POC and Poetry

This year as part of my 2015 resolutions I am posting more post about POC authors and characters.  This has been a fun and great idea for me and my blog because I get a chance to show off a few authors and books that don't get that much time in the spotlight.  

Since April is National Poetry Month I thought I would highlight a few books of poetry by POC authors.  Feel free to join me and post a something on your blog about as well. 

What is POC?

Well, basically it stands for Person of Color.  All Colors! All non-white races are counted as POC.
Previous POC posts
POC Books I Want to Read This Year
POC Children Books
Favorite Female POC Authors
Favorite POC Books from 2014

Click on the covers to go to the books Amazon page.

~ Poetry Books By POC Authors ~

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
National Book Award Finalist
#1 Best Seller in Amazon's African American Poetry

Accounts of racially charged interactions, insidious and flagrant, transpiring in private and in the public eye, distill the immediate emotional intensity of individual experience with tremendous precision while allowing ambiguity, ambivalence, contradiction, and exhaustion to remain in all their fraught complexity. . . . Once again Rankine inspires sympathy and outrage, but most of all a will to take a deep look at ourselves and our society. (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Common Covers #1

On Audible.com a few days ago, they had a feature on the home page called "Common Covers"  I thought this was interesting.  What things did the folks at Audible.com think when they picked these covers as "common"?

No not common as in regular but they have something similar, something in common.

Here are the first series of Common Covers

Quicky Review #30: Frida and Where There's Smoke

Welcome back to another Quicky Review everyone.

A lot of the time I like to read short stories, prequels and free audiobooks that are short and sweet.  But why do a full review on a book that is say...80 pages long.  So I do Quicky Reviews for the shorties and children books as well.  Basically, the short stories get short reviews.

Here is just a few sentences on one children's book and one e-book from last month.

There are other Quicky Reviews for you to check out too and don't worry there will be more to come. I like short stories because most of them are FREE and I can get in and out of one in no time.

~ Previous Quicky Review ~

Write On Review-a-Thon: Wrap Up for April 2015

Host: The Book Vixen

 

Oh man!  This did not go as I had planned.  Not at all!!

FAIL!

I was planning on completing the following reviews:

1.  Lowlands

2.  When the Emperor was Divine

3.  Paper Towns

4.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane
5. Insurgent 

But I ended up completing 

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue

 

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle #3) Author: Maggie Stiefvater Genre: YA Series: The Raven Cycle   Publisher: Scholastic Audio Release Date: November 1, 2014 Audiobook: 10 hours and 3 minutes Narrator: Will Patton  Source: Free from e-Library

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Hour 13 - 16

Hosted by 24 Hour Read-A-Thon

Welcome to 7:10 pm in Los Angeles.
Update time!!  I am so unfocused and I am a little freaked out by the number of book reviews I have to do too!  ARGH!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Hour 9 - 12

Hosted by 24 Hour Read-A-Thon

Welcome to 1:30 pm in Los Angeles.
Update time!! I just showered and feel great.  A few biscuits helped too! 

I have changed books.  I think this will be the read-a-thon of reading a few things here and there.

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Hour 5 -8

Hosted by 24 Hour Read-A-Thon

Welcome to 11am in Los Angeles.
Update time!!  So far I am finally not sleepy and I have drank (2 cups) an ocean of green tea with lemon and honey. 

Hour 5: 

Back to reading after a quick nap.  And I am hosting the hour 5 read-a-thon mini challenge.  It's wrapping up soon so jump to this link to enter to win a great prize.  It's  fun!

The 5th Hour Challenge - Closed

 

Welcome to My Little Pocketbooks 

5th Hour Challenge!

This awesome read-a-thon is hosted by DEWEY'S 24 HOUR READ-A-THON

Right now it's 9:00 am here is Los Angeles, California.

How are you feeling? Just waking up and had your coffee yet.  Second cup?

 

 Well...You have been reading for 5-ish hours now.  And I know you are eying your  food reserve. 

Would a Challenge get your mind off of it?  Get you motivated and focused a bit?  

What about an easy challenge with a great return?  

That's what I thought!  

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Hour 1 - 4

Hosted by 24 Hour Read-A-Thon

Welcome to 5am in Los Angeles.
Hi everyone!  And welcome to my quarterly updates as I am reading my eyes off for the next 24 hours.  I will update this post for the first four hours then do another post for the next quarter and so on.  So let's do this...  

Book Blogger Hop: The Title

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

I am sooo happy it's FRIDAY!!! I am heading to the supermarket soon because tomorrow is the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon and I need to stock up on snacks.  Happy Friday Ya'll!!

