The Reading Diva

  I have some great news! This Thursday, April 8, I will be interviewing Dr. Jessie Smith to discuss the fourth edition of her book, Black Firsts: 500 Years of Trailblazing Achievement and Ground-Breaking Events. Smith is Dean Emeritus at Fisk University, where she was dean of the campus library for many years. This event is hosted by E. Shaver Booksellers out of Savannah. This is a great way to recognize National Library Week! This event is on Zoon and is free! Click here to register! Thanks to E. Shaver Bookseller and Rockelle Henderson of RockInked for this opportunity!

It was taped yesterday but since it's Monday, let's keep the theme going!

Summary : In a moving memoir, interior designer Stephanie Thornton Pymale comes to terms with her past, understands her dying mother and finds out her family history. TW: Child sexual abuse, child abuse, gang rape, child abandonment, drug/alcohol use, mental illness episodes, physical and emotional threats, attempted abortion, miscarriage of a baby Review: Through the grace of God go I. It's a miracle that Stephanie survived her childhood. She was one of six children who lived with a dysfunctional mother who was on drugs and mentally ill. Stephanie and her siblings were in and out of foster care and she was subjected to abuse. She was also shy, behind in school and didn't learn how to read until she was 10.  As a teen, her path changed for the better when she met fellow teen Jim, who eventually became her husband. She went to college and became an successful interior designer and CEO of a interior design school in Oregon. When she receives word that her mother is dying of lung...

Relax in Paradise Rhoda Lerman  and William Grier. Congrats to the winners of the PEN Literary Awards ! Congrats also go out to the nominees of the Scotiabank-Giller Prize ! President Obama presented arts and humanities medals Thursday to several people in the arts . Stephen King, Jhumpa Lahari and Larry McMurthy were some of those who received awards. I am still experiencing sadness from missing the Decatur Book Festival.  Looks like last Friday's main event with Roxane Gay and Erica Jong was tense.  Recaps are here and here .  And one writer from Book Riot got to attend the festivities . The National Book Festival was also last weekend.   This video  has Walter Mosley being interviewed by Book View Now host Rich Fahle and Kwame Alexander. Two beloved children's books are celebrating anniversaries soon: Harold and the Purple Crayon and (one of my childhood favorites) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry . A fully illustrated version of the firs...

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 ...

New books came in the mail last week, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! Two of the books featured today are ARCs from Harper Books  for books that will be released in October.  The other is a book I won on Facebook several weeks ago through DAW . Forgotten All The Stars in Heaven The Book of Phoenix Do you see any books that you would like to read?  Hit me up on the comments section!  Thanks to the publishers for the books!

Relax in Paradise Julian Bond and  Russell Poole . Congrats to the nominees of the First Novel Prize  and the St. Francis College Literary Prize ! Sir Elton is not here for banning LGBT books . Other writers are not here for Jonathan Franzen's recent comments . Remember the story about Pat Conroy opening a gym?   A medical scare inspired him to live a healthier life , which eventually lead him to open the gym. Attica Locke talks about writing for books and for the small screen . Here is a new review of The Turner House . This fantasy book written by an African-American man (and with an African-American narrator) sounds interesting. R.L. Stine says  he doesn't like to read nonfiction books . One writer admitted that she hasn't read most of the classics .  I feel you, sister. A new children's book claims to get children to sleep in minutes and people say it works. Soccer star Cari Lloyd will be releasing a memoir . Ballerina Michaela D...

More books came in the mail, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! These books arrived in the mail two weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around writing about them.  All three books are from Harper Books and will be released next month. The Art of Memoir Where Everybody Looks Like Me A Free State Do you see any books that you may be interested in?  Hit me up in the comments section!  Thanks Harper for the ARCs!

Today's Friday Reads is God Help The Child by Toni Morrison.  My book club is meeting for the first time in a while on Sunday and this is the book that was selected.  I'm more than half-way through and I'm still trying to figure out where this book's going.  It seems like several of the members have read it and enjoyed it. At least the place we're having the meeting has awesome food. Relax in Paradise Ann McGovern,   Brook Stephenson  and David Nobbs . A 100-year-old J. R. R. Tolkien book will be published . Another deceased author that will also have his work published is Truman Capote .  There will also be a book about his friendship with Harper Lee. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay TOGETHER  in one article, interviewing each other. Roxane is also working on a Young Adult novel that will be released in 2017. James McBride's next book will be about James Brown . Romance writer Beverly Jenkins talks about her frustration when she st...

Book News out of Charleston this week: A woman wrote a letter to the local paper's editor complaining about a book her daughter (who will be a freshman at one of the local high schools) had to read for English class.  Her complaint was that it was too vulgar and that the book should be off the summer reading list (even though the child could have read another book off the list).  To make a long story short, she got her way and the school pulled the book almost three weeks before school starts.  One, if her daughter doesn't know some of that stuff that's mentioned in the book, she will by the time she graduates.  And if I was a kid or a parent of a kid who read that book and it was pulled from the reading list, I would be ticked.  Just because one parent has a problem with it doesn't mean that other parents feel the same way.  Here are reactions from the local library's YA department and the author of the book .   There is a campaign to raise money ...

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. ...

