ADULTS NEED DIVERSE BOOKS TOO

For all the talking, tweeting, conferencing and tumbling about children needing diverse books, and they really do, let's not overlook the importance of diversity for adults.  On the kids site, I make it a point to search for and highlight books featuring children of colour.  It's fairly easy to find books featuring African, Caribbean, Asian, Latino and Native American kids.  But I've noticed that as the reader's age creeps up, books that look like them fade out.  While it's important that children see characters that look like them, it's just as important that teens/young adults and adults do as well.   I wholeheartedly support the We Need Diverse Books movement, but it focuses solely on children's lit and YA.

What I'm looking for, and don't see a lot of discussion about, is literary fiction. There are a limited number of authors whose work makes it onto shelves and is promoted, but there's no push from publishers or the land of Tumblr to propel those books forward into the hands of people that don't necessarily look like the characters those books are about. What I have witnessed is an interesting cross-section of authors of colour reading, loving and promoting each others books, which seems like a win-win situation to me. Not only are they, as readers, stepping outside of their norm, they're sharing those books with their own readers, giving visibility to books that audience might not know about otherwise.

@Dolen @pronounced_ing @RaviHoward @kima_jones @jabariasim @jeanho girl I love me some you! 😊

— Sophia A. Nelson (@IAmSophiaNelson) June 8, 2015

@Dolen It's easy when it's a writer you love (and whose work you love!) @RaviHoward @kima_jones @jabariasim @IAmSophiaNelson @jeanho

— Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) June 8, 2015

@thenaomijackson Very best wishes to you on your first novel. Tweeted about it! Looking forward to reading it. And, congratulations, Sis.

— Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) June 9, 2015

See you tonight, DC! An ARC of @TananariveDue's 1st short story collection is my travel companion. pic.twitter.com/sNtIbG1iU1

— Kima Jones (@kima_jones) June 12, 2015

Interestingly enough, the group that often complains about the saturation of white male authors in the  New York Times review section are white female authors.  But rarely do I see them promoting other authors that aren't white females.  That's not to say that they never do, but I follow a lot of the more popular authors and they're more likely to promote an unheard of author that looks like them before an Asian, Latino, African American or Native American author.  The closest they come to talking about books with characters that don't look like them is when someone that looks like them has written them (e.g., The Help, The Secret Lives of Bees, etc.).  These aren't women that are scrambling to make it to the top, they're big dollar authors that see New York Times Bestseller stamped on their books, but reaching out to authors that look like them and trying to help them get there?  Apparently that goes beyond the call of duty.

I don't know about you, but I want to read books that introduce me to another culture, other customs, new traditions.  I already know what white America looks like, I've seen it every day of my life.  I'm more interested in stories about San Francisco's Chinatown in WWII, Afghani women living as bacha posh, African American teens finding themselves living in Barbados, etc.  Isn't the world a more interesting place when you realize it's not all about you and your culture?  I encourage you to spread the word about good books featuring characters of colour, whether you do it by posting a review on Amazon or Goodreads, talking about it on social media, or just telling friends about them in conversation.   If you belong to a book club, suggest books to fellow club members.  Often, authors are willing to Skype with your club or even attend the meeting if they're in your area.  Remember, kids need diverse books, but so do we.

Free for All Friday, June 19, 2015

Cory Booker, known to many from his Twitter account and his seemingly endless heroic acts during his time as mayor of Newark, NJ, just signed a book deal with Ballantine Bantam Dell.  "The book, entitled United, will be Booker’s vision of how to revitalize the American dream and will share insight into his policy ideas." Booker currently serves as the Democratic senator of New Jersey.  One can't help but wondering if this book is setting the groundwork for a future presidential run.

For this year's Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, Scholastic has partnered with representatives across the United States to promote reading. "44 governors’ spouses and 4 governors have signed on to serve in this position and inspire kids to “power up and read.” Each reading ambassador will receive 500 books to be delivered to schools within their state and host events to promote reading.


Purchase your Read in Colour tees and tanks today and save $5 when you use promo code: COLOUR. (Promo code good thru 6/19/15.)

Need a pick me upper after this trying week? Watch this 3-year old recite Countee Cullen's Hey Black Child.



Have a great weekend!

New York Bound for BEA!

