Author Marian L Thomas

L.A. ’56: A Devil in the City of Angels by Joel Engel

2012′s Bestselling African American Audio Books

Here are 2012′s bestselling African American audiobooks.

1. How to Be Black (Enhanced Edition) by Baratunde Thurston
   (HarperCollins ebooks, 01/31/12, Kindle Edition with Audio/Video)
   

   How To Be Black, the enhanced e-book edition, contains 14 author-conducted video interviews with individuals who exemplify “how to be black,” an audio clip of the author delivering an essay to a live audience, links to a companion website with content created specifically for the enhanced e-book edition, and exclusive photos. Also, all instances of the color black have been rendered in an enhanced extra-black version just for this edition. Have you ever been called “too black” or “not black enough”? Have you ever befriended or worked with a black person? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book is for you. Raised by a pro-black, Pan-Afrikan single mother during the crack years of 1980s Washington, DC, and educated at Sidwell Friends School and Harvard University, Baratunde Thurston has over thirty years’ experience being black. Now, through stories of his politically inspired Nigerian name, the heroics of his hippie mother, the murder of his drug-abusing father, and other revelatory black details, he shares with readers of all colors his wisdom and expertise in how to be black. Beyond memoir, this guidebook offers practical advice on everything from “How to Be The Black Friend” to “How to Be The (Next) Black President” to “How to Celebrate Black History Month.” To provide additional perspective, Baratunde assembled an award-winning Black Panel—three black women, three black men, and one white man (Christian Lander of Stuff White People Like)—and asked them such revealing questions as: “When Did You First Realize You Were Black?” “How Black Are You?” “Can You Swim?” The result is a humorous, intelligent, and audacious guide that challenges and satirizes the so-called experts, purists, and racists who purport to speak for all black people. With honest storytelling and biting wit, Baratunde plots a path not just to blackness, but one open to anyone interested in simply “how to be.” Please note that due to the large file size of these special features this enhanced e-book may take longer to download then a standard e-book.

    

2. In Dangers Way by L. Allen Stovey
   (Whispers Publishing, 01/04/12, Kindle Edition)
   

   Suspense and tension start at a high level and build form there in this action packed thriller. In Danger’s Way is a real page turner.

    

3. The Tales Of Tarzan : The Collection Adventure Story of Tarzan and Jane ( 8 Titles ), The Timeless African’s Jungle Novel (Annotated) WITH FREE AUDIOBOOK LINK by Edgar Rice Burroughs
   (unsecretbooks.com, 01/31/12, Kindle Edition)
   

   The Tales Of Tarzan is the collection adventure novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Begun with Tarzan of the Apes, the first in a series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published in the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine in October, 1912; the first book edition was published in 1914. The character was so popular that Burroughs continued the series into the 1940s with two dozen sequels. In this book contains:1. Tarzan of the Apes (1912) FREE Audiobook link2. The Return of Tarzan (1913) FREE Audiobook link3. The Beasts of Tarzan (1914) FREE Audiobook link4. The Son of Tarzan (1914) FREE Audiobook link5. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916) FREE Audiobook link6. Jungle Tales of Tarzan (1916, 1917) FREE Audiobook link7. Tarzan the Untamed (1919, 1921) No Audiobook link8. Tarzan the Terrible (1921) No Audiobook linkIn this version also contains : Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Biography, Colour’s cover for each title, Who is Tarzan and Jane?, more story about Tarzan and FREE Audiobook link( 6 Titles ).

