The Reading Diva

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Edelweiss for the advance copy. Opinions are my own. Summary: Antonia "Toni" Bennette does not want to be a rock star. She's fine playing her guitar, doing shows in Philly's indie music scene and doing session work. What she wants is to be part-owner of a recording studio. But Toni gets an opportunity of a lifetime when she is recruited to be a temporary guitarist for up-and-coming band The Lillys. But it also reunites her with Sebastian, the manager of the band and her old friend who shared her dreams as a teen. Review: I really like this book! It touches on a lot of issues that many have dealt with, but not all deal with them in a Rock and Roll setting. Toni has modest dreams despite her tremendous talent. She is also dealing with the absence of her mother (who is also a guitarist and abandoned her to follow her own Rock and Roll dreams) and her aloof father. As a teen, she found comfort in her friendship with Seb (who had similar goals), ...

Congratulations to all of the National Book Award nominees ! The Man Booker Prize shortlist was announced this week. The New York Times has created a fellowship in the memory of David Carr. Maya Angelou's art collection sold for over $1 million . Looking for some new African-American female authors to read?   Kalisha Buckhanon has some recommendations . Legendary basketball star and author Kareem Abdul Jabbar is now trying his hand at fiction with a new book about Sherlock Holmes' brother . Beverly Jenkins was featured in a recent Book Riot podcast . Shout-out to romance writer Christine Jones, who started a new blog and podcast about African-American romance called  Girl, Have You Read . A woman wrote a book about hiking in the wild  and it's not called Wild. Girl on The Train author Paula Hawkins  may be coming to a city near you ! A new publishing company has been started by a daughter of one of the Koch brothers . Yes, those wealthy broth...

As some of you who have followed my Twitter feed know, I was trying very hard to get to the Decatur Book Festival this weekend. Not only because the awesomeness that is Roxane Gay is going to be there , but there will be a lot of authors I haven't seen in person.  But the universe was trying to tell me otherwise.  Got a medical bill that was almost $200.  Hotels were hard to come by (especially with DragonCon  and Atlanta Black Pride Weekend going on and being Labor Day weekend).  And then the unthinkable happened: the car I've had for almost 15 years broke down. Just decided to stop in the middle of the street.  So instead of going to the book festival, I will probably be at a car dealership to buy a new car.  And why did I just find out on Tuesday that Roxane was in Savannah last night ? *tears* Relax in Paradise Oliver Sacks , Dr. Wayne Dyer , Wes Craven and Noah Davis . Unless her unfinished works are in a closet, there are no other works ...

Relax in Paradise Tony Gleaton  and Soror Amelia Boynton Robinson . This year's Hugo Awards brought a whole lot of drama .  And here's a nice little reminder that women have always been in science-fiction . People who live in Harper Lee's hometown are concerned about the lawyer who has been handling her affairs . An African-American book club was removed from a Napa wine train tour .  The company apologized, but the damage has already been done. This article talks about the history of African-American romance novels. African-American editor and publisher Dawn Davis talks about her career in the publishing industry . Jonathan Alter is working on a biography of President Jimmy Carter . Model Beverly Johnson's memoir was released this week.  Here is an interview with Time . One book that has been getting press is the memoir Negroland.  Read about it here and here . Another book that has been getting press ( and a brand new movie deal ) ...

Relax in Paradise Chenjerai Hove , E. L. Doctorow and Tom Moore . Prayers go out to Alan Cheuse , who was seriously injured in a car crash. Congrats to Deborah Johnson for winning the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction! Is Go Set a Watchman an indictment of the limits of liberalism ? Sebastian Junger is writing a book about how solders deal with stress after returning from wars. Pledged, a book about how it goes down in (mostly white) sororities, has been recently updated.  Author Alexandra Robbins talks about how some sororities deal with sexual assault claims . Reshonda Tate Billingsley talks about stereotypes and violence while promoting her new book Mama's Boy. Edwidge Danicat talks about how she wrote her first Young Adult novel . Toni Morrison talks about the inspiration behind The Bluest Eye . Nigerian author Dillibe Onyema talks about the many authors that have come from his home country . A new book discusses the impact of the late 60s-early 70s PBS...

