Stumbled Upon: YA Novel, Kimchi & Calamari

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

So, all of my loyal readers know that I practically live at the library. In the summer it's no different, except I usually haul my kids with me on my visits. They love the library too. When we go, they immediately run off to read graphic novels and other things I usually won't buy for them. And they're perfectly cool with me picking out their books for the week. I don't know how long this is going to last but for now it works for me.

So, this summer I've been trying to get my sci-fi loving 11-year-old to read more realistic fiction. I still try to find stories that I think will speak to him as a 11-year-old boy who likes sci-fi and fantasy. So, for example, last week he read The Orphan of Ellis Island, about an orphaned Italian-American boy who falls through a time portal and goes back in time and meets his Italian ancestors. He loved it. Yes! Yesterday, I stumbled upon a book called Kimchi & Calamari. You know with just that title, I was intrigued.

Sure enough, the book is about a Korean boy adopted by an Italian-American family. The boy in the story is 14 years old and dealing with typical teen boy stuff, plus he's dealing with identity issues and a search for a birth parent. Here's a link to a review (cuz I haven't read it yet.) And here's how the author, Rose Kent sells, Kimchi & Calamari:

" Kimchi and calamari is a quirky food fusion — and exactly how fourteen-year-old Joseph Calderaro feels about himself. Why wouldn’t an adopted Korean drummer feel like a combo platter given

1. his face in the mirror and
2. his proud Italian family?

Now Joseph has to write an ancestry essay for school. But all he knows is that his birth family put his diapered butt on a plane to the USA.

What Joseph does leads to a catastrophe messier than a table of shattered dishes — and self-discovery that he never could have imagined."

Sounds good right? It'll be next on the list for my son. And I'll tell you how it goes.

Has anybody else read Kimchi and Calamari? Any thoughts? Any other realistic fiction suggestions for an 11-year old boy with Ms. Meltingpot for a mom? I'm listening.

Peace!

Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

If you live in the Los Angeles area or can get there without a lot of trouble, then you simple must make it to this year's Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival, June 15- 17, 2012. The films, readings and family activities are going to be awesome. Some of my favorite writers, Mat Johnson and Faith Adiele, are going to be there. And the Hi-larious comics Key & Peele will be performing. But don't take my word for it. Check out the schedule and try not to drool over the fabulous offerings. And yes, it's all free!

I'd love to be there, but won't be able to make it this year. Somebody, please tell me you're going.

Peace!

A Meltingpot Book Review & A Giveaway Too: "A Wedding in Haiti"

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I have a confession to make. When I received my advanced reader's copy of Julia Alvarez's slim new memoir, A Wedding in Haiti, I was not impressed. In fact, I was a little put off by the concept. Alvarez, a prolific and award-winning Dominican poet and novelist, had written a book about her friendship with her Haitian farm worker. The broad brush strokes of the story are that Alvarez befriends young Piti when he comes to work on her organic coffee farm in the Dominican Republic. When Piti comes of age and decides to marry, he invites Alvarez to the wedding which takes place in rural Haiti. Alvarez has to leave the comfort of her home in Vermont to go to the wedding and of course her life is altered by what she experiences in a place that's almost always referred to as the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Cue the violins and call the cliché hotline.

So, I didn't read it. I didn't think I'd have to read it to know how the story begins and ends. What's more, considering Alvarez is Domincan, I guess I expected her to know more about Haiti than her story suggests. And if she really never had visited the country that is attached to her birthplace, I guess I didn't want her to admit that either. At least not out loud. I am a big fan of Alvarez and didn't want to lose respect for her work. So, like I said, I didn't read it.

But dear readers, the book just sat there, mocking me with its pretty cover and the temptation of a good Alvarez read. Finally, one morning, I just picked it up and started reading, figuring I'd put it down if even the slightest hint of "The White Man Learns the Meaning of Life from the Poor Black Man Who Has Nothing Yet Can Still Smile Every Morning," came through the text. But it didn't.

