AALBC.com's Best Selling Books
September & October 2001
To learn more about any of these books click the
title, to learn more about the author click author's name.
Mama
Dip's Kitchen (Click title to purchase on-line)
For nearly twenty-five years, Mildred Council--better known by her nickname, Mama Dip--has nourished thousands of hungry folks in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her restaurant, Mama Dip's Kitchen, is a much-loved community institution that has gained loyal fans and customers from all walks of life, from New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne to former Tar Heel basketball player Michael Jordan.
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The
Chinaberry Tree: A
Novel of American Life (Click title to purchase on-line)
The Chinaberry Tree (1931), Fauset's third novel, is a tale of the lives and loves of two generations of African-American women. Its seemingly quiet small-town setting is the backdrop for such bold and explosive issues as adultery, incest, miscegenation, lust, envy, and deception. The story focuses on two women: Laurentine Strange, the beautiful daughter of a common-law interracial union, tormented by the idea that life has passed her by because of her "bad blood"; and her cousin Melissa Paul, a self-confident teenager to whom even darker secrets are revealed.
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The
African Presence in Early Asia (Click title to purchase on-line)
The story of the African presence in early Asia is as fascinating as
it is obscure. It covers a period of more than 500,000 years beginning
with the first Homo erectus migrations out of Africa. Both Peking and
Java Man were only regional varieties of these early Africoid hominids.
The story continues with the first modern human populations (Homo
sapiens sapiens), Diminutive Blacks, who traveled and so-journed from
one corner of Asia to the other, beginning perhaps 90,000 years ago. The
Diminutive Blacks were followed by others of slightly larger bodily
proportions and further distinguished by straight to wavy hair textures.
Variously called Austrics, Austro-Asiatics, Mons, Mundas, Kolarians, and
Veddas, these people were probably at their zenith 25,000 years ago, and
are still prevalent in large numbers throughout Asia. Blacks were also
the first in the development of Asia's early civilizations. The hard
factual evidence has borne this out in case after case. Although the
story of the black presence in early Asia is obscure, its documentation
is by no means new, and the works of Drusilla D. Houston, Joel A.
Rogers, and most recently, John G. Jackson, can be singled out for
broadening our awareness of the subject and providing a solid foundation
from which we can move forward.
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For
Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide
when the Rainbow Is Enuf: A Choreopoem (Click title to purchase on-line)
From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the twentieth century. Here is the complete text, with stage directions, of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.
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The
Seventh Octave: The Early Writings of Saul Stacey Williams (Click title to purchase on-line)
Saul Williams is the all time best selling author on AALBC.com. His books of poetry Seventh Octave and She are AALBC.com favorites!
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She (Click title to purchase on-line)
AALBC top 10 bestseller every 11 out of 12 months in 2000! She is a fascinating and unique collection of interconnected poems by this multi-talented star -- and marks the beginning of an incredible and totally original artistic career.
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Cane
River (Oprah Edition) (Click title purchase on-line now)
"Oprah Edition" You already know what that means; an instant bestseller. In the case of Lalita Tademy's Cane River the sales figures are substantiated by an excellent book Listen to an Interview with Ms. Tademy and QBR's Talking Books from June 2001.
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The
Words Don't Fit In My Mouth (Click title purchase on-line now)
One of the all time favorite AALBC.com books. This book of poetry is by, 5 time Showtime at the Apollo winner, Jessica Care Moore.
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Babe (Click title purchase on-line now)
Babe was chosen for the CWMYB Online Book Club's Reading list (Reading List September 2001) Summary
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Shake
Loose My Skin (Click title purchase on-line now)
Shake Loose My Skin covers over thirty years of work and is a testament to her literary, sensual, and political powers. Sanchez combines an ear for the rhythms of street speech with a sophisticated formal repertoire. She shifts with ease from a blues-inspired love poem to a political call to arms. She is a master of haiku, tanka, and even villanelle, but constantly reconstructs these and other forms with her unique poetic vision. Her world is one of hardship, violence, and oppression, but it is also one of passion, fortitude, and tenderness. |