Win Wench & Books Read and to be Read

When Ari, proposed a January hiatus everyone quickly agreed. I know I've enjoyed the break. Since its getting close to February, I decided to do one or two post, to get people used to visiting Color Online again.

Blogger Evelyn N. Alfred is giving away a signed copy of Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Evelyn even shows the autograph. Wench was one of my favorite novels last year. The paperback comes out this Tuesday, Jan. 25. I love cover.

I've been reading a lot of young adult middle grade fiction like I usually do. Color Online keeps me honest with my adult fiction, which helps me avoid burn out. Three adult novels I have recently read are The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman.

This is the latest Tess Monaghan novel. I've read all of Lippman's novels and I love the Monaghan series. The Girl in the Green Raincoat was very good. It was nice losing myself in characters that I've been reading from the beginning. The Monaghan series are sent in Baltimore. If you are familiar with that series and enjoy mysteries its a must read. Especially if your a fan of Dennis Lehane or George Pelecanos.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. Its a Swedish mystery. ( love mysteries) I really got into it and thought it was very good. Looking forward to reading more by Nesbo.

Sometimes, I am inclined to step out of my comfort zone and read a recommended title because the person making the suggestion enjoys other books I've liked. With that in mind I figured why not mention Lippman and Nesbo.

The third adult book I've enjoyed is Waking up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo. This novel was some serious fun, I loved it. I will be reviewing it in Feb. Its a must read if you love crafting or laughing a lot.

Its also a great choice if you are participating in the Colorful Chick Lit Challenge . I plan on reading a lot of the suggested chick lit titles by Women of Color

I don't read much non fiction, though I have read I Beat the Odds by Michael Oher. Oher is the football player featured in Michael Lewis book The Blind Side. I really enjoyed this, and I am glad Oher got a chance to tell his story. Especially since hollywood got a hold of it. This is actually a great suggestion for teens.

Today, I will starting One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. So what have been some of your most recent reads and what are you reading now?

Happy Birthday: Ernessa T. Carter

Everyone at Color Online is still on a hiatus. Just dropping in quickly to wish Ernessa T. Carter author of 32 Candles a happy birthday. Today is her birthday at least that's what she said.

Our gift to the author is a look at a few of the great things people have said about 32 Candles

The Eclectic Book Lover
Perhaps what I love most, though, about this novel is its voice. Carter touches on things common to the black experience in such a universal way that anyone can understand and enjoy it. It's not a book that will only truly resonate with black people. The narrative is engaging, witty and intelligent and the dialogue manages to be in the appropriate vernaculars for the right characters. There's no overdone colloquialisms and no caricaturing of Southern dialects.

While this novel could be simply classified as "chick lit", it's so much more than that. Davie's story isn't just cute and romantic, but grandly triumphant and I loved every word of it

Reads4Pleasure
When was the last time you stayed up late to read a book? 32 Candles is so good that I started reading it at a bowling alley, ignored Twitter and the TV when I got home and stayed up until I was done with it. Yes, it's that good

My love for Davidia Jones

Its the 80's Davidia loves John Hughes films. Like Celie from the Color Purple, Davidia may be poor, black, she may even be ugly but she still dreams of a Molly Ringwald ending. Sixteen Candles is Davidia's favorite Ringwald film. She thinks she's found her very own Jake Ryan in James Farrell

I've shown a lot of restraint waiting this long to say I loved 32 Candles. Its ridiculously good. Its my favorite fiction debut of the year. I cared about and loved Davidia from the beginning. Her voice is original and realistic. In the first half of the Davidia Jones is the victim. In the second half, Davie Jones begins to take charge. 32 Candles is sad, funny, smart and entertaining, basically everything a great book should be.

Ernessa - Happy Birthday. Thanks so much for such an original debut.

On Hiatus

Happy New Year! I personally am both excited for 2011 (senior year!) and dreading it (college applications!).

Here at Color Online we have decided to take a hiatus for the month of January. It's not because we don't love our followers :D But I have finals coming up, and Tarie, Doret, Terri, Ah Yuan have jobs and families to attend to. We all need a bit of break.

We reserve the right to pop back in anytime ;) But we will for sure be back in February, roaring and ready to go!

We hope to start the new year off with the renewal of the prize bucket (hint hint we could use some prize donations, heehee), more great author interviews, discussion posts and reviews.

See you in February!


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