    

4. King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village by Peggielene Bartels
   (Random House Audio, 02/21/12, Audio CD)
   

   The charming real-life fairy tale of an American secretary who discovers she has been chosen king of an impoverished fishing village on the west coast of Africa. King Peggy has the sweetness and quirkiness of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and the hopeful sense of possibility of Half the Sky.  King Peggy chronicles the astonishing journey of an American secretary who suddenly finds herself king to a town of 7,000 souls on Ghana’s central coast, half a world away. Upon arriving for her crowning ceremony in beautiful Otuam, she discovers the dire reality: there’s no running water, no doctor, and no high school, and many of the village elders are stealing the town’s funds. To make matters worse, her uncle (the late king) sits in a morgue awaiting a proper funeral in the royal palace, which is in ruins. The longer she waits to bury him, the more she risks incurring the wrath of her ancestors. Peggy’s first two years as king of Otuam unfold in a way that is stranger than fiction. In the end, a deeply traditional African town has been uplifted by the ambitions of its headstrong, decidedly modern female king. And in changing Otuam, Peggy is herself transformed, from an ordinary secretary to the heart and hope of her community.

    

5. All I Did Was Shoot My Man (Leonid Mcgill Mystery) by Walter Mosley
   (Penguin Audio, 01/24/12, Audio CD)
   

   Unabridged, 7 CDs, 8 1/2 hoursRead by Mirron WillisIn the latest and most surprising novel in the bestselling Leonid McGill series, Leonid finds himself caught between his sins of the past and an all-too-vivid present.

    

6. The Reverend’s Wife (A Reverend Curtis Black Novel) by Kimberla Lawson Roby
   (Hachette Audio, 05/01/12, Audio CD)
   

   From New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby comes the ninth installment in her award-winning Reverend Curtis Black series. It’s been months since Reverend Curtis learned that his wife Charlotte had affairs with two different men, and for now, he continues to be cordial and respectful to her. But he’s also made it clear that once their son Matthew graduates high school, he will be filing for divorce. Charlotte, on the other hand, continues to do everything possible to make amends in hopes of saving their marriage. Unfortunately, Curtis is ready to move on and is being propositioned by a woman who desperately wants to become the next Mrs. Curtis Black. When the situation heads down a path that is frighteningly shocking, could it be the final blow to this once blessed union?

    

7. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times (Kindle AV Edition) by Thomas Hauser
   (Open Road, 02/14/12, Kindle Edition with Audio/Video)
   

   A sweeping biography of one of the greatest and most provocative athletes of all time Decades after his final fight, Muhammad Ali remains larger than life in the imagination of hundreds of millions of people around the world. He won the heavyweight championship at age twenty-two by conquering Sonny Liston in dramatic fashion. The political establishment stripped him of his prize when he refused induction into the United States Army during the height of the war in Vietnam. Ultimately, Ali returned to reclaim his crown, prevailing in epic fights against the likes of Joe Frazier and George Foreman. His talent and charisma—and above all, his adherence to principle—made him a cultural icon and one of the most beloved sporting figures of all time. But that is only half the tale. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times is also the story of Ali, the man. Author Thomas Hauser got closer to Ali than any previous biographer. His work—told in Ali’s own words and those of hundreds of family members, friends, rivals, and others who interacted with “The Greatest” over the decades—reveals a deeply spiritual, complex man, who gave new meaning to the word courage and changed forever our conception of what makes a champion.This enhanced ebook includes rare video footage, audio clips, and photos authorized by Muhammad Ali Enterprises.

    

8. The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis
   (Listening Library (Audio), 01/24/12, Audio CD)
   

   We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful is the motto of Deza Malone’s family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But the Great Depression hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves to find work, Deza, Mother, and her older brother Jimmie go in search of him, and end up in a Hooverville outside Flint, Michigan. Jimmie’s beautiful voice inspires him to leave the camp to be a performer, while Deza and Mother find a new home, and cling to the hope that they will find Father. The twists and turns of their story reveal the devastation of the Depression and prove that Deza truly is the Mighty Miss Malone.From the Hardcover edition.

    

9. Forge (Chains Series) by Laurie Halse Anderson
   (Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced, 04/24/12, Audio CD)
   

   The young soldiers at Valley Forge are suffering from hunger, cold, and the threat of the British army. Their newly forged bonds of friendship might be enough to help them survive. But the chains of Curzon’s past threaten to shackle him again. Surrounded by the fires of ignorance, mistrust, and greed, Curzon can’t risk sharing his deadly secrets with anyone. Does he have the mettle to hold on to his freedom? To claim his rightful place as an American? Is he strong enough to find the answer to the hardest question of all: Is Isabel still alive? Acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson continues the thrilling adventure started in her bestselling, award-winning novel Chains. Ride along on a gallop that will take you from battling the British at Saratoga to fighting the elements at Valley Forge to rebelling against merciless tyranny. Discover what the fight for freedom was really all about.