Congrats to Tracey K. Smith, who was named director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing ! Ida B. Wells was honored with a Google Doodle  yesterday. Is there a third Harper Lee novel out there ?   A fourth ? A Charleston native spoke about his feelings after reading Go Set A Watchman and how it relates to his family and life.  And Jabari Asim has been rethinking his thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird. Another book that received a lot of hype this week was Ta-Neishi Coates' new book, Between the World and Me.  Based on his Facebook post, Dr. Cornell West wasn't a fan (and Michael Eric Dyson told him to get over it).  And this guy from the New York Times missed the damn point. Booksellers and authors are demanding the federal government investigate Amazon over anti-trust violations. Publishers Weekly is already talking about fall releases.   And The Million has also dropped their list of books to look forward for the rest of the year. ...

Relax in Paradise Vincent Bugliosi . Congratulations to the winners of the Nebula Awards! Congratulations also go out to Juan Felipe Herrera, who was named U.S. Poet Laureate ! I hope the person who stole the new 50 Shades of Crap Gray manuscript did the world a favor and threw it in the recycling bin. The new Robert Galbraith book has a cover and a release date. The Fault in Our Stars was the best-selling e-book of 2014. Authors,  just stay away from Goodreads reviews . Kim Kardashian impersonator Glee star Naya Rivera landed a memoir deal . A new book about Whitney Houston and Bobbi Kristina Brown says that Whitney was extorted over a possible lesbian affair and gives theories on what happened to Bobbi Kristina. A cover has been released for Sara Bareilles' book. I already had mixed feeling about making movies based off the Flyy Girl series (because the first one is the only one worthy of a movie), but I really can't see Sanaa Lathan as Tracey . ...

The New York Times came out with their summer reading recommendations last weekend. And it was an epic fail. THERE WERE NO BOOKS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE OF COLOR ON THE LIST. SERIOUSLY?!   Of course, the Internet universe ripped the publication apart about the lack of authors of color on their list.  Read this one from Roxane Gay . And this one from Gawker .  There have been a ton of diverse summer reads lists created since then (including The Root and The Grio , which I will address those lists in another post), but BuzzFeed's list was one of the best. And the Los Angeles Times also did a good job.  And with BEA and BookCon this week I know there will be a lot of think pieces on the lack of diversity in publishing coming in the next few days. Relax in Paradise Hugh Ambrose  and Tanith Lee . James Patterson's domination in the literary world continues with his new imprint for kids . Mat Johnson's new book was released this week and  it ...

Relax in Paradise Peter Gay and William Zinsser . Congratulations to the winners of the African Poetry Prize and the PEN Awards ! New stories about Attica Locke are here , here and here . Rachel Howzell Hall talks about the lack of color in the mystery genre . Toni Morrison responds to The New Progressive Agenda , which was announced this week. Here is an excerpt of Judy Blume's new book . The Big Little Lies series will be on HBO ! Are we surprised that the Obama Presidential Library will be in Chicago ? If this book about Hilary Clinton had so many errors , why was it printed in the first place? I don't know who this Tyler Oakley fellow who is writing a book , but I do know who Luvvie is and she's writing a book too! #internetstars If you are in the Columbia area this weekend, check out the South Carolina Book Festival .  Most likely, I'm skipping it again this year.  If you look at the author list , you will know why. What do you get if yo...

Relax in Paradise Gunter Grass and Edwardo Galeno . Congratulations to all of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominees , the Pen Award nominees and the  International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards ! Haruki Murakami and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche made this year's  Time 100 Most Influential People list . The American Library Association named the most challenged/banned books of 2014 . It also shows that authors of color are the most affected by book banning attempts. Tavis Smiley has been winning lately.  His latest book, My Journey with Maya (which he talks about here ), will become a Broadway play.  Now Death of a King will be adapted for TV . This looks like an ordinary press release about TVOne's future projects .  But if you scroll down to the end of the movie section of the article, you will find that TWO of ReShonda Tate Billingsley's books will be movies next year. Can someone ask BET what happened to the Let the Church Say A...