Alvarez is pretty honest about her lack of knowledge about Haiti, as well as her inherent privilege and relative wealth. And it is that honesty that comes through the book as she narrates her journey to the wedding and then a subsequent trip to Haiti post earthquake. As I said, the book is slim, the story covers less than two years, and there is no great aha! moment. Instead, we get a travelogue of a journey most of us will never make because we don't have the resources and because we don't have to. We can send money, rail at the injustice and even pretend things are actually better than they really are in Haiti.

Alvarez doesn't use the book to preach a sermon or shame us readers into flying straight away into Port-au-Prince. She does one better. She allows herself, a middle-aged American college professor with good intentions, to be our eyes and ears in Haiti. She recoils at sights and smells but puts on a brave face because she knows it is the right thing to do. She smiles and uses charades to communicate because she doesn't speak French of Kreyol. She offers what comfort she can, be it a box of spaghetti or a hug to a grieving mother. In a nutshell, Alvarez bears witness to Haiti's despair, but also and just as importantly, to Haiti's dignity.

"We ride into the downtown area, full of ambivalence. To watch or not to watch. What is the respectful way to move through these scenes of devastation? We came to see, and according to Junior, Haiti needs to be seen....You tell yourself you are here in solidarity. But at the end of the day, you add it up and you still feel ashamed...You haven't improved a damn thing. Natural disaster tourism -- that's what it feels like."

Despite its premise and the author's lament, A Wedding in Haiti doesn't feel like natural disaster tourism. On the contrary, this book reads like an honest account of one woman's experience in Haiti. Yes, there is unspeakable poverty and heartache, but there is also humor, love and random acts of kindness that reinvigorate your belief in hope.

This book probably won't change your life. But it might change your opinion about Haiti and the people who live there.

If you'd like to win a free hardcover copy of A Wedding in Haiti, tell me what you think about when you think of Haiti in the comments section. I'll randomly select a winner from the comments on Thursday, April 26 at midnight.

Peace!

The National Black Writer's Conference

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

You may call this shameless self-promotion, but I prefer to think of it as sharing good news. Tomorrow is the first day of the 11th annual National Black Writer's Conference, and if you live in the New York City area, you should come check it out. And not just because I'll be reading at 12:00pm on Saturday with Jacqueline Luckett and Teju Cole. This year's conference theme is: The Impact of Migration, Popular Culture and the Natural Environment in the Literature of Black Writers. The line-up of speakers, panelists and special events is phenomenal and most events are free and open to the public. The conference runs from Thursday, March 29 - Sunday April 1.

I hope to see some of you there.

Peace!

Memoirs to Movies: The Eat, Pray, Love Effect

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Happy Monday. I know I'm only a year late on this one, but you all know that I watch movies when the DVD makes it to my local library. So, when I saw Eat, Pray, Love in the New Additions box last week, I snatched it up.

So, here's the deal. I had no real interest in seeing Eat, Pray, Love in the theater because, while I enjoyed the book immensely, I didn't see it translating to the big screen in any sort of powerful way. Plus the reviews were brutal. I mean, the story is all pretty much internal, so how do you show that? I plucked it up from the library because I wanted to see the gorgeous locals mentioned in the book.

As I suspected, that actual plot of the movie, pretty much follows the "plot" of the book. That is to say, a deeply unhappy woman who has made several mistakes in her personal life, decides to live in Italy, India and Bali to try to find "balance." Like I said, as a book, where we can read the internal dialogue of the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, the story is both inspiring and enlightening. As a movie, can you say snore? I could have put the movie on mute and just oogled the beautiful scenery. And, yes I count Javier Bardem as part of the beautiful scenery!

