Waiting to Exhale is still on the list for my top three favorite books of all time. I’ve read the book three times and I NEVER re-read books…almost never. I almost never remember characters names or situations after I read a book with the exception of  The Coldest Winter Ever and E. Harris’s books (maybe a few others here and there), but how can you forget the ladies in Waiting To Exhale??? Anyway, “Getting To Happy” picks up where Waiting To Exhale left off. The women are fifteen years older and are navigating mid-life cross roads. The book is pre-selling on Amazon.com for $16.77 to be released in September 2010.

Can’t Wait!!!!

Bruce Wilkinson is also the author of the Prayer of Jabez which was very popular. The Dream Giver is one of my favorite inspirational books! The story is a parable about pursuing ones dreams and finding your calling.  The first part of the Dream Giver is about a man named Ordinary who lived in the Land of Familiar. Ordinary discovers his “big dream” and has to navigate through the struggles and downfalls that anyone could face when seeking to accomplish their dream and finding their purpose. Chapter Twelve talks about the “Dream” that has not been surrendered to God, and the pitfalls that can lead to.  “Your Dream will become your idol”, and how that can “make people ‘successful’ but not fulfilled” and to face the areas in our lives that need cleansing, where we may be making compromises and have “unfinished business”.
The last chapter is about how the author’s Dream has led him to South Africa, to help the millions of children who have lost their parents to AIDS, and how one Dream can lead to another, with God.            

 ”You are meant to be a river of blessing, not a puddle drying in the sun”.
I also like how the second the half of the story is biblically based.

This book is special to me because shorty before Mr. E.Lynn Harris passed he gave me an autographed copy of this book. I told him that I was more than willing to support him buy purchasing the book, but he was hearing non of that! He gave me a hug and told me that he wanted me to have a signed copy and I could buy the book for someone else if I wanted.

Basketball Jones is about a love triangle between AJ, his secret successful professional basketball boyfriend lover named Drayton Jones of seven years and Dray’s gold-digging wife. This is a scandalous story with interesting twists and turns. I dont want to give away the drama but this book is a really quick and good read by a really sweet, great person and writer, rest his soul.

Did y’all read this book?

Are you going to? (and No, you can’t borrow my autographed copy;) Let me know your thoughts if/when you read it!!!!!!

Lets call her Gina. Gina sat next to a handsome man on an airplane and noticed that he was reading a book by her favorite author. “What a coincidence! That’s my favorite author. Is it good?” she asked.

“Yes…very good, you should read it. I’m Mike.” They exchanged pleasantries throughout the flight. It just so happened that Mike finished the book during the plane ride and handed it to Gina when they exited the plane.” “Thank you so much.” she said blushing. While she waited on her ride Gina opened the book and found his business card and a note.” Call me and let me know how the book was.

Gina called. She liked Mike and he wanted to see her again. So they went to dinner. After a few glasses of wine and good conversation the questions progressed from things like ‘what kind of work you do’ to ‘what happened in your last relationship?’.

Mike would answer, “It just didn’t work out”, while Gina gave detailed and emotional accounts of  her ex’s and current situations. He was a good listener. He wanted to know all about her, and she felt comfortable talking to him.

After, almost a month of dating, Mike got a call from Tasha(his ex-girlfriend) while he was with Gina. Tasha was upset because Mike was with Gina. When Gina asked Mike why Tasha would be jealous since she was after all the “ex”, he answered, “I guess because she and I still hang out.” Gina felt slighted. She’d willingly shared the status of the men in her life with him, but he hadn’t shared any “extra” information. She wondered what else she didn’t know about Mike’s life that could possibly affect their dating relationship, so she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were still seeing Tasha?” “You didn’t ask,” he replied.

This is typical. I’m Siaura and I over-share. I believe in being honest and therefore I am very forthcoming with information almost to a fault. Once I find out that I’ve revealed “all my cards” I too feel slighted when I find out something that I would have like known initially, something that I would have shared with him. Just saying. Do we talk too much? How much is too much information? Are we over-sharing in the very beginning.

Top 5 things that I wouldn’t suggest sharing on the first few dates:

1. That you’re depressed. ( Not 1st date material:)

2. Sexual disclosure info- Sometimes the “bad-girl” persona backfires!

3. That you stalked your ex.

4. That your family is in the mob.

5. That you’re looking for a Daddy for your kids.

Although, I do believe thast sometimes there is so much love and chemistry with another person that it doesn’t matter how much info you share with them or how soon you share it. When it’s real it’s real.  I do have friends who disagree with this and will always keep with the theory that I talk too much!    To the Over-Sharers: There is still hope. Good Luck to Us. We need it.

XOXO, Si

No Spoilers ****

This was a great book. A very quick read. A page turner. It’s about a girl named Disaya nick- named YaYa whose is the daughter of a pimp and his main whore. She goes through a lot as a young girl in foster care and turns to life as a high paid, street savvy escort. As YaYa navigates through the Elite prostitution ring she meets Leah, who does not disappoint as a villain. The Prada Plan is a well written story that will tug at your emotions, its funny,sad and has a couple plot twists. My only qualm is the cliff-hanger ending but I just saw Prada Plan 2 pre-selling on Amazon.com.

Did you read this? What do you think about it? Share!

