Shamontiel L. Vaughn
K.I.T.
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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.

Ekiuwa Aire

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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"

Karen Siplin

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Karen Siplin interview
File Size: 583 kb
File Type: pdf
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Steve Harvey

"Steve Harvey: Act Like a Lady," Chicago Defender, Volume CIII, No. 42, February 18-24, 2009
Steve Harvey interview
File Size: 642 kb
File Type: jpg
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E. Lynn Harris

E. Lynn Harris "Author E. Lynn Harris talks character, the DL," Chicago Defender, January 28-February 3, 2009
E. Lynn Harris interview
File Size: 553 kb
File Type: jpg
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"Memories of E. Lynn Harris, a great author," Chicago Defender Online, July 25, 2009
Memories of E. Lynn Harris
File Size: 423 kb
File Type: jpg
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Sister Souljah

"Sister Souljah seeking new roads to travel," Chicago Defender, January 21-27, 2009:
Sister Souljah interview
File Size: 629 kb
File Type: jpg
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Dr. Natalie Wilson

Dr. Natalie Wilson interview
File Size: 1693 kb
File Type: pdf
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Christopher Herz

Christopher Herz interview
File Size: 1607 kb
File Type: pdf
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Kevin Alan Milne

Kevin Alan Milne interview
File Size: 1072 kb
File Type: pdf
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Michelle Stevens

"​‘Scared Selfless’ author finds inspiration about trauma at Saybrook University," Saybrook University (TCS), May 1, 2017
Michelle Stevens Scared Selfless
File Size: 860 kb
File Type: pdf
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Erin O. Patton

Erin O. Patton interview
File Size: 1484 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File



LATEST BOOKSHELF UPDATE: May 6, 2023
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 created.

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"

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"

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"

Charlamagne Tha God "Black Privilege"

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"

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"
  
Norwood, Mandi "Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion


NEW! Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex "Spare"

I genuinely have never understood the fascination with the royals. Even when I was working in a newsroom and all conversation stopped to watch William and Catherine get married, I looked at one of the TV screens for a solid 60 seconds and put my headphones on. Journalists were loving this, and I just have no interest in it. Well, had. Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan had a wedding with way more sauce in it. It wasn't just the nose ring and the mom's locks, but the black preacher and the black gospel choir made me feel like I was watching one of my folks get married. I was highly entertained! 

After the Oprah interview, then I really started paying attention. I would have never read this book about Prince Harry if Meghan wasn't in the picture (although I did like watching him dancing in Jamaica). It took quite some time to get the book (from the library) because I was somewhere in the 800s on the library list. I pondered on buying the book, but I didn't know if I'd even want it permanently. And once I started reading all the royal stories at the beginning, I lost interest again. I was intrigued by Princess Diana stories. I was even interested in Harry's lived experience.

But every time he talked about his father, brother, sister-in-law and even the queen, my mind wandered again. There's just something peculiar to me about not seeing your grandmother's bedroom for more than 20 years and the frantic need to tell women to curtsy in her presence. The scheduled meetings to talk to family and going through a whole hierarchal staff plus a bunch of spineless reporters seems draining, and they spent more time doing things behind each other's back than their actual spines could. 

I got so tired of those antics that I skipped about half of the middle pages to get to the chapters on Meghan. I read everything after she came into his life. But Prince Harry gave his family way too many opportunities to disrespect him on a continuous basis. It took way too long for him to finally realize his brother William was not to be trusted. The dog bowl story was bad enough, but the demand to not tell Meghan about this fight was all kinds of ballsy. While I enjoyed the Meghan chapters both for the chaos and the romance, my opinion still remains the same about the royals. The entire system is overrated. And I still don't care about what any ​of the rest of them do a decade later, just Harry and Meghan!


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: Page 1 and Page 2)

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
"

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" ​






©2008 Shamontiel L. Vaughn| All rights reserved

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