Shamontiel's Bookshelf & Author Interviews
I am the author of two fiction novels, "Change for a Twenty" and "Round Trip," available on all major book outlets.
Scroll down to see what authors I've interviewed and what books I recommend. Additional book reviews I've written for the Chicago Tribune are here.
Scroll down to see what authors I've interviewed and what books I recommend. Additional book reviews I've written for the Chicago Tribune are here.
Ekiuwa Aire |
Karen Siplin |
Featured in Substack's "I Do See Color": "African history through the eyes of a child ~ How Ekiuwa Aire and ‘The 1619 Project’ educate all from childhood to adulthood"
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E. Lynn HarrisE. Lynn Harris "Author E. Lynn Harris talks character, the DL," Chicago Defender, January 28-February 3, 2009
"Memories of E. Lynn Harris, a great author," Chicago Defender Online, July 25, 2009
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Steve Harvey"Steve Harvey: Act Like a Lady," Chicago Defender, Volume CIII, No. 42, February 18-24, 2009
Sister Souljah"Sister Souljah seeking new roads to travel," Chicago Defender, January 21-27, 2009:
Dr. Natalie Wilson
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Christopher Herz
Kevin Alan Milne
Erin O. Patton
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LATEST BOOKSHELF UPDATE: March 10, 2024
Note: A temporary review will be typed in blue below the latest recommended read. Once a new book is recommended, that review will be deleted, and the next one will be posted.
Note: A temporary review will be typed in blue below the latest recommended read. Once a new book is recommended, that review will be deleted, and the next one will be posted.
FICTION
Bland, Eleanor Taylor "A Cold and Silent Dying: A Marti MacAlister Mystery"
Carter, Ernessa T. "32 Candles"
Cleage, Pearl "Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do"
Coleman, Andre "A Liar's Tale"
Coleman, Andre "Blackbirds: Volume I"
Curnyn, Lynda "Engaging Men"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Chasing Destiny"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Drive Me Crazy"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Friends and Lovers"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Tempted by Trouble"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Thieves' Paradise"
Draper, Sharon "Tears of a Tiger"
Files, Lolita "Scenes from a Sistah"
Flake, Sharon G. "Begging for Change"
Flake, Sharon G. "Money Hungry"
Flake, Sharon G. "The Skin I'm In"
Flake, Sharon G. "Who Am I Without Him? Short Stories About Girls and Boys In Their Lives"
Flynn, Gillian "Gone Girl"
Goines, Donald "Daddy Cool: A Father Out to Revenge His Daughter's Shame"
Goines, Donald "Eldorado Red"
Goines, Donald "Inner City Hoodlum"
Going, K.L. "King of the Screwups"
Grant, Donna "Tryin' To Sleep in the Bed You Made"
Green, Carmen "Atlanta Live!"
Griffin, John Howard "Black Like Me"
Han, Jenny "The Summer I Turned Pretty"
Han, Jenny "To All the Boys I've Love Before"
Han, Jenny "P.S. I Still Love You"
Harmon, Byron "All the Women I've Loved"
Harris, E. Lynn "A Love of My Own" (R.I.P. "Memories of E. Lynn Harris")
Harris, E. Lynn "Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writing" (R.I.P. "Memories of E. Lynn Harris")
Harris, E. Lynn "In My Father's House"
Hayes, Lee A. "Passion Marks"
Herz, Christopher "The Last Block in Harlem"
Hill, Ernest "A Life for a Life"
Hill, Ernest "Cry Me a River"
Hill, Ernest "It's All About the Moon When the Sun Ain't Shining"
Hughes, Langston "The Simple Omnibus"
Hughes, Langston "The Ways of White Folks"
Hunter, Travis "A One Woman Man"
Hunter, Travis "Something to Die For"
Hunter, Travis "Trouble Man"
Hyzy, Julie "Buffalo West Wing" (Part 4)
Hyzy, Julie "Eggsecutive Orders" (Part 3)
Hyzy, Julie "State of the Onion" (Part 1)
Hyzy, Julie "Hail to the Chef" (Part 2)
Johnson, Freddie Lee "Bittersweet"
Johnson, Dana "Break Any Woman Down"
Johnson, Mat "Hunting in Harlem"
Johnson, RM "Dating Games"
Johnson, RM "The Harris Family"
Johnson, RM "Love Frustration"
Johnson, RM "The Million Dollar Divorce"
Jones, Solomon "Pipe Dream"
Jones, Solomon "The Bridge"
Jones, Tayari "Leaving Atlanta"
Jones, Tayari "Silver Sparrow"
Martin, Ann M. (Every single "Babysitter's Club" book she's written was beneficial to me as a pre-teen, and I'd stand by them all. I had 81 of her books.)
