The Reading Diva

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 know, my job allows me to travel all over the great state of South Carolina, exhibiting for the website I work on.  And this week, I found myself exhibiting at the South Carolina Association of School Librarians  Annual Conference.  And they had authors...and book signings! So I got a chance to meet Sharon Flake at the conference yesterday. It was great to have something different to do during the humdrum that is exhibiting. Relax in Paradise Terry Pratchett. Congratulations to all of the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Awards ! Also congrats to the nominees of the Baileys Women's Prize , Pen Faulkner Awards  and Triangle Awards ! Speaking of school libraries, James Patterson is donating over $1 million to them! And this comes at a good time after a report that not all school libraries are equal . A no-no at the library: making a sex tape . People were so concerned about Harper Lee that the state of Alabama was looking in ...

Tomorrow is not only Valentine's Day, but it also marks the fifth blog birthday of this blog!!  Thanks for all of the love you have shown me and this blog for the last five years and here's to many more!! Relax in Paradise David Carr . Congratulations to all of the NAACP Image Award winners !  Scroll pass the TV, movie and music winners. And congratulations also go out to the Black Caucus of the ALA Literary Award winners and honorees ! More congrats go to Harold Holzer, who won the Lincoln Prize . Congrats also go out to nominees of the Folio Prize ! Oprah has made her selection for her book club....and it's Ruby by Cynthia Bond . Super Sad True Love Story is being developed for a possible TV show . Ava DuVernay is not only working on the Queen Sugar show, but is directing the pilot of a show based on James Patterson's first book . Showtime is developing a show based on You by Caroline Kepnes. Harper Lee's lawyer insists that the author is ...

Relax in Paradise Robert Stone .  Word also just came in that Gwynne Forster has passed away. Thoughts and prayers go out to Ruth Rendell, who just suffered a stroke . Here is a list of six upcoming books by African-American women to look forward to this year. If there is a Gone Girl sequel , I hope involves a main character being locked up in prison or in a mental institution. Speaking of Gone Girl, you can get a copy of an Amazing Amy book if you buy the Blu-Ray. Books turned into movies and TV shows did well in this week's Golden Globe Awards . The Man In 3B movie will be featured in the Pan African Film and Arts Festival . Idris Elba is  developing a movie trilogy  where Edgar Allen Poe is an unlikely hero.  I know it's unlikely, but can Idris play Poe? Celeste Ng dispels the myth that there are a lack of female Asian-American writers and provides a list to prove it. Roxane Gay talks to Salon  about her nonfiction book, Bad Fem...

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...