In a few weeks, New York will be overrun with book lovers and I'll be one of them!  Ever since I started blogging, I've wanted to attend BookExpo America.  Their website describes it as, "the #1 event in North American publishing and the ideal place for content creators and consumers to discover new books/titles, meet favorite and new authors, learn about trends shaping the book industry, and network with those have a passion for books and reading." I call it a chance to hang out with my book blogging partner in crime, JNic aka @litfangrl, while we drool over soon to be released books and stalk some of our favorite authors.

There's also a book blogger's conference the first day, so I'm hoping to come back with plenty of new ideas to keep you guys interested and engaged. If you'll be in the New York area and you're interested in attending, but don't want to stay for the whole conference, there's a Power Reader event on June 1 that will allow you access to the convention floor.  I'm planning to take in a few Broadway shows and do a little sightseeing, but if you're going to be around for BEA or live in the area, I'd love to meet you, so please don't hesitate to reach out.

Last, but not least, I've toyed with the idea of providing a monthly newsletter for those that don't have time to read full reviews, but want to know what I've reviewed for the month.  I've also thought about a newsletter that highlights upcoming releases.  I know Goodreads does this by genre, but wondered if my readers might like something along that line that focuses on authors and characters of color.  Fill out the survey below and let me know.

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A Reader & Her Favorite Librarian...A Love Story

Okay, I was a little extra with that title, but if you've been reading this blog for a few years, you know that I love the library.  St. Louis has an amazing public library system and I actually feel sorry for people that live in places where libraries cut hours and close branches.  We have 17 branches here that are open year-round and seven of them are even open on Sundays.

A few years ago I wrote a post about why I'd never quit the library for ebooks.  Well, the St. Louis library offers the option to download ebooks, audio books and mp3s at home, but I still like to drop by my neighborhood branch and the main library to peruse the shelves and find hidden gems that are easy to overlook when browsing online.  The main library closed two years ago, not because there wasn't enough funding or interest for it.  It closed for a $ 70 million renovation!

With the closure of Central Library, I lost Sterling.  Who is Sterling you ask? He's only my favorite librarian.  In a previous post, I broke down my librarians based on their characteristics, but Sterling is the only one whose name I actually knew.

I'd miss Sterling, the gay librarian, who keeps track of everything I've read in the past 9 years and will not hesitate to say, "Oh no Ms. B, you've already read that! Child, I've saved something else for you to read." I'll admit that sometimes I read so much that I don't remember titles, authors or covers. Without Sterling I'd end up with a stack of already reads.

I'd miss Intense Librarian who always makes a big show of adding up my fines and asking if I'm ready to pay them. No, Ms. Ma'am. I happen to know that I can rack up $ 15 in fines before you cut me off and make me pay. If I was going to pay them right now, I'd have my wallet out, now wouldn't I? And yes, I know how to renew my books online since I requested them online. Yes, I know I could renew them online and save myself fines. Just give me the books already!

I'd miss Sympathetic Librarian who constantly apologizes for the long line at the counter, not knowing where to find the book I'm asking about, and the loud outbursts from the homeless men that hang out at the library.

And I'd even miss Nonchalant Librarian who pretends that he doesn't care what I'm reading, but always asks me about such and such book when I return my latest stack.

Who wouldn't love a cast of characters like that?  When the library closed for renovations, Sterling decided to retire and I've missed him desperately.  Nonchalant Librarian relocated to another branch and I run across him occasionally, but no one could take Sterling's place.  And then today, I was walking into the grocery store and I heard somebody say, "It IS you!"  I turned around and there was Sterling.  I squealed and hollered, "Oh my God! Where have you been? I've missed you!"  The old men sitting in front of the store were looking at us like what in the hell is going on here, but I didn't even care.  I was so happy to see him.  And in true Sterling style, he waved me off and said even though he retired, he has "a little piece of a job" now, and that he ran in the store to tell me how cute I looked in my dress.  Ahhh yes, Sterling...good for book recommendations and making me feel good.  I floated on cloud nine the rest of the afternoon.

Otherization in Lit & Life

We've had conversations before on this blog and on Twitter about readers' tendency to assume characters they're reading about are the same ethnicity as them unless the author specifically states otherwise.  There was an uproar last year when a character in Hunger Games was clearly described as having brown skin and was cast as such.  Some of mainstream (and by mainstream, I mean white) America was upset and took to Tumblr and other social media sites to complain because they thought Rue was white.  Some went so far as to say that they cried when she died in the book, but couldn't work up any emotion over her dying in the movie because, "she was just a black girl." Why would they have thought this even though the author described her?   They probably skimmed over the fact and in their mind, she looked like them.  The idea that a character or person that doesn't look like them is not what they perceive as the norm, and is somehow less than human or a different kind of human, is what I call otherization.