Mason, J.D. "Don't Want No Sugar"
Mason, J.D. "One Day I Saw a Black King"
Massey, Brandon "The Other Brother"
McCarthy, Susan Carol "Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands"
Mckinney-Whetstone, Diane "Blues Dancing"
Meriwether, Louise "Daddy Was a Number Runner"
Merullo, Roland "American Savior"
Messina, Lynn "Fashionistas"
Messina, Lynn "Tallulahland"
Meyer, Stephenie "New Moon"
Meyer, Stephenie "The Short Second Life of Bree Turner"
Meyer, Stephenie "Twilight"
Miller, Mary "Biloxi"
Miller, Moses "The Barack in Me"
Milne, Kevin Alan "Sweet Misfortune: A Novel"
Monninger, Joseph "Whippoorwill"
Monroe, Mary "God Don't Like Ugly"
Moses, Shelia P. "I, Dred Scott"
Moses, Shelia P. "Joseph, A Novel"
NEW! Mosley, Walter "Blonde Faith"
It's been a long time since I wrote down a character list. I used to do it in writing workshops and occasionally for a book review a decade or so ago, but I didn't see a need to do it after that. That is, until I started reading "Blonde Faith." There are so many characters that come and go throughout 24 hours in an Ezekiel "Easy" Porterhouse Rawlins day that I got to the point of adding extra page markers so I could remember who was who, and that's not even including the women he's dating (read: banging) or the nonstop thoughts about Bonnie while he's doing so.
Per usual, I love a good Walter Mosley mystery book. Only his books aren't really mysteries in the traditional sense. It's more like a street smart version of "Where's Waldo?" but really "Where's Christmas Black?" and "Where's Raymond 'Mouse' Alexander"? (Also, the fact that Mosley kept toggling between calling these two men "Christmas," "Black," "Mouse" and "Raymond" started making me think I was reading about four different men. And then he had the audacity to give Mouse a nickname: "Ray.")
Overall, the book was just Easy trying to find these two and figure out why Easy was suddenly the legal guardian of an Asian child named Easter Dawn, who really seemed to be taken care of by Easy's kinda-sorta son Jesus, a very uptight girlfriend of Jesus named Benita and his daughter Feather (who felt like a personality twin of Leefa). Along the way, Easy met up with some exes, some people who were swimming in real estate money, a few criminals in and out of the military, overly talkative neighborhood loiterers and startling instances of racism.
The racist incidents would've made for excellent storytelling, especially the restaurant scenes with Hans Green. This line was one of the strongest in the whole book: "We rode up those twenty-three floors silently wasting our energies over a feud that should have been done with a hundred years before." This book was written in 2007, and that line STILL HITS HOME in 2024. The problem is while Easy was criticizing the security guard and the host for treating him as lesser than, Easy turned around and did the EXACT SAME THING to Faith versus Tourmaline.
He may as well have been the security guard and the host because that's how he basically regarded black women. Even more strange, there was an entire conversation about loving black women and an answer that made me think Easy needed to pay more attention to his own advice. The way Tourmaline and Faith were spoken about, even with the Bonnie rants, was the one part that soured my five-star review of the book. Same goes for how Feather is talked about like she's fully grown and should be held responsible as a guardian while Easter Dawn is too innocent and childlike. Both children. Only one is black.
This is a common theme I see in Walter Mosley's books. And every time Easy wants to find something out, he has to play dumb, immediately switch to slang, and either "aw shucks" the characters or try to look big and bad. It's weird. I think Easy is street smart but self-hating. He's not someone I'd ever want to know, but he's fun to read about from a distance.
Now ask me why I have five more books to read from Mosley even after all that criticism, and I couldn't even tell you. I like his writing style. I just don't love his characters.
