African American Bestsellers for June 2013

The bestselling books for June 2013 from Amazon.com.

1. Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
   (Grand Central Publishing, 2013-06-18, Hardcover)
   

   Mo’ Meta Blues is a punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone’s Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences–from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth.

    

2. Never Say Never: A Novel by Victoria Christopher Murray
   (Touchstone, 2013-06-04, Paperback)
   

   In this emotionally charged and inspiring novel about a love triangle, secrets between best friends threaten to blow up friendships and a marriage and change lives forever. When Miriam’s fireman husband, Chauncey, dies while rescuing students from a school fire, Miriam feels like her life is over. How is she going to raise her three children all by herself? How will she survive without the love of her life? Luckily, Miriam’s sister-friend Emily and Emily’s husband, Jamal, are there to comfort her. Jamal and Chauncey grew up together and were best friends; Jamal and Emily know they will do all they can to support Miriam through her grief. Jamal steps in and helps Miriam with the funeral arrangements and with her children, plus he gives her hope that she has a future. But all the time that they spend together—grieving, sharing, and reminiscing—brings the two closer in ways they never planned. . . .

    

3. Dirty Rotten Liar (Misadventures of Mink LaRue) by Noire
   (Kensington Books, 2013-06-25, Kindle Edition)
   

   Noire’s versatile storytelling keeps the urban erotic genre hot! –Kiki Swinson, bestselling author of the Wifey seriesWhat can go wrong when con-mami Mink LaRue joins forces with her slick-tongued look-alike Dy-Nasty Jenkins to run a three-hundred-grand hustle on the super-rich Dominion oil family? With the conniving Philadelphia stripper Dy-Nasty seeking to dip her fingers into the same pot of gold, Mink knows she has to play her hand right and hustle at the very top of her grind. But when Mink is suddenly called back home to be at the bedside of her sick mother, she is forced to leave Dy-Nasty alone at the mansion to work a solo scam on the Dominions and possibly claim the entire jackpot for herself. Will Dy-Nasty lie her way into the hearts of the Dominions and be declared a rightful heir to the vast family fortune? Or, will fate throw a cruel twist in the game and get both ghetto princesses kicked out of the mansion and left on the curb, dead broke? “Noire knows all about street slang, scams, strip clubs, and fierce sex bouts. . .This is top-of-the-line street lit.” –Library Journal on Natural Born Liar (starred review) “Sizzling, action-packed, electric and gut-wrenching.” –RT Book Reviews on Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless

    

4. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 23: Folk Art
   (The University of North Carolina Press, 2013-06-03, Paperback)
   

   Folk art is one of the American South’s most significant areas of creative achievement, and this comprehensive yet accessible reference details that achievement from the sixteenth century through the present. This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture explores the many forms of aesthetic expression that have characterized southern folk art, including the work of self-taught artists, as well as the South’s complex relationship to national patterns of folk art collecting. Fifty-two thematic essays examine subjects ranging from colonial portraiture, Moravian material culture, and southern folk pottery to the South’s rich quilt-making traditions, memory painting, and African American vernacular art, and 211 topical essays include profiles of major folk and self-taught artists in the region.

    

5. Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream by Christina M. Greer
   (Oxford University Press, USA, 2013-06-06, Paperback)
   

   The steady immigration of black populations from Africa and the Caribbean over the past few decades has fundamentally changed the racial, ethnic, and political landscape in the United States. But how will these “new blacks” behave politically in America? Using an original survey of New York City workers and multiple national data sources, Christina M. Greer explores the political significance of ethnicity for new immigrant and native-born blacks. In an age where racial and ethnic identities intersect, intertwine, and interact in increasingly complex ways, Black Ethnics offers a powerful and rigorous analysis of black politics and coalitions in the post-Civil Rights era.

    

6. After the Dawn: A Family Affair Novel by Francis Ray
   (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013-06-18, Paperback)
   

   Samantha Collins is stunned when her grandfather turns Collins Industry over to her, causing more than a bit of ill will among the other family members, especially her uncle, Evan. But nothing stuns her more than when she finds out that he has asked Dillon Montgomery to help her run the company. Her grandfather had fired Dillon and ordered him off the company property years ago.   Twelve years ago Samantha made her feelings known to Dillon and the whole thing ended in disaster and they haven’t spoken since. Working together now, even all these years later, is sure to be a disaster. Still, she needs his help if she is going to keep Collins Industry afloat. But will the prodigal son return to the empire – and the woman – who desperately need him? Will he be able to admit how much he desperately needs them.

    

7. Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era) by Caroline E. Janney
   (The University of North Carolina Press, 2013-06-03, Hardcover)
   

   As early as 1865, survivors of the Civil War were acutely aware that people were purposefully shaping what would be remembered about the war and what would be omitted from the historical record. In Remembering the Civil War, Caroline E. Janney examines how the war generation–men and women, black and white, Unionists and Confederates–crafted and protected their memories of the nation’s greatest conflict. Janney maintains that the participants never fully embraced the reconciliation so famously represented in handshakes across stone walls. Instead, both Union and Confederate veterans, and most especially their respective women’s organizations, clung tenaciously to their own causes well into the twentieth century. Janney explores the subtle yet important differences between reunion and reconciliation and argues that the Unionist and Emancipationist memories of the war never completely gave way to the story Confederates told. She challenges the idea that white northerners and southerners salved their war wounds through shared ideas about race and shows that debates about slavery often proved to be among the most powerful obstacles to reconciliation.

    

8. Long Division by Kiese Laymon
   (Agate Bolden, 2013-06-11, Paperback)
   

   Kiese Laymon’s debut novel is a Twain-esque exploration of celebrity, authorship, violence, religion, and coming of age in Post-Katrina Mississippi, written in a voice that’s alternately funny, lacerating, and wise. The book contains two interwoven stories. In the first, it’s 2013: after an on-stage meltdown during a nationally televised quiz contest, 14-year-old Citoyen “City” Coldson becomes an overnight YouTube celebrity. The next day, he’s sent to stay with his grandmother in the small coastal community of Melahatchie, where a young girl named Baize Shephard has recently disappeared.Before leaving, City is given a strange book without an author called “Long Division.” He learns that one of the book’s main characters is also named City Coldson—but “Long Division” is set in 1985. This 1985 City, along with his friend and love-object, Shalaya Crump, discovers a way to travel into the future, and steals a laptop and cellphone from an orphaned teenage rapper called…Baize Shephard. They ultimately take these with them all the way back to 1964, to help another time-traveler they meet protect his family from the Klan.City’s two stories ultimately converge in the mysterious work shed behind his grandmother’s, where he discovers the key to Baize’s disappearance.

    

9. Sister: An African American Life in Search of Justice (Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography) by Sylvia Bell White
   (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013-06-06, Hardcover)
   

   Raised with twelve brothers in a part of the segregated South that provided no school for African American children through the 1940s, Sylvia Bell White went North as a teenager, dreaming of a nursing career and a freedom defined in part by wartime rhetoric about American ideals. In Milwaukee she and her brothers persevered through racial rebuffs and discrimination to find work. Barred by both her gender and color from employment in the city’s factories, Sylvia scrubbed floors, worked as a nurse’s aide, and took adult education courses.            When a Milwaukee police officer killed her younger brother Daniel Bell in 1958, the Bell family suspected a racial murder but could do nothing to prove it—until twenty years later, when one of the two officers involved in the incident unexpectedly came forward. Daniel’s siblings filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and ultimately won that four-year legal battle. Sylvia was the driving force behind their quest for justice.            Telling her whole life story in these pages, Sylvia emerges as a buoyant spirit, a sparkling narrator, and, above all, a powerful witness to racial injustice. Jody LePage’s chapter introductions frame the narrative in a historical span that reaches from Sylvia’s own enslaved grandparents to the nation’s first African American president. Giving depth to that wide sweep, this oral history brings us into the presence of an extraordinary individual. Rarely does such a voice receive a hearing.

    

10. Children Are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse by Edward Hoagland
    (Arcade Publishing, 2013-06-01, Hardcover)
    

    An African apocalypse by “one of the very best writers of his generation” (Saul Bellow).This is not the Africa of Isak Dinesen, nor the Africa of Joy Adamson. This is the Africa of civil wars and tribal massacres, where the Lord’s Resistance Army recruits child-soldiers after forcing them to kill their parents and eat their hearts. The aid workers who voluntarily subject themselves to life here are a breed of their own.Meet Hickey, an American school teacher in his late thirties, an American school teacher who burns his bridges with the school board and goes to Africa as an aid worker. Working for an agency in Nairobi, one of his jobs is to drive food and medical supplies to Southern Sudan to an aid station run by Ruth, a middle-aged woman, who acts as nurse, doctor, hospice worker, feeder of starving children, and witness. Ruth is gruff but efficient, and Hickey, who is usually drawn to youth and beauty, is struck by her devotion. Returning to Nairobi, he can’t forget what he has seen.When the violence and chaos in the region increase to a fever pitch and aid workers are being slaughtered or evacuated, Hickey is asked to save Ruth overland by Jeep. What happens to them and the children that have joined their journey is the searing climax of this novel. Hoagland paints an unflinching portrait of a living hell at its worst, and yet amid that suffering there is hope in the form of humility, sacrifice, and life-affirming friendship.

