New Location

If you have made it here then I want to direct you to my newer improved blog over on wordpress (New blog.) I just want to thank you guys for the journey.....looking forward to new adventures!

An Old Story By Tracy K Smith

An Old Story 

BY TRACY K. SMITH

We were made to understand it would be

Terrible. Every small want, every niggling urge,

Every hate swollen to a kind of epic wind. 

 

Livid, the land, and ravaged, like a rageful 

Dream. The worst in us having taken over 

And broken the rest utterly down. 

 

                                                                 A long age 

Passed. When at last we knew how little 

Would survive us—how little we had mended 

 

Or built that was not now lost—something 

Large and old awoke. And then our singing 

Brought on a different manner of weather. 

 

Then animals long believed gone crept down 

From trees. We took new stock of one another. 

We wept to be reminded of such color. 

Book Review : Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi

Taiye Selasi
Synopsis: Ghana Must Go tells the story of Folsade Savage
who leaves Lagos for Pennsylvania she meets her Ghananian husband , Kweku Sai, a brilliant surgeon.  Fola, as she is called gives up her dream of going to law school in order to raise their four children.  After losing his job, Kweku abandons them all and returns to Ghana; When the book opens the family has splintered with no one in regular communication. The news of Kweku's death in Accra brings the five remaining Sais together for a bittersweet trip to his homeland. (Source: NY Times Review)

Book Review: Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

Fijrst Impressions:
: Haunting . It felt like we were always on the periphery of disaster, everything was etched in sadness.
I like how the author compared the girls coming of age to a jazz ensemble. The progression  of the girls friendship seemed , in the beginning, melodic , inevitable ,right.


The death of the August's mother permeates everything in the story like being in a smoke filled room you cannot get away from the obvious. A young girl will be deeply affected by the absence of the mother. Her brother and father cope with the  Muslim faith, she on her newfound friends.  The author did an excellent job of foreshadowing that something terrible was going to happen to Gigi, but not giving away what . This unshakeable need to know what happens to Gigi propels you , the reader, into the story. I noticed that there were brief discussions of how  of how other cultures handled the death of their loved ones which I found interesting.


The story shows us how sometimes we are able to overcome situations that are soul crushing and surmount them , like a phoenix  rising from the ashes.  Another thing I thought the author did an excellent job was giving you an up close look of poverty and how it feels to not have enough. The sense of shame having to stand in line for free food. I found that part relatable even though it is set in the 1970's. The brutality of being poor is still the same. I gave the book 5 stars out of 5

You Go Girl series

Over the weekend I was watching CW39 ,here in Houston,  that Wonder Woman was the highest grossing superhero origin story,more women are running for political office than ever before,and #Metoo sparked a lot of conversations about sexual harrassment . What does this have to do with the Mindy Kaling book?

    I thought this book would be a great beginning to my You Go Girl series.The You Go Girl Series is basically  a chance to highlight the female authors, who demonstrate courage,talent,strength, and /or determination. These are not the in depth book reviews I try to do, just something that celebrates being a woman in a positive way. I'm not anti-male, or a feminist per se. I just want to focus on writing by female writers who I think are great☺.
That said I've always liked Mindy Kaling when she was on the Office.Imagine my surprise when I found out she wrote some of the episodes. I watched every episode of The Mindy  Kaling show before it went to Hulu ,and I am glad I finally got around to reading this book. It is laugh out loud funny. They are essays about different experiences in her life, not in that traditional autobiography format.
This will be on ongoing series,that may even include fictional female characters who are courageous, talented ,strong and/or determined. I am still figuring that part out.

The morning after....Love by Kattie M. Cumbo(poem)

  Clouds fill the sky
The breeze is cool
Work a demanding task

    I walk

My mind is relaxed
My body, remembering
The morning after love

A feeling fills my heart
Like a cup of calm black
Mist, refreshing

          I walk
A new day remembering
For a short spell
Your embrace.

Life trying to take on new
Meaning, a dirty world reaching
                      For lustre
I smell chrysanthemums from
              Tomorrow months.
And blinding rain drops smell
                     Of perfume
On the morning after...Love
                   I walk

The Life I led by Nikki Giovanni (poem)

i know my upper arms will grow
flabby it's true
of all the women in my family
i know that the purple views
like dead fish in Seine
will dot my legs one day
and my hands will wither while
my hair turns grayish white I know that
one day my teeth will move when
my lips smile
and a flutter of hair will appear
below my nose I hope
my skin doesn't change to those blotchy
colors

i want my menses to be undifficult
i'd  very much prefer staying firm and slim
to grow old like a vintage wine fermenting
in old wooden vats with style
i'd like to be exquisite  I think

i will look forward to grandchildren
and my flowers  all my knickknacks in their places
and that quiet of the bombs not falling on Cambodia
settling  over my sagging breasts

i hope my shoulder finds a head that needs nestling
and my feet find a footstool after a good soaking
with Epsom salts