I loved the addition of Viola Davis as Gilbert's sister-in-law. Way to go color-blind casting! But of course, without altering the story tremendously, they couldn't have her in the film too much. I thought it was a mistake to ignore the fact that Gilbert was traveling in order to write a book. It made it seem that Gilbert just had oodles of money and free time to follow her bliss, which wasn't the point. That was a distraction for me.

I think a better idea for turning this book into a movie would have been a documentary travel special, visiting the locations in the book. Then we could have more insight and information about the ashram in India, the restaurants in Rome and the temples and beaches in Bali. My take away from the film as it was, was, 'when can I book a trip to Bali?' It looked so beautiful and peaceful.

So, dear readers, I was left with the depressing conclusion that memoirs make boring movies. Why is this depressing? Because the film rights to my memoir, Kinky Gazpacho, have been optioned and it looks like the film will soon be in the works. I was excited, but now I'm a little worried about the Eat, Pray, Love effect.

Can you put my mind at ease? Can you think of any memoirs turned movie that you really enjoyed? Please share. I'm totally listening.

Peace!

White People Telling Black Stories: Sue Monk Kidd and The Secret Life of Bees

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I'm having great fun compiling this list  of White people who tell Black stories for Black History Month. And as I keep coming up with more and more candidates for my list, I wonder why nobody has done this before. I also wonder why White people have always felt Black History Month wasn't really "their" thing,  when clearly many White people feel Black people's stories are 'theirs' for the telling. Makes you go hmm...doesn't it? Makes you kind of wonder really, why we live such segregated lives if we are comfortable enough to creatively inhabit one another's world, yet can't manage to find a way to connect in real life.

So, today we are talking about Sue Monk Kidd, author of the 2002 novel, The Secret Life of Bees. I loved this book about a young White girl who flees life with her tyrannical father and ends up moving in with three Black, bee-keeping sisters who become surrogate mother figures and teach Lily how to love herself.

One might argue that since the main protagonist of the book is the young White girl, this book shouldn't make my list, but once again, I'd argue that the three Black sisters, the Black maid, and the Black 'love interest' for Lily qualify this title to be a "Black story." The story would have been over on page 10 if Lily's saviors had simply been three White sisters.

THE SUCCESS: The Secret Life of Bees was a New York Times bestseller for 2.5 years, sold more than six million copies, was published in 35 countries and was nominated for the Orange Prize in England.

TAKING IT BLACK: In 2008 the book was turned into a movie starring Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Dakota Fanning. The movie was directed by Black movie director, Gina Prince-Blythewood and produced by the also Black, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

How many people read this book? Did you enjoy it? Did it give you pause knowing a White woman wrote it? And considering the Blacklash against The Help, why did Sue Monk Kidd get away with her version of the helpless young White girl being 'saved' by the trio of strong Black females? Thoughts?

I'm totally listening.

Peace!

Black Women in Paris: A New Novel Takes You There

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I've only been to Paris a couple of times for short, day-long visits. But I'd be a liar if I didn't admit that the city has fascinated and called me to her for years. Josephine Baker was my first inspiration, as well as many of the Black artists and writers who sought solace and inspiration in France when America's preoccupation with race became too much. Lately, I've been dreaming about taking my kids to Paris. It could happen.

Well, with Paris deeply on my mind, you can imagine my delight and surprise to stumble on author Jacqueline Luckett's new novel, Passing Love. It's a story about two Black American women at two different times in history, who chase their destiny in the City of Lights.

Here's a description of the book from Luckett's website:

"Nicole-Marie Handy has loved all things French since she was a child. After the death of her best friend, determined to get out of her rut, she goes to Paris, leaving behind a marriage proposal. While there, Nicole chances upon an old photo of her father-lovingly inscribed, in his hand, to a woman Nicole has never heard of. What starts as a vacation quickly becomes an investigation into his relationship to this mystery woman. Moving back and forth in time between the sparkling Paris of today and the jazz-fueled city filled with expatriates in the 1950s, Passing Love is the story of two women dealing with lost love, secrets, and betrayal...and how the City of Light may hold all of the answers. "


Sounds good, doesn't it? But there's more to the story than that. Check out the excellent review from Publisher's Weekly to find out more about what the story really deals with; race, the expat experience, family secrets. Also, check out the great Q&A with Luckett on the White Readers Meet Black Authors website. 