     

11. Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink by John Campbell
    (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013-06-16, Paperback)
    

    Nigeria, the United States’ most important strategic partner in West Africa, is in grave trouble. While Nigerians often claim they are masters of dancing on the brink without falling off, the disastrous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, the radical Islamic insurrection Boko Haram, and escalating violence in the delta and the north may finally provide the impetus that pushes it into the abyss of state failure. In this thoroughly updated edition, John Campbell explores Nigeria’s post-colonial history and presents a nuanced explanation of the events and conditions that have carried this complex, dynamic, and very troubled giant to the edge. Central to his analysis are the oil wealth, endemic corruption, and elite competition that have undermined Nigeria’s nascent democratic institutions and alienated an increasingly impoverished population. However, state failure is not inevitable, nor is it in the interest of the United States. Campbell provides concrete new policy options that would not only allow the United States to help Nigeria avoid state failure but also to play a positive role in Nigeria’s political, social, and economic development.

     

12. Discovering Wes Moore by Wes Moore
    (Listening Library (Audio), 2013-06-11, Audio CD)
    

    Through the telling of events from his own life, Wes Moore (author of the bestselling adult title The Other Wes Moore) explores the issues that separate success and failure. He also counterpoints his story with another man, someone who shared the same name, was almost the same age, grew up fatherless in a similar Baltimore neighborhood, but is serving a life sentence for murder. Compelled to write to the other Wes, the author was surprised to receive a reply. And so began a friendship, as letters turned into visits and the two men got to know one another. This compelling story about the challenges of growing up and the responsibility for the choices we make, is sure to inspire. Includes an 8-page photo insert.

     

13. Drop Dead, Gorgeous by J. D. Mason
    (St. Martin’s Press, 2013-06-25, Hardcover)
    

    Desimonda returned to seek out revenge in Beautiful, Dirty, Rich. Now her best friend, Lonnie, is out for a little payback of her own Lonnie Adebayo, best friend to Desimonda Greene, is a walking, talking billboard for the old adage, “You can’t keep a good woman down.”  But Jordan Gatewood has done so much more than just try and keep her down. He made a huge mistake when he put his hands on her, thinking that he could get away with it.  But he made an even bigger mistake by not making sure that she was dead before he left that house. Finding his secret half-brother is just the beginning of Lonnie’s plot for revenge.

     

14. African American Women’s Life Issues Today: Vital Health and Social Matters by Catherine Fisher Collins
    (Praeger, 2013-06-30, Hardcover)
    

    Written by an all-female, all-African American team of health experts that include nurse practitioners, registered nurses, educators, and psychologists, this book focuses on the diseases and related social issues that cause the greatest harm and pose the greatest threat to African American women today. Its chapters address topics as varied as heart disease, cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence, cervical and breast cancers, obesity, depression, mental illness, dementia/Alzheimer’s, and incarcerated women’s health care. A chapter is dedicated to identifying the social, cultural, and environmental barriers that block African American women from experiencing the best possible lives. Providing comprehensive coverage of the topic from an Afrocentric perspective, this text will be of great interest to medical and psychological health professionals and professors; social workers, counselors, and students in these fields; as well as African American women seeking current and expert information on these health threats.

     

15. Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her by Amy Novesky
    (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2013-06-18, Hardcover)
    

    Billie Holiday—also known as Lady Day—had fame, style, a stellar voice, big gardenias in her hair, and lots of dogs. She had a coat-pocket poodle, a beagle, Chihuahuas, a Great Dane, and more, but her favorite was a boxer named Mister. Mister was always there to bolster her courage through good times and bad, even before her legendary appearance at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Newton’s stylish illustrations keep the simply told story focused on the loving bond between Billie Holiday and her treasured boxer. An author’s note deals more directly with the singer’s troubled life, and includes a little-known photo of Mister and Lady Day!

     

16. Fearless Voices: Engaging a New Generation of African American Adolescent Male Writers by Alfred Tatum
    (Scholastic Teaching Resources (Theory an, 2013-06-01, Paperback)
    

    Tatum addresses the power of writing to connect young people with the deeper meaning in their own lives as they put their voices on record, exploring, in particular, writing as a tool to navigate lives in “communities of turmoil” and build positive relationships. Additionally, he’ll explore the power of writing to help students construct meaning as readers as they explore the enabling literary works of their textual lineages. The book also addresses the practical implications of supporting students as writers and, to that end, targets teachers as writers. For use with Grades 6 & Up.

     

17. The Exchange by Nikki Rashan
    (Urban Books, 2013-06-25, Paperback)
    

     

18. Blacks In and Out of the Left (The W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures) by Michael C. Dawson
    (Harvard University Press, 2013-06-18, Hardcover)
    

    The radical black left that played a crucial role in twentieth-century struggles for equality and justice has largely disappeared. Michael Dawson investigates the causes and consequences of the decline of black radicalism as a force in American politics and argues that the conventional left has failed to take race sufficiently seriously as a historical force in reshaping American institutions, politics, and civil society. African Americans have been in the vanguard of progressive social movements throughout American history, but they have been written out of many histories of social liberalism. Focusing on the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the Black Power movement, Dawson examines successive failures of socialists and Marxists to enlist sympathetic blacks, and white leftists’ refusal to fight for the cause of racial equality. Angered by the often outright hostility of the Socialist Party and similar social democratic organizations, black leftists separated themselves from these groups and either turned to the hard left or stayed independent. A generation later, the same phenomenon helped fueled the Black Power movement’s turn toward a variety of black nationalist, Maoist, and other radical political groups. The 2008 election of Barack Obama notwithstanding, many African Americans still believe they will not realize the fruits of American prosperity any time soon. This pervasive discontent, Dawson suggests, must be mobilized within the black community into active opposition to the social and economic status quo. Black politics needs to find its way back to its radical roots as a vital component of new American progressive movements.

     

2013′s Bestselling African American Books

Here’s a list of 2013′s bestselling African American books from Amazon.com as of May 2013.

1. Irresistible Forces (Harlequin Kimani Romance) by Brenda Jackson
   (Harlequin Kimani Romance, 2013-04-01, Kindle Edition)
   

   An offer he couldn’t refuse…One week of mind-blowing sex on a beautiful Caribbean island. Of all the business proposals financial tycoon Dominic Saxon has heard, Taylor Steele’s is definitely the most tempting. All Taylor wants in return is for Dominic to father her baby. No strings, no commitments…just a mutually satisfying arrangement. Make that very satisfying. For a man with no intention of marrying again, it sounds ideal.Taylor wants a baby, not a relationship. And sexy, intelligent Dominic seems like a man with perfect genes. Turns out, Dominic has perfect everything. Their “procreation vacation” is a whirlwind of sensual ecstasy. But when it’s over, will either of them be able to say goodbye?

    

2. The Mogul’s Reluctant Bride – Book Two (Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls) by Ana E Ross
   (Ana E Ross, 2013-05-11, Kindle Edition)
   

   Book Two: There’s only so much rejection a heart can take…Following the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law, Kaya Brehna is awarded custody of their three children. To avoid financial ruin, she must move them to Palm Beach where her successful career in interior decorating can provide financial security. Her plans are, however, thwarted by New Hampshire business mogul, Bryce Fontaine, who is determined to keep his godchildren in Granite Falls at all costs—even emotional blackmail.Ever since he lost his own family five years earlier, Bryce Fontaine has been a tormented soul. His godchildren are the closest thing to family he has, and he’ll be damned before he let some corporate ladder-climbing stranger take them away from him.When a second will surfaces that changes both their plans, to keep the children’s world intact, Bryce and Kaya enter a loveless marriage of convenience that, nonetheless, sizzles with unrelenting passion. Does Kaya have the power to free Bryce’s heart from the nightmares and demons of his past, or will his fears cause him to lose the family he’s grown to love so dearly?

    

3. Don’t Rescue Me, God’s Molding Me (Snow Series: Meet Savannah PART 2) by Marita Kinney
   (Pure Thoughts Publishing, LLC, 2013-05-15, Kindle Edition)
   

   Savannah is a sophisticated single mother who has had her share of growing pains. From rags to riches, back to rags, Savannah is determined to change her circumstance through her faith and perseverance. As she struggles to keep her head above water, her new vindictive neighbors, try her patience and her faith. She desperately desires for God to rescue her from her new life of struggle.