i hope I die
warmed
by the life I tried
to live

Book review Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copelton

SYNOPSIS
Ama survived the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945.Her husband  Kenzo   has died, leaving her a widow . A widow who drinks to medicate the pain from her past. Until a strange man comes to her door one day ,claiming  to be Hideo  , her grandson who died in the bombings all those years ago. Even though this would be a refuge from the loneliness she is prisoner of caution, making it difficult for her to accept the possibility.  Could this be a refuge from the loneliness.? Could this be a Trick?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jackie Copelton taught English in Nagasaki and Sapporo. Worked as a journalist  in the UK and the Middle East. She holds a Masters in Literature  in Creative Writing.  Currently  lives in Glasgow  Scotland with her husband.
MY IMPRESSIONS
I loved the way the author described the aftermath of the bombings. It's  set at a time most of us wouldn't be privy to, but you feel the weight of loss and sadness pressing down on you as if,someone placed a wet heavy blanket on your shoulder You can al ost feel the dust. You are horrified by what they discover.
    Also the hatred Ama  has for Takei  ,her former lover ,is palatable. But for about 2/3 thirds of the book you don't know why exactly.  Is she just a jilted ex or the victim of something?  So when you do finally find out it makes sense, , like someone putting in the last piece of that 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. I felt that Ama'so character was justified.  I don't want to give away anymore plot points other than to say definitely read this book. I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars

The Girl Who was Saturday Night by Heathers ONeill

The first 50 pages were a struggle... but it began to get interesting as to why Nicholas hasn't done anything to support his child outside petty thievery. Noscha,  his sister ,is tired of being a former minor celebrity. She can see the truth of who they are. She begins to make changes like going to night school, but not easy undertaking. Their Grandfather who has cared for them all their lives,may have dementia, and Nicholas  may not support any real changes...it would mean he would have to change.  Here is an excerpt from the book "There is nothing as frustrating as being consumed with rage over someone and knowing that you aren't even on their mind. You want your enemy to be engaged in a struggle until the death with you. Otherwise you are fighting yourself. I mean we are essentially only in wars against  ourselves,  but we don't like it to be painfully obvious. "  This is in reference to their mother who left them with the grandfather  and has went on to get married and have kids. There Dad pops in and out . It's  funny how bonds can former in a dysfunctional families.
    Can you transcend a rough start in life? Do you have to saba together yourself in order to maintain these bonds?  I ended up giving this book away but I wished I hadn't  because I like the characters and that it takes place in Canada. I give it 4 out of 5 stars

Adore by Prince

I just wanted to share some of the lyrics to my all time favorite artist Prince Rogers Nelson. Tonight there will be a tribute on the Grammy's  so I felt it would be nice to give a tribute to the on the blog.
Chorus: Until the end of time I ll be there for you .U own my heart and mind. I truly adore you.If God One Day Struck me blind
Your beauty I'd still see. Love is to weak to define. Just what you mean to me.

Now I'm not a music critic by any shape , form or fashion but I feel like these lyrics are timeless. You don't have to be a giddy teenager to get the depth of love he felt for the person in the song(/maybe Sheila E?) Happy.Valentines Day everyone in advance

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day by Nikki Giovanni

        Here is one of my all time favorite poem by my all time favorite poet ! I had bought the book years ago. I have her collected poems and on Spotify you can actually hear the poet in her calm , cool , way deliver it. If you haven't heard it I  would highly recommend it. I also think a mark of a good poet is someone that can see a common aspect of our humanity such as loneliness and also help us embrace the parts were not to fond of or would talk about in polite circles. A good poet maybe even an extraordinary  scribe or wordsmith is willing to take that risk.  A good poet can relate with honesty  the human condition. I hope you enjoy the poem.

2016-2017 To be read list

Here it is ny To Be Read List for October 2016-October 2016 I think it will be shorter next year because I have books within a series I like to review so that doesn't count them all the time

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding
    By Jackie Copleton

2. A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman
    
3. That Thing I Never Told You
     By Celeste Ng

4.God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

5.Here Comes the Sun
   Nicole Dennis Benn

6.Still Alice
   By Lisa Genova

7.Imagine Me Gone
    By Adam Haslett

8.After You by Jojo Moyes

9.Another Brooklyn
   By Jacqueline Woods on

10. The Country of Ice Cream Star
By Sandra Newman

11.Let's Go Crazy :Prince and the Making of Purple Rain by Alan  Light

12.Summer of the Cicadas by Cole Lavalais

13.Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

14.Eileen by Otessa Mosh Legh

15. The Perks Of being A Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky

16.Orange is The New Black by Piper Kerman

17.Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

18.Ghana Must Go  by Taiye Selasi

19. Between The World and Me by TA Nehisi Coates

20.Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

Philosopher by Edna St Vincent Millay

And what are you wanting you

I should be kept awake

As many nights as there are days

With weeping for your sake?

And what are you that missing you,

As many days crawl

I should be listening to the wind

And looking at the wall?

I know a man that's  a braver man

And twenty men as kind

And what are you, that you should be

The one man in my Mind?

Yet women's  ways are witless ways

As any sage will tell-

And what am I ,that I should love

So wisely and so well?

