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Read
Zone Book Reviews & Announcements
Volume
1, Issue 2
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All about books, their authors and
the people who read them:
Book reviews, press releases,
interviews, reader feedback, sale of left over inventory from
previously owned online bookstore as well as swaps or
give-a-ways of books from my personal collection.
06.22.2006
Subscribers: 113
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Jump At The Sun
by Kim McLarin
Jump at the Sun ex-plores the challenges of mothering and
being mothered in a complex world, through the lives of three
generations
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Dear Reader,
Hello and welcome to the second issue of Read Zone Book Reviews, Swaps and
Sales Newsletter!
I'm always flabbergasted when people say that we don't
read, because the numbers seem to say differently. What do I mean by
that? Well, last month we started out with 8 subscribers. This
month we've 113 subscribers. Of course, I must give credit where
credit is due: part of that growth spurt was assisted by list host
Zinester's cross-posting program wherein subscribers have an opportunity to
receive three test issues of newsletters within a given genre.
Upon sending out a special announcement last week--the
notice was sent to 2,777 list subscribers. Twenty-five of them mine
and the other 2,752 were brand new prospects. Of that 2,777, 427 or
15.38% opened the email. Of that 427, 30 or 7.02% clicked on the links
within the newsletter, which means that of the 88 that joined the list, 60
joined without even clicking on any links.
What's with all the numbers you ask? Well, in my
humble opinion, the above numbers say that not only are we reading, we're
durn anxious to find out as much as we can about the books available on the
market so that when we go to spend our dollar ... we're making educated
choices.
With that in mind, check out this issue: included is
the review of Joseph C. Philip's book, as well as an author interview, a
few new releases, and the spot light of a new discount bookstore in New
York.
Peace,
Dee
~~~~~~****~~~~~~
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
~Hosea 4:6 (NASB)
~~~~~~****~~~~~~
In this Issue:
1. Welcome Message
2. Book Reviews
3. Author Interview
4. New and Upcoming Releases
5. Book Store Spotlight
6. Letters to the Editor (Will begin when I get some. LOL)
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He Talk Like a White Boy
Reflections on Faith, Family, Politics, and Authenticity
By Joseph C. Phillips,
Foreword by Tavis Smiley
Publisher: Running Press Book
Publishers
Review by D.S. White for
Active Christian Media
“…I was determined that if I didn’t learn to like
rap, I would at least develop a working knowledge of the music so I
could discuss it intelligently. I dashed out to the music store and
bought CDs by Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, and a list of other
artists who were hot at the time. The only ground rule I set was
that I had to play each album all the way through at least once. As
an illustration of my lack of commitment, I soon decided that
playing an album all the way through didn’t necessarily mean I had
to be in the same room while it played. Strictly speaking, so long
as the album played all the way through. I didn’t even have to be in
the apartment. I will never forget putting NWA (Niggaz with
Attitude) on the stereo. I almost broke my neck sprinting across my
apartment to turn the volume down when ‘F**k the Police’ began
blasting through the building.”
The above quote is one of the many reasons completion
of this book was mandatory. By its very title, this book makes a provocative
statement which is ably reinforced by its content. The author, Joseph C.
Phillips is an actor, writer, lecturer, and social commentator best known
for his role on The Cosby Show as the character Denise’s (Lisa
Bonet) husband, Lt. Martin Kendall. He has also appeared in such films as
Strictly Business, Midnight Blue, and Let’s Talk about
Sex. As a writer and social commentator, Joseph’s work has appeared in
Newsweek, Lost Angeles Daily News, Essence, Upscale, and USA
Today. His weekly column," The Way I See It”, appears in newspapers
around the country. He was also a regular contributor to NPR’s Tavis
Smiley Radio Show. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three
children. The book is a collection of essays divided into the following
themes:
read more
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AN INTERVIEW WITH KIM MCLARIN
Q: Tell us about Jump At The Sun.
A: Jump at the Sun is a novel of motherhood. It is also
a novel of race, of love and sacrifice, of isolating suburban life and the
continuing legacy of slavery, of generational change and the price of living the
dream for which our parents fought and several other things, but primarily it’s
a novel of motherhood. It is not a sentimental one. Many of the thoughts Grace
things about being a mother would not make it to the inside of a Hallmark
greeting card.
Q: Is the novel a reflection of your own thoughts and feelings about
motherhood?
A: Well, I could try to deny that, but no one would believe
me. So I’ll just say yes – but with a big caveat. As I tell my writing students,
fiction is not life, it’s the essence of life. It’s life distilled. So, yes, my
protagonist and I share some things and some thoughts and feelings. Absolutely.
But no, she’s not me. The reason I write fiction, as opposed to memoir, is to
try to push beyond myself, to write outward from my own experience toward a more
universal one. That’s the beauty of fiction.
Q: What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of being a mother?
