Black Issues Book Review articles from November 2003

Black Issues Book Review archives from November 2003

Our literary debt to Toni Morrison.(from the editor-in-chief)(Editorial)
November 1, 2003... No one has contributed more to the cause of black reading than Toni Morrison. As an editor she opened the door for black writers at a time when such opportunities were hard won, and she blazed the way to include themes and images in text books...

Gifts of the Magi.(executive editor's view)(Editorial)
November 1, 2003... As we were finishing work on this edition, what came to mind was how "Santa" delegated work at our house when I was a child. From about the time my brother, Bill, and I could read, we picked our gifts from a catalogue. He is a little more than...

More on that Walker book.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... As the author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker (Scribner, February 2001), I truly appreciate the critical eye that Wayne Dawkins brought to his review of Beverly Lowry's error-filled version of her biography of my...

A scholar's dream.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Sotheby's, one of Manhattan's most prestigious auction houses, put Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers, 7,000 items appraised at $30 million, up for sale. Several institutions expressed interest, and Sotheby's said it planned to sell the entire...

Nancy Rawles.(Deals)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... * Nancy Rawles, the award-winning play wright and novelist, has sold her latest fiction, My Jim, in a six-figure deal to Crown Books with Chris Jackson. Her agent, Victoria Sanders & Associates, reports that Rawles's character Sadie tells the...

Tanya McKinnon.(Deals)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... * Tanya McKinnon announced four, six-figure deals: Writing Between The Lines: A History of African American Literature in Letter, edited by Catherine McKinley and Don Weise, to Chris Jackson at Crown; Cuttin' Up." Wit and Wisdom Inside, Black...

Jamise L. Dames.(Deals)
November 1, 2003... * Jamise L. Dames, author of the self-published Momma's Baby, Daddy's Maybe, has signed with Simon & Schuster. Her new novel, Pushing Up Daisies, was acquired at auction by Brenda Copelad and Malaika Adero al Atria, from Ken Atchity of AEI.

Ballantine/One World.(Deals)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... * Ballantine/One World will publish a memoir by Deborah Santana, wife of Carlos Santana, acquired by Melody Guy from Jillian Manus, a West Coast agent.

Marie Brown.(Deals)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... * Marie Brown is shopping Savoring the Salt: The Legacy of Toni Cade Bambara, essays edited by Linda J. Hohnes and Dr. Cheryl A. Wall.

Kelli Martin.(Deals)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... * Kelli Martin, editor at Amistad, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, has acquired Before I Let Go, self-published by Darren Coleman, tier reissue next summer. The agent was Jimmy Vines. Martin also acquired a new novel from Philana Marie...

The last word.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)
November 1, 2003... Gerald Boyd, the former New York Times managing editor who fell on his sword after the reporting scandal there, suggested in late August that he would write a memoir. His comments appeared in the August 20 New York Post, two weeks after Boyd...

Signings & sightings.
November 1, 2003... NATIONWIDE Black Male Development Symposium. Visit www.thirdworldpressinc.com for locations, times and further information. November 14, in Columbus, Ohio; November 21-22, in Baltimore. February 28, 2004, in Philadelphia. Patrick Oliver,...

Oprah picks John Steinbeck novel.(Classics Revisited)
November 1, 2003... "Well, the bad news. Mr. Steinbeck, is that for fifty years critics will be divided on whether your novel is a masterpiece, or a bloated, sentimental, generation-spanning melodrama about two dysfunctional families. The good news is that Oprah...

Bibr recommends.
November 1, 2003... FICTION Daughter by asha bandele (Scribner) Knee-Deep in Wonder by April Reynolds (Metropolitan Books) The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad) Love by Toni Morrison (Knopf) The Man...

Remarkable books of 2003: our annual year-end review highlights both the aesthetic and commercial milestones and the distinctive trends among black-interest books published in this calendar year.
November 1, 2003... FICTION Best Emerging Young Writer Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer (Atria, March 2003, ISBN 1-573-22234-8). Packer's short story collection delineates both the drama and the humanity in the way a variety of contemporary young...

The first fruits: the gifts of Kwanzaa need not be material ones, but they must be chosen with purpose.
November 1, 2003... For Kwanzaa 2003, which begins December 26, Black Issues Book Review asked an expert on African American traditional observances to select especially for our readers--seven gifts, one for each principle of the celebration that need not be...

And all through the house ...
November 1, 2003... Long hours of leisure during the holidays provide ample time for reading, but they also bring a desire to escape into something more uplifting, spiritual or lighter than the usual work or school must-reads. It's a good time to offer yourself,...

2003 Holiday gift guide for booklovers.
November 1, 2003... A true booklover's idea of heaven on earth is either a library, a bookstore or simply a quiet spot in which to read. As a result, they're a relatively easy lot to please. Readers who don't live in proximity to a city where authors tour...

A passing of days: 2004 ushers in a variety of engaging calendars.
November 1, 2003... Calendars can reveal a lot about their owners--the art they appreciate, the music they revel in, what inspires them, and much more. Use this list of 2004's most exciting offerings as your guide. Art African American Masters Wall...

