The Reading Diva

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...