A: It would be easier to say what’s not challenging about
being a mother. Loving my children is not difficult for me; they are amazing,
complex, complete little creatures who have bulldozed their way into my heart
and taken it over. Praising them when they do something terrific isn’t hard for
me, or grinning like a fool when they say something smart, or even pushing them
to do more for themselves, to become more independent. What’s challenging is
being consistent and consistently patient and understanding and present, being
always beyond myself. Being a writer demands a lot of time inside one’s own
head, one’s own experience of the world. Being a mother demands just the
opposite. I find it very, very challenging to reconcile those twin demands. But
when my kids were younger, what I found most challenging was the bizarre
isolation of stay-at-home motherhood. No doubt about it – it is unhealthy and
unnatural to lock a grown woman in a house with only kids for company all day,
every day.
read
more
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Advertisement |
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Are you a writer in need of an editor? Try
Rachel Thomson of
Thomson Editing Services be sure to tell her that Dee sent you.
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New and Upcoming Releases |
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The
Life and Times of a Poetic Sista Vol 1
By Jeannette Murray
Publisher: Jeannette Murray
Release Date: 2006
Paperback: 42 pages
ISBN: N/A
Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
Print: $9.12
Ebook: $3.75
Description:
"This poetry book gives insight to what is going on in the community. There
are poems about love, empowerment, violence, and self awareness. So come
join this sister on a poetic journey."
Read an
excerpt 
The Mayor's Wife Wore Sapphires
an inner-city thriller laced with social and spiritual commentary
By Martha "Marti"
Tucker
 Publisher:
Urban
Classic Books
Release Date: March 31, 2006
Paperback: 316 pages
ISBN-10: 0977485218
ISBN-13: 978-0977485215
Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Print: $19.95
Ebook: $12.95
Description:
The Mayor’s Wife Wore
Sapphires reveals the secrets and pain of 36-year-old Indigo
Tate. She is educated, ambitious, drop-dead gorgeous, and stuck in
the ghetto. This half-equipped little African American princess
has one ambition—to get out. She longs to hang out with the Beverly
Hills “who who’s”, but the City Charter requires her husband, the mayor,
to live in the inner city where he serves—Compton, California. It’s the
west coast city where crack cocaine, violence and drive-bys grow more
threatening by the day. In the throes of Indigo’s personal
dilemma, her husband finds nearly a million dollars missing from his
unique training program intended to uplift the poor. Soon after,
he is mysteriously assassinated before he can call a Federal
investigation. Indigo’s world comes crashing down. Becoming
obsessed with bringing her husband’s assassin to justice thrusts her
into a bitter political war that makes Viet Nam pale by comparison. To
save her life, her children and her city from the powerful enemy, she
uses the only weapon she owns—her woman’s intuition.
Read an
excerpt
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Forgiving Ain't Forgetting
By Mata Elliott
 Publisher:
Walk Worthy Press
Release Date: June 7, 2006
Paperback: 432 pages
ISBN: 0446697087
Dimensions: 5.7 x 7.9 inches
Print: $12.95
MMP: $ 6.99
Prologue:
She'd been taken.
He'd been left behind.
The man seated on the
first pew gazed at the closest window. Strong, frequent spurts
of fresh air soared into the room, yet he felt like a prisoner
in the mouth of a skin-scorching oven. He dipped his fingers
into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and retrieved a pack of
antacids. A slow fire rolling through his belly and the toast
and orange juice he forced down this morning threatening to
reappear, he placed a tablet on his tongue.
The hot, sickly feeling continued
devout, and perspiration dribbled from his sideburns and balanced on his
nose and collected under the stiff collar of his shirt. He drew his hand
along his throat, down to his tie and pulled on the knot. It seemed like
hours, but he'd only been in the stone church about thirty minutes,
gathered with hundreds of others to bid farewell. As sunshine
illuminated the enormous stained-glass window at the face of the
sanctuary and colorful tendons of light crisscrossed above the pulpit,
he closed his eyes and wrestled against the tears he refused to let
drop, agonizing that nothing would ever be the same. It was the
beginning of a whole new way. And like a man unjustly sentenced for a
crime he did not commit, he could not believe life had dealt him this
hand.
Continue reading
excerpt
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This month I'd like to introduce Urban Club Books.
They have a brick and mortar location in Long Island, New York and for the
online shopper like myself,
a web presence, as
well. I found this bookstore by way of one of my Yahoo Groups.
They are actively seeking authors for book signings so if you're an author
or you know of one ... pass the word along.
read more
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The Read Zone Book Reviews, Swaps and Sales Newsletter
is published by D.S. White, Editor & Contributing Author. Third Thursday of
every month. Contact the Editor at: D.S. White, P.O. Box 145, Whitehall, PA
18052-0145 or via email dswhite@atwc1.com.
Photo of Kim McLarin by Michael Massey.
Please note that our subscriber list is not made available to
others.
FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER IN ITS ENTIRETY TO YOUR FRIENDS!
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