Top-Selling African American Books in 2010

1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
   (Crown, 02/02/10, Hardcover)
   

   Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells — taken without her knowledge — became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons — as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family — especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.

    

2. Wench: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
   (Amistad, 01/01/10, Hardcover)
   

   An ambitious and startling debut novel that follows the lives of four women at a resort popular among slaveholders who bring their enslaved mistresses wench \’wench\ n. from Middle English “wenchel,” 1 a: a girl, maid, young woman; a female child. Tawawa House in many respects is like any other American resort before the Civil War. Situated in Ohio, this idyllic retreat is particularly nice in the summer when the Southern humidity is too much to bear. The main building, with its luxurious finishes, is loftier than the white cottages that flank it, but then again, the smaller structures are better positioned to catch any breeze that may come off the pond. And they provide more privacy, which best suits the needs of the Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their black, enslaved mistresses. It’s their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at Tawawa House. They have become friends over the years as they reunite and share developments in their own lives and on their respective plantations. They don’t bother too much with questions of freedom, though the resort is situated in free territory — but when truth-telling Mawu comes to the resort and starts talking of running away, things change. To run is to leave behind everything these women value most — friends and families still down South — and for some it also means escaping from the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the most inhuman, brutal of circumstances — all while they are bearing witness to the end of an era. An engaging, page-turning, and wholly original novel, Wench explores, with an unflinching eye, the moral complexities of slavery.

    

3. Wifey 4 Life by Kiki Swinson
   (Melodrama Publishing, 03/16/10, Paperback)
   

   Kira’s quiet life in the islands is interrupted when she’s called back to Virginia to attend her cousin Nikki’s funeral. Reluctantly, Kira plans a short, incognito trip to do just that. However, her plans are derailed when news of her arrival spreads. Now there’s a bounty on her head, and several snakes are ready to cash in. Behind enemy lines in her own hometown, Kira is faced with yet another battle to stay alive as she finds out once again, that she’s living on borrowed time. Will she be able to cheat death again, or will death snatch her from behind in part five of the Wifey series?

    

4. Dirtier Than Ever: A Novel by Vickie M. Stringer
   (Atria, 02/16/10, Hardcover)
   

   Following the phenomenal success of Essence bestsellers Dirty Red and Still Dirty, Vickie M. Stringer takes readers on another bumpy ride in Dirtier Than Ever with Red, Bacon, and Q — the crazy love-hate triangle who makes the series a favorite among urban fiction fans. Q wished that Bacon had killed Red when he had the chance. Red knew that Q’s career as a hustler was over and he was counting on starting a new legit business with the money he had made. He had once believed her when she promised that the money didn’t mean a thing and she would give it all up to be with him.  Bacon returns from prison and suddenly Q is left for dead. With Q out of the picture, Bacon now has Red to himself. His sights are set on being the top hustler with Red by his side. He believes Red has fi nally changed when she reveals the truth about her past.  But all comes to a head when the snooping detective, Thomas, suspects Red’s involvement in Q’s getting shot and the murder of Zeke, Q’s best friend. With two murders, a tumultuous love affair, andmoney on her mind, Red must make a decision . . . does she turn over a new leaf or revisit her dirty ways of old?  Gritty, steamy, and intense, Stringer delivers another page-turning caper about a hustler in high heels who is Dirtier Than Ever.

    

5. Big Girls Do Cry by Carl Weber
   (Kensington, 02/01/10, Hardcover)
   

   New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber cranks up the heat in this explosive follow-up to Something on the Side–a novel of friendship, family ties, and the bonds–and betrayals–of love. . . Isis and her sister, Egypt–two of the original curvaceous members of the Big Girls Book Club–have hightailed it out of New York and settled in Richmond, Virginia, where they’ve started a new chapter of the BGBC. The same rules apply here: You must be at least a bodacious size 14 to join. Living in the plush suburbs, Isis has it all–almost. The thirty-seven-year-old plus-size beauty is happily married to Rashid, and they’re living in the lap of luxury. There’s just one thing missing. They want to start a family. Enter Egypt, who’s moved into her sister’s McMansion with dreams of starting over. There’s just one hitch: before her sister married Rashid, he was Egypt’s man for ten years. Egypt thought she was over him, but the close quarters are giving both her and her sister doubts. She’s ready to pack her bags until Isis and Rashid ask her for a serious favor. Egypt knows she shouldn’t get involved, but she can’t say no to her sister–even if the price might be way too high for them all. Egypt isn’t the only one with drama. Rumor has it that Loraine–Isis’s brilliant boss and one of BGBC’s newest members–is in the running to be her sorority’s next national president. But Loraine has more than one secret that will ruin her if they ever see the light of day. Thank goodness only one other person knows them–BGBC’s first male member, Jerome–and what he knows just might destroy him. As friendships and family and past and present collide, these book lovers are about to learn that drama can follow you wherever you go–and that big girls do cry…

    

6. Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell
   (Smiley Books, 02/01/10, Paperback)
   

   “Black people are not dark-skinned white people,” says advertising visionary Tom Burrell. In fact, they are much more. They are survivors of the Middle Passage and centuries of humiliation and deprivation, who have excelled against the odds, constantly making a way out of “No way!” At this pivotal point in history, the idea of black inferiority should have had a “Going-Out-of-Business Sale.” After all, Barack Obama has reached America’s Promised Land. Yet, as Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority testifies, too many in black America are still wandering in the wilderness. In this powerful examination of “the greatest propaganda campaign of all time” — the masterful marketing of black inferiority, aka the BI Complex — Burrell poses ten disturbing questions that will make black people look in the mirror and ask why, nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, so many blacks still think and act like slaves. Burrell’s acute awareness of the power of words and images to shift, shape, and change the collective consciousness has led him to connect the contemporary and historical dots that have brought us to this crossroads. Brainwashed is not a reprimand — it is a call to action. It demands that we question our self-defeating attitudes and behaviors. Racism is not the issue; how we respond to media distortions and programmed self-hatred is the issue. It’s time to reverse the BI campaign with a globally based initiative that harnesses the power of new media and the wisdom of intergenerational coalitions. Provocative and powerful, Brainwashed dares to expose the wounds so that we, at last, can heal.

    

7. Be Careful What You Pray For by Kimberla Lawson Roby
   (William Morrow, 02/01/10, Hardcover)
   

   New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby returns with this delightful sequel to The Best of Everything, in which the infamous Reverend Curtis Black’s beautiful daughter, Alicia, is all grown up — and headed for trouble of her own Her first marriage didn’t work out, but that isn’t going to stop Alicia Black, the privileged daughter of the charismatic Reverend Curtis Black, from getting what she wants. One month after her wedding to her second husband, she can’t believe her good fortune. God has heeded her prayers, blessing her with Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth with his own large congregation, just like her father. Unfortunately, Alicia doesn’t understand just how much like Curtis her new husband truly is. She doesn’t know that JT has been sneaking around town with other women — or that he only married her to get close to her father’s money and fame. But while Alicia is blinded by love, her dad certainly isn’t. He warned his little girl that JT simply can’t be trusted. After all, it takes one to know one, and who better to see into the darkness of a sinner’s heart than Curtis? It will take a miracle to save the day. But God acts in mysterious ways, and soon a host of lies, longtime secrets, and acts of betrayal comes to light, and Alicia must face some very crucial and life-changing decisions. This time, she’s got to be careful what she prays for. . . .

    

8. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
   (New Press, The, 01/05/10, Hardcover)
   

   Jarvious Cotton’s great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting by Klan intimidation; his father was barred by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Cotton cannot vote because he, like many black men in the United States, has been labeled a felon and is currently on parole. –FROM THE NEW JIM CROW As the United States celebrates the nation’s “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status–much like their grandparents before them. In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community–and all of us–to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.

    

9. If You Were My Man by Francis Ray
   (St. Martin’s Griffin, 03/02/10, Paperback)
   

   Nathalyia Fontaine has been the sole proprietor of the restaurant Fontaine since her husband died four years ago. She hasn’t dated anyone in all those years, choosing not to open her heart again, or risk revealing her dark past.  That is, until she meets Rafael Dunlap. Rafael is  a hostage negotiator  with his own  set of problems. Though he loves women, he  vows  he’ll never marry because his job is just too unpredictable.    He can’t imagine leaving a widow and children behind. But his thinking and game plan of loving and  leaving  changes when he meets Nathalyia. Though she tries to resist him, Rafael sweeps her into a whirlwind romance. When the unexpected happens, and Nathalyia is forced to keep it a secret, she ends things with Rafael before he can break her heart.  But when Rafael is in harms way, will Nathalyia resolve to tell him the truth before it’s too late? Or will past demons keep them apart forever?

    

10. Little Black Girl Lost 5 by Keith Lee Johnson
    (Urban Books, 02/01/10, Paperback)
    

     

11. Reverend Feelgood by Lutishia Lovely
    (Dafina, 02/01/10, Paperback)
    

    In Lutishia Lovely’s wickedly sexy new novel, an energetic young pastor works overtime to keep the ladies in his congregation deliciously satisfied. . .Nathaniel “Nate” Thicke is a preaching prodigy. At only twenty-eight years old, he’s the senior pastor of The Gospel Truth Church. In addition to carrying on the preaching tradition begun by his great-grandfather, Nate is also just plain carrying on, wherever the spirit–and the flesh–lead him. And when it leads him to three women from the same family, bickering and backstabbing follow…Content with having his pick of the flock, Nate is surprised to discover he’s fallen head-over-heels in love, and decides to become a one-woman man. But the other ladies aren’t about to give him up so easily. They’re prepared to do whatever it takes to get their man back–even if it means adding a few more shocking sins to their list…

     

12. Wrapped in Pleasure: Delaney’s Desert Sheikh\Seduced by a Stranger (Arabesque) by Brenda Jackson
    (Kimani Press, 01/01/10, Mass Market Paperback)
    

    Two Westmoreland novels — one classic and one new — from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Brenda Jackson Delaney’s Desert Sheikh A mix-up in Delaney Westmoreland’s vacation plans forces her to share a cabin with a tall, dark and oh-so-handsome sheikh who is bent on her seduction. Jamal Ari Yasir intends to school Delaney in sensuality for his own pleasure. But instead of loving and leaving her, he becomes enraptured by an irresistible and unforgettable passion for his sexy-as-sin roommate. Can the arrogant sheikh convince his secret lover that they are fated for more than just a summer fling? Seduced by a Stranger Johari Yasir has no interest in returning to her homeland to marry a man she’s never met — at least, not without sowing some wild oats first. And when a handsome charmer offers to whisk her away in his private plane, she impulsively accepts. Rasheed Valdemon is shocked that his bride-to-be would fly off with someone she barely knows — even though he’s the one doing the asking. More surprising is his hunger for this lovely, rebellious woman. Yet what will happen when she realizes she’s been seduced by the man who’s destined to be her husband?

     

13. Three Days Before the Shooting . . . (Modern Library) by Ralph Ellison
    (Modern Library, 01/26/10, Hardcover)
    

    At his death in 1994, Ralph Ellison left behind roughly two thousand pages of his unfinished second novel, which he had spent nearly four decades writing. Long awaited, it was to have been the work Ellison intended to follow his masterpiece, Invisible Man. Five years later, Random House published Juneteenth, drawn from the central narrative of Ellison’s unfinished epic. Three Days Before the Shooting . . . gathers together in one volume, for the first time, all the parts of that planned opus, including three major sequences never before published. Set in the frame of a deathbed vigil, the story is a gripping multigenerational saga centered on the assassination of the controversial, race-baiting U.S. senator Adam Sunraider, who’s being tended to by “Daddy” Hickman, the elderly black jazz musician turned preacher who raised the orphan Sunraider as a light-skinned black in rural Georgia. Presented in their unexpurgated, provisional state, the narrative sequences form a deeply poetic, moving, and profoundly entertaining book, brimming with humor and tension, composed in Ellison’s magical jazz-inspired prose style and marked by his incomparable ear for vernacular speech. Beyond its richly compelling narratives, Three Days Before the Shooting . . . is perhaps most notable for its extraordinary insight into the creative process of one of this country’s greatest writers. In various stages of composition and revision, its typescripts and computer files testify to Ellison’s achievement and struggle with his material from the mid-1950s until his death forty years later. Three Days Before the Shooting . . . is an essential, fascinating piece of Ralph Ellison’s legacy, and its publication is to be welcomed as a major event for American arts and letters.