Oh, it sound like the perfect book to start off 2012. What about you dear readers? What book will start off your 2012? I'm listening.


Peace!

Small Island: The Movie

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

Happy Friday.

As you know, I am a devoted Grey's Anatomy fan. Well, Grey's is on hiatus until 2012 so my Thursday nights have felt empty of late. So, I decided to find a movie to watch that would take my mind off the shenanigans of the doctor's at Seattle Grace. Of course, I went to my local library and scoured the DVD shelves for something delicious and I found it. A three-hour long BBC adaptation of Andrea Levy's award-winning novel, Small Island! I loved that book. As you faithful readers will recall, Levy was the one who started my serious love affair with Jamaican authors.

Small Island is about a lot of things; love, broken dreams, race, war, and the resilience of the human spirit to name a few. But if you want a basic plot description, it's about two couples, one White and one Black, one English and one Jamaican, and how their lives crash, collide and co-mingle during and just after WWII in London. I don't think I've ever said this before, but I loved the film as much as I loved the book. As I think back on it, I can't say the scenery was all that spectacular and they obviously had to cut much of the book out of the film, and yet I still found myself enraptured for the entire three hours because the actors were just that good. Really. They were all quite spellbinding. They truly brought Levy's characters to life. When it was over I cried, because it has kind of a sad ending, but also because I wanted to keep watching. Seriously, I already miss Gilbert, Hortense, Queenie and Bernard.



Lucky for me, the BBC is my kind of network. On the webpage for the film, there are plenty of links to follow for more information about the actors, the characters they play in the film and, best of all, first-person profiles of real Jamaicans who came to England post WWII, like the fictitious Hortense and Gilbert Joseph.

If you can find a copy of this film at your local library or perhaps you can order it online, it's worth it. At the very least, pick up the book if you haven't already.

So, does anyone have any other recommendations for BBC programs I should watch? I'm thinking about trying to find Zadie Smith's White Teeth? What do you think?

I'm listening.

Peace!

Diversity Reigns at the National Book Awards

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I'm a little late in posting this, but still I have to use this space to honor and celebrate the winners of the 2011 National Book Awards. The winners are:

FICTION: Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones (Bloomsbury USA)

NONFICTION: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
(W. W. Norton & Company)

POETRY: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split 
(TriQuarterly, an imprint of Northwestern University Press)

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE: Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again
(Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

It was such a joy to see this list of winners as, they finally seem representative of America's diversity. Jesmyn Ward and Nikky Finney are Black women. Thannhha Lai is an Asian woman. Stephen Greenblatt is obviously a man. I don't believe that award winners should be selected based on their race or gender, but it seems to me that the best books in the United States would be written by a variety of people who reflect the true scope of  the 'American experience.' 

And for the first time in a long time, I'm truly excited to read every single one of the award-winning books. They will top my TBR list for 2012. 

What about you Meltingpot readers? Have any of you already read the works of the winning authors? What did you think? Any suggestions on what book I should read first? I'm listening.

And in the meantime, you can listen (and watch) Ms. Nikky Finney's acceptance speech for her book of poetry, Head Off & Split. The actor John Lithgow said it was the "best acceptance speech for anything" he's ever heard in his life.

Peace!

Book Lust

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Recently I asked my facebook friends for suggestions on what I should read next. I actually experienced a three-day crisis because I didn't have a book on my nightstand to read. Nothing seemed to satisfy or grab my attention. I was agitated. I dreaded going to bed. I felt unmoored. Well, not anymore.