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

April 24th - 30th - Does the title of a book make or break your choice to read it? (submitted by Elizabeth)

Write On Review-a-Thon: Goals for April 2015

Host: The Book Vixen
Since I have been doing the review-a-thons I have stopped writing reviews.  Not 100% stopped!  But I have been saving all of my review writing for this event.  I have ZERO motivation now that I have been rocking this event.  All of this months reviews were written during the last Write On Review-a-Thon.

So guess what? 
All the books I am going to write reviews for this weekend (hopefully on Friday and Sunday since the 24 hour read-a-thon is Saturday) are for May.  My goal is to get all of May's reviews done and June's reviews in draft form for the next Review-a-thon. 

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon: Goals

Hosted by 24 Hour Read A Thon

April 25th.

It time for one of my favorite bookish events.  And this year I am planning on doing nothing but reading and reading as much as I can. 

Yep!  No mini-challenges (except the 5th Hour Challenge I am hosting).  No chatting on other blogs.  Just reading!  I am not 100% on what I will be reading but here are a few thoughts.  I might change my mind mid day.  

Goals 

What I Am Listening To...

Insurgent (The Divergent Series Book #2)

Cover Characteristics - Babies

Hosted by Sugar and Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

This week was a surprise to find topic.  I had no idea it would be so hard to find 5 book covers with babies on them!  There is a series of Harlequin books with a man and a baby on them but I only picked one of those and so finding 4 more was a real task.  And you know me...I will make this a diverse list of books (as much as I can).  Click on the book titles below to go to their Amazon page.

~ Babies ~ 

1.  Curby by Adrian Del Valle

2.  Claudia and the Cutest Baby in the World by Ann M. Martin

3.  Baby Bequest by Robyn Grady

4.  The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

Sunday Delight: Bookish Weekends

Happy Sunday Everyone!

I know today is not Sunday.  My Sunday post is a bit late.  I was a little lazy this weekend with all the bookish things I was planning to do.  Like blog.  HAHAHA!!  Ooopss!  I kinda let that one slip past me as well.  Last weekend (2 weeks ago) was so busy with the Inglewood Literary Festival and Yallwest that I completely forgot about posting my Sunday post of events and things.  FYI, for the month of April in Los Angeles there seems to be more bookish events, signings and things going on than any other time of the year.  And you know me...I just have to attend as many as possible.  :)
I purchased books last week and last Sunday was the  LA Times Festival of Books.  I was planning on buying a ton of books but nope the Lord took all the books I wanted and hid them from me.  It's a good thing since next month is BEA15 and I know I will loose my mind there.  ARGH!

Here and Now

Time: 11:27 am (Monday)

Drinking:  Green Tea with Lemon and Honey (My blogging drink of choice)

Eating: Yogurt with bananas and granola

 Listening To: The Brand New Heavies Radio on Pandora

Watching: Tea for Two. I love old movies and I love Doris Day!  That is her star in my Google Profile picture.  Click the picture below to see more info about the movie.

Why don't they make movies like this anymore?

Review: The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

 

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl  Author: Issa Rae Genre: Non-Fiction Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Release Date: February 10, 2015 Audiobook: 5 hours and 49 minutes Narrator: Issa Rae Source: Purchased from Audible

What I Am Reading...

Fifty Shades Darker

Review: El Deafo

 

El Deafo Author: Cece Bell Genre: Children's Graphic Novel Age Range: 8 - 12 years Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Release Date: September 2, 2014 Paperback: 248 pages Source: Free from public library

Book Blogger Hop: Sad to End

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Happy Friday everyone. I hope you all have a weekend of great and fun adventures planned?  For me this is the weekend of the L.A. Times Book Fair.  I am sooo excited.

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

April 17th - 23rd - Ending a book I loved is sad and beginning a new one is apprehensive for me. What about you? (submitted by Elizabeth)

My Favorite Male POC Authors

Today I thought I would show some love to the male P.O.C. authors who have never ever let me down.  These are the six five "go to" authors I will always get a good read from no matter what.  Some of them I haven't read in a long time and a couple are newer discoveries.  Disclaimer time!  There are more than five P.O.C. authors in my reading collection but I wanted to feature the top ones who have stood the test of time in my reading life.  Also they are in no particular order.

By the way, in case you missed it I am doing a bi-weekly post on this blog to feature books and authors that are P.O.C. (people of color) to give them all a bit more time in the spotlight and I would love, love for you to join me. (The covers are linked to the Amazon.com page and bios are from Goodreads.com)

Richard Wright

Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.

Books by Richard Wright

Quicky Review #29: Loogie and I'll Be Home for Christmas

Welcome back to another Quicky Review everyone.

A lot of the time I like to read short stories, prequels and free audiobooks that are short and sweet.  But why do a full review on a book that is say... 100 pages long.  I do Quicky Reviews for the shorties and children books as well.  Basically, the short stories get short reviews.