Many people are awaiting Tuesday's release of Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman , which is the "sequel" for To Kill A Mockingbird.  PBS will be showing the American Masters episode chronicling Harper's life tonight and will include an update about the new book.   Here is a picture of Harper receiving a finished copy of the book.  And you can read the first chapter here . Relax in Paradise James Tate . Congrats to the Andrew Carnegie Award winners ! Congrats to  Chimamanda Ngzoi Adichie, who is expecting a little one ! Congrats to Lawrence Hill, who was honored with the Order of Canada . The huge news that is coming out of my home state is that the Confederate Flag is FINALLY off the Statehouse grounds. THANK GOD. This recent interview of Percival Everett (who is releasing a short story collection) and his thoughts on the Confederate Flag were…interesting. Speaking of the flag coming down, poet Nikky Finney wrote a passage to commemorate this day. ...

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 . ...

Relax in Paradise Franz Wright . Congratulations to Laszlo Krasznahorkai for winning the Man Booker International Prize ! There will be a lot of stories of Judy Blume in anticipation of her new (adult) book.  Here are some stories here , here and here . An illustrated version of Toni Morrison's Beloved is being released. Taiye Selasi wrote a series of short stories for Dove  (the soap/shampoo, not the chocolate). Soror Angela Flournoy wrote about Detroit's recovery in this essay . Mat Johnson wrote about being biracial in this essay .   Here is a map of the most popular books in each state . I'm not surprised that The Prince of Tides is the most popular book in South Carolina because ya'll know how much we love Pat Conroy. Here are some books to tie you over the series finale of Mad Men and the season finale of Scandal . The BBC is making a movie about the Bronte sisters' lives . The director of The Help is directing The Girl on the Train mov...

More books arrived in the mail over the weekend, so it's time for another edition of Mailbox Monday! All three books were given by Harper Books and will be released in June. Love May Fall Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County Spectacle Do you see any books you would like to read?  Hit me up in the comments section!  Thanks to Harper for the ARCs!

I'm starting off today's post with a picture of Eric Jerome Dickey and myself at the 2011 South Carolina Book Festival.  I know you are wondering why I have this picture up.  One, his latest book One Night came out this week.  And two, I will be seeing him again tomorrow at the Sandhills Books-A-Million in Columbia!  So we will most likely take a new picture together that won't have Eric's locs. And I'll be carrying a few more pounds.  Learn more about One Night here , here and here . Relax in Paradise William Price Fox  and Frederic Morton . Congratulations to the winners of the Pulitzer Prize (shout-out to the hometown paper, The Post and Courier ) and the L.A. Times Book Prize ! Pulitzer Prize Poetry Winner Gregory Pardolo is getting use to his sudden fame .  And I didn't know his brother was in City High ! Another author who released a book this week was Attica Locke.  She talks about Pleasantville here (with Rachel Ho...

Congratulations to the winners of the Anisfield-Wolf Awards ! BuzzFeed is launching an emerging writers fellowship . Will you be in the DC area soon? Sign up to take part in the Maya Angelou stamp dedication . Speaking of Maya, Tavis Smiley is developing a Broadway play based on his new book that discusses his friendship with the legendary poet. Here's a review of Stuart Scott's memoir . Here we go again: Amazon and Harper Collins are negotiating a new contract .  And it may get ugly. Waiting for Empire to come back?  Here are some book recommendations from the New York Public Library and Book Riot . Wish I would have been able to attend the Terry McMillian/Bernice McFadden talk in NYC and the Bocas Literary Festival in Trinidad and Tobago. Paul Beatty has gotten a lot of press for his new book The Sellout.  Here is an article from The Root . Speaking of The Sellout, this essay compares the book to Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly . T...

Can we please make this into a movie? Please Hollywood? Relax in Paradise Ellen Conford  and Martyn Goff . Congratulations to Akhil Sharma for winning the Folio Prize ! Congratulations also go out to Kwame Alexander for winning the Hopkins Poetry Award !  Did you catch him on PBS Newshour yesterday? The nominees for the Man Booker Prize were announced this week. The hills are alive...with a new Julie Andrews memoir ! A posthumous Nelson Mandela memoir will be released. Also releasing a memoir is Elvis Costello . Ethan Hawke is will be releasing his first book in over ten years . A new Dr. Seuss museum will be opening in Massachusetts. A grant is helping to digitalized works of African-American poetry . Here is an article about poet and Columbia native Terrace Hayes. If you have not read The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, you need to.   Let this article convince you even more. New Toni Morrison essay ! Hear this interview  w...

Relax in Paradise Philip Levine  and Anne Moody . Thoughts and prayers go out to Oliver Stacks , who recently found out he has terminal cancer. Congratulations to Ta-Nehisi Coates for winning the George Polk Award . More copies of Night of the Gun are being printed following David Carr's passing. Five African-American romance writers talk diversity in a USA Today blog . Laura Ingalls Wilder got a Google Doodle for her birthday! Family Christian Stores has filed for bankruptcy . Author Peniel E. Joseph  has come up with a reading list for Black History Month . Zadie Smith's works have been popping up on the Internet this week with an essay about diary writing and an article about Key and Peele . Here is a review of a book that was previously featured on Mailbox Monday, In The Eye of the Struggle . The first new Dr. Seuss book in 25 years  will be released in July . In today's "Why we can't have nice things" post, Amber Rose has a boo...