Mosley, Walter "The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray"
Mosley, Walter "The Man in My Basement"
Murphy, Richard "Confessions of a Contractor"
Myers, Edward "Far From Gringo Land"
Naylor, Gloria "The Men of Brewster Place"
Packer, ZZ "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere"
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen "Wench"
Picoult, Jodi "Change of Heart" (Page 1, Page 2)
Picoult, Jodi "Keeping Faith"
Picoult, Jodi "Leaving Time"
Picoult, Jodi "Nineteen Minutes"
Picoult, Jodi "Salem Falls"
Picoult, Jodi "Small Great Things"
Picoult, Jodi "The Tenth Circle"
Ptah, Heru "A Hip Hop Story"
Rhodes, Jewell Park "Douglass' Women"
Rosenberg, Joel C. "The Auschwitz Escape"
Senate, Melissa "The Breakup Club"
Senate, Melissa "The Solomon Sisters Wise Up"
Senate, Melissa "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?"
Sinclair, April "Coffee Will Make You Black"
Singer, Gammy L. "A Landlord's Tale"
Siplin, Karen "Such a Girl"
Siplin, Karen "Whiskey Road"
Souljah, Sister "The Coldest Winter Ever"
Sparks, Nicholas "Two by Two"
Stovall, Taressa "Proverbs for the People"
Thomas, Angie "The Hate U Give"
Tyree, Omar "Flyy Girl"
Tyree, Omar "Single Mom"
Tyree, Omar "Sweet St. Louis"
Weber, Carl "A Dollar and a Dream"
Weber, Carl "Baby Momma Drama"
Weber, Carl "Married Men"
Weber, Carl "Player Haters"
Weber, Carl "The Preacher's Son"
Youngblood, Shay "Soul Kiss"
Carter, Ernessa T. "32 Candles"
Cleage, Pearl "Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do"
Coleman, Andre "A Liar's Tale"
Coleman, Andre "Blackbirds: Volume I"
Curnyn, Lynda "Engaging Men"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Chasing Destiny"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Drive Me Crazy"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Friends and Lovers"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Tempted by Trouble"
Dickey, Eric Jerome "Thieves' Paradise"
Draper, Sharon "Tears of a Tiger"
Files, Lolita "Scenes from a Sistah"
Flake, Sharon G. "Begging for Change"
Flake, Sharon G. "Money Hungry"
Flake, Sharon G. "The Skin I'm In"
Flake, Sharon G. "Who Am I Without Him? Short Stories About Girls and Boys In Their Lives"
Flynn, Gillian "Gone Girl"
Goines, Donald "Daddy Cool: A Father Out to Revenge His Daughter's Shame"
Goines, Donald "Eldorado Red"
Goines, Donald "Inner City Hoodlum"
Going, K.L. "King of the Screwups"
Grant, Donna "Tryin' To Sleep in the Bed You Made"
Green, Carmen "Atlanta Live!"
Griffin, John Howard "Black Like Me"
Han, Jenny "The Summer I Turned Pretty"
Han, Jenny "To All the Boys I've Love Before"
Han, Jenny "P.S. I Still Love You"
Harmon, Byron "All the Women I've Loved"
Harris, E. Lynn "A Love of My Own" (R.I.P. "Memories of E. Lynn Harris")
Harris, E. Lynn "Gumbo: A Celebration of African American Writing" (R.I.P. "Memories of E. Lynn Harris")
Harris, E. Lynn "In My Father's House"
Hayes, Lee A. "Passion Marks"
Herz, Christopher "The Last Block in Harlem"
Hill, Ernest "A Life for a Life"
Hill, Ernest "Cry Me a River"
Hill, Ernest "It's All About the Moon When the Sun Ain't Shining"
Hughes, Langston "The Simple Omnibus"
Hughes, Langston "The Ways of White Folks"
Hunter, Travis "A One Woman Man"
Hunter, Travis "Something to Die For"
Hunter, Travis "Trouble Man"
Hyzy, Julie "Buffalo West Wing" (Part 4)
Hyzy, Julie "Eggsecutive Orders" (Part 3)
Hyzy, Julie "State of the Onion" (Part 1)
Hyzy, Julie "Hail to the Chef" (Part 2)
Johnson, Freddie Lee "Bittersweet"
Johnson, Dana "Break Any Woman Down"
Johnson, Mat "Hunting in Harlem"
Johnson, RM "Dating Games"
Johnson, RM "The Harris Family"
Johnson, RM "Love Frustration"
Johnson, RM "The Million Dollar Divorce"
Jones, Solomon "Pipe Dream"
Jones, Solomon "The Bridge"
Jones, Tayari "Leaving Atlanta"
Jones, Tayari "Silver Sparrow"
Martin, Ann M. (Every single "Babysitter's Club" book she's written was beneficial to me as a pre-teen, and I'd stand by them all. I had 81 of her books.)
