Book Review: Basketball Jones by E. Lynn Harris

I love to read books by black authors….let me take that back. I love to read books by black authors with substance. I don’t read Zane or others who write similarly because I can’t find the story line behind all the sex. My favorites are Eric Jerome Dickey, Terry McMillan, BeBe Moore Campbell (RIP). The story lines are complex and the characters make you long to read every word to figure out what happened to them. I hang on to their every word, lol. Every now and then, I have to let another author enter my bookshelf.

I have only read one other E. Lynn Harris book in my life, A Love of My Own. It was a great book. I had always been gun shy about E. Lynn and the reason probably sounds preposterous. I know that he was an openly gay man during his life and that his characters reflect that. I was afraid that I wouldn’t know how to take a graphic gay sex scene unfolding on the page. Silly, I know. A Love of My Own had straight main characters in addition to the gay ones…..so I never got a real feel for it. Basketball Jones changed all that. I am going to say right off that I loved this book. It is only 246 pages long and I read the majority of this book in one day. 

Here are the liner notes: “Aldridge James ‘AJ’ Richardson is living the good life. He has a gorgeous town house in always flavorful New Orleans, plenty of frequent-flier miles from jet-setting around the country on a whim, and an MBA – but he’s never had to work a regular job. He owes it all to his longtime lover, Dray Jones. Dray Jones the rich and famous NBA star. They fell in love in College when AJ was hired to tutor Dray, a freshman on the basketball team. But Dray knew if he wanted to make it to the big time, he must juggle his public image and his private desires. Built on a deep, abiding love, their hidden relationship sustains them both, but when Dray’s teammates begin to ask insinuating questions about AJ, Dray puts their doubts to rest by marrying Judi, a beautiful and ambitious woman. Judi knows nothing about Dray’s “other life.” Or does she? In Basketball Jones, E. Lynn Harris explores the consequences of loving someone who is forced to conform to the rules society demands of its public heroes. Filled with nonstop twists and turns, it will keep readers riveted from the first page to the last.”

This book has all the elements of a good read. Mystery, blackmail, lover’s triangles, betrayal…..DRAMA! Once I really got going, I could not put it down!! It did teach me one valuable thing: regardless of sexuality, we all love the same. We fall hard and deep (no pun intended, seriously). I can could a lot of myself in the main character even though it was about the unrequited love between two men. I highly recommend it!

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30 Day Letter Challenge: Day 1 – Your Best Friend

Dear Best Friend,

We have known each other what seems like forever. I remember the day that I met you. We were fast enemies, lol. Then we bonded over someone that we couldn’t stand more than we didn’t like each other. Funny how those things work....good old junior high. That was 15 years ago!!! To this day when anyone asks who my best friend is I still call your name.

Truth of the matter is that I miss the way that we used to be close. I used to be able to call and talk to you about ANYTHING under the sun. You used to do the same. Somewhere in there things changed. I realized that the first time that we have talked all of 2010 was the day that my mom passed. You moved back to Mississippi shortly after that and my dad had to tell me that. I had no idea. We have made plans to get together several times to chat it up and I am still waiting on all of those return phone calls. I can’t say that I am totally innocent. I haven’t called as much either. It has been hard to get in contact with you on many occasions. Instead of waiting by the phone, I just moved on the next person. I feel as though I let the distance between us grow because I was tired of bridging the gap on my own.

Our lifestyles are different: you like to go out a lot, I’m more of a homebody. You’re Greek….I’m SO not. But we have been so different all of our lives so I figured nothing would change that. I still love you and you are still the big brother I never had. I just wish that sometimes I had more of an active relationship. Maybe one day when life grants, we will cross paths (seeing as though there are only 30 miles between us now, sooner rather than later) and rekindle a great friendship. I just wish I knew what was going on with you.

All my love,

Kathryn ♥

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The 30 Day Letter Challenge

I am sitting here at my computer late tonight (….or this morning depending on how you look at it) and I am taking a good long look at my life and the events of this summer. Then I have to go back and take stock of the past year. I have been doing a lot of individual growing in my life. The things that bother me are my relationships with people who I thought were the closest to me. I was going back and forth on whether or not I was going to write an open letter on my blog to my brother…..just to get all of my feelings out. Then I stopped by Irendi's blog. She is doing a 30 day letter challenge on her blog. Every day for 30 days, you write a letter to someone or something different and post it on your blog. I followed her blog to this blog post and got the list. Here is a list of the letters that I will be writing for the next 30 days.

Day 1 — Your Best Friend

Day 2 — Your Crush

Day 3 — Your parents

Day 4 — Your sibling (or closest relative)

Day 5 — Your dreams

Day 6 — A stranger

Day 7 — Your Ex-boyfriend/girlfriend/love/crush

Day 8 — Your favorite internet friend

Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet

Day 10 — Someone you don't talk to as much as you'd like to

Day 11 — A Deceased person you wish you could talk to

Day 12 — The person you hate most/caused you a lot of pain

Day 13 — Someone you wish could forgive you

Day 14 — Someone you've drifted away from

Day 15 — The person you miss the most

Day 16 — Someone that's not in your state/country

Day 17 — Someone from your childhood

Day 18 — The person that you wish you could be

Day 19 — Someone that pesters your mind—good or bad

Day 20 — The one that broke your heart the hardest

Day 21 — Someone you judged by their first impression

Day 22 — Someone you want to give a second chance to

Day 23 — The last person you kissed

Day 24 — The person that gave you your favorite memory

Day 25 — The person you know that is going through the worst of times

Day 26 — The last person you made a pinky promise to

Day 27 — The friendliest person you knew for only one day

Day 28 — Someone that changed your life

Day 29 — The person that you want tell everything to, but too afraid to

Day 30 — Your reflection in the mirror

 
This in itself will help me to resolve things in my mind that I have probably wanted to tell people but have held inside. This is going to be a period of enlightenment for me…I just know it. I hope that I don't bore you all too much over the next 30 days. See you guys in the morning for Day 1!!

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