Taking a break from my urban lit research to blog for a bit. This research is very interesting as these books are filled with sex, drugs, and violence due to the ghetto settings. And, it is no surprise that teens are eating them up, especially black males between 16 and 25, a group we often think of as nonreaders. Urban lit makes up a large part of the African American Booksellers sales and some of these books are being self published and promoted - to the point of the author selling them out of the back of his or her car. These are young authors who know about marketing and how to sell things on the streets. Not exactly the process for getting a book published that many of us think of.

Finished reading Get More by Nia Stephens, the third title in the Boy Shopping series, which the back cover touts as an interactive novel. It reads like those old "Choose Your Own Adventure" titles. But, instead of choosing an adventure, Briona, who looks very much like Beyonce, is choosing between three boys she has met online. As a reader you can choose if she continues to date the guy or not. I picked this book up thinking it would fit into the urban lit genre but it really is chick lit. Rich teenage girl who divides her time between a fancy Manhattan apartment with her model mother and in LA with her rap video producer father. She's been in some of her father's videos and has had a few bit parts in movies, but she doesn't get the part in a teen soap opera because she doesn't know what love is. Well, not sure how many 17 year olds do, but Bree is intent on finding out and is seeking a guy who will love her for herself, not for her money, family, or fame. Chick lit used to be lily white but more and more chick lit titles have black or Hispanic protagonists. This series is a perfect example of the changes that are occurring in chick lit. Good changes! This is a Dafina Books for Young Readers, which is part of Kensington Publishing Corporation, one of the largest publishers of urban lit. www.kensingtonbooks.com.

Did not get to read last night as I hoped as I was in too much pain to concentrate. Steve is so sweet - he found our copy of Casablanca and we watched that together while I curled up under an electric blanket with a heading pad behind my head. I went to the dentist yesterday morning knowing I had a filling that had to be replaced in my bottom right molar, realizing it was possible it would end up as a root canal and crown. Well, the filling the island dentist had put in was so poorly done that the inside of my tooth had continued to decay. The dentist took a digital picture of it and showed it to me - gross!! There wasn't enough tooth left to put a crown on so the dentist pulled the tooth. Even being totally numb from the Novocaine that wasn't much fun and much less fun when the Novocaine wore off. So I am back on painkillers and an antibiotic as I have one huge hole in the back of my mouth. She asked me if I wanted her to take a pic so I could see the crater - I said no thank you!! Now if it had been Mary, she would have loved it. When she was in school she would call and delightedly tell me about what she had seen in surgery. I would not make it in any medical profession - weak stomach! So next month I will go back to the oral surgeon who took out my wisdom teeth to start the process of an implant. They literally put a screw into the bone in your jaw. Oh yuck - I need to quit thinking about this. A friend reminded me today that all of these health issues started since we moved to Lexington, but I haven't been happier with where we live than I am right now so go figure! We are supposed leave to tomorrow for a couple of days in Branson, MO but I am not sure I am up for the 9 hour drive over there right now. Maybe a good night's sleep might change my mind. Last night both the cat and my "lack of tooth" woke me up.