Mason, J.D. "Don't Want No Sugar"
Mason, J.D. "One Day I Saw a Black King"
Massey, Brandon "The Other Brother"
McCarthy, Susan Carol "Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands"
Mckinney-Whetstone, Diane "Blues Dancing"
Meriwether, Louise "Daddy Was a Number Runner"
Merullo, Roland "American Savior"
Messina, Lynn "Fashionistas"
Messina, Lynn "Tallulahland"
Meyer, Stephenie "New Moon"
Meyer, Stephenie "The Short Second Life of Bree Turner"
Meyer, Stephenie "Twilight"
Miller, Mary "Biloxi"
Miller, Moses "The Barack in Me"
Milne, Kevin Alan "Sweet Misfortune: A Novel"
Monninger, Joseph "Whippoorwill"
Monroe, Mary "God Don't Like Ugly"
Moses, Shelia P. "I, Dred Scott"
Moses, Shelia P. "Joseph, A Novel"
NEW! Mosley, Walter "Blonde Faith"
It's been a long time since I wrote down a character list. I used to do it in writing workshops and occasionally for a book review a decade or so ago, but I didn't see a need to do it after that. That is, until I started reading "Blonde Faith." There are so many characters that come and go throughout 24 hours in an Ezekiel "Easy" Porterhouse Rawlins day that I got to the point of adding extra page markers so I could remember who was who, and that's not even including the women he's dating (read: banging) or the nonstop thoughts about Bonnie while he's doing so.
Per usual, I love a good Walter Mosley mystery book. Only his books aren't really mysteries in the traditional sense. It's more like a street smart version of "Where's Waldo?" but really "Where's Christmas Black?" and "Where's Raymond 'Mouse' Alexander"? (Also, the fact that Mosley kept toggling between calling these two men "Christmas," "Black," "Mouse" and "Raymond" started making me think I was reading about four different men. And then he had the audacity to give Mouse a nickname: "Ray.")
Overall, the book was just Easy trying to find these two and figure out why Easy was suddenly the legal guardian of an Asian child named Easter Dawn, who really seemed to be taken care of by Easy's kinda-sorta son Jesus, a very uptight girlfriend of Jesus named Benita and his daughter Feather (who felt like a personality twin of Leefa). Along the way, Easy met up with some exes, some people who were swimming in real estate money, a few criminals in and out of the military, overly talkative neighborhood loiterers and startling instances of racism.
The racist incidents would've made for excellent storytelling, especially the restaurant scenes with Hans Green. This line was one of the strongest in the whole book: "We rode up those twenty-three floors silently wasting our energies over a feud that should have been done with a hundred years before." This book was written in 2007, and that line STILL HITS HOME in 2024. The problem is while Easy was criticizing the security guard and the host for treating him as lesser than, Easy turned around and did the EXACT SAME THING to Faith versus Tourmaline.
He may as well have been the security guard and the host because that's how he basically regarded black women. Even more strange, there was an entire conversation about loving black women and an answer that made me think Easy needed to pay more attention to his own advice. The way Tourmaline and Faith were spoken about, even with the Bonnie rants, was the one part that soured my five-star review of the book. Same goes for how Feather is talked about like she's fully grown and should be held responsible as a guardian while Easter Dawn is too innocent and childlike. Both children. Only one is black.
This is a common theme I see in Walter Mosley's books. And every time Easy wants to find something out, he has to play dumb, immediately switch to slang, and either "aw shucks" the characters or try to look big and bad. It's weird. I think Easy is street smart but self-hating. He's not someone I'd ever want to know, but he's fun to read about from a distance.
Now ask me why I have five more books to read from Mosley even after all that criticism, and I couldn't even tell you. I like his writing style. I just don't love his characters.