Here are just a few sentences on one children's book and a free e-book from last month.

There are other Quicky Reviews for you to check out too and don't worry there will be more to come. I like short stories because most of them are FREE and I can get in and out of one in no time.

Previous Quicky Review

  Quicky Review #26: The Snow Queen
Quicky Review #27: The Julian's Chapter
Quicky Review #28: Pluto

 

Cover Characteristic - Black

Hosted by Sugar and Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great! 

Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

This week was hard to pick just 5 covers.  There were so many great covers where Black was the dominate color! And you know me...I will make this a diverse list of books (as much as I can).  Click on the book titles below to go to their Amazon page.

~ Black ~

1. Dark Rooms by Lili Anolik
2. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

3.  Mindblind by Jennifer Roy

4. Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

Review: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Author: Julia Alvarez Genre: Contemporary Fiction Publisher:  Algonquin Books Release Date: January 12, 2010 E-book: 334 pages Source: Free from iBooks

What I Am Reading...

The Lowlands

Review: Tales of the Talented Tenth

Bass Reeves: Tales of the Talented Tenth, Volume 1 Author: Joel Christian Gill Age Range: 12 - 18 years Genre: Non Fiction Graphic Novel Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing Release Date: October 28, 2014 Paperback: 158 pages Source: Free from the public library

Book Blogger Hop: A Bound Galley

Hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

 

What is Book Blogger Hop all about?

Each week the host at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer will prompt a new topic submit by a blogger and everyone can join in with their answers. You should join us! It's quite fun!  No really it is!

This Weeks Topic/Question

April 10th - 16th -  Have you ever received a bound galley from a publisher for review? What did you think about it? Were you surprised at anything? (submitted by Elizabeth)

Mini Blog Ahead: Goals

Hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup

I am soooo happy this event is coming back.  I just love it so much because it gives me a buffer.  A real blogging break.  What am I talking about?  Well starting May 1 Anna at Herding Cats and Burning Soup is hosting Blog Ahead.  This is an event were you focus on getting blog post scheduled.  Since this one is a mini the goal is to get 14 additional blog post scheduled. 

Where I stand right now

20 Random Questions Tag

I was not tagged personally but Reanna over at Phantasmic Reads tagged Anna at Herding Cats and Burning Soup (her blog name always makes me smile) and she tagged everyone basically.  So I thought I would jump onto the "Tag" bandwagon as well.  

This tag is 20 random things about me.

1.

How tall are you?

I am 5 feet 4 inches and one of the shortest in my family besides my paternal grandmother who was 4 feet something.  That is where I got the shortness from.

2.

Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what?

Nope!  None!   I wish I did though.  I would love to have a hidden talent of remembering names and faces from early childhood till now.  But nope! If we meet and then you see me again just assume I don't remember your name. Sorry!

Something Old, Something New #3

Something Old Something New is just a monthly post I am adding to my blog to give you a bit of news here there about me, books and the random things going on.

Something Old

Hmmm....This another one that took me awhile to think about.  But a few months ago I found at TJMaxx an adult coloring book.  It's not adult like that but a coloring book for adults and I love it.  This coloring book is so beautiful.  (Click the cover to buy one for yourself)

April 2015 Reading Queue

 Reading Queue is a meme hosted by Book Tasty and Books: A True Story.

Welcome to the Reading Queue. 

Last month was by far the best reading month I have had in a long time.  Being off from work and having a minimum of one hour reading time every single day put me over my 4 books a month quota.  And participating in not one but two read-a-thons helped a lot too.  Check out my reading stack for the month on March after you see what I plan on reading for April.  Not as many as March since my vacation is over. *insert sad face*

What is the reading queue all about?

Reading Queue is a monthly meme where you share what books you plan to read for the month. You can hop to other blogs and see what others are reading and maybe find someone reading the same thing as you! Or you can ask for people to vote on what you should read next if you can’t decide.

So here is what I have lined up for the month of April. (Click the covers to go to the books Amazon page.)

Book Club Book of the Month

Cover Characteristics - Numbers

Hosted by Sugar and Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite covers with that characteristic. If you want to join in and share your 5 favorite covers with the weeks particular characteristic, then just make a post, grab the meme picture (or make your own) and leave your URL in Linky (so we can visit).
You don’t even need to participate, just stopping by and saying hi would be great!

Don’t forget to stop by the other participants!

  Today we are going to show off pretty book covers with numbers on them.  And you know me...I will make this a diverse list of books (as much as I can).  Click on the book titles below to go to their Amazon page.

Numbers

1.  Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

2.  1984 by George Orwell

3.  14 by Peter Clines

4.  13 by Kelly Armstrong