Columbus Short

Otherization happens not only in the literary world, but in the media and every day life.  I was reading a book this week where the author felt the need to describe a bartender as "a big black guy." His ethnicity played no part in how he served drinks.  And, in this instance, that's all he did.  The character had no lines.  His blackness didn't make the drinks taste any better.   But, for some reason, the author thought readers needed to know that a BIG black man was making drinks at a bar.

Type in "big black guy" on Google and 771,000,000 results pop up.  If you've lived as a black person in America, you already know that "big black guy" is supposed to be code for "oh my God, he was so scary and I thought he was going to kill/rape/maim me."  The reality is, more than likely, said big black guy is under 5'9" and weighs 180 lbs. soaking wet, if that much. How scary and menacing does Columbus Short (and praise God for him!) look at 5'10"?

Think I'm exaggerating the tendency to otherize people? Look at all of the instances where white people, in real life not in some book, have conveniently blamed incidents on big, black guys, only to recant their statements after the police have rounded up every black man in the area and harassed them.  Remember Susan Smith, the woman who killed her kids because they didn't fit the plans she had with a new boyfriend? She sat on national TV begging for the big, black guy that stole her children to return them.  Remember Ashley Todd?  During the 2008 presidential election, she falsely claimed that a big, black guy mugged her AND scratched a B on her face for Barack Obama.  Why did these women think they could blame their attacks on black men and not be questioned for it? Because the media and America have bought into the belief that big, black guy equals trouble.  And that's boiled over into literature.

I read to escape the every day world.  I don't read to make social statements.  When the every day BS of the world creeps into what I'm reading, it's a problem.  Now here's your homework, the next book you read, I want you to note how often characters of color have their race mentioned and whether or not it plays into the typical stereotypes (e.g., sassy black woman, submissive Asian woman, etc.).  Then I want you to note how many white characters are described by their race and/or stereotypes.  Listen the next time your friends or co-workers tell a story that involves people of color and note whether or not they mention the race of that person to describe the story and whether or not it's relevant.  I bet some of you will be surprised.  Not me.

How You Readin'?

The Best in Books 2012

With just a few days left to get in your holiday shopping, I thought I'd give you my top picks of the year.  Maybe you'll be inspired to buy them for someone on your list.  Now normally I would list everything I gave five purple armchairs, but that list ended up being lengthy this year, which is good because it means I read a lot of good books.  However, to keep things simple and to stick with the theme of "The Best in 2012," I'm just going to limit it to books published in the U.S. in 2012.  Since all of these received my highest rating, I'm not going to rank them, just list them in the order I read them.


Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFadden
250pp

I've often said that reading a J. California Cooper book is like sitting on the porch listening to your grandmother tell you a story.  Using lush words and phrases that make you long for those days, McFadden's latest will leave you breathless from start to end. Once you start Gathering of Waters, you won't want to put it down until you've finished it.

Perfect for: Fans of J. California Cooper, Toni Morrison & Tayari Jones
Tags: historical fiction, civil rights

Home by Toni Morrison

160 pp

For the last few years I've told myself and anyone that would listen that I'm just not smart enough to read Toni Morrison.  I watch ToMo stans like Tayari Jones expound on her greatness and all I can think is, it must be over my head.  The last time I read a ToMo book and was able to comprehend it the first time around was pre-Beloved.  I read Song of Solomon, Sula and The Bluest Eye in high school and college and loved them.  Then Beloved came along and I had to read the book, see the movie and read the book again before it finally made sense to me.

After that came Jazz, Paradise, Love and A Mercy. I struggled with the first three and didn't even try with A Mercy.  So when I saw that Morrison was publishing a new book, I was hesitant to request a copy from the publisher.  But they sent it and so I read it.  And I loved it!  I feel like the ToMo that wrote Song of Solomon is back.  Or maybe she never left. Maybe I've just come full circle.

Perfect for: Fans of Bernice McFadden, Alice Walker & Gloria Naylor

Tags: women, South, coming of age, PTSD

My Name is Butterfly by Bernice L. McFadden
Only available as an ebook

Never one to shy away from sensitive topics, Bernice McFadden takes readers into the world of the Trokosi.  In simple terms, Trokosi are girls given by their family to a deity as a sacrifice in exchange for better luck, fortune or things along those terms.  Adebe Tsikata is such a girl, but she's also a survivor.

