The Grass is Greener....

Living in the 'hood has many benefits:

• Every fast food chain is available. I can get to McDonald's, Popeyes, Church's, Captain D's and Krispy Kreme in less than 5 minutes....on foot.
• If your radio breaks down your neighbors cars will provide all the music you need. Unfortunately, you can't pick the songs, shawty.
• You will never sleep through New Year's Eve because the celebratory gunfire starts early so you won't forget. This year the first shots in my neighborhood started around 8pm this year.

And best of all:

On a random Wednesday morning, the daycare centers in the area will put on a parade, just because.

Including a princess and a marching band playing a Nelly Furtado song.

All at 10 o'clock in the morning.

We may not have a viable grocery store, but we love our children!

Sorry for the bad pictures. I was getting dressed to go to the movies and couldn't run outside.

18. Her Little Black Book

by Brenda Jackson
started 4/15 finished 4/20

Full moon, perfect time for a romance break. Brenda Jackson always has well thought out plotlines and characters.

A woman inherits a little black book from her recently married cousin. After dating a couple of the guys with disastrous results (these scenes are hilarious) she decides to give up on the book. Of course, that is when an incredible older man comes into her life and proclaims that they are meant to be together. But is it really that easy?

One of the great subplots of this book feature her parents as they reconcile for the umpteenth time after the father's many transgressions (and a couple of children outside the marriage).
Great, satisfying read.

17. Shop Your Closet

The Ultimate Guide to Organizing Your Closet with Style
by Melanie Charlton Fascitelli
started 4/5 finished 4/15

I don't know why I continue to read organizing books, closet organizing books in particular. I live in an apartment and can't make any major changes structurally to the space or the money to buy lots of special boxes from the Container Store (no offense to them, I love them). In our store this is shelved in the Home Management section. It belongs in the Appearance section with the other style books, because the focus was on building a good wardrobe and then placing it in a well organized space. The author owns a closet organizing business in New York and knows what shes talking about it, but the book was too all over the place for me. Browse through it at the bookstore before you buy it.*

*Bookseller's note: After browsing, if you decide not to buy it please don't leave it in the chair. Either reshelve it or bring it to Customer Service and we will do it for you. Oh, and don't leave your coffee cup and granola bar wrappers in the chair either, we do have trashcans.

16. Eccentric Glamour

Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You
by Simon Doonan
started 4/5 finished 4/15

I was so excited when I heard this book was coming out. I love Simon Doonan!! As the Creative Director for Barneys New York, he is an expert on personal style. For years people would go to Barneys just to see the innovative, smart, and sometimes controversial window displays he created. Especially at Christmas.

It seems that after seeing the crotch of one too many starlets as they get in and out of vehicles, he has had enough of the style direction this country is headed in. He is tired of the "ho chic" looks and wants to help all of us stand out from the crowd while still maintaining a sense of decorum.

The best part of any Simon Doonan book is his intelligent wit. Sometimes while reading him you feel like you are sitting right next to him during New York Fashion Week, ragging on all the people around you.

Two stand-outs from the book:

• Interviews with people who Doonan feels best exemplify Eccentric Glamour, including Iman, Tilda Swinton, and, surprisingly, author Malcolm Gladwell.
• Doonan addresses the distinct style of African-American women and what we bring to the table fashion wise.

15. Seen It All and Done The Rest

by Pearl Cleage
started 3/26/08 finished 4/2/08

I have a problem reading Pearl Cleage's books. The last few have taken place in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta. Most of the businesses and places mentioned are real. I live in West End and know all of these places. The problem is that the books are so well written and entertaining, that I think they are non-fiction!! Seen It All and Done the Rest is my favorite Pearl Cleage book so far. The issues that she tackles are so timely and current that it felt like a comfortable conversation. If you have read her other fiction, you will recognize the characters: Blue Hamilton (our West End saviour), Peachy, Abbie, Aretha, Zora.
This book is the story of Zora's grandmother, Josephine, an ex-pat actress who left the states decades ago to conquer the stage in Europe. However, the anti-American sentiment because of the Iraq war are starting to permeate even the arts community and Josephine decides that she will take a break and visit her granddaughter in Atlanta while her future as an actress is being sorted out. Zora's life is reeling in the aftermath of one of the city's biggest scandals (explored in Cleage's Baby Brother's Blues) and Josephine wants to find a way to help her. Meanwhile, Josephine's inherited duplex has fallen into disrepair after neglect by the management company charged with overseeing it.
Josephine and Zora reconnect over the renovation of the duplex and fighting against the powers who want to demolish it with the help of old & new friends, an Internet reality show, and flash mobs.

14. Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence

by Rebecca Walker
started 3/20/08 finished 3/26/08


***Warning***This post may be too personal and depressing***
I have never been a goal-oriented person. Setting an objective and working hard towards it has never been part of my experience. In the past, when I have wanted something badly and it didn't work out, I just gave up and moved on. When I was in high school, I wanted to be in Fashion Merchandising. So, I applied to F.I.T. (The Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York and was accepted. When my mother said I couldn't go (I think for financial reasons), I just chose the next school on my list that offered me money and I wound up at FAMU (Florida A&M University). There I drifted from major to major and eventually dropped out. Other people would have probably fought harder to go to F.I.T. and done anything to make it happen. I just have never been too attached enough to things to make that much of an effort. And I convince myself that it is okay.
However, there is one goal that I wished I would have worked harder for...motherhood. I have wanted to have a child since I was 16 years old. I didn't want to wait till later in life like my mother did (31 years old); I wanted to be young enough to have the energy. But now that I am in my early 40's with no potential partner on the horizon, I fear that this may never happen. Because of this I have been drawn to stories of pregnancy and childbirth. I watched a great documentary by Rickie Lake (yes, that Rickie Lake) called The Business of Being Born. It is about hospital birth versus home birth and what is best for the mother and child.
After hearing Rebecca Walker on NPR discussing depression in the black community and her decision to continue using anti-depressants during her pregnancy, I decided to read Baby Love.
This is Rebecca's pregnancy and post-pregnancy diary. It also explores her history with the thought of motherhood and the many times she thought she was ready before. Having read her other memoir, Black, White, & Jewish, I was familiar with her upbringing and her unsteady relationship with her mother (author Alice Walker). ***Warning #2***You may leave this book with a not too great an opinion of her mother.
It was very interesting to read about all of the choices that Rebecca had to make during this pregnancy: whether to stay on anti-depressants or not, hospital birth or at-home birth, staying in a relationship with a parent that doesn't make her feel safe. Between those issues and dealing with an iron level that almost bottomed out, she went through a lot compared to the average person. She made it through all of this with the help of a loving, patient Buddhist Master boyfriend, a supportive father and loads of friends and gave birth to a baby boy. The book ends with the birth of Tenzin (named after the Dalai Lama) and the challenges that left him hospitalized.
Through it all Rebecca emerged with a strength that at times she didn't know she had and only pregnancy and motherhood can sometimes provide.

13. Kinky Gazpacho: Love, Life, & Spain

by Lori L. Tharps
started 3/13/08 finished 3/20/08

Years ago I read a magazine article that I now can't remember what it was about. But it was somehow mentioned that Lori L. Tharps was married to a man from Spain and she spent part of her time living there. At the time I had so many questions: Where does an African-American female meet and marry a man from Spain? How do you manage to live abroad? How much money does that take? etc.
I was halfway through reading this book before I realized that this was the story I heard about all those years ago and all my questions were being answered.
As a Black girl growing up in the Midwest in predominately white communities, Lori L. Tharps was used to being the "exotic other". While her upbringing was pretty normal, being surrounded by people not like her made her quest to find her own identity taking her on unexpected journeys: studying abroad in Morocco in high school, trying to fit in with the Black Student Union in college, and finally another chance to study abroad in college, this time in Spain.
I loved this book. I am a firm believer that we are citizens of the world, and while America is a great country, we should try to see as much of the rest of the planet as possible (my wallet is not on board with idea yet, so we read about it!). Ms. Tharps determination to see the world and open herself to new experiences has changed her life in an incredible way and this book illustrates it.
I recommend this book to all lovers of world cultures and especially to young people in high school or college to show them the opportunities to learn that are out there. And you get a great love story as a bonus!