AALBC Search
Long Fall
Long Fall Thumper Book Review I started Walter Mosley’s The Long Fall with a bit of left over anger and some anticipation. I’m not going to lie, I did not ever think that I would feel...
The Fall of Rome
The Fall of Rome Thumper Book Review The Fall of Rome is the first adult novel by Coretta Scott King winner Martha Southgate. Southgate through the narrative of three people told a story that strip...
Running to Fall
Running to Fall Publishers Weekly’s Booklife Book Review This review originally appeared on Booklife Buckhanon (Speaking of Summer) reveals the emotional complexity behind the facade...
Known to Evil
Known to Evil Thumper Book Review Walter Mosley is back with the second installment of his new, magnificent Lenoid McGill Mystery series, Known to Evil. Believe it or not, I got my hands on Known...
Going Natural: How to Fall in Love with Nappy Hair
Going Natural: How to Fall in Love with Nappy Hair Kam Williams Book Review "Five years ago… I knew nothing about my natural hair. It was that mess that grew out of my head… which...
4 Guys and Trouble
4 Guys and Trouble Thumper Book Review I invite you to sip this premise and swish it around your mind for a minute to see how it tastes. Take five young men that meet and pledge to the same fratern...
Pimp: The Story of My Life
Pimp: The Story of My Life Thumper Book Review Hello All. Now, my friend Gwen hipped me to Iceberg Slim. First, with his book, Mama Black Widow and now Pimp. I didn’t know what to expect, bu...
Moon
Moon Thumper Book Review Allow me to state up front that I am a huge fan of Jewell Parker Rhodes; have been since I read one of her earlier novels, Magic City. I got extremely excited when I ...
Just Too Good to Be True
Just Too Good to Be True Thumper Book Review I never thought the moon would rise or the sun would set on the day that I would be writing a review on any E. Lynn Harris book. I use to be a fan of ...
Black Food
Black Food Robert Fleming Book Review Black food, aka Soul food, is celebrated all over the world for its delicious ingredients, tangy flavors, homegrown recipes, and traditional richness. This book,...
An Affirmation Nite Baby Nite
An Affirmation Nite Baby Nite Sandra W. Headen Book Review An Affirmation: Nite Baby Nite is a gift to parents, grandparents, and everyone who loves children and picture books. Even more, it is a tre...
Race
Race Kam Williams Book Review “There is a lot to learn from this book. If you are feeling cynical and discouraged that you can’t fight the powerful, read it! If you want to learn the ...
The Chronicles of a Gentleman (The Untold Truth)
The Chronicles of a Gentleman (The Untold Truth) Kam Williams Book Review ’I’m here to show you a few things that will enable you to have any woman you desire. Race cree...
Life as a Single Mom
Life as a Single Mom Kam Williams Book Review ’’Being a single mom isn't easy,’ is something I hear constantly over and over throughout my travels, and I mostly hear it fro...
Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too!
Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too! Kelly Starling Lyons Book Review Drawing inspiration from her own children, author Kia Morgan Smith has written a fun picture book about the trials and triumphs of ...
No Surrender
No Surrender Robert Fleming Book Review When news reached me about the death of renowned poetess, Ai, I knew that I must write something about her and her unwavering lyrical examination of the hu...
Role Call
Role Call Rondall Brasher Book Review I encounter many literary anthologies that try to appease my appetite for new talent. But most of them fall short of their mark, and few of these collections ar...
Jelly Roll: A Blues
Jelly Roll: A Blues Rondall Brasher Book Review I preface this review by saying that I am an avid fan of the Blues. So, when someone comes along and captures the unmistakable feeling that comes w...
Jelani’s Key
Jelani’s Key Mel Hopkins Book Review Pain into Promise An immeasurable loss leads to a journey of cultural enlightenment, friendship, and self-discovery for 11-year-old protagonists Jelani and Bak...
The Color of Justice
The Color of Justice Thumper Book Review Gary Hardwick, author of Cold Medina, Double Dead and Supreme Justice, is back on the literary scene with his latest inner-city crime drama, The Color of Just...
Sassy
Sassy Thumper Book Review Gloria Mallette is one of my favorite authors. I became a major fan after I read one her earlier novel, Shades of Jade. Over the years she remained o...
Outliers
Outliers Kam Williams Book Review ’This is a book about outliers, men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary. I’m going to introduce you to one kind of out...
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The
Journey to the Woman I've Come to Love: Affirmations from Women Who Have Fallen in Love with The Kam Williams Book Review “About 10 years ago, I was hanging out with some old high school c...
Lynched by Corporate America
Lynched by Corporate America Kam Williams Book Review ’My intention in writing this book from the outset has been to illustrate what happens’ when one of the world’s largest com...
