Loading


Visit our Newsletter Archives

AALBC.com BEST SELLING BOOKS
http://www.aalbc.com/books/bestsellers.htm

To view the top 25 selling fiction and nonfiction books from September 1st through October 31st, visit: http://www.aalbc.com/books/sepoct_2009.htm

Fiction

1 -- Push by Sapphire
2 -- Purple Panties: An Eroticanoir.com Anthology by Zane (Editor)
3 -- Head Bangers: An APF Sexcapade by Zane
4 -- Thug Lovin' by Wahida Clark
5 -- Missionary No More: Purple Panties 2 by Zane (Editor)

Non-Fiction

1 -- Confessions of a Video Vixen by Karrine Steffans
2 -- The Vixen Diaries
by Karrine Steffans
3 -- The Ebony Cookbook: A Date with a Dish
by  Freda De Knight
4 -- The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors
by Frances Cress Welsing
5 --
The MIS-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson

AUTHORS YOU SHOULD KNOW
http://authors.aalbc.com/author1.htm

Walter RodneyDr. Walter Rodney
http://authors.aalbc.com/walter_rodney.htm

Rodney was a Guyanese graduate of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. In 1963, he entered the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, and in 1966 he was awarded his PhD for his research into the history of the upper Guinea Coast. He was tragically killed during the summer of 1980 amidst political turmoil in Guyana.

Rodney's most popular work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how European imperialism has lead directly to Africa's underdevelopment.


Dolen Perkins-ValdezDolen Perkins-Valdez

http://authors.aalbc.com/dolen_perkins-valdez

Look out for Perkins-Valdez's debut novel Wench (due January 2010 from Amistad); which tells the story of a lawyer named Elias P. Drake, who in 1851, purchased a plot of land near Xenia, Ohio with the intent to establish a summer vacation resort where the country's elite could relax and enjoy the mineral springs in the area. At the time, it was believed that natural water could cure illnesses and bring about good health. What made this resort unusual, however, was that it became a popular vacation destination for southern slaveholders and their enslaved mistresses. Ultimately, these flagrantly open relationships offended the northern abolitionists who also frequented the resort. After four years, the resort closed.


Byron PittsByron Pitts
http://authors.aalbc.com/byron_pitts.htm

Known for his thought-provoking coverage and his commitment to exceptional storytelling, Pitts is a multiple Emmy award winning journalist. As Chief National Correspondent for CBSS Evening News With Katiee Couric Pitts was an embedded reporter covering the Iraq War and was recognized for his work under fire.. Pitts realized a life-long goal when he was named a Contributing Correspondent to CBS'' 60 Minutes in 2009.in 2009.

Pitts' memoir Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges, chronicles his astonishing story of overcoming a childhood filled with obstacles to achieve enormous success in life. Throughout Byron's difficult youth�his parents separated when he was twelve and his mother worked two jobs to make ends meet�he suffered from a debilitating stutter. But Byron was keeping an even more embarrassing secret: He was also functionally illiterate. For a kid from inner-city Baltimore, it was a recipe for failure.


Uwem Akpan Uwem Akpan
http://authors.aalbc.com/uwem_akpan.htm

Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Creighton and Gonzaga universities, he studied theology for three years at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. "My Parents' Bedroom," a story from his short story collection, "Say You're One of Them," was one of five short stories by African writers chosen as finalists for The Caine Prize for African Writing 2007. Say You're One of Them won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. In 2007, Akpan taught at a Jesuit college in Harare, Zimbabwe. Now he serves at Christ the King Church, Ilasamaja-Lagos, Nigeria.


Eisa Nefertari UlenEisa Nefertari Ulen
 
http://aalbc.com/authors/eisa_nefertari_ulen.htm

In Eisa's debut novel, Crystelle Mourning, we are presented with a profound and intense story with deeply resonant depictions of urban African American life.  (Recommended for those who can't find well written urban fiction).