    

4. The Diary of Nancy Grace ( Short story Series ) by Starlette Summers
   (True Glory Publications, 2013-05-02, Kindle Edition)
   

   Nancy Grace is a little girl screaming for help and searching for her mother’s love. Emotionally, physically and sexually abused by the hands of her own mother, revenge is looking bitter sweet as Nancy faces her own inner demons, one being her best friend.

    

5. Rent-A-Bride by Elaine Overton
   (Painted Dreams Publishing, 2013-04-25, Kindle Edition)
   

   There is nothing Edward Bouchard would not do for his beloved grandfather. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Including, making a deathbed promise to the old man that not only is he finally in love – the one thing Stanley Bouchard has most desired for his workaholic grandchild – but that he asked this love of his life to marry him and she said yes! Ed’s only intention being to give his grandfather peace in his final moments. But as fate would have it the announcement not only gives Stanley peace, it gives him strength and determination to hang on to life long enough to meet his new granddaughter-in-law and witness the ceremony for himself. This is fine by Ed, who counts every moment with his grandfather as a precious gift. He just has one small problem . . . where the hell is he going to find a bride on such short notice?

    

6. The Snow’s Meltdown (Snow Series: Meet the Snow’s PART 1) by Marita Kinney
   (Pure Thoughts Publishing, LLC, 2013-01-15, Kindle Edition)
   

   Ihad a blast writing this book as part of NaNoWriMo(National November Novel Month). For anyone who’s ever wondered about NaNoWriMo,it is a free flow of words resulting in an extremely raw uncut rough draftfiction novel. Therefore, this book was written in a month. This was my firsttime participating, and I’ll probably do it again.  Now allow me to introduce to you, Calvin Snow.  Calvin Snow is the only child of Pastor and First Lady Snow and their family is very influential within their community. Calvin has everything that he could possible want, but soon realizes that giving his wife Katrina the child that she so desperately wants would be harder than he ever imagine. Pastor and Lady Snow try to be there for them, but struggle with their own problems and martial secrets. Lady Snow starts to see her family crumble before her own eyes and tries to hold everyone together, but the truth hurts. Will this family be able to handle their own “Meltdown?”

    

7. A House Divided (A Reverend Curtis Black Novel) by Kimberla Lawson Roby
   (Grand Central Publishing, 2013-05-07, Kindle Edition)
   

   A HOUSE DIVIDEDLife is close to perfect for the Reverend Curtis Black and his wife, Charlotte–except their son Matthew and his girlfriend, Racquel, are about to become parents at the tender age of eighteen. Even though Curtis and Charlotte wish Matthew could focus on Harvard instead of fatherhood, they are determined to welcome their new grandson with open arms. But for Charlotte, welcoming her future in-laws is another story. Try as she might, Charlotte can’t stand Racquel’s mother, Vanessa–and the feeling appears to be mutual.When the tension between Charlotte and Vanessa finally erupts, the stress sends an already-fragile Racquel into early labor. Everyone is quick to blame Charlotte, including Matthew and Curtis. That her own husband would side with someone else infuriates Charlotte and strains the relationship they’ve only recently been able to repair. Her one ally is Racquel’s father, but that brings problems of its own.While Charlotte schemes against Vanessa, Curtis is consumed with his own concerns about Deliverance Outreach. A mysterious figure from his past has been sending Curtis cryptic messages threatening to take away Curtis’s coveted position as senior pastor and destroy everything he has worked so hard for. But who could hate Curtis that much? And how can he fight an enemy he can’t even name?Times of trouble are descending upon the Black family in more ways than one. Will they be able to overcome their challenges and stand together against someone who could take it all away? Or is the Black family finally out of miracles?

    

8. Gangstress by India
   (SBR Publications, 2013-04-15, Kindle Edition)
   

   Janelle Doesher never wanted to be a hustler’s bitch. She wanted to be a bitch that hustled, bottom line! She watched in awe as her father became notorious on the vicious streets of Detroit and silently waited for a shot under his umbrella. After tragedy strikes her family, Janelle is black-balled to the bottom. However, she’s determined to re-gain control of the streets and take possession of the throne. The underworld ain’t never seen a female boss like her. Hold on tight, as you are about to embark on a ride unlike none other! The breathtaking tale of the one and only Jane Doe is sure to leave you speechless.

    

9. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
   (Random House, 2013-04-02, Hardcover)
   

   The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother.   For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them.   Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights.

    

10. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    (Knopf, 2013-05-14, Kindle Edition)
    

    From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a dazzling new novel: a story of love and race centered around a young man and woman from Nigeria who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home. As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are leaving the country if they can. Ifemelu—beautiful, self-assured—departs for America to study. She suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze—the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor—had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion—for their homeland and for each other—they will face the toughest decisions of their lives. Fearless, gripping, at once darkly funny and tender, spanning three continents and numerous lives, Americanah is a richly told story set in today’s globalized world: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s most powerful and astonishing novel yet.

     

11. Double Dare (A Modern Fairy Tale) by Melissa Blue
    (Confessions of a Romance Author, 2013-03-28, Kindle Edition)
    

    First impressions are lasting impressions…Pastry baker Emmaline Sharp is one business connection away from turning her bakery into something more than the dessert shop on the corner. She believes she’s found Mr. Right in café owner Tobias Merchant. His Caff-aholic brand of freshly brewed coffee makes him the perfect partner. When she accepts a dare that thrusts her naked self into Tobias’ waiting arms, she jeopardizes her entire future. Emma will have to convince him to give her another chance, and somehow she’ll just have to ignore the unexpected passion he ignites within her.Tobias needs the connection with Emma’s bakery, Sweet Tooth, in order to liberate himself from the financial and emotional obligations of his past. Unfortunately, Emma’s reckless behavior leaves him doubting she can be level-headed and business savvy. Every one of his instincts tells him to walk away, but she’s a temptation he can’t seem to deny. He’s inexplicably drawn to the lightness in her, especially when he knows just how dark the world can be. Against his better judgment, Tobias ignores his instincts and proceeds to form a partnership with Emma.When their relationship shifts from business to personal, will Emma and Tobias be able to conquer their demons and find their sweet reward before the deal turns sour?

     

12. Fatal Deception by S.R. Burks
    (Nocturna Press, 2013-04-15, Kindle Edition)
    

    Marc Caldwell has raised his daughter on a country ranch with the help of his brother and sister-in-law. Retired young, he has devoted his life to his daughter, but she will soon leave for college. His brother thinks he should make plans for the future, but suddenly more serious concerns befall the family. Two new women have entered Marc’s life: a blue-eyed, short-tempered journalist, and a beautiful new neighbor with soft mocha skin and delicate features that mimic those of his beloved late wife. Both women have secrets… but one is out for murder.Revised Kindle EditionSuspense, Romance, Country living, Multi-racial, Interracial

     

13. Don’t Rescue Me, God’s Molding Me (Snow Series: Meet Savannah PART 2) by Marita Kinney
    (Pure Thoughts Publishing, LLC, 2013-05-15, Kindle Edition)
    

    Savannah is a sophisticated single mother who has had her share of growing pains. From rags to riches, back to rags, Savannah is determined to change her circumstance through her faith and perseverance. As she struggles to keep her head above water, her new vindictive neighbors, try her patience and her faith. She desperately desires for God to rescue her from her new life of struggle.

     

14. MOB BOSS 6: THE HEART OF RENO GABRINI (Mob Boss Series) by Mallory Monroe
    (Austin Brook Publishing, 2013-05-07, Kindle Edition)
    

    Reno Gabrini believes his number one job is to protect his family. His beautiful wife, Trina, and their two sons are the very reason he gets out of bed every morning. But when he returns home from a business trip to find his wife partnering with people he barely knows, a gold digging female attempting to worm her way into the family, and a lovesick son with a dead body in his trunk, he knows his job has gotten that much harder. He takes charge, believing there’s more going on than meets the eye, but his family insists he’s overreacting and is being, as usual, overly protective of them. Until the lid blows off of their idyllic life and plunges all of them into a world of passion and obsession where Reno begins to believe that all of their unsolicited drama may be disguising another mob war.In the sixth installment of the Mob Boss series, Reno Gabrini comes face to face with his greatest fears and is forced to put it all on the line in ways that nearly costs him everything.THE BESTSELLING MOB BOSS SERIES IN ORDER:ROMANCING THE MOB BOSSMOB BOSS 2: THE HEART OF THE MATTERMOB BOSS 3: LOVE AND RETRIBUTIONMOB BOSS 4: ROMANCING TRINA GABRINIA MOB BOSS CHRISTMAS: THE PREGNANCY

     

15. Make Me Nut by Michael Vance
    (, 2013-02-12, Kindle Edition)
    

    What makes you moan? What makes you hot? What make you shiver? What makes you nut?If you’ve ever tingled between your thighs or started to moisten down below. If you’ve ever longed to be taken there and bask within the afterglow. If you’ve ever wanted or felt the need, for complete and total orgasmic release. If you’ve ever strived to reach your peak, climaxed hard and then found peace. We bring to you erotic tales, told within these six short stories. Which center around the woman cumming in all its beauty and its glories.