Black Prisoner of War
Black Prisoner of War Thumper Book Review I can't honestly tell you when I started watching war movies and reading books written about the American wars. In my younger years, I considered the sub...
Every Woman’s Man
Every Woman’s Man Thumper Book Review Yeah, it’s unusual for me to read a book with a title like, Every Woman’s Man, a novel by Rique Johnson. I don't normally go for the sister girl...
In Search of Nella Larsen
In Search of Nella Larsen Thumper Book Review I’m back! It’s good to be back, although I have to tell you that it took me a minute to find groove, before I was able to fall int...
Negro with a Hat
Negro with a Hat Thumper Book Review I’m not an average reader of biographies. I am now realizing the older I get, the more biographies and history books my reading palette finds attr...
Justice for Marcus Garvey
Justice for Marcus Garvey Robert Fleming Book Review Justice for Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind is a recently published collection of essays that highlights the achievements and aspirati...
Chike and the River
Chike and the River Kam Williams Book Review Book Review by Kam Williams "Chike was now 11 years-old, and he had never left his village. Then one day his mother told him that he would be going to ...
Raising the Bar
Raising the Bar Kam Williams Book Review “Gabrielle Douglas is the first African-American and first woman of color from any nation to win an Olympic gold medal in the individual gymnastics ...
Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper
Freedom's Journal: The First African-American Newspaper Kam Williams Book Review “While the Constitution declares that all men are born free and equal, the wise corporation of the city of...
City Son: Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn
City Son: Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn Robert Fleming Book Review So many African-American newspapers and publications have vanished from view, but their impact remains on the...
Is NO Not Clear Enough For You?
Is NO Not Clear Enough For You? Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Ageless Fiction What I expected to be a Young Adult novel turns out to be a good read for women of all ages. Is NO Not Clear...
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir
D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir Kam Williams Book Review "D.C. Unmasked & Undressed is a memoir. The story of my life includes events, characters and insights related to my miserable child...
Free Lunch
Free Lunch Kam Williams Book Review ’The evidence of a growing divide between the superrich and everyone else in America is so overwhelming that all but the few lightweight ideologues amo...
Masjid Morning
Masjid Morning Alexis E. Jackson Book Review Richard Morris’ Masjid Morning is a dedication to the millennial college student both embracing and learning how to live with religious and racial d...
Fool Me Thrice
Fool Me Thrice Carol Taylor Book Review “No doubt, I was born a sucker—a sucker for a hot girl with a smile, that is. I have to admit I was abused by every gold-digger I came across. For ...
Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding
Trespass: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and Understanding Clarence V. Reynolds Book Review Have you ever come upon or passed a homeless/unhoused person and experienced an emotion that tugged at y...
Harlem Honey
Harlem Honey Lisa Y? Wilson Book Review In Harlem Honey: The Adventures of a Curious Kid, the story begins as Moses and his parents have recently moved to Harlem, away from the comfort and familiarit...
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir Troy Johnson Book Review This Review Appears in the Fall 2007 Issue of Harlem World Magazine Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, of...
The Breakthrough
The Breakthrough Kam Williams Book Review ’If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream ...
Stages
Stages Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall STAGES, the debut novel by Malikah Reese Maccabee is a wonderfully written and very engaging story about women of color in crisi...
Invasion of the Baby Daddy
Invasion of the Baby Daddy Emanuel Carpenter Book Review In the debut novel "Invasion of the Baby Daddy," debut author Dr. John Bell tells of the personal relationship struggles of protagonist Mark S...
Logic
Logic Thumper Book Review I was caught unaware. I was not forewarned or prepared for Olympia Vernon’s beyond marvelous second novel Logic. I knew Vernon was a capable writer after reading her...
The Words
The Words Kam Williams the-words-moive-poster.jpg Film Review Plagiarism Exacts Emotional Toll in Tale of Overwhelming Regret The Words (2012) In Theaters: Sep 7, 2012 Wide Rated PG-13 for smoking,...
Notorious
Notorious Kam Williams jamal_17.jpg Film Review Warts-and-All Bio-Pic Recounts Rise and Fall of Biggie Smalls Notorious Rated R for nudity, drug use, graphic sexuality, ethnic slurs and p...
The Wood
The Wood Kam Williams images/thewoo35.jpg Film Review THE WOOD Paramount Director - Rick Famuyiwa Starring - Omar Epps, Richard T. Jones, Taye Diggs Comedy 112 min Rated R So-called "urban&...
Dreamgirls (2006)
Dreamgirls (2006) Michael Dequina dreamg1.jpg Film Review Dreamgirls (2006) Rated PG-13 for sex, expletives, and drug use. Running time: 125 minutes Studio: Dreamworks Pictures Review...