With her well-employed fianc� and a comfortable life in New York City, Crystelle has a life most young professionals would envy. She has come a long way from the rough Philadelphia neighborhood where she grew up. But she hasn't left the past behind her. A ghost from her West Philly days continues to haunt her -- the spirit of her high school sweetheart Jimmie, who she watched get gunned down one unforgettable night years ago. Emotionally distraught from her unsettling memories and the suspicion she may be pregnant, Crystelle goes back to her old neighborhood to reconnect with friends and family. There, with the help of Jimmie's mother, a woman who Crystelle loves like family -- and who makes a prison visit to the young man who murdered her son -- Crystelle can finally come to grips with her past, realizing the power of forgiveness and the need to move on.


Marilynn GriffithMarilynn Griffith
http://authors.aalbc.com/marilynn_griffith.htm

Griffith is a freelance writer and conference speaker whose online columns and blogs reach thousands of women each year. She is the author of the Shades of Style series and Rhythms of Grace. Marilynn lives in Florida with her husband and their seven children. She has served as national Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers and has served on faculty at several national writers conferences. When she's not writing about friendship, family and faith, Marilynn blogs and speaks to women and writers.

 

AALBC.com BOOK REVIEWS (Fiction)

Am I not a ManAm I Not a Man?: The Dred Scott Story by Mark L. Shurtleff
http://reviews.aalbc.com/am_i_not_a_man.htm

This well-researched historical novel, Am I Not A Man?, goes into the mind of Dred Scott, an illiterate slave who endured the agony of bondage and all of its cruelty from his early days in Virginia until his classic legal battles to over-turn the restrictive laws of slavery.  Shurtleff, a white author,  never lets us forget these black men and women were human beings.  He shows the reader that Dred and his wife, Harriet, were loving, caring people. He takes us into their minds and hearts and trusts us with their unrelenting humanity.

For those unfamiliar with the indecent American institution of slavery, Shurtleff includes a brief history of some of its landmarks of the political, commercial, and legal highlights through the years. The recreated dialogue with James Madison and Thomas Jefferson of the strategies of possessing Blacks as chattel is on par with any of the top-notch practitioners of current historical fiction. Although the novel is sometimes confusing in bouncing around in its narrative timeline, Shurtleff paints a balanced picture of the morally conflicted framers of the Constitution and the creation of the flawed democracy they envisioned. It provides a historical context for the Dred Scott tragedy.


Monkeybars of LifeThe Monkeybars of Life by Ted Pittman
http://reviews.aalbc.com/the_monkeybars_of_life.htm

Pittman's debut novel, The Monkeybars Of Life, salutes the dual notions of endurance and survival.  Pittman's main character, Nate LaChae, who is blessed with an immensely gifted mind for things mechanical, plows ahead through all kinds of obstacles and challenges to realize his dream. Remembering his beloved mother's words that she would pray for him �while he climbs those giant monkeybars of life,� he allows nothing to stand in his way.


Mrs. BlackMrs. Black by Angelia Vernon Menchan

http://reviews.aalbc.com/mrs_black.htm

Angelia Vernon Menchan who also has written under the name, acVernon Menchan has just released an new novel that takes us further into the world of the residents of Center City, Florida. We met the usual suspects of Center City in her debut novel, Black's Trilogy: Black's Obsession. The trilogy also included Book Two: Cinnamon's Universe and Book Three: Brown's Possession . . . A Family's Progression.

What an interesting bunch the residents of Center City have turned out to be. The author has developed a cast of main characters that have layers of complex human traits. Even her secondary characters are memorable.

AALBC.com BOOK REVIEWS (Non-Fiction)

Barack Like MeBarack Like Me: The Chocolate-Covered Truth by David Alan Grier
http://reviews.aalbc.com/barack_like_me.htm

It's not a good sign when the author of a book is already making apologies in the preface for what you're about to read. That's what we have in the case of Barack Like Me by David Alan Grier, a disjointed rise of Obama memoir which might have sounded like a good idea a year ago, but which amounts to little more than the unfocused ramblings by a guy man who probably didn't have any reason to sound so giddy about Barack Obama or even about his own life.