Last night I went to the main branch of Philadelphia's public library to hear Tayari Jones and Danielle Evans read from their most recent work. Jones' new novel is called Silver Sparrow and is about two sisters and their bigamist father. Evans is the new wunderkd on the block whose short story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, has been hailed as a masterpiece, but I just wanted to read it because I love the title.

But seriously, after hearing these women read and speak about their experiences as writers, I was so inspired. I felt excited to get back to my own languishing manuscript. I stayed up late to read Silver Sparrow. I woke up this morning and read one of Evans' stories as I ate breakfast. Reading sustains me. Good stories inspire me. And now I'm happy again. I guess that's why I'm a writer.

What inspires you? What do you have to have in your life to keep moving forward? I'd love to hear what other people depend on to keep their spirits fed.

I'm so listening.

Peace.

Just in Time for Black History Month -- Exciting News About Black Books

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Here we are already into the second week of February and I have yet to even mention Black History Month. And you know why? Because I have nothing to say about it. Really, I'm kind of tired of the debate/discussion surrounding the necessity of the month as opposed to just recognizing Black history all year round. Not to mention, why separate Black history from American history? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of recognizing the significant contributions of Black people in creating this country?

I don't know. Next week, I may feel differently. But despite my ambivalence about waving my Happy Black History flag, I know a good promotional opportunity when I see one. I did begin my career as a publicist after all. So, I am going to take this random day during Black History month to call your attention to some exciting news in the world of Black literature.

1. The wonderful book Wench, which I reviewed here on The Meltingpot last year, has just come out in paperback and landed on the New York Times Bestsellers List. Wench is the based-on-real-life-events story of four slave women who were kept as summer concubines by their White masters at a resort in Ohio. For those of you waiting for the book to come out in paperback, now's your chance to grab a copy.

2. One of my writer friends, Denene Milner and her awesome journalist husband, Nick Chiles, have taken action with their passions and created a fabulous new company called NorthParan.com. The website is like a Black Amazon.com but only features books. It's one-stop shopping for purchasing books and finding information about your favorite authors of color. But that's not the amazing part. For every single book purchased on the site, the organization will donate a book to a child in need, in this country and abroad. Seriously. Please check it out and consider making your online purchases with them.

3. Phati'tude Literary Magazine will be hosting its first Annual African American Literary Festival later this month in Queens, New York. It's going to be an all day affair with great workshops and speakers on Saturday, February 26, 2011. You can get more details about the event on the Phati'tude website. And if you don't live in the Queens area, you may still want to check out the phati'tude magazine and website which aims to support cultural diversity through literature. We can get down with that, can't we?

Enjoy!

Peace!

What Are You Reading in 2011?

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

So yesterday I wrote a blog post for the Girlfriends Book Club about my New Year's Resolution to read more books in 2011. Now, those of you who know me, know that I already read a heck of a lot of books, but I'm doing something a little different this year. I'm reading with purpose. I'm reading to prepare myself to write my next novel. I'm reading only really good novels that will both inspire and instruct. So far this is what my list looks like:


Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Room by Emma Donoghue
What is the What by Dave Eggers
If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary (Release date May 2011)

I would love to have anybody else's suggestions of books that changed your life (fiction only please) and/or books that you deem the best of the best. And people, you know I have a penchant for books that feature colorful characters, although I'm not against a good story with only White people :) I love White people too.

I have to admit, that this plan for deliberate reading was actually inspired by BrownGirl Speaks' Quirky Brown Book Challenge. I love her list, but I decided to create one of my own. My dear readers, what's on your list for 2011?

Peace.

And the Winner is...

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

Sorry for falling off the face of the blogosphere. Between Thanksgiving preparations and working on the final edits of my novel (which is due in two weeks) the Meltingpot got left behind. I apologize profusely. But let's not dwell on the past. Instead, let's talk about the winner of my Kinky Gazpacho Giveaway.

Ms. E. You won! So please send us an email at myamericanmeltingpot@gmail.com with a mailing address and we will send you a copy of Kinky Gazpacho, the book and the t-shirt from ?RU.