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie Kam Williams evocateur.jpg Film Review Biopic Revisits Rise and Fall of Talk Show Flash in the Pan Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. M...
Ghosts of Cite Soleil
Ghosts of Cite Soleil Kam Williams ghosts39.jpg Film Review Haitians Go Gangsta in Ghetto-Based Documentary Ghosts of Cite Soleil Click to order via Amazon Unrated In Haitian, French and En...
Hustle & Flow
Hustle & Flow Michael Dequina hustle62.jpg Film Review Hustle & Flow Directed by Craig Brewer Written by Craig Brewer Rated R for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence....
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity
Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African-American Identity Kam Williams Book Review "In this book, I will not detail every pathological condition that ever existed in African-American...
Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne
Moses and the Monster and Miss Anne Thumper Book Review I admit that the things that form my initial impressions of a book are somewhat shallow. I love a good book cover, whether it is pictures or ...
21 Nights by Prince
21 Nights by Prince Thumper Book Review My number one is Aretha Franklin. Aretha Franklin is my favorite artist of all times. When I was 13 years old, her album, I Never Loved a Man, save...
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film
Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film Kam Williams Book Review I admit that the things that form my initial impressions of a book are somewhat shallow. I love a good book cover, whether it...
The Book of Night Women
The Book of Night Women Thumper Book Review I have been awaiting the arrival of The Book of Night Women by Marlon James, literally, for years. I read and loved his debut novel, John Crow&r...
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker Thumper Book Review The World Has Changed: Conversation with Alice Walker edited by Rudolph Byrd is a type of book that I had not seen befor...
Inner-City Interludes
Inner-City Interludes Jayne Cubbage Book Review Inner-City Interludes by Hoezee probably won’t go down in history as a literary classic. Perhaps as an ode to the ’hood’ and...
Standing in the Need of Prayer
Standing in the Need of Prayer Rondall Brasher Book Review Standing in the Need of Prayer is a book dedicated the diverse and powerful subject of Black prayer. The photographs and other anthropologi...
Book of Letters
Book of Letters Robert Fleming Book Review Mary J. Taylor’s Book Of Letters is just that, a book of letters from the Old School of storytelling. The series of sepia cultural flashbacks moves th...
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World Robert Fleming Book Review Unfortunately, there were efforts to demean the late Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family whe...
Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey
Hip-Hop: A Cultural Odyssey Troy Johnson Book Review Hip-Hop Culture’s first OFFICIAL luxury, large format coffee table book will inspire, entertain and educate all generations of readers wit...
Threesome
Threesome Tiffany M. Davis Book Review I must say, this book was not what I expected. The title brings to mind images of a steamy m’nage a trois, either male/female/male or the more commonly po...
Daughter
Daughter Jayne Cubbage Book Review The novel, Daughter is a wonderfully crafted book and a smashing follow up to Asha Bandele’s first book, The Prisoner’s Wife. In this suspenseful a...
The Hood Health Handbook
The Hood Health Handbook Kam Williams Book Review "In all my world travels, never have I picked up a book with the kind of love, concern and information that I’ve seen put into this book&hell...
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent
Big Enough to Be Inconsistent Thumper Book Review There is a great chance that my review of Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race by George M. Fredrickso...
And On The Eighth Day She Rested
And On The Eighth Day She Rested Thumper Book Review Lately, I have been in one of my lazy reading moods. I wanted a book that would go easy on my ol’ noggin. As you all know, my normal readi...
Nappy Hair
Nappy Hair Troy Johnson Book Review One nap of her hair is the only perfect circle in nature. —from Nappy Hair I recently purchased Nappy Hair and have read it to my daughters. I must say c...
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been
Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Amanda Robinson Book Review In the midst of arguably a time of the greatest push for the advocacy of LGBT acceptance, Jackie Hi...
Palmares
Palmares Robert Fleming Book Review No less than the esteemed late novelist Toni Morrison, the chief editorial gatekeeper of Random House, was stunned by the narrative power of Gayl Jones’ firs...
Men We Cherish
Men We Cherish Thumper Book Review African-American Women Praise The Men In Their Lives, Edited by Brooke Stephens is an anthology. A book filled with laughter, heartache, inspiration, comfort, heart...
The Known World
The Known World Thumper Book Review As is becoming an unbreakable and pleasurable yearly excursion, I attended the 2003 Book Expo America (BEA) in Los Angeles. I love the BEA. The convention is all...
Too Beautiful For Words
Too Beautiful For Words Thumper Book Review Too Beautiful For Words, the debut novel by Monique W. Morris, is a small little miracle of a book. In a novel that is steeped in reality, under the grimme...
The Blackbird Papers
The Blackbird Papers Thumper Book Review It never fails that every year there is one book in which the book’s good publicity reaches me before the book does. This year one of the books is Ian ...