Mosley, Walter "The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray"
Mosley, Walter "The Man in My Basement"
Murphy, Richard "Confessions of a Contractor"
Myers, Edward "Far From Gringo Land"
Naylor, Gloria "The Men of Brewster Place"
Packer, ZZ "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere"
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen "Wench"
Picoult, Jodi "Change of Heart" (Page 1, Page 2)
Picoult, Jodi "Keeping Faith"
Picoult, Jodi "Leaving Time"
Picoult, Jodi "Nineteen Minutes"
Picoult, Jodi "Salem Falls"
Picoult, Jodi "Small Great Things"
Picoult, Jodi "The Tenth Circle"
Ptah, Heru "A Hip Hop Story"
Rhodes, Jewell Park "Douglass' Women"
Rosenberg, Joel C. "The Auschwitz Escape"
Senate, Melissa "The Breakup Club"
Senate, Melissa "The Solomon Sisters Wise Up"
Senate, Melissa "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?"
Sinclair, April "Coffee Will Make You Black"
Singer, Gammy L. "A Landlord's Tale"
Siplin, Karen "Such a Girl"
Siplin, Karen "Whiskey Road"
Souljah, Sister "The Coldest Winter Ever"
Sparks, Nicholas "Two by Two"
Stovall, Taressa "Proverbs for the People"
Thomas, Angie "The Hate U Give"
Tyree, Omar "Flyy Girl"
Tyree, Omar "Single Mom"
Tyree, Omar "Sweet St. Louis"
Weber, Carl "A Dollar and a Dream"
Weber, Carl "Baby Momma Drama"
Weber, Carl "Married Men"
Weber, Carl "Player Haters"
Weber, Carl "The Preacher's Son"
Youngblood, Shay "Soul Kiss"
NONFICTION
50 Cent and Greene, Robert "The 50th Law"
Altman, Susan "The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage"
Anderson, Maggie "Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy"
Ardis, Angela "Inside a Thug's Heart"
Asante, Molefi Kete "Erasing Racism: The Survival of the American Nation"
Bahr, Iris "Machu My Picchu: Searching for Sex, Sanity, and a Soul Mate in South America"
"Barack H. Obama: The 44th President of the United States" (Conde Nast Special Editions)
Bell, W. Kamau "The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian"
Biden, Jill "Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself"
Bollinger, Michele and Dao X. Tran "101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History"
Boyd, Herb "The Harlem Reader: A Celebration of New York's Most Famous Neighborhood, From the Renaissance Years to the Twenty-first Century"
Braxton, Toni and Michelle Burford "Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir"
Brian Smith and Robin Bronk "Art & Soul: Stars Unite to Celebrate and Support the Arts"
Brown, Bobby and Nick Chiles "Every Little Step: My Story"
Campidonica, Anthony C. "Outsmarting the System: Lower Your Taxes, Control Your Future, and Reach Financial Freedom"
Carlos, John Wesley and Dave Zirin "The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World"
Cline, Elizabeth L. "Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion"
Crowder, David and Andrew Bailey "Creating Web Sites Bible" (2nd Edition)
Earl, Sari "Benjamin O. Davis Jr. : Air Force general & Tuskegee Airmen leader"
Ebong, Ima (edited) and A'Lelia Bundles (foreword) "Black Hair: Art, Style, and Culture"
Ellis, Shaun and Monty Sloan (photography) "Wolves: Capturing the Natural Spirit of these Incredible Animals"
Folan, Karyn Langhorne "Don't Bring Home a White Boy: And Other Notions That Keep Black Women From Dating Out"
Gibson, Tyrese and Rev Run "Manology: Secrets of Your Man's Mind Revealed"
Golden, Marita "It's All Love"
Gorman, Hogan "Hot Cripple"
Harper, Hill "The Conversation: How Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships"
Harper, Hill "The Wealth Cure"
Harris, Kamala "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey"
Harrison, Sam "Idea Spotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea"
Haygood, Wil "The Butler: A Witness to History"
Henson, Taraji P. "Around the Way Girl"
Hughes, Langston "Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender"
Jean, Wyclef "An Immigrant's Story: Purpose"
Kerman, Piper "Orange Is the New Black: My Year In a Women's Prison"
Krensky, Stephen "Biography Barack Obama ~ A Photographic Story of a Life"
Livingston, M.D., Gordon "Too Soon Old: Too Late Smart, Thirty True Things You Need to Know"
Lyons, Dan "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble"
Merritt, Jennifer and Roe D'Angelo "13 Things Rich People Won't Tell You: 325+ Tried and True Secrets to Building Your Fortune No Matter What Your Salary"
Morris, Monique W. "Black Stats"
Noah, Trevor "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood"
NOLO "Represent Yourself in Court: Prepare & Try a Winning Civil Case" 11th Edition
Norwood, Mandi "Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex "Spare"
Ro, Ronin "Have Gun will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records"
Simmons, Rev Run and Justine "Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America's Parents" Page 1, Page 2
Smith, Will and Mark Manson "Will"
Souza, Pete "Obama: An Intimate Portrait"
Stodghill, Ron "Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America's Black Colleges and Culture" (Note: The Higginbotham-Brooks part went on way too long. Skip those parts.)
