If you live to be 110, how would you look back at your life? With Fondness? With Regret? Missed Opportunities? Or At Peace? The protagonist of Denny S. Bryce's debut novel, Wild Women and the Blues, gets to answer that question. Honoree Dalcour is in mid-1920s...
Marion’s Favorites: Mary J. Blige’s My Life Documentary
by MHill | Jul 27, 2021 | Marion's Favorites, Movie Reviews, Music Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Mary J. Blige's My Life is one of my top ten favorite albums and one of the most important R&B albums to be recorded in the last thirty years. Blige's pain and vulnerability soars throughout the entire album and how sings over strong hip-hop beats makes it a...
Marion’s Favorites: Stardust by Willie Nelson
by MHill | Jul 25, 2021 | Marion's Favorites, Music Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
As a music nerd and lover, I will admit that I never thought I would have a Willie Nelson CD in my collection. Nothing personal against the legendary musician, but country music is not my favorite musical genre. However, I have learned as a reader (and writer) that...
Marion’s Favorites: Off The Wall Documentary
by MHill | Jul 22, 2021 | Marion's Favorites, Movie Reviews, Music Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Questlove Supreme is one of my favorite podcasts and I have been listening to his backlist episodes over the past few weeks. I recently heard the podcast with Spike Lee and they were discussing his career. Spike mentions the Off The Wall Documentary as one of his...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 82: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
by MHill | Jul 21, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
What does it mean to being smart? It seems we have judged intelligence by IQ and rational knowledge throughout human history. However, there was a book published over twenty-five years ago that challenged the notion and looked at emotions as an important factor...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 81: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
by MHill | Jul 15, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I spent a couple of hours last night reading this beloved book. The Alchemist told the story of Santiago, an Andalusian boy who travels to Egypt in search of his destiny. On the surface, it read as a simple story of the hero's journey told in a different package....
Marion’s Favorites: High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
by MHill | May 30, 2021 | Marion's Favorites, Movie Reviews, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Food is foundational to culture. Every human culture on the planet has food as an essential part of their culture. African Americans did not differ from anyone else along the human spectrum in that regard. High On The Hog is a four-part miniseries on Netflix that...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 3: Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler
by MHill | May 23, 2021 | Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Octavia Butler, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
What if you lived in a society where speaking is a threat to the social order? Octavia Butler speculated on the aforementioned question in her Hugo Award-winning short story, Speech Sounds. I came across this story when it was discussed on the Novel Pairing Podcast....
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 80: Planting Stories (The Life of Librarian & Storyteller Pura Belpre) by Anika Aldamuy Denise & Paola Escobar
by MHill | May 23, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
The joy I get in reading with my daughter Norah is you learn about someone that you have never heard of before. This is the case with the book, Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre by Anika Aldamuy Denise and Paola Escobar. Pura Belpre...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 79: Respect-The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz
by MHill | May 2, 2021 | 2021 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Sometimes after reading one book will make you want another book with a similar topic. My previous review was a fictional music documentary in a novel titled The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton. Opal Jewel was one half of a groundbreaking punk rock...