And speaking of giveaways...I'm in a giving mood this season and have some wonderful books to give away that would make wonderful gifts. We're talking memoirs, how-tos and spirituality focused tomes. Books that are guaranteed to make you feel good after reading.

So please stay-tuned to the Meltingpot. Thanks!

Peace!

Books Buzz from the Meltingpot (and a Giveaway!)

Happy June Meltingpot Readers.

Sorry I wasn't here last Friday, but I was in New York City at BookExpo 2009, which is the biggest literary trade show in the country. I was lucky enough to speak on a panel called Voices and Visions of a New American Dream, with journalist turned novelist, Farai Chideya and poet Patricia Spears Jones. The panel was sponsored by a wonderful literary organization called, Up South. I highly recommend you check them out and attend some of their events or at least donate to their cause. One of the best questions the moderator asked the three of us on the panel was, "Why do you write?" The three of us, in our own way, all answered, "because we love it."

So with a happy literary buzz, I explored the rest of the expo, looking for interesting books to bring back to the Meltingpot. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to check out even half of the exhibits, but I'll share what I did find.

- In December 2009, riding the all things Obama popularity wave, Duke University Press will be releasing Surviving against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia by...wait for it...Barack Obama's mother, S. Ann Dunham. But hasn't she crossed over, you ask? Yes, but this was her doctoral dissertation and one of her former professors and students have since edited it and prepared it for publication. And Dunham's daughter, Maya Soetoro-Ng has written the foreword.
The book is being billed as "an anthropological study by the mother of President Barack Obama," but in its own right, it sounds like a fascinating read about "the rural craftsmen of Java." Who do you think will be buying this book? I probably won't but Duke University Press has many other books about race, culture and religion coming up this fall and winter that sound fantastic.

- Of course I had my eyes open for good multi-culti children's books and was overjoyed to discover Cinco Puntos Press. Their small booth at BookExpo was filled with colorful books in English and Spanish covering topics as diverse as the civil rights movement in America to Haitian folktales. It turns out that Cinco Puntos Press is a family owned and operated publishing house and bookstore based in El Paso, Texas. Texas Monthly magazine wrote this about them, "Since 1985, this family-owned and–operated indie publishing house has been churning out fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books on social justice issues around the world." I totally (heart) them already. You can order books directly from their website or look for their titles at your local bookstore or library. But please, lets support this dedicated publisher and bookstore committed to telling Meltingpot stories.

- And finally, after my rant against the dearth of good multi-culti magazines, I was so happy to meet the people behind Kiki Magazine. Yes, I'm a little bit old for their target demographic of girls age 8-14, but I still love it. It's fresh and smart and pretty to look at. Sample stories include, "Spring Holidays around the world," Eco-friendly fashion" and "The Greenest Cities in the World." It's a quarterly magazine started by a woman with a daughter who was frustrated with the lack of quality publications...hmmm...sounds familiar...

And in personal Lori L. Tharps literary news, Kinky Gazpacho:Life, Love & Spain was just released in paperback by Washington Square Press. The paperback is very cute and portable, perfect for summer reading and comes with a nice Book Group reading guide and an interview with moi. Run, run, run to your local book store for a copy. Or (drum roll) you can wait for another year until my new novel comes out. Yes, dear readers, I have just signed the contract for my first novel. It is called, Substitute Me and is about the relationship between a young White woman and the Black woman she hires to be the nanny for her young child. The two women are the same age and the story explores that very unique friendship/relationship. Look for it summer 2010.

And to celebrate my literary luck, I'm giving away two copies of Kinky Gazpachoin paperback, to two random readers who tell me what they're most looking forward to reading this summer. Entries must be in by Friday, June 5 by midnight.

Peace!
(photo is book cover from Cinco Puntos Press)


-

The Meltingpot Book Reivew-- The Help

"Mae Mobley was born on a early Sunday morning in August, 1960. A church baby we like to call it. Taking care a white babies, that's what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime."