Strauss, Neil "The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships"
Tatum Ph.D., Beverly Daniel "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"
Timbaland and Veronica Chambers "The Emperor of Sound: A Memoir"
Toure "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now"
Turner, Tina and Kurt Loder "I, Tina: My Life Story"
Union, Gabrielle "We're Going to Need More Wine"
Union, Gabrielle "Got Anything Stronger"
Wade, Dwyane "A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball"
Whitaker, Mark "Cosby: His Life and Times"
X, Malcolm "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (Chicago Tribune op/ed piece)
Youssef, Bassem "Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring"
Altman, Susan "The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage"
Anderson, Maggie "Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy"
Ardis, Angela "Inside a Thug's Heart"
Asante, Molefi Kete "Erasing Racism: The Survival of the American Nation"
Bahr, Iris "Machu My Picchu: Searching for Sex, Sanity, and a Soul Mate in South America"
"Barack H. Obama: The 44th President of the United States" (Conde Nast Special Editions)
Bell, W. Kamau "The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian"
Biden, Jill "Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself"
Bollinger, Michele and Dao X. Tran "101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History"
Boyd, Herb "The Harlem Reader: A Celebration of New York's Most Famous Neighborhood, From the Renaissance Years to the Twenty-first Century"
Braxton, Toni and Michelle Burford "Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir"
Brian Smith and Robin Bronk "Art & Soul: Stars Unite to Celebrate and Support the Arts"
Brown, Bobby and Nick Chiles "Every Little Step: My Story"
Campidonica, Anthony C. "Outsmarting the System: Lower Your Taxes, Control Your Future, and Reach Financial Freedom"
Carlos, John Wesley and Dave Zirin "The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World"
Cline, Elizabeth L. "Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion"
Crowder, David and Andrew Bailey "Creating Web Sites Bible" (2nd Edition)
Earl, Sari "Benjamin O. Davis Jr. : Air Force general & Tuskegee Airmen leader"
Ebong, Ima (edited) and A'Lelia Bundles (foreword) "Black Hair: Art, Style, and Culture"
Ellis, Shaun and Monty Sloan (photography) "Wolves: Capturing the Natural Spirit of these Incredible Animals"
Folan, Karyn Langhorne "Don't Bring Home a White Boy: And Other Notions That Keep Black Women From Dating Out"
Gibson, Tyrese and Rev Run "Manology: Secrets of Your Man's Mind Revealed"
Golden, Marita "It's All Love"
Gorman, Hogan "Hot Cripple"
Harper, Hill "The Conversation: How Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships"
Harper, Hill "The Wealth Cure"
Harris, Kamala "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey"
Harrison, Sam "Idea Spotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea"
Haygood, Wil "The Butler: A Witness to History"
Henson, Taraji P. "Around the Way Girl"
Hughes, Langston "Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender"
Jean, Wyclef "An Immigrant's Story: Purpose"
Kerman, Piper "Orange Is the New Black: My Year In a Women's Prison"
Krensky, Stephen "Biography Barack Obama ~ A Photographic Story of a Life"
Livingston, M.D., Gordon "Too Soon Old: Too Late Smart, Thirty True Things You Need to Know"
Lyons, Dan "Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble"
Merritt, Jennifer and Roe D'Angelo "13 Things Rich People Won't Tell You: 325+ Tried and True Secrets to Building Your Fortune No Matter What Your Salary"
Morris, Monique W. "Black Stats"
Noah, Trevor "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood"
NOLO "Represent Yourself in Court: Prepare & Try a Winning Civil Case" 11th Edition
Norwood, Mandi "Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex "Spare"
Ro, Ronin "Have Gun will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records"
Simmons, Rev Run and Justine "Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America's Parents" Page 1, Page 2
Smith, Will and Mark Manson "Will"
Souza, Pete "Obama: An Intimate Portrait"
Stodghill, Ron "Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America's Black Colleges and Culture" (Note: The Higginbotham-Brooks part went on way too long. Skip those parts.)