     

16. A Deeper Love Inside: The Porsche Santiaga Story by Sister Souljah
    (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2013-01-29, Kindle Edition)
    

    THE SEQUEL MILLIONS OF READERS HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR . . . At last, mega-bestselling author Sister Souljah delivers the stunning sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever. Fierce, raw, and filled with adventure and emotional intensity, A Deeper Love Inside is an unforgettable coming-of-age story in the words of Porsche Santiaga, Winter’s younger sister. Sharp-tongued, quick-witted Porsche worships her sister Winter. Cut from the same cloth as her father, Ricky Santiaga, Porsche is also a natural-born hustler. Passionate and loyal to the extreme, she refuses to accept her new life in group homes, foster care, and juvenile detention after her family is torn apart. Porsche—unique, young, and beautiful—cries as much as she fights and uses whatever she has to reclaim her status. Unselfish, she pushes to get back everything that ever belonged to her wealthy, loving family. In A Deeper Love Inside, readers will encounter their favorite characters from The Coldest Winter Ever, including Winter and Midnight. Sister Souljah’s soulful writing will again move your heart and open your eyes to a shocking reality.

     

17. Chocolate Brown by Coco Mixon
    (True Glory Publications, 2013-03-14, Kindle Edition)
    

    Chocolate loved her life as an only child, she never imagined having siblings. Growing up with the perfect parents was a plus. As lies and betrayals are revealed she learns life is not always sweet. Join Chocolate and her best friend Charmaine as they stumble upon the Brown’s family secrets.

     

18. Hood Misfits by Storm
    (Sankofa Publications, 2013-04-01, Kindle Edition)
    

    Sixteen year old, Diamond “Ray-Ray” Jenkins had it made in the shade until one wrong move by her parents turned their lives upside down. They stole a shipment of drugs and money from the wrong street king, Damien Orlando. Now, with both her parents dead, killed in front of her, she’s inherited their debt and Damien is going to make sure she pays dearly.Seventeen year old Trigga has been a killer since he witnessed the murder of his parents and rape of his mother. Running from child protective services, he managed to get recruited to Damien’s team and worked his way through the ranks. Now, he’s Damien’s right hand man with a killer instinct and itchy trigger finger. E.N.G.A. Every Nigga Gotta Agenda.When Ray-Ray is snatched from the comfort of her old life and thrown into the abyss of the underworld she has to learn that sometimes you have to survive today so that you can live tomorrow.  Part One of the E.N.G.A Series.

     

News: Chicago schools order book on Iran out of some classes

By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) –
The Chicago Public Schools ignited a controversy this week by ordering that “Persepolis,” a critically acclaimed graphic novel about a girl growing up in Iran at the time of the Islamic revolution, be removed from some classrooms. CPS Chief Executive Barbara Byrd-Bennett said on Friday that the district was not banning the book, by Marjane Satrapi, but had decided that it was “not appropriate for general use” in the seventh grade curriculum. …

For the full story, read Yahoo News

Celebrate National Library Week

National Library Week takes place every April to celebrate our country’s libraries, librarians and to promote library use. Encourage literacy and a love for reading by celebrating National Library Week with your kids.

This year, National Library Week takes place April 14-20.

For some ideas on how to celebrate with your family, see Love Your Libraries at SheKnows.com.

2013 AAMBC Literary Award Winners

2013 Literary Awards Winners and Nominees from the African Americans on the Move Book Club
http://aambookclub.com/2013-aambc-award-full-list-of-winners-aambcawards

Break Out Author of the Year
Monica Mathis Stowe – Where Did We Go Wrong?
Tyora Moody – When Rain Falls (Victory Gospel Series #1)
Drusilla Mars – Black Fire
Nicety – Juicy: Pandora’s Box
Fabiola Joseph – Rebel’s Domain: Scarred For Life (Volume 1)

Independent Book Store of the Year
Cartel
Books and Beauty
The Literary Joint
Hueman Books
Black and Nobel

Magazine of the Year
JET
Urban Grapevine Magazine
Ebony
Essence
Sormag

Book Club of the Year
Reading Diva
Black Faithful Sisters and Brothers Book Club
OOSA
Sugar and Spice
Book Groupies Book Club

Street Lit Writer of the Year
Fabiola Joseph – Rebel’s Domain: Scarred For Life (Volume 1)
Kwan – Animal
David Weaver – The Power Family
Eyone Williams – Secrets Never Die
Treasure Blue – Little Bag Girl

Poet of the Year
GPA – The Mind of a Poetic Unsub
Kai – Peaceful Resolution
Luella Hill – Message In My Pen

Independent Publisher of the Year
Life Changing Books
Cash Money Content
Cartel Publications
Melodrama
SBR Productions

Book Reviewer of the Year
Blaze Reviews
OOSA
Carla Towns
Urban Reviews
Rawsistaz

Urban Book of the Year
Angry Ass Black Woman by Karen Quinoes Miller
The Cartel 4 by Ashley and JaQuavis
Where Did We Go Wrong? By Monica Mathis Stowe
Aminal by Kwan
Hated by Many, Loved by None by Shan

Male Author of the Year
Rahiem Brooks
David Weaver
Carl Weber
Brian W. Smith
Kwan

Vote for the Female Author of the Year
Myss Shan – Hated by Many, Loved by None
Ashley Antoinette – Guilty Gucci
Kenni York – Karma
Kimberla Lawson Roby – The Reverend’s Wife
Vanna B – Fancy

Christian Fiction Writer of the Year
Victoria Christopher Murray – Scandalous
Reshonda Tate Billingsley – The Secret She Kept
Shelia E. Lipsey for her book- What’s Blood Got To Do With It?
Vanessa Davis Griggs for her book- The Other Side of Dare (Blessed Trinity Novels)
Tyora Moody for her book- When Rain Falls (Victory Gospel Series #1)

Reader’s Choice Award
Treasure Blue
Nicety
Vanna B
Wahida Clark
Traci Bee

Romance writer of the Year
Zuri Day – Love on the run
Donna Hill – Everything is You
Traci Bee – A Nickel for a Kiss
Sadeqa Johnson – Love in a Carry On Bag
Anna Black – Who Do I Run To?

Nate Holmes Honorary Award
Rahiem Brooks
Treasure blue
Shelia E. Lipsey
Troy Johnson
Clarence Nero

AAMBC Author of the Year
Silk White – Married To Da Street
Jonean Mclain- Checkmate
Keith Thomas Walker fir his book- Dripping Chocolate
CJ Hudson – Knuckleheadz
Erica Crump – MISCELLANEOUS BLUES

Los Angeles Black Book Expo, August 17, 2013

The Los Angeles Black Book Expo is proud to announce the date of this year’s event, August 17, 2013.

They will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center in the West Hall in Rooms 502-507. Registration for LABBX will be announced shortly.

For inquiries on exhibitor spots, send an email to blackbookexpola@gmail.com. The website is moving to a new location, LABBX.org and will be updated in the near future.

2012′s Bestselling African American Books

Here’s a list of 2012′s bestselling African American books from Amazon.com as of September 2012.

1. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
   (New Press, The, 2012-01-16, Paperback)
   

   The New Jim Crow was initially published with a modest first printing and reasonable expectations for a hard-hitting book on a tough topic. Now, ten-plus printings later, the long-awaited paperback version of the book Lani Guinier calls “brave and bold,” and Pulitzer Prize–winner David Levering Lewis calls “stunning,” will at last be available.In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. Yet, as legal star Michelle Alexander reveals, today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination—employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal. Featured on The Tavis Smiley Show, Bill Moyers Journal, Democracy Now, and C-Span’s Washington Journal, The New Jim Crow has become an overnight phenomenon, sparking a much-needed conversation—including a recent mention by Cornel West on Real Time with Bill Maher — about ways in which our system of mass incarceration has come to resemble systems of racial control from a different era.

    

2. Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson
   (Little, Brown and Company, 2012-11-12, Hardcover)
   

   It’s Christmas Eve and Detective Alex Cross has been called out to catch someone who’s robbing his church’s poor box. That mission behind him, Alex returns home to celebrate with Bree, Nana, and his children. The tree decorating is barely underway before his phone rings again–a horrific hostage situation is quickly spiraling out of control. Away from his own family on the most precious of days, Alex calls upon every ounce of his training, creativity, and daring to save another family. Alex risks everything–and he may not make it back alive on this most sacred of family days. Alex Cross is a hero for our time, and never more so than in this story of family, action, and the deepest moral choices.