Perfect for: Fans of reading about different cultures, Chika Unigwe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Tags: Ghana, family secrets, deception

Tell A Thousand Lies by Rasana Atreya

352 pp

In 1986 India, four of the most important determinants of a woman's future were the tone of her skin, her caste, her home village and her family's wealth.  Based on these things, Pullamma, at the age of 16,  has resigned herself to living with her grandmother forever.  As one of three orphaned sisters, Pullamma is the darkest and most unattractive.

I loved this book because Atreya kept me on my toes while reading it.  At no point did I ever really know how the story was going to end.  And a sure sign that a book has pulled me in, I found myself talking out loud to the characters, knowing good and well they couldn't hear me.  If you love learning about new cultures and love a good story, do yourself a favor and give Tell A Thousand Lies a read.

Perfect for: Fans of Anjali Banerjee, Shilpi Somaya Gowda & Shobhan Bantwal
Tags: India, women, colorism

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
419pp

A while back on Twitter I began describing certain books as #facepunchlit. They’re the type of books that are so surprisingly good that it feels like you’ve been punched in the face after reading them. You're in sort of a punch drunk haze where nothing seems clear and everything you previously understood to be right about the world is a bit askew. After reading Flynn’s Gone Girl, I had a similar feeling.

Perfect for: Fans of face punch lit
Tags: thriller, suspense, surprise ending

The Healing by Jonathon Odell

352pp

Who is Polly Shine, you ask? She's the healer and giver of sight to those around her.  Things on the Satterfield plantation surely changed for the better the day Polly Shine arrived.  Prior to her arrival, Granada, the teller of The Healing, only thought she knew who she was.

Perfect for: Fans of Bernice McFadden, Kathleen Grissom & Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Tags: historical fiction, post-slavery, family secrets, women

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society by Amy Hill Hearth
272pp

If someone were to ask me to summarize Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society, I'd have to say that it's a cross between Fanny Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and the movie To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Love Julie Newmar.

For those thinking that Hearth's name sounds familiar, you'll remember her as the coauthor of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years.  This is her first foray into fiction and she does an amazing job.  As Camille O. Cosby says of her, she "Honors and humanizes people and their wonderful diversities."

Perfect for: Fans of Fanny Flagg
Tags: civil rights, women, empowerment

The Cleaner by Paul Cleave

 400pp

Joe is nuttier than a fruitcake, but he truly believes that he's doing the world a favor by killing some of his victims.  But Joe gets too comfortable and lazy.  So confident is he that he never sees Melissa coming for him.  If you've watched BBC's Luther, you're already familiar with the character of Alice.  Well, Melissa is The Cleaner's Alice.  If it's possible, she's an even bigger psychopath than Joe and now, she's running things.

Perfect for: Fans of Gillian Flynn, The Usual Suspects & Neil Cross
Tags: deception, thriller, ruthless

Now hit up your local indie bookstore!  And if you didn't see the perfect book for the reader in your life, feel free to ask for recommendations below or ask me on Facebook or Twitter.

Tell Me Something Good!

It's hard to believe 2012 is almost over! This has been a fairly decent year for books and I'll be posting my year in review in the following weeks, but in the meantime, I'd love it if you would take three or four minutes to take the survey below.  I'll share the results with you at a later date and use your comments and suggestions to improve Reads4Pleasure.com.

Thanks!

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World Book Night 2013

World Book Night isn't until April 2013, but they're accepting sign ups now.  If you've never heard of it, you're not alone.  It gets a lot of publicity in the book community, but not so much outside of that.  Each year, book givers sign up to receive a copy of 20 books that they hand out to light or non-readers.  It's completely up to the giver where they distribute them.  It can be anywhere from a subway station, a school parking lot to the grocery store.

2013 books include Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street, Paulo Coehlo's The Alchemist, John Grisham's Playing for Pizza, Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress, Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Hillary Jordan's Mudbound and Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones, among others.  I didn't get to participate this year, but I'm definitely signing up for next year.

Care to join me? Sign ups are here.  You'll be asked to choose three books, why you're interested in giving them away and where you plan to do it.

If you could give away any book, not just the ones on the list, what would it be, who would you give it to and why?