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates Thumper Book Review In an effort to expand my reading to non-fiction titles, as well as the fact that the book is small in size, I read The Beauti...
Story/Time: The Life of an Idea
Story/Time: The Life of an Idea Kam Williams Book Review “In this ceaselessly questioning book, acclaimed African-American dancer, choreographer and director Bill T. Jones reflects on his art...
Glorious
Glorious Thumper Book Review Glorious by Bernice L. McFadden Buy This Book AmazonBarnesandNobleIndieBoundPowells 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!Publication Date: Ma
Whippins
Whippins Thumper Book Review It’s times like these that I wish I were an editor. Whippins, Switches & Peach Cobbler, the first by Brian Egeston, is a novel that doesn’t quite make up ...
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention
Slaves with Swag: The Negroes Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention Kam Williams Book Review “Every February, your history teachers taught you about nine African-Americans: Martin Luther Kin...
Rock the Boat: How to Use Conflict to Heal and Deepen Your Relationship
Rock the Boat: How to Use Conflict to Heal and Deepen Your Relationship Kam Williams Book Review “This book is about the reality of relationships. It offers no comforting fantasies, false pro...
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Connie Bradley Book Review I finally finished the 620-page The Warmth of Other Suns by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Isabel W...
Brown’s Possession
Brown’s Possession Idrissa Uqdah Book Review To say that the books in acVernon Menchan’s trilogy; Black’s Trilogy are about a complicated love story is like saying water is wet. C...
Mrs. Black
Mrs. Black Idrissa Uqdah Book Review 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...
Sinking Saints
Sinking Saints Idrissa Uqdah Book Review Author Etta Harbin outlines the ten most important reasons that the 21st century church is on the brink of self-destruction while offering real solution...
Split Indecision
Split Indecision Jayne Cubbage Book Review Before reading Split Indecision by Pierre Bateau, be sure to sit back and fasten your seatbelt because this book is going to take you on a wild ride. Bate...
i see through eyes
i see through eyes Kalamu ya Salaam Book Review Eric Payne is not ready to publish a book a poetry’but, on the other hand, the 21st century is a new time. If a person believes they are a poet a...
The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom
The Brand Within: The Power of Branding from Birth to the Boardroom Kam Williams Book Review "What I hope to do with this book is reach out to anyone who wants to get a leg up on their own careers&...
Temptation
Temptation Linda Dominique Grosvenor Book Review Temptation is a refreshing literary effort by first time novelist Victoria Christopher Murray. This book has crossed the line into mainstream fiction,...
Come by Here
Come by Here Thumper Book Review I found a pearl when I happened upon the remarkable author Clarence Major. I discovered Clarence Major by way of an anthology, titled After Hours edited by Robert ...
Every Tongue Got To Confess
Every Tongue Got To Confess Thumper Book Review I’m about to write words that I never thought that I would write. I never believed that I would ever be in the position of reviewing the newest, ...
Free and Other Stories
Free and Other Stories Thumper Book Review My Dear Ms. Anika Nailah, I know, normally, that book reviews are not generally written in letterform, from the reviewer to the author. Since I have been kn...
High Waters
High Waters Thumper Book Review High Waters, a novel by Suzon Tropez, is a novel that I am unsure as to what the storyline or the point of the novel is. I think it is a novel about an older black ...
Relationships
Relationships Tiffany M. Davis Book Review Leonard Jenkins II’s first book, Relationships (Volume I): Lessons Before Dying, is a tale of love (finding it, losing it, keeping it) set against an ...
Married Men
Married Men Thumper Book Review Savvy, smart Kyle runs a booming African American beauty supply business, but his main job is hiding his wife from Talk about a Calgon-take-me-away book!! Married...
The Undefeated
The Undefeated Vanessa Vanzie Book Review ℐf you have been searching for a book that will fill a child with the greatest sense of self-worth just for being who they are, then look no further. Ta...
The Day You Begin
The Day You Begin Neoma Nwasike Book Review Have you ever felt like an outsider, or like you just did not belong? In this big world, with so many different faces, it can sometimes feel overwhelming a...
A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks
A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks Neoma Nwasike Book Review Gwendolyn Brooks was a very influential African American poet who became the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize award (Poetry). In the ch...
Yesterday Will Make You Cry
Yesterday Will Make You Cry Thumper Book Review Yesterday Will Make You Cry is the first novel by Chester Himes. This is the complete, unabridged version of Cast The First Stone. This novel is about ...
Leading Inclusion
Leading Inclusion Robert Fleming Book Review In this book packed with practical business concepts and strategies, Gena Cox, an acclaimed organizational psychologist and executive coach, takes on seve...