This ill-conceived tome's problems start with the front cover photo, on which we find the author posed giving an "OK" hand signal while wearing a powdered wig and a patriot's uniform from the Revolutionary War Era. Based on the title's play on words, I supposed the picture is supposed to suggest that he's as patriotic as our new president.


shooting starsShooting Stars by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger - Book Review
http://reviews.aalbc.com/shooting_stars.htm

Today, he is the sixth-highest paid athlete in the world, behind only Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, David Beckham and Kimi Raikkonen (whoever that is). Between his salary from the Cleveland Cavaliers and his lucrative endorsements deals with the likes of Nike, Sprite and Bubblicious LeBron is slated to rake in $40 million in 2009, meaning he will have made a total of over $200 million before turning 25.

Given his phenomenal success, it would be easy to understand if �King James� had a swelled head and forget where came from. But this simply isn�t the case, as is amply illustrated in Shooting Stars, a poignant memoir chronicling his formative years and coming of age in Akron, Ohio. But rather than focus merely on himself, LeBron saw fit to give his pals Willie McGee, Dru Joyce, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis equal time as subjects of the book as well.


Between Good and GhettoBetween Good and Ghetto: African-American Girls and Inner-City Violence

http://reviews.aalbc.com/between_god_and_ghetto.htm

The author argues that, in the ghetto, an adolescent girl's survival revolves around the three R�s, not reading, writing and arithmetic, but reputation, respect and retaliation. And a well-adjusted female has learned how to negotiate her way daily through dangerous waters ranging from personal battles at school to fights with boyfriends and baby-fathers to sexual assaults to robberies, drive-bys, even the coincidence of being at the scene of an unfolding crime.

Thus, it makes sense that Nikki Jones should conclude that, �If I have learned anything from my years of researching and writing this book, it is that the battle for respect, dignity, and positive life chances is not one these girls should have to fight on their own.� A sobering discourse on the growing problem of social inequality which must be addressed before our rapidly decaying, urban infrastructure turns the prospect of the fall of American Civilization into a culturally-irreversible fait accompli.


Hill Harpers book the conversationThe Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships by Hill Harper http://reviews.aalbc.com/the_conversation.htm

After winning NAACP Image Awards for his best-selling children's books �Letters to a Young Brother� and �Letters to a Young Sister,� Hill Harper decided to write one for adults. The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships does dole out plenty of practical love advice, even though the author's never been married and freely admits to a checkered past in terms of dating.

Half how-to tome, half intimate memoir, The Conversation is divided between the battle-of-the-sexes and Harper's frustration at his own failure to find a life mate. The latter aspect of the text proves more compelling than trite, ubiquitous maxims like �Let your feelings show� and �Think outside the box,� since Hill eventually falls for Nichole, a single-mom from D.C. he first met years ago at a friend's wedding.

AALBC.com AUTHOR & CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS

gabbyGabby Sidibe - The �Precious� Interview
http://reviews.aalbc.com/gabby_sidibe.htm

Sidibe was born in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn in 1983 to R&B/Gospel singer Alice Tan Ridley, and Ibnou Sidibe, a cab driver from Senegal. After her parents separated, Gabby was raised in Harlem by her mother who supported the family by teaching Special Ed and by singing in the subway.

A graduate of Washington Irving High School, Gabby was pursuing a degree in psychology at Mercy College and working as a telephone company customer service representative when she decided to try out for the title role in the movie Precious. Her audition so wowed director Lee Daniels that he had no hesitation about picking her over the 400 other actresses answering the casting call. Here, Gabby talks about the film and her critically-acclaimed performance, both of which have Hollywood humming with early Oscar buzz.

Also check out the "Precious" Interviews with Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey


Lee DanielsInterview with Producer Lee Daniels

http://reviews.aalbc.com/lee_daniels.htm

Daniels was born in Philly on December 24, 1959. The iconoclastic director/producer's own life story is every bit as raw as the films he creates. Overcoming assorted childhood adversities, he founded and was running his own health care agency by the age of 21, providing nurses to private homes and hospitals while simultaneously trying to become a scriptwriter. 

Here, he talks about new movie, Precious, the critically-acclaimed screen adaptation of Sapphire's best-selling novel, �Push.� The picture stars Gabby Sidibe in the title role, along with an all-star cast which includes Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz and Sherri Shepherd. The movie has been the beneficiary of considerable Oscar-buzz since winning three awards at Sundance Film Festival last January, including best picture.

AALBC.com FILM REVIEWS

Skin Skin - Apartheid Poses Problem for White Couple with Black Baby
http://reviews.aalbc.com/skin.htm

Until 1994, South Africa's system of Apartheid forbade people of different �races� to use the same stores, to attend the same schools or to reside under the same roof. Those oppressive segregation laws came to rip an Afrikaner family apart after the wife gave birth to a baby with dark skin and nappy hair in 1955.

Abraham and Sannie Laing raised a lot of eyebrows when they brought a brown newborn back from the hospital. While some neighbors suspected that the wife must have cheated, doctors did a blood test which determined that Abraham was in fact the father.  This real-life nightmare is the subject of Skin, a heartbreaking bio-pic based on Judith Stone's best seller �When She Was White: The True Story of a Family Divided by Race.�


EndgameEndgame - South African Docudrama Chronicles Demise of Apartheid
http://reviews.aalbc.com/endgame.htm

While most people are well aware of the years of civil unrest which led to the demise of Apartheid in 1994, not as many know about the secret talks that simultaneously transpired for almost a decade between the South African government and the African National Congress (ANC), the political party spearheading the independence movement. Since the racist regime officially opposed the notion of negotiating with terrorists, President P.W. Botha couldn�t let the white minority know that he had, in fact, dispatched an emissary to England to meet with a representative of the outlawed ANC.


Pray the Devil Back to Hell Pray the Devil Back to Hell - DVD Review
http://reviews.aalbc.com/pray_the_devil_back_to_hell.htm

Liberia was founded in 1847 by former U.S. slaves shipped back to Africa by the American Colonization Society. Unfortunately, these repatriated blacks considered themselves superior to the indigenous peoples they encountered, and so they formed a society in which the descendants of African-Americans enjoyed elite class status.

The tensions which ensued between the two groups essentially remained unaddressed until everything came to a head in 1989. That was when the first of two civil wars erupted which combined would claim over 200,000 lives and last until 2003.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell recounts the story of how a ceasefire was finally achieved, namely, through the determined efforts of a coalition of Christian and Muslim women fed up with having to beg for food and to raise their children amidst incessant slaughter, raping and looting.


Star Trek (2009)Star Trek - DVD Review
http://reviews.aalbc.com/star_trek.htm
 

Quite frankly, it felt like the end of the line for Star Trek in 2002 when, Nemesis, the 10th film in the fabled sci-fi series, proved to be such an uninspired disappointment. After all, as any Trekkie could tell you, the even-numbered installments, at least until then, could always be counted on to be substantially superior to their odd-numbered counterparts.

So, it is easy to understand why loyal fans have been holding their breaths with trepidation in anticipation of the release of Star Trek 11. But they can now exhale a collective sigh of relief, for this worthy adventure not only resuscitates the flagging franchise but it just might be the best Star Trek yet.


KunslerWilliam Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
http://reviews.aalbc.com/william_kunstler.htm 

In this bittersweet bio-pic they [daughters, Emily and Sarah] not only recount their father's exploits, but how they had to grow up with the specter of daily death threats and demonstrations in front of their home. Sadly, their father would only be posthumously vindicated for his spirited representation of innocent Harlem teens accused of raping the Central Park jogger.