Strauss, Neil "The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships"
Tatum Ph.D., Beverly Daniel "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"
Timbaland and Veronica Chambers "The Emperor of Sound: A Memoir"
Toure "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now"
Turner, Tina and Kurt Loder "I, Tina: My Life Story"
Union, Gabrielle "We're Going to Need More Wine"
Union, Gabrielle "Got Anything Stronger"
Wade, Dwyane "A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball"
Whitaker, Mark "Cosby: His Life and Times"
X, Malcolm "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" (Chicago Tribune op/ed piece)
Youssef, Bassem "Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring"
HEALTHY FOOD/FITNESS
"101 Best Vegan Foods"
Hudson, Jennifer "I Got This"
Leneman, Leah "The Tofu Cookbook"
Obama, Michelle "American Grown"
Parkes, Sally "The Yoga Healing Bible: Finding the best postures, meditations, relaxation techniques, and breathing exercises for complete physical and spiritual balance"
Shelf, Angela "The Ethnic Vegetarian"
Snyder C.N., Kimberly "The Beauty Detox Foods"
Straten, Michael van "The Omega 3 Cookbook"
Sussman, Vic "The Vegetarian Alternative: A Guide to a Healthful and Humane Diet"
Hudson, Jennifer "I Got This"
Leneman, Leah "The Tofu Cookbook"
Obama, Michelle "American Grown"
Parkes, Sally "The Yoga Healing Bible: Finding the best postures, meditations, relaxation techniques, and breathing exercises for complete physical and spiritual balance"
Shelf, Angela "The Ethnic Vegetarian"
Snyder C.N., Kimberly "The Beauty Detox Foods"
Straten, Michael van "The Omega 3 Cookbook"
Sussman, Vic "The Vegetarian Alternative: A Guide to a Healthful and Humane Diet"
COMEDY/COMEDIANS
DeGeneres, Ellen "The Funny Thing Is"
Goldberg, Whoopi "Is it just me? Or is it nuts out there?"
Halpern, Justin "Sh*t My Dad Says"
Halpern, Justin "I Suck at Girls"
Hart, Kevin "I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons"
Harvey, Steve "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment"
Kaling, Mindy "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)"
Kaling, Mindy "Why Not Me?"
Lopez, George "Why You Crying? My Long, Hard Look at Life, Love and Laughter"
McGruder, Aaron "A Right to Be Hostile: The Boondocks Treasury"
McGruder, Aaron "Public Enemy 2: An All New Boondocks Collection"
Murphy, Charlie "The Making of a Stand-Up Guy"
Wolf, Josh "It Takes Balls: Dating Single Moms and Other Confessions"
Youssef, Bassem "Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring"
Goldberg, Whoopi "Is it just me? Or is it nuts out there?"
Halpern, Justin "Sh*t My Dad Says"
Halpern, Justin "I Suck at Girls"
Hart, Kevin "I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons"
Harvey, Steve "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment"
Kaling, Mindy "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)"
Kaling, Mindy "Why Not Me?"
Lopez, George "Why You Crying? My Long, Hard Look at Life, Love and Laughter"
McGruder, Aaron "A Right to Be Hostile: The Boondocks Treasury"
McGruder, Aaron "Public Enemy 2: An All New Boondocks Collection"
Murphy, Charlie "The Making of a Stand-Up Guy"
Wolf, Josh "It Takes Balls: Dating Single Moms and Other Confessions"
Youssef, Bassem "Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring"