Orsayor: What factors are important to you when choosing a book to read?
Marilyn: What matters to me most is a great story line, a riveting plot. I need a good book to hold my attention. I love books that are a “all-nighter.” Once you pick a great book up you are not compelled to put it down until the last sentence. I want to be in the authors world with descriptive words, a realistic setting and leave me with a storyline that I will not soon forget.
Orsayor: Who are your favorite authors and what is it that strikes you about their work?
Marilyn: I read Forty Acres (Dwayne Alexander Smith) still resonates in my mind, I was spellbound afterwards. Stand Your Ground by Victoria Christopher Murray was so realistic that I told all my friends to run, purchase this novel. I was speechless. I keep “Whatever happened to Daddy’s Little Girl by Jonetta Rose Barras in my private library because it told my life story. Give me authenticity, show me the depth of any authors words, make me look at my life. Some of my favorite authors, that I must read include: Beverly Jenkins, Brenda Jackson, Iyanla Vanzant, Pearl Cleages.
Orsayor: If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?
Marilyn: “We All We Got!” I raised my children with this mantra when life’s trials showed up. I instilled in my sons, as a sub-title that “Knowledge is Power!”
Orsayor: Where is your favorite place to read?
Marilyn: My favorite place to read is sitting by a body of water enjoying the stillness of the water I discovered while in Undergrad a crook in a cranny in the college library because the voices were quiet and I could concentrate.
Orsayor: What books are currently on your nightstand?
Marilyn: Currently on my night stand is: Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile, She Speaks by Michelle Clark Jenkins, Commanding Your Morning by Cindy Trimm, Kingdom Prayer by Bishop Tony Evans and the Twelve Steps to Codependency Guide by Melody Beattie.
Orsayor: Do you prefer eBooks, paperbacks or hardcover?
Marilyn: I prefer a mixture of all three, on my Ipad Mini (Kindle) I have my urban African-American literature, I always pick up a new paperback in the African American section of Walmart, and I love to get large print books from my local library.
Orsayor: What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
Marilyn: I have several books that folks would be surprised on my shelves. The Six Black Presidents” by Auset Bakhufu; The Best Short Stories by Black Writers (1899-1967); “His 1-800 Wife by Shirley Hailstock, (laughing) “Singing in the Comeback Choir” by BeBe Moore Campbell, “The Second Deadly Sin” by Lawrence Sanders and Child of aCrackhead Series by Shameek Speights.
Orsayor: If you were shipwrecked on a desert island what 3 books would you want with you?
Marilyn: Breathe, Eyes, Memory by Edwige Dandicat, Any early work by Iyanla Vanzant, and The New Living Translation of the Bible.
Marilyn G. Diamond, mother of three sons, grandmother of six relocated to South Carolina in 2010 after an illness. Redirecting my life, I became a reviewer for Sankofa Literacy Society and Delphine Publications. Paying attention, I lucked up and became one of the featured authors in the “Motherhood Diaries “with ReShonda Tate Billengsly and I am steady working on a manuscript of friendship and love of my best friend of fifteen years entitled “You Need to Know.” While working towards my Master’s degree in Education, God said, “That’s Not What I Told You to Do!” Currently Marilyn Diamond has heed the call and is about to enter her Junior year in Seminary school in Bowman, SC.