And so begins first-time novelist, Kathryn Stockett's wonderful new book, The Help (Amy Einhorn Books).

I have to admit, knowing Stockett is White (her picture is on the back of the book) made me a wee bit skeptical as the opening chapter is written in the first person of a Black southern maid in "vernacular." There was this guarded skepticism on my part that a White woman could truly get in the head of a Black domestic. But not 10 pages into this well-told story and I'd completely forgotten about Stockett and was completely mesmerized by the inter-connected stories of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, the main characters in this heart-warming book. Aibileen and Minny are Black maids in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi and Skeeter is a White, recent college graduate who returns home to Jackson yearning for her real life to start.

The three women end up on a "secret project" together to do their part to help bring about some sort of change in their racially charged city where Civil Rights activists are being brutally murdered and White people who sympathize with Blacks get their homes fire bombed. But make no mistake, this is not a book about police brutality and KKK raids. Instead Stockett takes us into the daily lives -- bridge club, Junior League meetings, church -- of everyday people, both Black and White, to show us what racism really looks like and feels like, up close and personal. How it feels in your home and at the grocery store and late at night after you put your children to bed. This is most definitely a woman's story where men are relegated to supporting roles. The bad guys are women and the good guys are too.

Even though this is a work of fiction, the story feels quite authentic and includes some real historical figures and events. It gives readers a better understanding of the complicated relations between Blacks and Whites in the South without being preachy or didactic. I think I loved the book even more after I read Stockett's afterword where she writes:

"I was scared, a lot of the time, that I was crossing a terrible line, writing in the voice of a black person. I was afraid I would fail to describe a relationship that was so intensely influential in my life, so loving, so grossly stereotyped in American history and literature."

I can't help compare this book to Sue Monk Kidd's, The Secret Life of Bees. Another tale that explains how southern Blacks and Whites could live and love one another despite the virulent racism pulsating all around. But like Bees, there's no sugar coating in The Help. Stockett does a masterful job of explaining how that thin line between love and hate can be crossed every day, back and forth, until the line blurs into something far more complicated.

I hope this book receives lots of attention and many different people pick it up to read. Not only will it make an excellent book club read, but it will hopefully continue our most important conversations on race.

Thank you Kathryn Stockett for deciding this story --a story about The Help -- was important enough to tell and for conquering your fear and telling the story anyway.

Peace!

p.s. This book was reviewed as part of a Mother Talk Blog Tour.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month...Read A Book!

So today officially marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage month. Why does the celebration start on the 15th of the month instead of the 1st? Because September 15th is the day that Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all declared their independence. And Mexico's day of independence comes one day later, on September 16.

So what can you do to celebrate? How about reading Cuban author, Cecilia Samartin's latest book, Tarnished Beauty. The story is about a, poor, young Mexican woman who is born with a horrific birthmark that covers most of her backside. In her small town she is ostracized and tormented because of it. After a certain series of events, she decides to cross the border to El Norte, where she believes she will find a doctor who can remove the Mark. Once she makes it to California she finds a job in a mental hospital, where she meets a mysterious old man from Spain and the two of them develop a very interesting relationship.

I just finished the book and LOVED it. It was so good, I'm reading some parts over again. For me it had all of the elements of a good read; A foreign setting, unique multicultural characters that aren't cast as stereotypes, some humor, romance, and a nice dose of the divine. Samartin, an author I've never heard of previously, is a gifted writer who reminds me a bit of Isabelle Allende but with a more light-hearted approach to story-telling. Her previous book, which I will be looking for immediately, is called Broken Paradise and just won the International Latino Book Award. Bravo!

Peace!

p.s. The only thing I don't endorse about the book, Tarnished Beauty is the cover. It is very misleading and says nothing about what the story is about. Wondering what the paperback will look like...