Books: Passports to the World

It's a little early to announce reading challenges for next year, but it requires a little planning and I need your help.  I've created the Books: Passports to the World challenge, where the goal is to read a book a week set in a different country.  There are just under 200 recognized countries in the world today, my plan is to come up with books set in 52 of those places.  Why 52? There are 52 weeks in a year, so each week I'll be posting a review of a book from one of the countries.

Here's where I need your help.  I've created a list, and come up with a good number of books so far, but I'm hoping that you've read a book set in a country that I've not already found a book for and will share it with me.  The list of countries and books can be found here.  Please take a look and submit your suggestions for books that should be added to the list below.  And don't worry, sign ups for the challenge are coming soon.

When is Reading not Reading?

Last week on Twitter, I saw a retweet come across my timeline that made me pause.  I can't remember who the original tweeter was or their exact wording, but the gist of the tweet was that people that listen to audio books can't claim to have read them.  Really now?  Not only do I listen to audio books, I tend to remember them better than books I've literally read.

For most readers, their earliest memories of books are those that were read to them by a family member or teacher.  As a toddler, my parents read to me. By age 3, I was reading on my own.  Reading to children increases their intelligence and their vocabulary. One of my fondest memories of grade school is of my third grade teacher, Mr. Benke, reading the class the complete Chronicles of Narnia.  Even though I read the books myself, Mr. Benke had a way of doing the voices that made me remember his telling of them much better than I remember my reading of them.

So fast forward to 2010, I'm tired of Steve Harvey on the radio telling women what they're doing wrong; I'm not there for Tom Joyner and his undercooked, over cackling self; and once Gary spills the Tea on the Ricky Smiley show, I have no use for them either.  I had previously shunned audio books as an old lady kind of thing (thanks, in part, to the fact that the only people I knew that listened to them were, um...old ladies).  But when I couldn't take any more of the testosterone heavy morning radio, I grabbed the first audio book that looked appealing at the library.

My first listen was Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.  Now this is a book that I might have put down or would not have given serious consideration if I were to physically read it.  But to listen to it was magical.  My drive time seemed to fly by and I found myself delaying going into the office so I could listen just a few more minutes.  Now while I have delayed going in because I'm reading a particularly good book, I never mastered reading and driving.  Audio books became the perfect solution to my problem.

For anyone that thinks listening to an audio book doesn't count and offers an easy way out, it takes me an hour to read 100 pages.  I can plow through the average book in three to four hours.  Audio books, not so much.  I'm currently listening to Chimimanda Ngozi Adiche's Half of a Yellow Sun.  At 433 pages, I could have read it on a Saturday afternoon.  Listening time is 19 hours.  Given that I only listen when I'm driving, it's taken me two weeks and I still have two CDs left.

Granted, audio books provide a pleasant distraction when I'm driving, but they also give me time to really digest what I've just heard.  This summer I've gone back and listened to several Bernice McFadden books that I previously read.  Each and every time I've heard something I didn't catch when I was reading the book.  And as much as I loved Erin Morganstern's The Night Circus, I probably wouldn't have been as enthralled with it had I read the physical book.

Make no mistake, listening to an audiobook is not the same as watching a movie and claiming to have read the book.  Studios, writers, etc. often change plots, lines, characters in movies that vary greatly from the book.  Audiobooks, unless abridged, are the book, in its entirety, simply being read aloud.  There's no doubt, at least in my mind, that listening to a book is just as worthwhile as reading it.

Shining the Spotlight on Book Bloggers

I feel like I should cue the Julie Andrews' version of My Favorite Things and twirl around the blogosphere like Fraulein Maria on top of a hill while I introduce you to some of my favorite book blogs.  Most of my reading choices come from reading publisher catalogs and pitch emails from publicists, but I also read tons of book blogs and add suggested titles to my to be read list.  Though this list doesn't hardly include all of the book blogs I read, they're the ones I can usually count on to find my next great read.  Make a note of them and give them a follow.

African Literature News and Reviews

As I Turn the Pages

The Happy Nappy Bookseller

Literate Housewife

Reading Rendezvous Reviewz

Reading While Riding

Reflections of a Bookaholic

Sew Transformed

Take Me Away

White Readers Meet Black Authors

Just Read Already: Why Huffington Post & Others Continue to Get it Wrong

It's no secret that I love books by and/or about people of color.  If you click on the header of this blog's home page, you'll shuffle through three collections of books based on genre.  Of those 18 books, only two were not written by people of color.  While my blog focuses heavily on books featuring characters of color, it does not solely.  I'm open to reading about all cultures and, hopefully, readers of this blog are too.

