| Nadine McIlwain-Massey Co-author of From Ghetto to God: The Incredible Journey of NFL Star, Reggie Rucker Email: jagging0533@sbcglobal.net |
I love reading almost as much as I love writing. So what is the best of both worlds? Combining reading with writing and sharing both with friends amid stimulating discussion and colorful commentary in the form of the STILL I RISE BOOK CLUB. My favorite authors are Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni, including poetry and fiction and Stephen King. Of the books we read, the top of my list is Lance Armstrong's Its Not About the Bike, Bernice McFadden's The Warmest December, and Q, the Autobiography of Quincy Jones. My all time favorites are Cry, The Beloved Country and Five Smooth Stones. I read novels but they are not my favorite genre. I prefer non-fiction to fiction. I have set a goal of completing my second book , which by the way is a novel and a very good one, and obtaining a new publisher by the end of 2003. Now, of course, I am in the revision, rewrite, revision, rewrite, revision, rewrite stage. Other authors will know what I mean. What I like most about our book club is the sisterhood. Although we are all African-American women, our members have eclectic backgrounds and diverse interests. We coalesce around books. We decided to limit our group to fifteen members in an effort to involve everyone in the discussion. Our monthly meetings are hosted by club members and the edible and liquid refreshments are scrumptious. Our future goals as a book club include doing more of the same, why fix what is not broken, and expanding to new horizons - for example, visiting cultural events together. We chose to name our book club, the STILL I RISE BOOK CLUB, because truly, as African-American women we have endured the humiliations of enslavement, suffered the emasculation of our men, witnessed the torment and imprisonment of our children, overcome the misogyny of sexism, the prejudice of racism, and the glass ceiling of classism, and still...................we rise, we rise, we rise, we rise, we rise, we rise, we rise, we rise! |
 |