But it is of little comfort to the African-American defendants that their names were belatedly cleared only after they�d already served lengthy prison terms. There had been a rush to judgment at the time of the trial which had the boys tried and convicted in the court of public opinion by everyone from Mayor Koch to Donald Trump who called for the death penalty in a full page ad in the New York Times.

AALBC.com RECOMMENDS

Hollyhood by Valerie JoynerHollyhood by Valerie Joyner
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061662445/ref=nosim/aalbccom-20 

Joyner worked behind-the-scenes in Hollywood for seven years. Her television credits include In Living Color, The Wayans Bros and The Jamie Foxx Show.  She brings this experience to bear in her debut novel Hollyhood.  Hollyhood tells the story of Tyrone Hart, who clawed his way up from DC's drug-infested streets to the rich and glamorous world of Hollywood. A producer and Tinseltown heavyweight, he's got the cash to burn . . . but what happens when the ratings drop?

Determined to live his dream, Ty uses his street-sense and savvy instincts to keep control of his career, his show, his life . . . and his friends. Hollywood might be the land of dreams, but in Hollyhood the only dreams you get are the ones you make yourself.


E. Ethelbert MillerThe 5th Inning by E. Ethelbert Miller
http://authors.aalbc.com/ethelbert.htm

The 5th Inning is poet and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller's second memoir. Coming after Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer (published in 2000), this book finds Miller returning to baseball, the game of his youth, in order to find the metaphor that will provide the measurement of his life. Almost 60, he ponders whether his life can now be entered into the official record books as a success or failure.

The 5th Inning is one man's examination of personal relationships, depression, love and loss. This is a story of the individual alone on the pitching mound or in the batters box. It's a box score filled with remembrance. It's a combination of baseball and the blues.


LifelinesLifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs by
Askhari Johnson Hodari & Yvonne McCalla Sobers
http://aalbc.com/authors/askhari_johnson_hodari.htm

These are proverbs about life, not about race. Here are memorable truisms full of wit and wisdom. These are pithy proverbs anyone can understand and powerful proverbs everyone will be able to use. �Kalamu ya Salaam, New Orleans writer/educator

With a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lifelines: The Black book of Proverbs travels to all corners of the globe to reclaim and preserve African wisdom. This book offers the remarkably wise heart of Africa and her children to readers experiencing career changes, new births, weddings, death, and other rites of passage. Readers will find truth in the African saying, �When the occasion arises, there is a proverb to suit it.�

Proverbs are presented in vibrant story-poem form; and are uniquely arranged by key life cycle events such as birth, initiation, marriage, and death. The proverbs can be found under themes such as �wealth�, �parenting�, �change� and �strength.� Inspired illustrations introduce each section along with beautiful vignettes showing how African proverbs comfort, inspire and instruct during different phases of life.


Children of the Waters: A Novel by Carleen BriceChildren of the Waters by Carleen Brice
http://authors.aalbc.com/carleen_brice.htm

The author of the #1 Denver Post bestseller and Essence Book Club Pick Orange Mint and Honey explores the connection between love and race, and what it really means to be a family.

Trish Taylor's white ancestry never got in the way of her love for her black ex-husband, or their mixed race son, Will. But when Trish's marriage ends, she returns to her family's Denver, Colorado home to find a sense of identity and connect to her past.

What she finds there shocks her to the very core: her mother and newborn sister were not killed in a car crash as she was told. In fact, her baby sister, Billie Cousins, is now a grown woman; her grandparents had put her up for adoption, unwilling to raise the child of a black man. Billie, who had no idea she was adopted, wants nothing to do with Trish until a tragedy in Billie's own family forces her to lean on her surprisingly supportive and sympathetic sister. Together they unravel age-old layers of secrets and resentments and navigate a path toward love, healing, and true reconciliation.