    

3. The Cutting Season: A Novel by Attica Locke
   (Harper, 2012-09-18, Hardcover)
   

   In Black Water Rising, Attica Locke delivered one of the most stunning and sure-handed fiction debuts in recent memory, garnering effusive critical praise, several award nominations, and passionate reader response. Now Locke returns with The Cutting Season, a riveting thriller that intertwines two murders separated across more than a century. Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. The estate’s owners have turned the place into an eerie tourist attraction, complete with full-dress re-enactments and carefully restored slave quarters. Outside the gates, a corporation with ambitious plans has been busy snapping up land from struggling families who have been growing sugar cane for generations, and now replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the edge of the property, her throat cut clean. As the investigation gets under way, the list of suspects grows. But when fresh evidence comes to light and the sheriff’s department zeros in on a person of interest, Caren has a bad feeling that the police are chasing the wrong leads. Putting herself at risk, she ventures into dangerous territory as she unearths startling new facts about a very old mystery—the long-ago disappearance of a former slave—that has unsettling ties to the current murder. In pursuit of the truth about Belle Vie’s history and her own, Caren discovers secrets about both cases—ones that an increasingly desperate killer will stop at nothing to keep buried. Taut, hauntingly resonant, and beautifully written, The Cutting Season is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future, and a high-octane page-turner that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision. With her rare gift for depicting human nature in all its complexities, Attica Locke demonstrates once again that she is “destined for literary stardom” (Dallas Morning News).

    

4. The Communist by Paul Kengor
   (Mercury Ink, 2012-07-17, Hardcover)
   

   In his memoir, Barack Obama omits the full name of his mentor, simply calling him “Frank.” Now, the truth is out: Never has a figure as deeply troubling and controversial as Frank Marshall Davis had such an impact on the development of an American president. Although other radical influences on Obama, from Jeremiah Wright to Bill Ayers, have been scrutinized, the public knows little about Davis, a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA, cited by the Associated Press as an “important influence” on Obama, one whom he “looked to” not merely for “advice on living” but as a “father” figure. While the Left has willingly dismissed Davis (with good reason), here are the indisputable, eye-opening facts: Frank Marshall Davis was a pro-Soviet, pro–Red China communist. His Communist Party USA card number, revealed in FBI files, was CP #47544. He was a prototype of the loyal Soviet patriot, so radical that the FBI placed him on the federal government’s Security Index. In the early 1950s, Davis opposed U.S. attempts to slow Stalin and Mao. He favored Red Army takeovers of Central and Eastern Europe, and communist control in Korea and Vietnam. Dutifully serving the cause, he edited and wrote for communist newspapers in both Chicago and Honolulu, courting contributors who were Soviet agents. In the 1970s, amid this dangerous political theater, Frank Marshall Davis came into Barack Obama’s life. Aided by access to explosive declassified FBI files, Soviet archives, and Davis’s original newspaper columns, Paul Kengor explores how Obama sought out Davis and how Davis found in Obama an impressionable young man, one susceptible to Davis’s worldview that opposed American policy and traditional values while praising communist regimes. Kengor sees remnants of this worldview in Obama’s early life and even, ultimately, his presidency.

    

5. Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson
   (Random House, 2012-06-26, Hardcover)
   

   It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations.  Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson’s remarkable journey from Helga’s humble kitchen to some of the most demanding and cutthroat restaurants in Switzerland and France, from his grueling stints on cruise ships to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a coveted New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four. But Samuelsson’s career of  “chasing flavors,” as he calls it, had only just begun—in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs and, most important, the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem. At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fufilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room—a place where presidents and prime ministers rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, bus drivers, and nurses. It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home.   With disarming honesty and intimacy, Samuelsson also opens up about his failures—the price of ambition, in human terms—and recounts his emotional journey, as a grown man, to meet the father he never knew. Yes, Chef is a tale of personal discovery, unshakable determination, and the passionate, playful pursuit of flavors—one man’s struggle to find a place for himself in the kitchen, and in the world.

    

6. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell
   (Harper, 2012-05-22, Hardcover)
   

   It Worked for Me is filled with vivid experiences and lessons learned that have shaped the legendary public service career of the four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. At its heart are Powell’s “Thirteen Rules”—notes he gathered over the years and that now form the basis of his leadership presentations given throughout the world. Powell’s short but sweet rules—among them, “Get mad, then get over it” and “Share credit”—are illustrated by revealing personal stories that introduce and expand upon his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work, and, above all, respect for others. In work and in life, Powell writes, “it’s about how we touch and are touched by the people we meet. It’s all about the people.” A natural storyteller, Powell offers warm and engaging parables with wise advice on succeeding in the workplace and beyond. “Trust your people,” he counsels as he delegates presidential briefing responsibilities to two junior State Department desk officers. “Do your best—someone is watching,” he advises those just starting out, recalling his own teenage summer job mopping floors in a soda-bottling factory. Powell combines the insights he has gained serving in the top ranks of the military and in four presidential administrations with the lessons he’s learned from his immigrant-family upbringing in the Bronx, his training in the ROTC, and his growth as an Army officer. The result is a powerful portrait of a leader who is reflective, self-effacing, and grateful for the contributions of everyone he works with. Colin Powell’s It Worked for Me is bound to inspire, move, and surprise readers. Thoughtful and revealing, it is a brilliant and original blueprint for leadership.

    

7. Trouble & Triumph: A Novel of Power & Beauty by Tip “T.I.” Harris
   (William Morrow, 2012-09-18, Hardcover)
   

   Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist, music producer, and actor T.I. and his bestselling celebrity collaborator, David Ritz, continue the explosive story of Power and Beauty that began in the street-lit epic Power & Beauty. When his mother, Charlotte, was killed, Paul “Power” Clay and his closest friend, Tanya “Beauty” Long, fell under the spell of a savvy and ruthless Atlanta businessman named Slim, who promised to protect them. Wise beyond her years, Beauty always knew that the only person she could rely on was herself. It didn’t take long for the levelheaded young woman to recognize the simmering violence beneath Slim’s street charm. But getting away from him wasn’t easy, and it came at a heartbreaking price: turning her back on Power. Escaping to the glamorous catwalks of the Big Apple, she’s worked her breathtaking good looks and quick wit to build a thriving fashion business. Despite her success, she’s still haunted by the pain of leaving Power behind. Money and new men cannot erase the memory of the true love she denied. To Power, Slim’s world held everything he thought he wanted: women, wealth, power, authority. He discovered too late that Slim Simmons isn’t just a businessman—he’s a ruthless killer who will turn on anyone he thinks is getting in his way. He is the monster who murdered Charlotte. Now, he controls the fate of her only son. But neither Slim nor Power count on Beauty. Like Slim, she is a master who will manipulate, seduce, and sacrifice to get what she wants. She’s never let anything stop her from fulfilling her desires, and she will broker a dangerous bargain to save the only man she’s ever loved. But is saving Power worth sacrificing herself—body and soul? Will his youthful ambitions lead him to redemption—or deeper into the darkness? Will they both become everything they swore they’d never be? A tale of gangstas and sistas, money masters and politicians, that moves across the globe from Paris to New York, Atlanta to Tokyo, the Caribbean to California, Trouble & Triumph is a hip-hop mash-up of loyalty, betrayal, revenge, desire, greed, family, politics, and absolution—and of two unforgettable young star-crossed lovers from the streets who will risk everything for their dreams . . . and for each other.

    

8. Salvage the Bones: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
   (Bloomsbury USA, 2012-04-24, Paperback)
   

   Winner of the 2011 National Book Award A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch’s father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn’t show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn’t much to save. Lately, Esch can’t keep down what food she gets; she’s fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull’s new litter, dying one by one in the dirt. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child’s play and short on parenting.As the twelve days that make up the novel’s framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family-motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce-pulls itself up to face another day. A big-hearted novel about familial love and community against all odds, and a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, Salvage the Bones is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.

    

9. The Cartel 4 by Ashley and JaQuavis
   (Kensington, 2012-11-01, Paperback)
   

   [MP3CD audiobook format in vinyl case.] [Read by Cary Hite] New York Times bestselling authors Ashley and JaQuavis deliver the highly anticipated fourth installment of the wildly popular ‘Cartel’ series. You thought the Cartel was over, but Diamonds are forever . . . The Diamond family has survived murder, deceit, and betrayal. Through it all, they’re still standing tall, and a new era has begun. After surviving an attempt on her life, Breeze has moved into the queen’s position by Zyir’s side. Zyir has taken over the empire and locked down Miami’s streets; the world is in his hands. But there is always new blood ready to overthrow the throne. Young Carter has retired and moved away from the madness — that is, until he gets an unexpected visitor at his home. This person shakes up the whole family, causing chaos that threatens to bring down the Cartel for good. [*Produced by Buck 50 Productions]

    

10. Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson
    (Grand Central Publishing, 2012-05-22, Paperback)
    

    The only wayDetective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene of the biggest case he’s ever been part of. The President’s son and daughter have been abducted from their school – an impossible crime, but somehow the kidnapper has done it. Alex does everything he can but is shunted to the fringes of the investigation. Someone powerful doesn’t want Cross too close.To stop Alex CrossA deadly contagion in the DC water supply threatens to cripple the capital, and Alex sees the looming shape of the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. He is already working flat-out on the abduction, and this massive assault pushes Cross completely over the edge.Is to kill himWith each hour that passes, the chance of finding the children alive diminishes. In an emotional private meeting, the First Lady asks Alex to please save her kids. Even the highest security clearance doesn’t get him any closer to the kidnapper – and Alex makes a desperate decision that goes against everything he believes. A full-throttle thriller with unstoppable action, unrestrained emotion, and relentless suspense, Kill Alex Cross is the most gripping Alex Cross novel James Patterson has ever written.

     

11. An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Schroff
    (Howard Books, 2012-08-07, Paperback)
    

    Stopping was never part of the plan . . . She was a successful ad sales rep in Manhattan. He was a homeless, eleven-year-old panhandler on the street. He asked for spare change; she kept walking. But then something stopped her in her tracks, and she went back. And she continued to go back, again and again. They met up nearly every week for years and built an unexpected, life-changing friendship that has today spanned almost three decades. Whatever made me notice him on that street corner so many years ago is clearly something that cannot be extinguished, no matter how relentless the forces aligned against it. Some may call it spirit. Some may call it heart. It drew me to him, as if we were bound by some invisible, unbreakable thread. And whatever it is, it binds us still.

     

12. Home by Toni Morrison
    (Knopf, 2012-05-08, Hardcover)
    

    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.

     

13. The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony
    (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012-05-22, Paperback)
    

    When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of “rogue” wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd’s last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn’t take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom. The Elephant Whisperer is a heartwarming, exciting, funny, and sometimes sad account of Anthony’s experiences with these huge yet sympathetic creatures. Set against the background of life on an African game reserve, with unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, it is a delightful book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere.

     

14. Open City: A Novel by Teju Cole
    (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2012-01-17, Paperback)
    

    A haunting novel about identity, dislocation, and history, Teju Cole’s Open City is a profound work by an important new author who has much to say about our country and our world.   Along the streets of Manhattan, a young Nigerian doctor named Julius wanders, reflecting on his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past. He encounters people from different cultures and classes who will provide insight on his journey—which takes him to Brussels, to the Nigeria of his youth, and into the most unrecognizable facets of his own soul.

     

15. Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story by Daphne Sheldrick
    (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012-05-08, Hardcover)
    

    Daphne Sheldrick, whose family arrived in Africa from Scotland in the 1820s, is the first person ever to have successfully hand-reared newborn elephants. Her deep empathy and understanding, her years of observing Kenya’s rich variety of wildlife, and her pioneering work in perfecting the right husbandry and milk formula have saved countless elephants, rhinos, and other baby animals from certain death. In this heartwarming and poignant memoir, Daphne shares her amazing relationships with a host of orphans, including her first love, Bushy, a liquid-eyed antelope; Rickey-Tickey-Tavey, the little dwarf mongoose; Gregory Peck, the busy buffalo weaver bird; Huppety, the mischievous zebra; and the majestic elephant Eleanor, with whom Daphne has shared more than forty years of great friendship.  But this is also a magical and heartbreaking human love story between Daphne and David Sheldrick, the famous Tsavo Park warden. It was their deep and passionate love, David’s extraordinary insight into all aspects of nature, and the tragedy of his early death that inspired Daphne’s vast array of achievements, most notably the founding of the world-renowned David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the Orphans’ Nursery in Nairobi National Park, where Daphne continues to live and work to this day.  Encompassing not only David and Daphne’s tireless campaign for an end to poaching and for conserving Kenya’s wildlife, but also their ability to engage with the human side of animals and their rearing of the orphans expressly so they can return to the wild, Love, Life, and Elephants is alive with compassion and humor, providing a rare insight into the life of one of the world’s most remarkable women.

     

16. The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
    (Grand Central Publishing, 2012-02-13, Paperback)
    

    It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone-Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught. But before she is forced back into the institution, she whispers two words to Martha: “Hide her.” And so begins the 40-year epic journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and baby Julia-lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love.

     

17. Murderville 2: The Epidemic by Ashley
    (Cash Money Content, 2012-07-24, Paperback)
    

    New York Times best-selling authors Ashley & JaQuavis are back with the second installment in the epic Murderville Series. Love, murder, loyalty, and money fill this hood tale as they continue this international street saga. With Samad’s target on her back, Liberty must survive the harsh streets alone. but when a chance encounter pushes her into the arms of a new friend, Po, the two take on the California kingpin and step full force into the game. As bullets and sparks fly, the unlikely pair embark on a serendipitous journey back to where it all started, Sierra Leone. With a new overseas connection, Po sees an opportunity that is too good to pass up. When his pursuit of the American dream conflicts with Liberty’s past, will they be able to survive? Or will the drug empire that they’ve built together come crashing down?

     

18. The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter
    (Knopf, 2012-07-10, Hardcover)
    

    From the best-selling author of The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White, a daring reimagining of one of the most tumultuous moments in our nation’s past   Stephen L. Carter’s thrilling new novel takes as its starting point an alternate history: President Abraham Lincoln survives the assassination attempt at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. Two years later he is charged with overstepping his constitutional authority, both during and after the Civil War, and faces an impeachment trial . . . Twenty-one-year-old Abigail Canner is a young black woman with a degree from Oberlin, a letter of employment from the law firm that has undertaken Lincoln’s defense, and the iron-strong conviction, learned from her late mother, that “whatever limitations society might place on ordinary negroes, they would never apply to her.” And so Abigail embarks on a life that defies the norms of every stratum of Washington society: working side by side with a white clerk, meeting the great and powerful of the nation, including the president himself.  But when Lincoln’s lead counsel is found brutally murdered on the eve of the trial, Abigail is plunged into a treacherous web of intrigue and conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the divided government. Here is a vividly imagined work of historical fiction that captures the emotional tenor of post–Civil War America, a brilliantly realized courtroom drama that explores the always contentious question of the nature of presidential authority, and a galvanizing story of political suspense.

     

19. Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games by Lopez Lomong
    (Thomas Nelson, 2012-07-17, Hardcover)
    

    Running for My Life is not a story about Africa or track and field athletics. It is about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. It is the American dream come true and a stark reminder that saving one can help to save thousands more. Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike sponsored athlete on the US Olympic Team. Though most of us fall somewhere between the catastrophic lows and dizzying highs of Lomong’s incredible life, every reader will find in his story the human spark to pursue dreams that might seem unthinkable, even from circumstances that might appear hopeless. “Lopez Lomong’s story is one of true inspiration. His life is a story of courage, hard work, never giving up, and having hope where there is hopelessness all around. Lopez is a true role model.” ―MICHAEL JOHNSON, Olympic Gold Medalist “This true story of a Sudanese child refugee who became an Olympic star is powerful proof that God gives hope to the hopeless and shines a light in the darkest places. Don’t be surprised if after reading this incredible tale, you find yourself mysteriously drawn to run alongside him.” ―RICHARD STEARNS, president, World Vision US and author of THe Hole in Our Gospel

     

September 2012′s Bestselling African American Books

Here are the upcoming bestsellers for African American books (from Amazon.com).

1. The Cutting Season: A Novel by Attica Locke
   (Harper, 2012-09-18, Hardcover)
   

   In Black Water Rising, Attica Locke delivered one of the most stunning and sure-handed fiction debuts in recent memory, garnering effusive critical praise, several award nominations, and passionate reader response. Now Locke returns with The Cutting Season, a riveting thriller that intertwines two murders separated across more than a century. Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation that sits between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the past and the present coexist uneasily. The estate’s owners have turned the place into an eerie tourist attraction, complete with full-dress re-enactments and carefully restored slave quarters. Outside the gates, a corporation with ambitious plans has been busy snapping up land from struggling families who have been growing sugar cane for generations, and now replacing local employees with illegal laborers. Tensions mount when the body of a female migrant worker is found in a shallow grave on the edge of the property, her throat cut clean. As the investigation gets under way, the list of suspects grows. But when fresh evidence comes to light and the sheriff’s department zeros in on a person of interest, Caren has a bad feeling that the police are chasing the wrong leads. Putting herself at risk, she ventures into dangerous territory as she unearths startling new facts about a very old mystery—the long-ago disappearance of a former slave—that has unsettling ties to the current murder. In pursuit of the truth about Belle Vie’s history and her own, Caren discovers secrets about both cases—ones that an increasingly desperate killer will stop at nothing to keep buried. Taut, hauntingly resonant, and beautifully written, The Cutting Season is at once a thoughtful meditation on how America reckons its past with its future, and a high-octane page-turner that unfolds with tremendous skill and vision. With her rare gift for depicting human nature in all its complexities, Attica Locke demonstrates once again that she is “destined for literary stardom” (Dallas Morning News).

