Coffee Rain

I just finished reading a book by Angie Cruz called “Let It Rain Coffee”. It was good. I mean had to finish couldn’t put it down please don’t try to separate me from my book, good. The story, the characters… everything about this book was well crafted.

It was so good that I thought it should be added to the ringShout booklist. And then I realized that it was already on the booklist.

This story follows Esperanza Colón as she embarks upon a journey from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, and finally making her way to New York. In a way I think Esperanza Colón is like a lot of people, in that she just wants to live "The American Dream". That makes it difficult for me to hate her completely, even though she does many things that I don’t agree with. This novel has just about the right amount of drama, and I love Angie Cruz’s style of storytelling.

Angie Cruz is currently a professor at Texas A&M University and she is at work on her third novel. I am happy to share this read with you because discovering a new, talented voice is the only thing that I enjoy more than finding a beautiful pair of shoes.

So check her out.

Happy reading!

Seg-book-gation??

There's a very interesting article that explores the differences between how books are marketed. More specifically, the focus is African American authors and White authors.

I must admit that this is something that I, as a black writer, have never even considered. I'm so concerned with telling a story that I never actually stop to think about who my stories have the potential to reach. This article raises some very interesting questions.

Just follow the link...

http://www.examiner.com/publishing-industry-in-washington-dc/seg-book-gation-with-a-new-twist

Happy reading!

Happy New Year

Am I the only one who lost 2009 by blinking? It was just here...

In any case, Happy New Year!

On that note, brace yourself for some happy reading.

Rebecca Walker wrote a piece about various black writers in LA... Follow the link---->

http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/writing-and-about-la-la-land.

Happy reading!

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

It's that time of the year that we've come to know as the "holiday season". Every time you turn around, there's some holiday or another to celebrate.

There's Christmas, Chanukah and Kwaanza, New Year... There's something for almost everyone. I don't really celebrate any holidays, but I don't really "not celebrate" them either, if that makes any sense. Case in point: For Christmas I went to my aunt's house for dinner, but I didn't do any Christmas shopping, send any personal (or mass) text messages wishing anyone a Merry Christmas, or really do much of anything that I've been trained to associate with the holiday.

I did, however, begin to reflect upon the holiday season as a whole and I did become curious about holidays in general. I started thinking about what I've been trained to think versus what I actually think and thought that I should probably do some reading. So I took to doing a google search for some type of literature that could help me put things into perspective.

So far I've come up with two titles:

The most interesting title of all is Santa's Kwaanza, by Garen Eileen Thomas. I ordered this at amazon.com. An African American Santa returns to the North Pole after Christmas and he and his family celebrate Kwaanza from the Twenty-sixth of December through the first week of January. A very creative holiday story with fun illustrations.

The other title that I ordered is Making Room In The Inn: Christmas Hospitality Through An African American Experience. I could only find this story on one site: http://www.c28.com/shopping/productdetails.asp?recordid=100229&adid=GBase. This is an Advent study celebrating Christmas traditions from an African American family's perspective.

I think the holiday season is great because in this country there are so many places that are closed and there are so many people who get time off from work in order to celebrate. Whether or not you observe any holidays, you can still see family and/or friends just because they'll likely have free time. That's something to celebrate.

Happy Reading!

For Colored Girls??

I finally had the opportunity to get to the movies and see For Colored Girls. I don't know how to begin to describe how the movie made me feel. I haven't actually been able to decide whether or not I liked it.

I felt like there were far too many intense issues crammed into a tiny movie. Before I had a chance to really live with and think about anything happening that I felt should have been significant, I couldn't because there was something equally heavy happening in another scene.

Don't get me wrong; the actresses were quite brilliant... Then again, that was to be expected. I confess that I have not yet read the play, but if it is anything like the movie, I'm not sure that I need to read it. I'm going to read it anyway, though.

The movie left me feeling uneasy and anxious. And I couldn't help wondering why this was supposed to be for colored girls. Yes, all of these situations are things that happen all of the time. But did they really need to be happening all at once? Probably not.

Not to mention I really was not crazy about the way that the men were portrayed in this movie. Everyone has issues, but again, it was too much.

As I said, I'm not sure whether or not I liked it. I'm leaning towards no, but I'm willing to watch it a second time just to be fair.

A Long Way Gone

It was very difficult to choose a book to pass along, but I read an awesome memoir recently. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by by Ishmael Beah. From the very first line I am completely invested in the story.

Beah chronicles his life as a child in Sierra Leone and discusses what it was like being a soldier at the age of twelve. I must warn you: there were many instances while reading this book when I had to stop reading because I was overwhelmed. In other words, I cried. A lot. You can read an excerpt by following this link: http://www.alongwaygone.com/media/ALongWayGone_Excerpt.pdf .

I'm going to give this book to one of my co-workers who I've started a miniature book club with. I think she'll read it. And you should too.

Happy reading!

Buy a Book By a Black Author Month??

While reading a blog (http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com/), I discovered that December has been designated as “National Buy a Book By a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month.” My first thought was, “awesome!” My second thought was “why didn't I come up with that?”

I read about how the idea came about (http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com/2008/11/buy-book-for-somebody-white-this.html) and I must say it is pretty clever. I'm always happy to share a good read with my friends, so I thought that this idea was particularly interesting. After all, how many non-ethnic reads have been passed on to me? It dawned me that I was being a little selfish by not sharing.

Since this idea is super cool, I decided to begin the search for the perfect book to buy for one of my non-black friends. I love the advice given on the blog: “white people already know about Toni Morrison, so please choose something else besides A Mercy.” I'll let you know which book I decide on.

I would encourage you to do the same. Sharing is caring... Happy reading!