What blogs are you reading?

[Mozart]

Hey folks,

greetings to all. I'm new to this board. really excited to read our upcoming book in September!

I was wondering two things:
1) What blogs do you frequent? literary or otherwise?
2) Do you have a blog and update frequently? I like reading blogs, but find difficulty to either finding blogs that are consistent, or resonate with what I like reading about...

If y'all could share your links, i would really appreciate it!

thanks!

[Wilhelmina]

The first blog that I began to follow regularly is written by Tayari Jones, author of Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling. She provides wonderful links to other literary blogs as well as good information about what's happening in literature, African American and otherwise.

http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/

From Tayari's blog and from discussions on Amazon.com, I met Carleen Brice, a member of this group. I fell in love with her first novel, Orange Mint and Honey, which we discussed here a few months ago. (Her second, Children of the Waters, is equally good.) Her personal blog is:

http://pajamagardener.blogspot.com/

She also writes an incredible blog,

http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com/

where she introduces African American literature to a diverse audience. She calls herself a "booster", rather than a reviewer, and you can find tons of information about African American literature there.

Our own group member, Qiana Whitted, has a terrific blog, Literary Obama, in which she discusses literature by, about, and read by the Obama family.

http://literaryobama.com/

I also follow the blog, The Bottom of Heaven, in which two authors alternate comments on "issues relating to racial identity, social justice, literature, media, consumerism, and pop culture."

http://thebottomofheaven.com/

Because I am a Grandma, I also follow The Brown Bookshelf, a blog designed to increase awareness of African American books for children. Every February, this blog has a feature called "28 Days Later" which introduces a different author or illustrator of African Americans books for children each day of the month.

http://thebrownbookshelf.com/

All of these blogs are extremely well written and informative. These blogs often link me to other interesting blogs, but, aside from the blogs I read in connection with bible study at my church, these are my regulars.

[Qiana]

Hey, thanks for the shout out, Mina! :)

I am also a big fan of Carleen's blog, definitely go check her out. She updates once a week.

Author Zetta Elliott has a wonderful blog: http://zettaelliott.wordpress.com/ (I'd love to consider reading her Octavia Butler inspired book, A Wish after Midnight with this group.)

I enjoy the book blog Color Online, which mostly focuses on selections for young adults and black women: http://coloronline.blogspot.com

And because I'm a comics geek, I am an avid reader of Rich Watson's blogs: http://greatblackcomicbooks.blogspot.... and http://www.popcultureshock.com/pcs/bl...

Enjoy!

[Sonya]

Qiana, in case you're interested, I write for a lit blog called The Millions, and I recently posted a piece about race and book jackets. Here it is:

http://www.themillions.com/2009/07/fu...

[Qiana]

Thanks, Sonya! I'm going to go check it out now...

[ColumbusReads]

Thanks Sonya for sharing your article. I've been following The Millions for awhile now (one of only 3 blogs I currently follow) and love it. Your piece shared light on something i've alway's been curious about. Even more curious due to all the hoopla surrounding Justine Larbalestier's book. Looking forward to reading your fortcoming novel. Thanks!

[Wilhelmina]

Sonya, I enjoyed this article and also the article you wrote entitled "Slinging Stones at the Genre Goliath." Be sure to let us know when your novel comes out next spring.