Read Watch & Wine

Set in 1948, the story begins in the Watts area of Los Angeles, with Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins. Easy is a Houstonian, from that city's Fifth Ward, who lost his job at a Los Angeles aviation defense plant, and is unable to pay the mortgage on his LA home. Easy is sitting in a bar run by Joppy, a friend who is also from Houston, when a man named DeWitt Albright walks into the bar and offers him a job finding a young woman named Daphne Monet. Monet, a young white woman, is rumored to be hanging out in bars frequented mostly by African Americans, although white women are allowed inside.

At the bar Easy meets two old friends, Coretta and Dupree, among many other people that he knew from his former life in Houston. Coretta says that she knows Daphne, but gives an incorrect address to Easy. He goes home with them and has sex with Coretta, with Dupree asleep in the next room. Easy then leaves her early the next morning, only to be arrested by the LAPD. Shortly thereafter following police interrogation, he is told that Coretta is dead, and that he is a suspect in Coretta's murder.

Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. Henrietta was a 30-year-old, African-American tobacco farmer. On January 29, 1951, she went to John Hopkins Hospital complaining of vaginal bleeding. Upon examination, it was found that she was suffering from an adenocarcinoma in her cervix. A malignant tumor was metastasizing and ravaging her body. Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951. Her cells were taken from her body without her knowledge and were used to form the HeLa cell line.  The HeLa cell lines were the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day. All while her children suffered and received no help or compensation for her contributions to science. 

Claireece Precious Jones is an obese, illiterate 16-year-old girl who lives in Harlem with her abusive mother Mary. Precious is a few months pregnant with her second child, the result of being raped by her father, also the father of her first child. When her school discovers the pregnancy, it is decided that she should attend an alternative school. Precious is furious, but the counselor later visits her home and convinces her to enter an alternative school, located in the Hotel Theresa, called Higher Education Alternative Each One Teach One. Despite her mother's insistence that she apply for welfare, Precious enrolls in the school. She meets her teacher, Ms. Blu Rain, and fellow students Rhonda, Jermaine, Rita, Jo Ann, and Consuelo. All of the girls come from troubled backgrounds. Ms. Rain's class is a pre-GED class for young women who are below an eighth-grade level in reading and writing and therefore are unprepared for high school-level courses. They start off by learning the basics of phonics and vocabulary building. Despite their academic deficits, Ms. Rain ignites a passion in her students for literature and writing. She believes that the only way to learn to write is to write every day. Each girl is required to keep a journal. Ms. Rain reads their entries and provides feedback and advice. By the time the novel ends, the women have created an anthology of autobiographical stories called "LIFE STORIES – Our Class Book" appended to the book. The works of classic African-American writers such as Audre Lorde, Alice Walker and Langston Hughes are inspirational for the students. Precious is particularly moved by The Color Purple.

Take a peek inside RWW's Christmas Podcast episode where we reviewed all 3 versions of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". Hear our thoughts about it and what we rated the movies. Do you have any thoughts about any these movies?

Just Mercy is the story of a young lawyer fighting on the frontlines of a country in thrall to extreme punishments and careless justice. The story shadows world-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson as he recounts his experiences and details the case of a condemned death row prisoners whom he fought to free.

John Doolittle is a kind-hearted country physician who keeps goldfish in his pond, rabbits in the pantry, white mice in a piano, and a hedgehog in the cellar. He also has an unusual gift: he can talk to animals — a talent that comes in handy, since he prefers treating animals, rather than humans, as his patients.
One day, a mysterious call summons him to Africa, where a serious epidemic has spread among the monkey population. Of course, the good doctor sets out immediately with some of his best friends.

Tess is 21 when she packs up her things in her car and moves from Ohio to New York City. Knowing nothing and no one she stumbles her way into a job at a semi-prestigious restaurant as a back waitress. The servers and staff are exceptionally tight-knit and take their jobs extremely seriously and Tess does as well. Tess is also drawn to Jake, one of the bartenders, and Simone, a senior server who takes Tess under her wing and begins to train her palate and teach her about wines so that she might one day be able to become a server.

Initially disliked by the staff they soon warm up to Tess and she joins them in their hedonistic lifestyle. Nevertheless she longs to be included in Simone and Jake's more exclusive circle and comes to learn that they are both from Connecticut, knew each other before the restaurant, and that Simone treats him like family. Tess aggressively pursues Jake but he refrains from sleeping with her which Tess comes to realize is because of Simone. When Simone walks in on Tess licking Jake after he cut himself Simone says she will speak to Jake and he finally begins sleeping with Tess.

Tess is initially happy to be involved with Jake and with Simone. Gradually her closeness to the two turns to bitterness after she discovers that they have matching tattoos neither one will talk about and that Simone raised Jake from the time he was eight. She also loses respect for Simone after realizing that at 37 she is chained to the restaurant. Hers is a specialty whose skills will transfer nowhere, and her beauty is quickly fading.

When the restaurant is closed by the health inspectors Tess goes upstairs to the general manager's office and accidentally discovers that Simone and Jake have planned a one month vacation to France for his birthday without telling her. She gets black out drunk and tries to confront Simone and Jake but they fail to respond to her. The next time she sees them she confronts Simone, mocking her for being irrelevant. She also tries to convince Jake that his relationship with Simone is unhealthy and asks him to quit for her but though he admits he is tempted he ultimately rejects her.

Feeling defeated Tess goes to speak to the general manager, Howard, to convince him to give her one of the prestigious server jobs even though she knows that Simone will try to block her promotion. Howard has sex with her in return for the promotion however it turns out to be a transfer to one of their sister restaurants which Tess refuses. She tells Simone that she instead will try to work at a wine shop and Simone encourages the move.

A walk to remember is a coming-of-age romantic novel written by Nicholas Sparks, about a guy who falls irrevocably in love with a pretty daughter of the Reverend, who ultimately dies of cancer. The story revolves around the young couple and how Jamie embarks love in Landon. The story is of hope and endless love.

he Giver is a 1993 American young adult dystopian novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which at first appears to be utopian but is revealed to be dystopian as the story progresses. The novel follows a 12-year-old boy named Jonas. The society has taken away pain and strife by converting to "Sameness", a plan that has also eradicated emotional depth from their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of Receiver of Memory, the person who stores all the past memories of the time before Sameness, as there may be times where one must draw upon the wisdom gained from history to aid the community's decision making. Jonas struggles with concepts of all the new emotions and things introduced to him: whether they are inherently good, evil, or in between, and whether it is even possible to have one without the other. The Community lacks any color, memory, climate, or terrain, all in an effort to preserve structure, order, and a true sense of equality beyond personal individuality.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children's story by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymws verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch a grumpy, solitary creature who attempts to put an end to Christmas by stealing Christmas-themed items from the homes of the nearby town Whoville on Christmas Eve. Miraculously, the Grinch realizes that Christmas may not all be about money and presents.