The Great Gatsby Book

One day during channel surfing I caught the last half of a movie called G. It was interesting and I wanted to know a little more so I looked it up on IMDB.com

This is when I found out that it was loosely based on a book called The Great Gatsby.  I mentioned to a co-worker that I had never heard of The Great Gatsby and he was like “YOU NEVER HEARD OF THE GREAT GATSBY?” then another co-worker was all, “DIDN’T YOU READ THAT IN HIGH SCHOOL?” The answers to both questions was, “No.”I made it my business to read this book. I found a free e-book version online and for two days I read it right from my phone. (take that you expensive Kindle book reader…I don’t need you after all!) So anyway the book was written ions ago and the story takes place in 1922, but its a great read.

Wanna hear the short version? Here it goes:  This is a cautionary tale about love and money and the desire for the “American Dream”.  The story is narrated from the perspective of  Nick Carraway who is a neighbor of Gatsby. Nick moved to New York to learn about making a living in the bond business. Even though he can see Gatsby’s mansion from his porch, his house is tiny and modest in comparison.  Jay Gatsby was a young, handsome, mysterious wealthy man. (I would say he had “swag”). He threw extravagant parties every Saturday at his massive mansion in East Egg where movie stars, models, the wealthy and everyone in between were on the guest list.  Since, no one knew where he came from, or what he really did for a living, there were many rumors floating about “the great Jay Gatsby”.

Gatsby is secretly deeply in love with Nick’s cousin Daisy, who is married to a very wealthy man named Tom. Tom also has a lover named Myrtle, who is married to a poor mechanic named George. Nick invites Daisy to have tea at his house, without disclosing the fact that Gatsby will also be there. After an awkward reunion, Gatsby and Daisy connected and rekindled their love. Gatsby takes her to his mansion and gives her the grand tour. She fell in love with all of the luxury and even went into a fit of happiness when she saw all of his fine clothing.  When Gatsby asked Daisy why she didn’t wait for him while he trained to be an officer, she tells him that girls don’t marry poor boys so she married Tom. Gatsby and Daisy start having an affair.  Her husband Tom is jealous of all the time Daisy is spending with Nick and Gatsby and is determined to expose the affair as well as “bring Gatsby down” socially (even though he too is having an affair).

This is where it gets good! During lunch at Tom and Daisy’s, Tom notices how Gatsby is looking passionately in his wife’s eyes and how much Gatsby is in love with Daisy. Then he forces the group, consisting of  Daisy, Tom, Gatsby,Nick and Jordan (Nick’s lady friend) to drive to New York City(in the dead of summer with NO a.c.) where he confronts Gatsby at the Plaza Hotel.  He announces to Daisy that Gatsby is not who he claims to be, that he really makes his money bootlegging alcohol and other illegal activities. This is when Daisy realizes that she wants to stay with Tom, and Tom sends her back to East Egg with Gatsby, in an attempt to prove that he is not intimidated by Gatsby. Daisy and Gatsby drove back in Gatsby’s car. Nick, Jordan and Tom followed in another car when they realized that Myrtle, Toms lover  had been hit by Gatsby’s car.  Gatsby later told Nick that Daisy was actually driving the car when it struck Myrtle, and that he was going to take the blame. The next day, Tom lies to  Myrtle’s husband, George, telling him that Gatsby was driving the car that hit Myrtle. George, jumped to the conclusion that the driver of the car that killed Myrtle must have been her lover, found Gatsby in the pool at his mansion and shoots him dead. Then he kills himself.

Nick arranged Gatsby’s funeral and of all the people who surrounded Gatsby during the good times, only three people attended.

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/f/fitzgerald/f_scott/gatsby/

This link points to the free e-book version.

I was so excited about this show coming out and even though its some hot steaming mess on a platter, I just don’t know if it’s what I expected.

What if: A. Kobe’s Wife, Kevin Garnett’s wife, Lebron’s (Common- Law Wife), Camello’s fiance, and Allen Iverson’s wife were on the show?  That would be interesting huh?

Anyway, are the older ladies like Evelyn and Jennifer just hating on little Royce? Did y’all know that Royce was Dwight Howard’s baby’s mother? Are they jealous? I dont know. I’m confused!!!!!

What do yall think of this?             

And what about Royce’s dancing for Evelyn’s party. Now I think that Royce can really shake her moneymaker. HOWEVER, lol, I do think that its a time and a place for everything and she does just a smidgen too murch.  Would this have embarrassed you?

 or this?

I can kind of relate because on a trip to Miami last summer I discovered that the night clubs there had stripper poles! And I’ve always been interested in pole dancing, so every 30 min or so the club would allow anyone who wanted to jump up there to give it a try. And I did.(clothes on!) I have to say it was very liberating and fun. All my girls danced around on the pole and we even took pics. Would that have embarrased Miss high society Evelyn? you?

 Is this show hot or a hot mess?

I read on Wikipedia that Staci Robinson interviewed with Mara Brock -Akil -the producer of the The Game about a job. Staci declined the job but sent her novel Interceptions to Mara Brock Akil who is later accused of stealing Ms. Robinsons storyline, including character names to create The Game.  Supposedly, Ms. Robinson sued Mara Brock-Akil, the CW and other executives for 40 million dollars. The lawsuit was settled out of court for a non disclosed amount.

I just ordered the book from Amazon.com and so far its really good. It starts when the two main characters are still in college. Melanie and Darwin’s(from the show) names are different but Jason and Malik like in the show are named as characters in the book.

I will post as soon as I finish!!!