     

14. Snapped: A Novel by Tracy Brown
    (St. Martin’s Griffin, 01/05/10, Paperback)
    

    As the pampered wife of Frankie Bingham, Camille wants for nothing. After all Frankie and their life together are her whole world. So Camille tries not to be bothered by his closeness with his coworker and dear friend Gillian. But it soon becomes clear that Camille’s suspicions are correct. When his indiscretions become a public matter for the world Camille is pushed to a dangerous breaking point that spells disaster for them all.Camille’s sister Misa is newly divorced and clueless about men.  She smothers men with phone calls, emails and pops up unannounced at their homes. She hacks into their voicemail and email and causes drama. So when she sets her sights on Baron, he has no idea what hit him. Will her quest to win his heart cost her everything?Dominique Storms appears to have it all – a great career, a beautiful NYC condo and a gifted teenaged daughter. Her only problem is that the man she loves is incarcerated. While trying to juggle the demands of motherhood, work, and friendships, she manages to make her man Jamel a priority in her life. But is he doing the same? And is she too distracted to notice what is going on with her daughter?Latoya Blake seems to be the one who has life all figured out, that is, until some skeletons are discovered in her closet. When her well-put-together façade crumbles, will she crumble as well?

     

15. Diary of a Stalker (Urban Renaissance) by Electa Rome Parks
    (Urban Trade Paper, 01/01/10, Paperback)
    

    Never judge a book by its cover. . . Xavier Preston is tall, dark, and handsome, and the problem is that he knows it. He’s a bestselling author who is accustomed to adoring female fans, both young and old, flirting with him, throwing themselves shamelessly at him, and trying to get between more than the covers of his novels. He has always been more than willing to accommodate their needs and desires; however, his womanizing days have finally ended. He’s engaged to a beautiful woman, Kendall, and he’s decided to walk the straight and narrow. Or has he? From outside appearances, the very stunning Pilar has it all: a great career, a beautiful home, and a trust fund that keeps her financially secure; however, looks can be deceiving. All that glitters isn’t necessarily gold. Pilar is searching for her perfect soulmate, and she thinks she has found him in Xavier. She believes in going after what she wants with a vengeance . . . and she wants Xavier. That is not negotiable. She will have him, even if it kills him. When Xavier meets his fanatical fan, Pilar, he gets much more than he bargained for. What starts out as an erotic one-night stand quickly spirals out of control into a dangerous game of obsession and pain with both parties playing to win. Think you know what goes on behind the literary scene? Think again.

     

16. Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
    (Atheneum, 01/05/10, Paperback)
    

    If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight…for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.

     

17. Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Pinkney
    (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 02/03/10, Hardcover)
    

    It was February 1, 1960.They didn’t need menus. Their order was simple.A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement. Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the “whites only” Woolworth’s lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.

     

18. The Candy Shop by Kiki Swinson
    (Dafina, 01/01/10, Paperback)
    

    Having no regards for people, their property and even her own life, Faith Simmons has done everything from selling off her life’s fortune, to selling her body, and stealing, all because of her sweet addiction for The Candy Shop.

     

19. The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women by Elaine Meryl Brown
    (One World/Ballantine, 03/02/10, Hardcover)
    

    In this engaging and invaluable “mentor in your pocket,” three dynamic and successful black female executives share their strategies to help all black women, at any level of their careers, play the power game — and win.Rich with wisdom, this practical gem focuses on the building blocks of true leadership — self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration, and courage — while dealing specifically with stereotypes (avoid the Mammy Trap, and don’t become the Angry Black Woman) and the perils of self-victimization (don’t assume that every challenge occurs because you are black or female). Some leaders are born, but most leaders are made — and The Little Black Book of Success will show you how to make it to the top, one step at a time.

     

20. Hood Richest: (Triple Crown Publications Presents) by Michelle Monay
    (Triple Crown Publications, 02/15/10, Paperback)