Lady Laureate: meet the great Toni Morrison in an exclusive BIBR kitchen-table chat.(Interview)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2003... NOVEMBER NOT ONLY MARKS THE PUBLICATION OF TONI Morrison's eagerly anticipated eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. "It still feels like the first two or three years after," Morrison says...

Bermuda bound: a family's island bookstore is a magnet for islanders and tourists.(market buzz)
November 1, 2003... When Valerie Young, a Bermudian educator, left teaching 13 years ago, she wanted to do something that would encourage children to "discover their hidden heritage." She decided that opening a bookstore would be a natural progression, combining...

Beach bag: guidebooks for savoring paradise.(sojourn)
November 1, 2003... "Sojourn: to stay temporarily." In this new department, BIBR will review travel guides and other books about travel, as well as occasionally offer features on destinations. Publishers and authors are invited to submit books for consideration....

What's a picture of black humanity worth?(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... You could compare A Small Nation of People to an old family album, all dusty in the attic. This landmark book, however, comes from the Library of Congress, and the selection is from W.E.B. Du Bois's ambitious American Negro Exhibit for the 1900...

Splendor of the gold coast.
November 1, 2003... All that glitters is gold in this lavish volume that celebrates both the superb metalsmithing skills of the Akan peoples of what is now modern Ghana, in western Africa, and one of the more singular art passions that have distinguished the long...

History through headcoverings.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Necessity is the maternal well from which springs most inventions, or so it has been said. That is true of headwraps, as well. Georgia Scott, an art director for the New York Times who lives in Harlem, became interested in how the peoples...

Putting black women back into history.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... In this visually beautiful and comprehensive work--replete with more than 150 rarely seen photographs and illustrations--Dr. Cynthia Jacobs Carter celebrates the exemplary women of African descent who have influenced the modern world. Beginning...

The look of hip-hop.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... In 1993, some 14 years after "Rappers Delight" set the tone for the emergence of hip-hop and urban culture and roughly 10 years after hip-hop had exploded into mainstream culture, music impresario Quincy Jones launched Vibe magazine. Foremost...

For daddy and "Uncle Martin".(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The momentous March on Washington. The tragedy of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The inspiring march from Selma to Montgomery. These are all very poignant and significant moments of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as...

One part skill, two parts fun: Roker's holiday cookbook takes the sweat out of making a feast.(the welcome table)(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Al Roker's Hassle-Free Holiday Cookbook: 125 Recipes for Family Celebrations All Year Long by Al Roker Scribner, November 2003 $27.95, ISBN 0-743-24952-6 The popular NBC Today show weatherman known for his sell-deprecating wit and his...

Model readers: a 37-year-old book club establishes a community platform for literacy and longevity.(books & clubs)
November 1, 2003... In 2000, when Virginia View attended a public forum on book clubs sponsored by Sisterspace and Books bookstore in Washington, D.C., she was pleased to learn of the growing interest in organized reading and book discussions among African...

The start of something big: the first national conference of book clubs convenes.(books & clubs)
November 1, 2003... Billed as the "world's largest book club meeting," the first conference of reading groups from all over the nation convened in Atlanta, Georgia, this east August. The National Book Club Conference. chaired and founded by Curtis Bunn, says...

The love scene.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... With familiar names such as Francis Ray and newcomers like Dana Johnson, this season features a mix of classic romance, powerful short stories and unforgettable drama. A longtime favorite, Francis Ray returns with Somebody's Knocking at My...

Blowing up: Walter Mosley is having a very prolific year, even for him, with an almost indescribable novel, a new mystery, a television venture and an editing project.(fiction)(Interview)
November 1, 2003... Walter Mosley has never experienced writer's block. Ever. But he expects to. "I'm just hoping that when it happens I'll have enough things written so that I won't have to worry about it," he says, in a telephone interview from his New York...

The Known World.(Book Review)(Brief Review)
November 1, 2003... by Edward P. Jones Amistad, August 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-55754-0 This is a brilliant, challenging novel woven together by multiple strands of richly complex stories. The Known World's characters interconnect during the 1800s in the...

Shaking the Tree: a Collection of New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah W.W. Norton, September 2003 $23.95, ISBN 0-393-05067-X Meri Danquah, author of the memoir Willow Weep for Me and editor of the anthology Becoming America, brings together 23 young, black women whose...

The Sistahood of Shopaholics.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Leslie Esdaile, Monica Jackson Reon Laudat and Niqui Stanhope Griffin Trade/St. Martin's Press October 2003 $13.95, ISBN 0-312-32188-0 The Sistahood of Shopaholics is the collaboration of four accomplished romance writers: Leslie...

Dating Game.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by RM Johnson Simon & Schuster, September 2003 $23.00, ISBN 0-743024455-9 Johnson explores many of society's most troubling realities through the story of Livvy Rodgers, a single mother, and her teenage twin daughters, Hennesey and Alize....

Diamond Life.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Sheila Copeland BET Books, November 2003 $15.00, ISBN 1-583-14236-3 In this captivating work, best-selling author Sheila Copeland paints an abstract view of the hip-hop culture. When Nina, Toni and Chaletta, former classmates of the...