African Americans are as much a fabric of this country's history as anyone else.  So it's ironic that on the 4th of July, a day to celebrate America's independence, Huffington Post would release a list of  "50 Books That Every African-American Should Read."  Like bookstores and publishers, they continue to get it wrong.  I don't necessary agree that every book on this list should have made anyone's list, but I strongly disagree that this list should be limited to African Americans.  The result of lists like this is that readers that are not African American can be made to feel as if these books don't apply to them and are specifically for African Americans.  This is the same vibe they get from the segregated sections in bookstores that are labeled "African American Lit."  Sure they can venture into the section, but does that label really encourage them to?

I can honestly say that I've never seen, and I highly doubt that I will see, a list of "50 Books That Every White American Should Read."  You know why? Because that list is simply called "the classics" and everyone in America is expected to read them in their high school or college lit classes, regardless of their race or culture.  Books by and/or about white America are considered the norm.  Why not recognize that some of the books on Huffington Post's list belong on the classics list instead of continuing to segregate through literature?  Actions like this are part of the reason why some in white America grumble about things like Black History Month or the NAACP Awards.  If mainstream America recognized the contribution of African Americans as American contributions and fully integrated black history into the American history taught in schools instead of relegating it to three paragraphs, and recognized achievements of people of color overall, there would be no need for either.  By the same token, don't throw just any old book at me simply because a person of color wrote it.  Some of the books on that list had no reason for being there other than the fact that their author was African American.

As I read through the comments on Huffington Post, it would seem that most people agree that the title of the list wasn't well thought out, even though its intentions may have been good.  Perhaps the article should have been titled "50 Books by African Americans That Everyone Should Try Reading," because, ultimately, real readers want to read good books regardless of who wrote them.

You Stick to Your List, I'll Stick to Mine

Last week several newspapers and what not published "Summer Reading Lists." I was too busy doing the job I'm actually paid to do, so I couldn't join in on the conversation that broke out on Twitter, but I did read my time line enough to know that people can find something offensive in anything.

Roy L. Pickering, author of Patches of Grey, who blogs over at A Line A Day, answered a question posed by another user.

Mine do not. #JustMe RT @TNBBC: Do your reading habits change in the summer? Everyone is posting their summer reading lists... #confusediam
— Roy Pickering (@AuthorofPatches) May 25, 2012

Fair enough. Question asked and answered.  Then Roy's latest post showed up in my reader and it was apparent that he really had issues with books being labeled summer reads.  What gives?  He commented that he didn't read brainless books and he'd prefer not to get dumber over the summer. Really?  There are books that I classify as summer reads, not because they're not smart books or are part of the dumbing down of America, they just tend to match the lighter mood that I find myself in during the summer.  I wouldn't call any of them brainless though.

While I can understand Pickering's fear that this is yet another classification placed on books, I'd say it's a sub-genre and not the overall genre of any book.  I also feel that there are some books that are decidedly meant to be read at certain times when you're in a certain mood.  For example, last summer I tried to read Sapphire's The Kid, the sequel to Push.  If you read Push or saw Precious, the movie upon which it was based, you know it was a heavy book with extremely heavy topics.  Within the first few chapters I knew it wasn't something I could read and enjoy while the sun was shining, the birds were singing and kids were out playing.  I could almost imagine the dark gray cloud hovering over my head as I tried to read it.  I moved it to my "to be read much later" shelf and moved on to something that matched my light mood.

Pickering also pointed out that during school days, the summer reading list often included the classics.  I filled my summer with Judy Blume books and Trixie Belden Mysteries when I was in school. I don't recall us having a list.  But thinking back on my daughter's reading list, in high school she had to read books like Toni Morrison's Beloved and, as much as she loves to read, it would take her all summer to make it through a book like that, yet she sped through books on her personal reading list.  Part of it is when we read for enjoyment, we tend to read quicker.  When we read because we have to, it feels like a chore and we drag.  So I don't think you can compare the summer reading lists of school days to a personal summer reading list.  The purposes for reading are too different.

I don't think I'm any less intelligent than someone that spends their summer reading Dostoevsky or Moliere.  If that's what you want to spend your days reading, that's on you.  I'm perfectly happy to spend the warm, sunshine filled days, whether they fall in the summer, spring, fall or winter, with Mary Kay Andrews, Ernessa T. Carter and Ann B. Ross. In summation, a summer reading label doesn't mean strictly summer.  It means, if you're looking for a good book that is likely to enhance your mood, this is the book for you.