Sienna St.James series:Book one Losing Hope

Leslie January Sherrod has written an Urban Christian Series on Sienna St.James
,who like the author is a social worker.  As a writer,I can see the benefit of writing from your experiences. JOHN Grisham doesn't write about being a flame of dancer or scientist. Why? We readers can tell when something isn't the authors experience. The nuances of the story always give it away (or the lack therof) . By Mrs.Sherrod writing a novel based on the life of a social worker, we get to live vicarously--experience the sense of fulfillment, the frustrations and what's it like for a social worker.  Sienna gets the client that would make any social worker rethink their purpose in life!Hope Diamond  has been placedar in many homes she is bipolar with PTSD. Her boss is putting pressure on Sienna to make it work. The couple who care for Hope are upstanding memberserk at their churc6house. Is her boss blinded by this? Do they have something  to hide? Sienna b seems to think so.Why did this placement have to work.?
   
      Sienna also has some past issues plaguing her as well Her estranged husband of many years has a lions head ring delivered or did he? The uncertainty keeps Sienna off balance . How will this affect her teenage son Roman..?

    I don't want to give anything away I try not to put any spoiler alerts I will say that I like how this reads more like a mystery. Bible verses are not shoved down your throat, I felt that Sienna struggles like we all do sometimes. I give this book 4 1/2 stars out of 5 I think it's the strongest out of the series

2016 National Book Award for Fiction Longlist

1) Colson Whitehead The Underground
2)Karen Mahajan The Association of Small Bombs
3)Adam Haslett Imagine Me Gone
4)Lydia Millet Sweet Lamb of Heaven
5)Garth Greenwell What Belongs to You
6)Jacqueline Woods on Another Brooklyn
7)Elizabeth McKenzie The Portable Veblen
8)Brad Watson Miss Jane
9)Paulette Jules News of The World
10) Chris Bachelor The Throwback

Part two of Challenged Books: A definition and a list of 20 most challenged books

Q: What is a book challenge?
A: According to Media & Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age, It's a formal request made by an individual or group to have a book removed from a school or public library.  Here are the Top
20 Banned Books
1.The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
3.The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4.To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6.Ulysses by James Joyce
7.Beloved by Toni Morrison
8.The Lord of the Flies William Golding
9.1984 by George Orwell
10.The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11.Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
12.Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13.Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
14.A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15.Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16.Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17.Animal Farm by George Orwell
18.The Sun Also rises by Ernest Hemingway
19.As I lay dying by William Faulkner
20.A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Top ten frequently challenged books of 2015

1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
   Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (“poorly written,” “concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it”).
3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
   Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited for age group.
4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
   Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints”).
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
   Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group, and other (“profanity and atheism”).
6. The Holy Bible
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint.
7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
   Reasons: Violence and other (“graphic images”).
8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson
   Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
   Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence.
10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan
    Reasons: Homosexuality and other (“condones public displays of affection”).

It's getting close to that time of year again . Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read .I think it's important to not take these books off the library shelf because we don't agree with the views expressed in them.  As a former preschool teacher and current parent, I feel that we should be able to let the books remain and just disagree without the censorship per se. I personally don't want me kids to exist in a bubble and not have the crtical thinking skills to disagree. By censoring books you are depriving them of the opportunity to do just that.


  As a writer I cherish freedom of speech as my first amendment right as a American citizen so I don't think censorship is the answer.  Next week I will post the criteria that usually gets a book challenged. Until then enjoy your week!

Poem: Mother's habits by Nikki Giovanni

I have all
My mother's habits
I awake in the middle of the night
To smoke a cigarette
I have a terrible fear of flying
And I don't like being alone
In the dark
Sleep is a sport we all
Participate in
It's the scourge of youth
And a necessity of old age
Though it only hastens the day
When dissolution is inevitable
I grow tired
Like my mother doing without
Even one small word
That says I care
And like my mother I shall fade
Into my dreams
No longer caring
Either

Poem: Bean eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks

They eat beans mostly,this old yellow pair.
Dinner is a casual affair
Plain chipware on a plain and freaking wood,
Tin flatware.

Two who are Mostly Good.
Two who have lived their day 
But keep on putting on their clothes
And putting on their clothes
And putting things away

And remembering...
Remembering, with twinklings and twinges 
As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that
Is full of beads and receipts and dolls and clothes,
Tobacco crumbs,vases and fringes.

Author spotlight: My literary crush on Junot Diaz

Doesn't hurt that  I find him attractive I tend to find smart guys sexy! Wow when a guy can hold his end of an intellectual conversation your sexiness factor just went up, but I digress.
    Besides, he is more than eye candy to .
I am enthralled/enamoured with a writer who draws from his life experiences.  I feel like I'm eavesdropping on someone's conversation, when I read his work. Love his style.

      My two favorite books by Mr.Diaz "Drown" and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao' I don't remember being so enthusiastic to read the footnotes but he was so good even that was enjoyable! The novel not only resonated I thought about the characters long after I read the story.
     I think the fact that there is a ten year gap between publishing " Drown" and "The Brief Wondrous..."  Adds to this elusive quality. Kinda like when Sade releases an new CD we're going to break our collective necks trying to buy it because God only knows when the next one will be released, it's like that. So what Writer do you have a literary crush on?