The Pretty BoyThe Pretty-Boy Blues by Renee Sellers

http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000131725

After dating several good-looking men with serious deficiencies, Sherry Johnson, the Executive Director of a transitional housing program, vows to leave the pretty-boys alone. That is until she encounters generous, kind hearted Keith Blair, whose family owns a chain of sporting goods stores. Keith admittedly has no interest in serious, long-term relationships and only wants a long-term fling with Sherry who rejects his advances. However, after several futile attempts to resist each other, the couple marries. Initially, they seem blissfully in love with a fairytale life until Keith's deficiencies are revealed and they separate, leaving stubborn and proud Sherry almost as helpless as the people she serves.

 

AALBC.com SURVEYS

newsletter feedbackView Results of the AALBC eNewsletter Feedback Survey
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2kkw318fzbq9a4q/results

All AALBC.com Surveys include a drawing for a cash prize!  Winners of a $25 prize from the last survey are Deetra of Los Angeles, CA  and Vsa of Chicago, IL  Congratulations!

 

EVENTS
hhttp://events.aalbc.com

bwrc2010Black Writers Reunion & Conference 2010  - Atlanta, GA - June 23-26, 2010
CALL FOR SESSION PROPOSALS
http://www.blackwriters.org

Black Writers Reunion & Conference is accepting proposals for workshops and seminars on the craft and business of writing to be presented at the 6th BWRC in Atlanta, Georgia, June 23-26, 2010. We invite presentations that demonstrate insight and expertise on the craft and business of fiction, nonfiction, writing for the web, songwriting, blogging for profit, play/screenwriting, food writing, copy writing, and inspirational writing with interactive workshops that will allow participants to engage in hands-on writing or related activities wherever possible. We also welcome sessions that would permit attendees to receive feedback on their work, whether during or following the conference. Workshop styles may range from a modified traditional presentation to skill-building training. Proposals will be evaluated on the following:

  • A well-defined topic with focused objectives
  • Consistency with and significance to the conference emphasis areas
  • Presenter credibility and experience to engage the audience and deliver an outstanding and informative workshop

Self-Publishing Symposium 2010Self-Publishing Symposium - Harlem, NY - March 7th, 2010
http://www.selfpublishingsymposium.com

Join us for the next Self-Publishing Symposium, March 7th, 2010 at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Take advantage of what this important business event can do for your publishing company. Whether you�re a self-published author, small/independent press or writer considering self-publishing, you won�t want to miss the only conference that focuses on the business of publishing.  

Learn successful business strategies from industry experts
Network with peers and professionals and make powerful connections
Grow your business to new heights  


Toni Morrison 2010 chair NBWC2010 National Black Writers Conference - Brooklyn, NY - March 25- 28, 2010
http://www.mec.cuny.edu/nationalblackwritersconference

The theme of the 2010 National Black Writers Conference is  And Then We Heard the Thunder: Black Writers Reconstructing Memories and Lighting the Way.  Through a series of panel discussions, roundtables, author readings and storytelling, the National Black Writers Conference  will use the metaphor of thunder, memory and light to examine the historical representation of the literature of Black writers and the representation of new and future directions for contemporary and emerging literary voices.  With  Toni Morrisonn as the Honorary Chair, the National Black Writers Conference will also honor  AmiriBarakaa, KamauBraithwaitee and  Dr. Edison O. Jacksonn. Black writers will come from throughout  Americaa, the Caribbean, Europe and  Africaa.

 

INTERESTING DISCUSSION BOARD POSTS

http://www.thumperscorner.com/cgi/discus/search.cgi?method=last&number=7&units=1440&tree=ON&where=all
naked serena williams
Serena Williams poses naked for magazine cover
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/179/52450.html

The magazine cover may not have been a conscious conspiracy on the part of ESPN but it was an idea motivated by the pre-conceived notion about black women being "brazen hussies", a notion that would further foster an assumption that if pictures of naked white non-entities sell magazines, just think how much can be made from a nude cover featuring a famous woman who is not only voluptuous but who is also - black! A triple treat. Man! "Have our people call Selena Williams' people." �Cynique


Sammy Sosa before & after
Sammy Sosa: The "new" Michael Jackson
http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/179/52722.html