    

10. Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry
    (Tantor Media, 03/19/12, Audio CD)
    

    Jezebel’s sexual lasciviousness, Mammy’s devotion, and Sapphire’s outspoken anger-these are among the most persistent stereotypes that black women encounter in contemporary American life. Hurtful and dishonest, such representations force African American women to navigate a virtual crooked room that shames them and shapes their experiences as citizens. Many respond by assuming a mantle of strength that may convince others, and even themselves, that they do not need help. But as a result, the unique political issues of black women are often ignored and marginalized.In this groundbreaking book, Melissa V. Harris-Perry uses multiple methods of inquiry, including literary analysis, political theory, focus groups, surveys, and experimental research, to understand more deeply black women’s political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images. Not a traditional political science work concerned with office-seeking, voting, or ideology, Sister Citizen is an examination of how African American women understand themselves as citizens and what they expect from political organizing. Harris-Perry shows that the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as citizens links together black women in America, from the anonymous survivors of Hurricane Katrina to the current First Lady of the United States.

     

11. Freedom’s Teacher, Enhanced E-book by Katherine Mellen Charron
    (The University of North Carolina Press, 03/15/12, Kindle Edition with Audio/Video)
    

    Civil rights activist Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987) developed a citizenship education program that enabled tens of thousands of African Americans to register to vote and to link the power of the ballot to concrete strategies for individual and communal empowerment. Clark, who began her own teaching career in 1916, grounded her approach in the philosophy and practice of southern black activist educators in the decades leading up to the 1950s and 1960s, and then trained a committed cadre of grassroots black women to lead this literacy revolution in community stores, beauty shops, and churches throughout the South. In this engaging biography, Katherine Charron tells the story of Clark, from her coming of age in the South Carolina lowcountry to her activism with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the movement’s heyday. The enhanced electronic version of the book draws from archives, libraries, and the author’s personal collection and includes nearly 100 letters, documents, photographs, newspaper articles, and interview excerpts, embedding each in the text where it will be most meaningful. Featuring more than 60 audio clips (more than three hours total) from oral history interviews with 15 individuals, including Clark herself, the enhanced e-book redefines the idea of the “talking book.”

     

12. Waking with Enemies (Gideon Series) by Eric Jerome Dickey
    (Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced, 03/15/12, Audio CD)
    

    New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey sizzles in this rapid-fire sequel to Sleeping with Strangers, which finds international hit man Gideon waking up with his past haunting him and danger knocking at his door. After a heated encounter inside a London hotel room – where he was pursued by three very different women – Gideon finds himself living in a world where there’s no one to trust. Someone has taken out a hit on the hit man – but who? Could it be the man he left alive in Tampa, the woman who taught him to kill, the scorned woman he still desires, or some other unseen enemy? The clock is ticking as Gideon struggles to find out who from his past may have ordered the hit, while attempting to outsmart the assassin who was sent to kill him – a cold-blooded killer who isn’t afraid to harm any woman involved with Gideon and is determined to make his reputation off Gideon’s death. As the hunter becomes the hunted, Gideon’s hedonistic lifestyle turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse. He will need to find his friends – and also depend on his enemies – to get out of the game alive.

     

13. What it Was (Derek Strange) by George Pelecanos
    (AudioGO, 03/13/12, Audio CD)
    

    Washington, D.C., 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department and set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner, Frank “Hound Dog” Vaughn, is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental value, the case leads him onto Vaughn’s turf, where a local drug addict’s been murdered, shot point–blank in his apartment. Soon both men are on the trail of a ruthless killer: Red Fury, so called for his looks and the car his girlfriend drives, but a name that fits his personality all too well. Red Fury doesn’t have a retirement plan, as Vaughn points out—he doesn’t care who he has to cross, or kill, to get what he wants. As the violence escalates and the stakes get higher, Strange and Vaughn know the only way to catch their man is to do it their own way. Rich with details of place and time—the cars, the music, the clothes—and fueled by non–stop action, this is Pelecanos writing in the hard–boiled noir style that won him his earliest fans and placed him firmly in the ranks of the top crime writers in America.