    

2. Trouble & Triumph: A Novel of Power & Beauty by Tip “T.I.” Harris
   (William Morrow, 2012-09-18, Hardcover)
   

   Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist, music producer, and actor T.I. and his bestselling celebrity collaborator, David Ritz, continue the explosive story of Power and Beauty that began in the street-lit epic Power & Beauty. When his mother, Charlotte, was killed, Paul “Power” Clay and his closest friend, Tanya “Beauty” Long, fell under the spell of a savvy and ruthless Atlanta businessman named Slim, who promised to protect them. Wise beyond her years, Beauty always knew that the only person she could rely on was herself. It didn’t take long for the levelheaded young woman to recognize the simmering violence beneath Slim’s street charm. But getting away from him wasn’t easy, and it came at a heartbreaking price: turning her back on Power. Escaping to the glamorous catwalks of the Big Apple, she’s worked her breathtaking good looks and quick wit to build a thriving fashion business. Despite her success, she’s still haunted by the pain of leaving Power behind. Money and new men cannot erase the memory of the true love she denied. To Power, Slim’s world held everything he thought he wanted: women, wealth, power, authority. He discovered too late that Slim Simmons isn’t just a businessman—he’s a ruthless killer who will turn on anyone he thinks is getting in his way. He is the monster who murdered Charlotte. Now, he controls the fate of her only son. But neither Slim nor Power count on Beauty. Like Slim, she is a master who will manipulate, seduce, and sacrifice to get what she wants. She’s never let anything stop her from fulfilling her desires, and she will broker a dangerous bargain to save the only man she’s ever loved. But is saving Power worth sacrificing herself—body and soul? Will his youthful ambitions lead him to redemption—or deeper into the darkness? Will they both become everything they swore they’d never be? A tale of gangstas and sistas, money masters and politicians, that moves across the globe from Paris to New York, Atlanta to Tokyo, the Caribbean to California, Trouble & Triumph is a hip-hop mash-up of loyalty, betrayal, revenge, desire, greed, family, politics, and absolution—and of two unforgettable young star-crossed lovers from the streets who will risk everything for their dreams . . . and for each other.

    

3. The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America by Edward J. Blum
   (The University of North Carolina Press, 2012-09-21, Hardcover)
   

   How is it that in America the image of Jesus Christ has been used both to justify the atrocities of white supremacy and to inspire the righteousness of civil rights crusades? In The Color of Christ, Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey weave a tapestry of American dreams and visions–from witch hunts to web pages, Harlem to Hollywood, slave cabins to South Park, Mormon revelations to Indian reservations–to show how Americans remade the Son of God visually time and again into a sacred symbol of their greatest aspirations, deepest terrors, and mightiest strivings for racial power and justice. The Color of Christ uncovers how, in a country founded by Puritans who destroyed depictions of Jesus, Americans came to believe in the whiteness of Christ. Some envisioned a white Christ who would sanctify the exploitation of Native Americans and African Americans and bless imperial expansion. Many others gazed at a messiah, not necessarily white, who was willing and able to confront white supremacy. The color of Christ still symbolizes America’s most combustible divisions, revealing the power and malleability of race and religion from colonial times to the presidency of Barack Obama.

    

4. Every Little Thing: Based on the song ‘Three Little Birds’ by Bob Marley by Bob Marley
   (Chronicle Books, 2012-09-12, Hardcover)
   

   Bob Marley’s songs are known the world over for their powerful message of love, peace, and harmony. Now a whole new generation can discover one of his most joyous songs in this reassuring picture book adaptation written by his daughter Cedella and exuberantly illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. This upbeat story reminds children that the sun will always come out after the rain and mistakes are easily forgiven with a hug. Every family will relate to this universal story of one boy who won’t let anything get him down, as long as he has the help of three very special little birds. Including all the lyrics of the original song plus new verses, this cheerful book will bring a smile to faces of all ages—because every little thing’s gonna be all right!

    

5. A Gangster and A Gentleman by Kiki Swinson
   (Dafina, 2012-09-25, Paperback)
   

    

6. Murder Was the Case by Kiki Swinson
   (Melodrama Pub, 2012-09-18, Paperback)
   

    

7. Surrender to a Donovan (Kimani Romance) by A.C. Arthur
   (Harlequin Kimani, 2012-09-18, Mass Market Paperback)
   

   Sean Donovan is a man on a mission—to discover who is behind the popular relationship column that has transformed his family-owned magazine into Miami’s hippest glossy. But Tate Dennison isn’t the sassy columnist the hardworking bachelor expected. Nor is he prepared for the flash fire of passion the stunning single mother arouses.…The hunky magazine executive wants to mix business with pleasure, but Tate has one hard and fast rule: never fall for the boss! The once-burned advice columnist has no intention of becoming the devastatingly attractive playboy’s latest conquest. But what woman can resist Sean’s charms? Once she’s sampled his kisses, can Tate protect her heart—even when a sabotage plot threatens the Donovan empire and their possible future together?

    

8. My Destiny (Arabesque) by Adrianne Byrd
   (Harlequin Kimani Arabesque, 2012-09-18, Mass Market Paperback)
   

   When it comes to matchmaking, will two longtime friends put their relationship on the line for the sake of love?For ten years lawyer Destiny Brockman saw her carefree—but very, very fine—neighbor Miles Stafford as just a good friend. After all, she was totally focused on her career and he was the type of brother who put the P in player. So when she swore up and down that there were no good men in Atlanta, Miles proposes a friendly wager. They would set each other up on a date with the perfect match. But the undeniable attraction between them that’s been simmering for years could put Destiny in danger of losing the bet…and winning the sweetest reward.

    

9. Divine Intervention (Hallelujah Love) by Lutishia Lovely
   (Dafina, 2012-09-25, Paperback)
   

    

10. Seduction’s Shift (Shadow Shifters) by A.C. Arthur
    (St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 2012-09-25, Mass Market Paperback)
    

    Seduction’s Shift A.C. Arthur They hide their true nature from the world—part man and part animal—sworn to defend the human race against the untamed beasts among them… She was his first love, his only love. But trying to rescue his beautiful Ary from captivity is one wild risk no man should take. Luckily, Nick Delgado is no ordinary man. His work in the urban jungle as a high-powered litigator has only fueled his ferocity, enflamed his passion—and sharpened his claws—to protect his mate. Ary is a born healer who has devoted her life to the tribe—and her heart to Nick. But when the fierce  and sadistic Sabar turns his jaguar eyes upon her, Ary becomes the unwilling pawn in a deadly game of shifting alliances. One man wants to use her talents to enslave humanity. The other wants to free her from their natural enemy. If Nick hopes to save Ary, he must unleash the beast within—and fight for the woman he loves…

     

11. The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves’ Civil War by David S. Cecelski
    (The University of North Carolina Press, 2012-09-29, Hardcover)
    

    Abraham H. Galloway (1837-70) was a fiery young slave rebel, radical abolitionist, and Union spy who rose out of bondage to become one of the most significant and stirring black leaders in the South during the Civil War. Throughout his brief, mercurial life, Galloway fought against slavery and injustice. He risked his life behind enemy lines, recruited black soldiers for the North, and fought racism in the Union army’s ranks. He also stood at the forefront of an African American political movement that flourished in the Union-occupied parts of North Carolina, even leading a historic delegation of black southerners to the White House to meet with President Lincoln and to demand the full rights of citizenship. He later became one of the first black men elected to the North Carolina legislature. Long hidden from history, Galloway’s story reveals a war unfamiliar to most of us. As David Cecelski writes, “Galloway’s Civil War was a slave insurgency, a war of liberation that was the culmination of generations of perseverance and faith.” This riveting portrait illuminates Galloway’s life and deepens our insight into the Civil War and Reconstruction as experienced by African Americans in the South.