Many have been shocked to see recent photos of retired major league baseball player Sammy Sosa. Not only is he wearing green contact lenses, but his skin tone is considerably lighter than usual, something which he claims is the result of a skin "rejuvenation" process, some reports say. The once dark-complexioned, undeniably African-looking Sosa now looks more like Ricky Ricardo from "I Love Lucy". As the late Nigerian activist and musician Fela Kuti would have said, it appears that Sosa is guilty of having a "colonial mentality." �Serenasailor

 

BOOK INDUSTRY NEWS

Visit Daily to get the latest new in the world of books
http://aalbc.com/book_industry_news.php

'


whatthedogsaw_smWhat the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell - New York Times Book Review
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html

Gladwell is a writer of many gifts. His nose for the untold back story will have readers repeatedly muttering, �Gee, that's interesting!� He avoids shopworn topics, easy moralization and conventional wisdom, encouraging his readers to think again and think different. His prose is transparent, with lucid explanations and a sense that we are chatting with the experts ourselves. Some chapters are master�pieces in the art of the essay. I particularly liked �Something Borrowed,� a moving examination of the elusive line between artistic influence and plagiarism, and �Dangerous Minds,� a suspenseful tale of criminal profiling that shows how self-anointed experts can delude their clients and themselves with elastic predictions. (More on Malcolm Gladwell)


changing my mindChanging My Mind' by Zadie Smith - Book Review by Ella Taylor

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-zadie-smith15-2009nov15,0,279531.story

Smith endured unwelcome pressure to become the voice of multicultural Britain, which must explain why she makes no secret of her mistrust of identity politics. The telegenic Smith became an instant celebrity who cut an articulate, if sometimes haughty, public figure (she could be cranky to a degree that would make V.S. Naipaul proud). Inevitably, praise was more muted for her next two novels, "The Autograph Man" and "On Beauty."

Today, Smith flits across the Atlantic to teach and lecture at Ivy League schools. To judge by "Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays," her new collection of writings for a range of periodicals, she hasn't been idle on the writing front. Smith's reflections on, among other things, Greta Garbo, literary trends, Oscar parties and a trip to Liberia, fall more or less gracefully into ostensibly banal categories of "Reading," "Being," "Seeing," "Feeling" and "Remembering." Taken together, they reflect a lively, unselfconscious, rigorous, erudite and earnestly open mind that's busy refining its view of life, literature and a great deal in between.  (More on Zadie Smith)


hos_hooks_book_smHos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money, and Sex
 - Interview with Author David Henry Sterry
http://www.seattlepi.com/books/412069_sexbook11.html

I had no political axe to grind: if you worked in the sex business, and you had a story to tell, and you had the skill to tell it, you were welcome in our book. As a result, I have writing by 15-year-old girls who were raped, beaten, burned, starved, degraded and exploited by the worst scum of the earth. And I have women who used sex work to pay for their master of fine arts degree at Berkeley. And everything in between: Working class, meat-and-potatoes sex workers; fabulous rent boys; phone-sex operators; former Olympic athletes; undereducated and overeducated.


AAALBC.com INFORMATION AND HOUSEKEEPING
  • All About AALBC.com http://aalbc.com/aboutus.htm
  • Connect to Troy Johnson, AALBC.com Founder, through Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aalbc
  • Facebook Group Friends of AALBC.com: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=54400363418
  • Visit my Blog: http://troyjohnson.name
  • Become My MySpace Friend: http://www.myspace.com/aalbc
  • Get Linkedin to Troy: http://www.linkedin.com/in/aalbc
  • Subscribe to AALBC.com's YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/aalbc
  • Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/aalbc
  • Need a Speaker? http://events.aalbc.com/aalbc_com_founder_appearances.htm

Troy Johnson
President, AALBC.com, LLC
55 West 116th Street #195
New York, NY 10026

Office: 212-289-6356
Toll Free: 866-603-8394
Email: troy@aalbc.com

Peace,
Troy