     

14. Another Country by James Baldwin
    (AudioGO, 02/14/12, Audio CD)
    

    Published in 1962, this is an emotionally intense novel of love, hatred, race, and liberal America in the 1960s. Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, Another Country tells the story of the suicide of jazz–musician Rufus Scott and the friends who search for an understanding of his life and death, discovering uncomfortable truths about themselves along the way.

     

15. Home by Toni Morrison
    (Random House Audio, 05/08/12, Audio CD)
    

    America’s most celebrated novelist, Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison extends her profound take on our history with this twentieth-century tale of redemption: a taut and tortured story about one man’s desperate search for himself in a world disfigured by war.Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he’s hated all his life. As Frank revisits his memories from childhood and the war that have left him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he had thought he could never possess again. A deeply moving novel about an apparently defeated man finding his manhood—and his home.

     

16. Come August, Come Freedom: The Bellows, The Gallows, and The Black General Gabriel by Gigi Amateau
    (Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, 09/11/12, Audio CD)
    

    In a time of post-Revolutionary fervor in Richmond, Virginia, an imposing twenty-five-year-old slave named Gabriel-known for his courage and intellect-plotted a rebellion involving thousands of African- American freedom seekers armed with refashioned pitchforks and other implements of Gabriel’s blacksmith trade. The revolt would be thwarted by a confluence of fierce weather and human betrayal, but Gabriel retained his dignity to the end. History knows little of Gabriel’s early life-but here, author Gigi Amateau imagines a childhood shaped by a mothers devotion, a father’s passion for liberation, and a friendship with a white master’s son who later proved cowardly and cruel. She gives vibrant life to Gabriel’s love for his wife-to-be, Nanny, a slave women whose freedom he worked tirelessly, and futilely, to buy. Interwoven with original documents, this poignant, illuminating novel gives a personal face to a remarkable moment in history.

     

17. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
    (Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD, 02/02/12, Audio CD)
    

    When Lonnie Collins Motion was seven years old, his life changed forever. Now Lonnie is eleven and his life is about to change again. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper. And suddenly, Lonnie has a whole new way to tell the world about his life, his friends, his little sister, Lili, and even his foster mom, Miss Edna, who started out crabby but isn’t so bad after all. Award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical voice captures Lonnie’s thoughtful perspectives of the world and his determination to one day put a family together again.

     

18. White Lines II: Sunny; a Novel (White Lines Novels, Book 2) by Tracy Brown
    (Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Buck 50 Productions, LLC, 04/24/12, Audio CD)
    

    In her most stunning, riveting, unstoppable novel yet, bestselling and critically acclaimed author Tracy Brown delivers the unforgettable sequel to White Lines. On the surface, it appears that Sunny has got it all: looks, money, a beautiful home, a healthy daughter, and friends who love her. But Sunny has a secret–something she hasn’t even told her best friend. The truth is Sunny is unhappy. She still misses her beloved Dorian and worries that no other man will ever captivate her the way he did. She’s dated some very powerful and successful men since Dorian’s death, but will she ever find love again? It’s not long before Sunny is chasing those white lines, but when the truth finally explodes, will she be able to put her life back together again?