In Search of Satisfaction

One of the challenges of being a book blogger is finding books that interest you enough to want to talk about them.  Some books are just blah and I have a hard time stringing together enough words to interest others in reading them.  Some books blow me away and I have a hard time organizing my thoughts enough to get the words out in a coherent fashion.  Lately, I feel like I'm reading more blah books and not enough "shiver me timbers" books.

As much as I read as a kid, the college bookstore opened up a whole new world of authors for me.  While other students charged sweatshirts to their student accounts, I was charging books.  It was there that I discovered Maya Angelou beyond I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Gloria Naylor; and the Terry McMillan edited anthology, Breaking Ice.

There was an overabundance of good work and good authors in the nineties.  The shelves at The Knowledge Center, the neighborhood bookstore, overflowed with books by Barbara Neeley, Bebe Moore Campbell, J. California Cooper and Lolita Files.  When my budget couldn't keep up with all of the good books, the library of  the mid-nineties through 2005 or so gave me Grace F. Edwards, April Sinclair, Tina McElroy Ansa, Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Dawn Turner Trice, Tananarive Due, Lorene Cary, Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant. 

Today I can walk in and pick up (or download from home) books by Bernice McFadden, Ernessa T. Carter, Martha Southgate, Mary Monroe, Tayari Jones, Carleen Brice, Beverly Jenkins, Michele Grant, Aliya S. King and Danielle Evans.  Do you notice how much shorter that list is in comparison to what awaited me just ten years ago? Yes, there's a flood of self-published and/or street lit authors, but where are the quality writers of the future?  Some of the authors of 20 years ago continue to write, but I worry about who will replace them.  I don't doubt that there are plenty of good writers waiting in the wing, but I do worry that publishers won't give them a chance to be heard.

Last year saw books like Silver Sparrow, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and If Sons Then Heirs.  This year has brought Gathering of Waters, Home and The Cutting Season (okay, the last one doesn't come out until October, but trust me, you're going to love it), but when I look at the publisher's summer, fall and winter catalogs, I don't see a lot coming down the pipeline by writers that I'm interested in reading. Knowing what authors and books I enjoy, who do you recommend I read? What authors have I overlooked in the past that I should give another glance?  If all of the good books are already read, what do I read next?

If Your Favorite Author is Zane, Don’t Add Me On Goodreads

Guest Post from @sarahsosincere

Just call me the big bad book snob now. Once you’re done rolling your eyes at the title of this post, or nodding your head in agreement, hear me out. 

What’s the first thing you do when you get a request to connect with someone on a social networking site? You check out their profile page and see what you have in common, right? Friends, interests or whatever, usually there’s SOMETHING that would bring you two together on the interweb. 

Yesterday, I got a request to be friends with a lady on the social networking site for booklovers, Goodreads.  The first thing I noticed when perusing her profile was that her favorite authors were Zane and Sister Souljah.   On her “Currently Reading” shelf was “Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2.”  And this is the point when I completely closed my web browser. 

Let’s not discuss my disbelief at there being a SERIES called “Missionary No More.” Let’s not even get into the fact that someone read the first book in the “Missionary No More” series and then made the conscious decision to read the second. (Obviously, a lot of somebodies did since they published a sequel!) Let’s just talk about why anyone making these types of literary decisions shouldn’t add me on Goodreads.

  

Social networks are generally for the likeminded. I don’t like anything about Zane’s mind and neither should you. But you do. So, don’t add me on Goodreads. 

While I’m being snarky, I’m also being serious. Enjoying trashy and egregiously poorly written novels isn’t a crime but to say the author of said novels is your all-time fave? No ma’am, I will not take your book reviews seriously. I just can’t do it. 

Maybe this woman was trying to diversify her reading by following my reviews on Goodreads. That’s great but I still don’t want to see the review for “Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2” on my timeline. Purple Panties 2? Word? 

As much as I really really hate it, this isn’t about my abhorrence of Zane’s writing. This is about knowing your audience. You have the option to simply follow another Goodreads user’s reviews without asking them to subject themselves to your own. If you’re going to be reviewing Zane and other filth flarn filth, please use this option. Please.

I'm already a well-documented book snob, so you know that I agree with Sarah wholeheartedly.  Where do you stand?