoever wrote this article about five books by five Black authors that should be made in movies :  THANK YOU!!  But I would need a 32 Candles movie before an Awesome Girl's Guide movie. Two Black authors will see their books become m...

Several months ago at the National Conference on Health Disparities (the conference that sent me to St. Thomas), I heard from several panelists regarding human trafficking for labor and sexual purposes.  The one that touched me the most was hearing from Lisa Williams, who is the founder of Living Waters and Circle of Friends in Atlanta.  For the last several years, Lisa has helped girls escape sex trafficking, violence and street life.  Everyone was moved when she discussed the human sex trade among young girls and what they go through. All of this started to come back while I was reading  Anybody's Daughter by Pamela Samuels Young . The Image Award-winning books is about a 13-year-old girl who is kidnapped and winds up in the human sex trade.  Her uncle, along with his girlfriend (who is the main character), tries to find her.  It's sad that what is happening to girls around the world is not fiction.  I am reading this book for my book club and ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Several new upcoming releases came in the mail last week so here is another addition of Mailbox Monday! From Kensington Books: Perfect Timing From Harper Books : The Year She Left Us The Heiresses (This is from the author of the Pretty Little Liars series!) From Pantheon Books : The Other Language Do you plan to put any of these book on your to-be-read list?  Hit me up at the comments section!  Thanks to the publishers for the ARCs!

So an awesome thing happened Sunday night. ABC's new show Resurrection premiered to good ratings.  So why is it mentioned on this blog?  Well, Resurrection is based off of The Returned by Jason Mott .  And it's a pretty good book.  The rights for the book was sold (by Brad Pitt's production company) before the book was released.  And it's pretty cool to see a book written by an African-American male adapted into a network television show with an African-American male lead (in Omar Epps).  And did I mention that the show is filmed in Georgia?   Check out the website for the show and the first episode .  P.S. for those who watched the show first and plan to pick up the book: the show goes in a different direction than the book. Just be prepared. Relax in Paradise Joe McGinniss . Congratulations to all of the National Book Critics Circle Award winners ! The Goldfinch is being developed for film by the people who brought the Hunger Games to ...

Welcome to today's Mailbox Monday! I received these ARCs (and a long overdue Goodreads win) from Kensington Publishing over the weekend: Harmony Cabins The Sweetest Thing Betrayal Hitting The Right Note Sister Betty Says I Do (this is the Goodreads win) If You Don't Know Me Do you plan to put any of these books on your to-be-read list?  Let me know by dropping a line in the comments section! Thanks to Kensington for the ARCs!

Relax in Paradise Phyllis Krasilovsky ,  Justin Kaplan  and  Sherwin B. Nuland . Somehow I forgot to congratulate the literary winners of the Image Awards last week .  There were some surprises among the winners (at least according to me). George Saunders won the Story Prize ! Here are the nominees for the 2014 PEN/ Faulkner Awards  and the Lambda Literary Awards . Can going from a bestseller to a bust can be the end of an author's life ? Did you know that this week is Read an Ebook Week ? Simon and Schuster has launched a new website to help discover new reads . Jay Leno talks about independent bookstores going away , including one of his favorites in London. Maybe he should open a bookstore, since he has more time on his hands. Nikky Finney talks about the work of James Baldwin in this podcast . If anyone wants to sponsor me into going to the LA Times Festival of Books, your contribution will be greatly appreciated.  Also taking spo...