     

12. Pym: A Novel by Mat Johnson
    (Spiegel & Grau, 2012-09-04, Paperback)
    

    “THE SHARPEST AND MOST UNUSUAL STORY I READ LAST YEAR . . . [Mat] Johnson’s satirical vision roves as freely as Kurt Vonnegut’s and is colored with the same sort of passionate humanitarianism.”—Maud Newton, New York Times MagazineNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Vanity Fair • Houston Chronicle • The Seattle Times • Salon • National Post • The A.V. Club  Recently canned professor of American literature Chris Jaynes has just made a startling discovery: the manuscript of a crude slave narrative that confirms the reality of Edgar Allan Poe’s strange and only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Determined to seek out Tsalal, the remote island of pure and utter blackness that Poe describes, Jaynes convenes an all-black crew of six to follow Pym’s trail to the South Pole, armed with little but the firsthand account from which Poe derived his seafaring tale, a bag of bones, and a stash of Little Debbie snack cakes. Thus begins an epic journey by an unlikely band of adventurers under the permafrost of Antarctica, beneath the surface of American history, and behind one of literature’s great mysteries.   “Outrageously entertaining, [Pym] brilliantly re-imagines and extends Edgar Allan Poe’s enigmatic and unsettling Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. . . . Part social satire, part meditation on race in America, part metafiction and, just as important, a rollicking fantasy adventure . . . reminiscent of Philip Roth in its seemingly effortless blend of the serious, comic and fantastic.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Blisteringly funny.”—Laura Miller, Salon“Relentlessly entertaining.”—The New York Times Book Review “Imagine Kurt Vonnegut having a beer with Ralph Ellison and Jules Verne.”—Vanity Fair “Screamingly funny . . . Reading Pym is like opening a big can of whoop-ass and then marveling—gleefully—at all the mayhem that ensues.”—Houston Chronicle

     

13. Ancient Nubia: African Kingdoms on the Nile by
    (The American University in Cairo Press, 2012-09-06, Hardcover)
    

    For most of the modern world, ancient Nubia seems an unknown and enigmatic land. Only a handful of archaeologists have studied its history or unearthed the Nubian cities, temples, and cemeteries that once dotted the landscape of southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Nubia’s remote setting in the midst of an inhospitable desert, with access by river blocked by impassable rapids, has lent it not only an air of mystery, but also isolated it from exploration. Over the past century, particularly during this last generation, scholars have begun to focus more attention on the fascinating cultures of ancient Nubia, ironically prompted by the construction of large dams that have flooded vast tracts of the ancient land.This book attempts to document some of what has recently been discovered about ancient Nubia, with its remarkable history, architecture, and culture, and thereby to give us a picture of this rich, but unfamiliar, African legacy.

     

14. Between Heaven and Here by Susan Straight
    (McSweeney’s, 2012-09-12, Hardcover)
    

    In August in Rio Seco, California, the ground is too hard to bury a body. But Glorette Picard is dead, and across the canal, out in the orange groves, they’ll gather shovels and pickaxes and soak the dirt until they can lay her coffin down. First, someone needs to find her son Victor, who memorizes SAT words to avoid the guys selling rock, and someone needs to tell her uncle Enrique, who will be the one to hunt down her killer, and someone needs to brush out her perfect crown of hair and paint her cracked toenails. As the residents of this dry-creek town prepare to bury their own, it becomes clear that Glorette’s life and death are deeply entangled with the dark history of the city and the untouchable beauty that, finally, killed her.

     

15. Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color by Nina G. Jablonski
    (University of California Press, 2012-09-27, Hardcover)
    

    Living Color is the first book to investigate the social history of skin color from prehistory to the present, showing how our body’s most visible trait influences our social interactions in profound and complex ways. In a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion, Nina G. Jablonski begins with the biology and evolution of skin pigmentation, explaining how skin color changed as humans moved around the globe. She explores the relationship between melanin pigment and sunlight, and examines the consequences of rapid migrations, vacations, and other lifestyle choices that can create mismatches between our skin color and our environment.Richly illustrated, this book explains why skin color has come to be a biological trait with great social meaning– a product of evolution perceived by culture. It considers how we form impressions of others, how we create and use stereotypes, how negative stereotypes about dark skin developed and have played out through history–including being a basis for the transatlantic slave trade. Offering examples of how attitudes about skin color differ in the U.S., Brazil, India, and South Africa, Jablonski suggests that a knowledge of the evolution and social importance of skin color can help eliminate color-based discrimination and racism.

     

16. Lesson in Romance (Kimani Romance) by Harmony Evans
    (Harlequin Kimani, 2012-09-18, Mass Market Paperback)
    

    Alex Dovington is a man with a secret. The internationally famous jazz musician never learned to read. If the world—and his legions of fans—knew, it would be a disaster. When he learns Cara Williams has been hired to teach him, he is reluctant to follow the plan. The sultry teacher will be given only three days to teach the music legend everything she knows. But the instructor becomes the student when Alex turns their mountaintop classroom into a sensual duet of passion.Cara will do anything to keep the doors of her Harlem literacy center open. Even tutor the scandalously handsome saxophone player at his romantic weekend retreat. Alex may be schooling her in the fine art of lovemaking, but Cara has her own secret—one that could tear them apart forever.…

     

17. After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa by Douglas Foster
    (Liveright, 2012-09-10, Hardcover)
    

    The most important historical and journalistic portrait to date of a teetering nation whose destiny will determine the fate of a continent.A brutally honest exposé, After Mandela provides a sobering portrait of a country caught between a democratic future and a political meltdown. Recent works have focused primarily on Nelson Mandela’s transcendent story. But Douglas Foster, a leading South Africa authority with early, unprecedented access to President Zuma and to the next generation in the Mandela family, traces the nation’s entire post-apartheid arc, from its celebrated beginnings under “Madiba” to Thabo Mbeki’s tumultuous rule to the ferocious battle between Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Foster tells this story not only from the point of view of the emerging black elite but also, drawing on hundreds of rare interviews over a six-year period, from the perspectives of ordinary citizens, including an HIV-infected teenager living outside Johannesburg and a homeless orphan in Cape Town. This is the long-awaited, revisionist account of a country whose recent history has been not just neglected but largely ignored by the West. 8 pages of illustrations

     

18. Champagne Kisses (Kimani Romance) by Zuri Day
    (Harlequin Kimani, 2012-09-18, Mass Market Paperback)
    

    An heir to Southern California’s most fabled vineyard, Donovan Drake works as hard as he plays. Betrayed by love in the past, the consummate bachelor prides himself on never committing to one woman. But Marissa Hayes isn’t just any woman. And Donovan has just two weeks to show the guarded, voluptuous beauty exactly what she’s been missing.…Falling for her boss is number one on Marissa’s list of don’ts. But from the moment she experiences Donovan’s intoxicating touch, her heart tells her something else. Slowly but surely, his seduction is breaking down her defenses. Is their passion as fleeting as her brief stay at Donovan’s fabulous resort? Or have they found a love as timeless as the finest wine—strong enough to withstand anything, even a threat from Marissa’s past?

     

19. Evidence of Desire (Kimani Romance) by Pamela Yaye
    (Harlequin Kimani, 2012-09-18, Mass Market Paperback)
    

    Azure Ellison may have undergone a total makeover, but she never expects to be romanced by Harper Hamilton, her former prep school friend. The ambitious journalist is after a career-making story about Harper’s powerful Philadelphia family. But the charismatic attorney wants something from Azure in return: her vow to become his lawful wife in a marriage of convenience!Harper can’t believe the girl he once knew has transformed into this stunning, successful beauty. The longtime bachelor has his own reasons for proposing, but Azure has awakened a desire he’s determined to consummate. With the paparazzi eager for the wedding of the year, Harper is ready to start his honeymoon. Until a breaking scandal about the Hamilton dynasty threatens his marriage to the woman he now wants to have and to hold forever…

     

20. One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina
    (Graywolf Press, 2012-09-04, Paperback)
    

    “A Kenyan Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . . . suffused by a love affair with language.”—Publishers Weekly, Top Ten Books of 2011In this vivid and compelling memoir, Binyavanga Wainaina tumbles through his middle-class Kenyan childhood out of kilter with the world around him. In One Day I Will Write About This Place, named a 2011 New York Times notable book, Wainaina brilliantly evokes family, tribe, and nationhood in joyous, ecstatic language.

     

All I Ever Wanted (Grayson Friends series, Book 8) by Francis Ray

8th Annual African American Literary Award Show, September 27

The 8th Annual African American Literary Award Show will be hosted by celebrated award-winning actor Isaiah Washington. The event will take place in New York City on Thursday, September 27, 2012 from 6 pm – 11 pm at Melba’s Restaurant located at 163 West 125th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. 3rd floor.
Join us as we pay tribute to your favorite authors, publishers and book clubs as voted on by you, the fans.

Purchase your tickets before Sept 7 and take advantage of our special early bird discount of only $65. Ticket price includes cocktail reception, dinner, program guide and gift bag.

SPECIAL VIP TICKETS (ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER AVAILABLE)
A limited number of VIP tickets will be available on a first-come, first- served basis for a special price of only $100. VIP pass includes all of the above plus:
* Admission to our special Pre-VIP cocktail reception featuring Isaiah Washington, celebrity guests and many of your favorite authors.
* Guaranteed dinner seating at the VIP table of one of your favorite nominated authors
* Special deluxe gift bag!
Hurry, only 20 VIP passes available!
Tickets:
Early Bird Special! $65 before Sept 7
$75 after Sept 7
$85 (cash) at the door
$100 VIP tickets

African American Literary Awards Show
The AALAS Awards is the first of its kind. It is the most comprehensive awards show ever to recognize, honor, celebrate and promote the outstanding achievements and contributions that authors and writers make to the publishing, arts and entertainment industries

History of African American Literary Awards Show
The African American Literary Award show is the brainchild of Yvette Hayward, president of Y. Hayward, Inc., a public relations company that has been a powerful resource in the literary field for over a decade.