"Grace meets you exactly where you are and it doesn't leave you." I heard the author Anne Lamott say this quote on the Tim Ferriss podcast a couple of days ago and knew this would be the opening sentence to my latest book review. Grace would be the proper view about...
Icon #2
by MHill | Feb 21, 2021 | Black History Month, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
The Mayor of Dakota, Thomasina Jefferson, is being held hostage at city hall. The police commissioner calls in S.H.R.E.D, the city's most elite police unit. They hold Icon and Rocket at gunpoint. Icon wants to comply with the police officers and Rocket reminds him...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 75: Invisible Men by Ken Quattro
by MHill | Feb 19, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Black History Month is in full swing and I have seen many social media posts recognizing the achievements of African Americans throughout the nation's history. However, I have always wanted to find out something that does not get much recognition or overlooked during...
Icon #1
by MHill | Feb 11, 2021 | Black History Month, Marion's Favorites
In 1839, an alien spaceship approaches Earth. A pod from that spaceship is ejected and heads toward the planet. It lands in a field and creates an explosion. A slave woman notices the pod and finds a little black boy inside. The little boy is Augustus Freeman...
Marion’s Favorites: Icon from Milestone Comics
by MHill | Feb 7, 2021 | Black History Month, Marion's Favorites
I grew up reading comic books and they became my first entry point into becoming a lifelong reader. I don't think I would have ever become a regular reader of prose fiction without my time as a comic book reader. One of my favorite comic books I read in my early...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 72: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
by MHill | Feb 6, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
If your spouse was wrongly accused of rape and went to prison for five years but gets released, would you remain married? That was the question An American Marriage by Tayari Jones attempted to answer in her popular novel. An American Marriage was selected for...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 50: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
by MHill | Jul 19, 2020 | 2020 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorite Duologies, Octavia Butler, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I want to update a review from 2012 for one of my all-time favorite novels, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Parable of the Sower is the story of Lauren Olamina, a teenager growing up in a grim LA suburb where their gated community provided a semblance of a...
Marion’s Black Author Reading List
by MHill | Jun 8, 2020 | Binti Series, Black History Month, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I have been deeply affected (and many Americans) by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th. Seeing a human being die like that should never happen in a civilized society. As a black man, I saw my worst fears come to light once again. Also, I’m a book...
Book Review 128: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
by MHill | Feb 28, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Black History Month, Book Reviews, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Can a novel you read in your early 20s effect you in the same manner when you re-read it in your mid-40s? Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison gives this reviewer a split verdict to the aforementioned question. It is the story of an unnamed protagonist who leaves the...
Music Review 3: Fred Hammond’s God, Love, and Romance
by MHill | Mar 12, 2012 | Black History Month, Marion's Favorites, Music Reviews, What is Love?, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I read from an interview prior to Fred Hammond's latest release, God, Love, and Romance that he was unsure how his fans would receive it. Well, I believe his fans should not worry about that at all and he will pick up some new fans from this excellent CD. Hammond...