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Judi
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Vice President of Sugar & Spice Book Club
Let me start by saying that I thank JESUS CHRIST, my Lord and Savior for all that I have been given thus far in my life!
Coming from Queens Bridge Projects gave me the opportunity to be exposed to a number of life's options and vast experiences.
The library was small, but with the assistance of my mother this special place became my infinite land of worldly travels!
I acquired my great passion for reading from my mother, who read to my sisters and I while my father worked in the
Post Office. As a team, both felt reading was absolutly vital to our existance. My sisters and I spent hours reviewing
flashcards my father made out of index cards, for reviewing spelling,reading and vocabulary. Needless to say it paid off!
To this day there's nothing I rather more, than to relax with a good book! People that know me know that during somewhere in our
conversation my favorite question will always be, "Have you read anything good lately?" They know I certainly mean anything from what might crop up
in the newspaper, magazine or any book for that matter! Before you know it, I'm searching around for a pen or pencil to jot it down on my hand,
often due to lack of a piece of paper. I enjoy all genres. Plays, shortstories, poems, fiction, non-fiction,it doesn,t matter.
If it's interesting, I'm in.
Through the years I acquired a respect and love for such writers as Claude Brown, Langston Hughes, Dr.Maya Angelou, Ntozake Shange, Sonia Sanchez,
Rene Flagler, Bebe Moore Campbell, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Ivan Van Sertima, James McBride, Mary Monroe, Rene Mc Rae,
Frederick William Cooper, Walter Mosley, Gloria Mallette, De Berry/Donna Grant, J.M.Benjamin, Dr.Samuel Murray, Layding Lumumba Kaliba,
Benilda Little, Donna Hill and of course Carl Weber. My vacations are planned after I know when the Harlem Book Fair will be held, for I look so
forward to this event like a child counting down days until Christmas! I simply can't get enough of the new and veteran
authors, poets and illustrators sharing their talents and rare gifts with the public! From 11:00A.M. until 6:00P.M. I find it to be a book lovers
dream on earth! Knowing what the ancestors had to overcome inorder for myself and others of the darker persuasion had to endure if ever caught
learning how to read or possessing a book could result in torture or even death makes me want to read even more!!!!!!! Some say, I'll wait til my
next vacation. While others like myself will sit and read while waiting to see the dentist or riding the bus or train to work.
Whenever I read, it just is a pleasant, enlightening experience that I wish often would continue beyond the last page.
I'd be lost without my favorite books such as: Manchild in the Promiseland by Claude Brown, The Langston Hughes Reader,
The Coldest Winter Ever by Sistah Souljah, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Black Boy,
Native Son by Richard Wright, Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, Singing in the Comeback Choir, 72 Hours by Bebe Moore Campbell,
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Hope in the UnSeen by Ron Suskind, Echoes by Danielle Steel, In Search of the American Dream by Dr.Murray,
Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day by Nikki Giovanni, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, God Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe, Trying To Sleep In the Bed You
Made by De Berry and Donna Grant, Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree, The Little Yellow Dog by Walter Mosley, What's Done In the Dark by Gloria Malette,
They Came Before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima, Truth and Rhyme by Rene McRae, Miss-Guided by Rene Flagler, What Became of the Broken Hearted,
I Say A Little Prayer by E.Lynn Harris, The Color of Water by James Mc Bride, The Pact by Davis, Jenkins and Hunt, Good Hair, The Itch by Benilda
Little, Gifted Hands by Dr.Ben Carson, So You Call Yourself A Man by Carl Weber and a recent favorite, A Piece Of Cake by CupCake Brown!!!!
Stories of people lives just takes me to new heights when given the rare opportunities to hear of the obstacles,struggles and successes
experienced throughout a person's life. The Sugar & Spice Book Club has been an incentive to not only encourage more reading within our community,
but to simply get involved and maintain an active role as well. A special thanks to Mrs. Michelle Jones for extending a warm invitation to me,
to come out and experience the Sugar & Spice Book Club for myself. For this I am eternally grateful and proud to be a member!!!!
Hey, have you read a good book lately??????
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