     

19. Chasing Destiny by Eric Jerome Dickey
    (Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced, 01/15/12, Audio CD)
    

    Billie (aka “Ducati”) is known as much for her extraordinary beauty as for the sexy yellow Ducati motorcycle she rides through the mean streets of Los Angeles. Tough, talented, and self-assured, Billie’s used to doing things her way – but that was before love threw an oil slick in the road and spun her life into chaos. Billie’s first problem is simple: She’s pregnant. Her second problem is that her lover, Keith, is still married. Keith has some “things” to deal with, and the people in his life are dark and duplicitous enough to take matters into their own hands, determined to keep Billie from having her baby. Billie suddenly finds herself confronted, attacked, run off highways, threatened, and shadowed. Keith still has ties to his manipulative wife, Carmen, and he adores his fifteen-year-old daughter, Destiny. Will he do the right thing by his new family, or stand by his old one? Soon all eyes shift as everyone finds themselves desperately chasing Destiny, a troubled and deceptive girl dancing on the edge of womanhood. When the rubber meets the road, all the madness with Billie, Carmen, and Keith comes to a head. Everyone’s fighting dirty for what they want . . . and they’re all willing to destroy their enemy or go down in flames to get it.

     

20. Sleeping with Strangers (Gideon Series) by Eric Jerome Dickey
    Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced, February 15, 2012, Audio CD)
    

    A powerful hit man, Gideon is the master of the game in a jet-setting world dominated by money, women, and violence. Living off the grid, making love on the run, he makes his living as a contract killer by enacting the revenge of the brokenhearted…for a price. One woman taught him to kill, another motivates him to succeed in the business of revenge. If he can amass a million dollars, the woman he desires has promised to run away with him. For her sake, Gideon takes a high-profile job that earns him dangerous enemies, and hops a plane to London hoping to escape the aftermath. On the plane he meets two mysterious women – have they been sent to bring him down? Have his past transgressions caught up with him at last? Or will one of these strangers help him choose a life of love over a life of violence? In this underworld of grifters and killers, brokenhearted squares and streetwalkers, loyal fans will spot some familiar faces from Dickey’s previous books. A thrilling ride through extremes of love and danger, Sleeping with Strangers thrives on the darker passions of revenge and desire. Don’t miss the sequel: Waking with Enemies

     

Kisses Don’t Lie by Tamika Newhouse

A Little Sumthin’ Sumthin’ by Imani True

Let It Go by T.D. Jakes

The Reverend’s Wife (A Reverend Curtis Black Novel) by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Power Concedes Nothing by Connie Rice

Pink Range: Part Of The Whole Truth by Shamique Marie Spivey

Event: National Black Writers Conference, March 29 to April 1, 2012

The Eleventh National Black Writers Conference:
The Impact of Migration, Popular Culture, and the Natural Environment in the Literature of Black Writers
Thursday, March 29, 2012 – Sunday, April 1, 2012

As our society becomes increasingly globalized, the themes in the literary texts and literature created by black writers throughout the African diasporic communities of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe are shifting and expanding in varying ways. There is recognition of the importance and value of preserving cultural memory and identity and of cultivating and nurturing cultural and geographical spaces. At the same time, there is also a recognition that politics and popular culture shape what we respond to, what we read, what gets published, what we teach, and what conversations we have in our literary communities, in the media, in our educational institutions, in our work environments, and in our homes.

Through novels, stories, poems, plays, memoirs, and essays, black writers have explored the importance of memory on our concepts of self and family. They have examined the impact of popular culture on our personal lives, belief systems, values, and traditions. And they have chronicled what happens when we neglect and do not nurture our natural environment. In essence, they have used the power of words and the literary arts to stir our imagination and to motivate us to affirm, critique, and reflect on our responses to personal, societal, and environmental issues in our lives. The Eleventh National Black Writers Conference will provide writers, scholars, literary professionals, students, and the general public with a forum for engaging in dynamic and spirited conversations, panel discussions, readings, workshops, and performances on themes related to migration, cultural memory, popular culture, and the natural environment.

Major funding provided by: National Endowment for the Arts

Media support provided by: African American Literature Book Club, AKILA Worksongs, Inc.

2012 NBWC Honorees:

• Ishmael Reed – John Oliver Killens Lifetime Achievement Award
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o – W. E. B. Du Bois Award
• Nikki Giovanni – Gwendolyn Brooks Award
• Dr. Howard Dodson – Ida B. Wells Institutional Leadership Award