Some stories don’t start with a lesson—they start with a scream. This one begins with the Knicks, a run-down sofa on West 146th Street, and a mother who couldn’t always say I love you out loud—but could absolutely lose her mind over a missed free throw. When I walked toward the apartment building where we lived on West 146th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway, I could hear my mother screaming before I reached the stoop.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Angela invited me to speak to a 5th-grade class at Lacoochee Elementary School in Dade City, Florida—a neighborhood where opportunities don't always come easy. But what that community does have are passionate, dedicated teachers and a principal who make sure their students are exposed to the wider world, no matter what.

I am three weeks post-shoulder surgery, and I am doing very well. I had a complete 100% rotator cuff tear, a bone spur, arthritis, bursitis, and labrum tearing. This was the result of decreased muscle mass, which caused my bone to drop. Every time I lifted my arm—especially to dance—the bone spur cut a little more into the rotator cuff and eventually into the muscle. And there you have it.

I've heard about book clubs since Oprah introduced them on her globally famous talk show over two decades ago. I never would have imagined that I would one day be an author, with my book becoming the topic of discussion in several book clubs.

The books I picked and why.