Using What You Got.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Karen E. Quinones Miller Simon & Schuster, August 2003 $22.00, ISBN 0-743-24614-4 Tiara Bynum, the 18-year-old protagonist, fives in the projects of New York City with her younger sister, Jo-Jo, an aspiring star athlete, and their...

Knee-Deep in Wonder.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... by April Reynolds Metropolitan Books, September 2003 $24.00, ISBN 0-805-07346-9 April Reynolds's debut novel, Knee-Deep in Wonder, outlines a young woman's quest for the missing pieces that could help her demystify the puzzle of her...

Bandele's debut novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)(Brief Review)
November 1, 2003... In 1999, asha bandele published The Prisoner's Wife (Scribner), about how she, as a young, talented poet, came to marry an inmate she had met while giving readings at a Federal prison. It was highly acclaimed and seemed to touch a chord in...

Cloning Jesus: a science fiction thriller turns on DNA from the Shroud of Turin.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Ripped from today's headlines, The Jesus Thief by JR Lankford (Great Read Books LLC, March 2003, $26.95, ISBN 0-971-86941-3) explores the controversial issue of human cloning. Even more controversial in this instance is that the object of the...

Beside Every Good Man: Loving Myself While Standing by Him.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... by Serita Ann Jakes Warner Faith, November 2003 $19.95, ISBN 0-446-53130-8 As first lady of the Potter's House and wife of Bishop T.D. Jakes, Serita Jakes is uniquely positioned to explore the role of women in relation to the men in their...

Mercy, Mercy Me.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Bonn Elmore Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books October 2003 $22.95, ISBN 0-446-52984-2 This debut novel by the psychotherapist, ordained minister and author of How to Love a Black Man is the story of a successful Los Angeles therapist, who...

Age Ain't Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... Edited by Carleen Brice Beacon Press, May 2003 $14.00, ISBN 0-807-02823-1 This candid collection of stories explores a full range of women's emotions and experiences during the Middle Passage of their lives. Forty-five writers, including...

Brown Skin: Dr. Susan Taylor's Prescription for Flawless Skin, Hair, and Nails.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Dr. Susan C. Taylor Amistad Press, May 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-06871-0 Dr. Susan C. Taylor has not only provided a prescription for daily skin and hair care but a prescription for a beautiful healthy life. She's a Harvard-trained...

An Outrageous Commitment: the 48 Vows of an Indestructible Marriage.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Ronn Elmore, Psy.D. HarperResource, April 2003 $22.95, ISBN 0-066-21130-1 Elmore is a relationship therapist, ordained minister and author, and he begins each chapter of this book with an imagined scenario between Adam and Eve dealing...

Self-Seduction: Your Ultimate Path to Inner and Outer Beauty.(Brief Article)(Book Review)(Brief Review)
November 1, 2003... by Mikki Taylor, with photographs by Paul Lange One World/Ballantine Books, April 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-345-44745-X Who better than Mikki Taylor, the beauty director extraordinaire of Essence magazine, to create a guide to obtaining and...

Thrive! 7 Strategies for Extraordinary Living.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Felicia T. Scott Butterfly Works, August 2003 $13.95, ISBN 0-970-48981-1 This "Encouragement Coach" offers a guide for enrichment through seven basic strategies based on the author's trademarked H.E.A.L.I.N.G. approach: Help, while...

Lesson 1: stop trying to be funny: Franklyn Ajaye, a comedian who has kept us laughing since the movie Car Wash, returns from Down Under with a smart, how-to manual on his craft.(spotlight)
November 1, 2003... If he had taken a tip from a gradeschool teacher, Franklyn Ajaye would have graduated directly from cracking her up in class to a career as a comedian. Instead, he was determined to become air attorney--until he got to Columbia University Law...

The year of the blues: searching for the origins of roots music.(rhythm & books)
November 1, 2003... There is no doubt that blues music is considered the greatest single art form given to the world by African Americans. Without the blues there is no jazz. Without the blues there is no rhythm and blues, no rock 'n' roll, no soul, no rock, no...

Scoping the realities of black women's lives: a team examines the effects of shifting roles to adjust for race and gender.(the writing life)
November 1, 2003... With this issue, Black Issues Book Review introduces THE WRITING LIFE, a department for authors, editors, writers and others engaged in producing the written word. For this premiere, we asked Charisse Jones, a New York correspondent for USA...

Austin Clarke on honing his craft: an island epic is a capstone on a distinguished literary career.(the writing life)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... An island is a place that suggests by its definition that you have to leave; the boundaries are too restricting," asserts Austin Clarke. Leaving his native Barbados for Canada in 1955, the author intended to obtain a degree in political...

Our Man at Notre Dame.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Return to Glory: Inside Tyrone Willingham's Amazing First Year at Notre Dame by Alan Grant Little, Brown, and Company September 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-316-60765-7 The hiring of Tyrone Willingham as head football coach at the University of...

Facing Ali.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... by Stephen Brunt The Lyons Press, March 2003 $22.95, ISBN 1-585-74829-3 Among boxing purists, there will always be the debate about who was the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Significantly, this dispute most often centers...

The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters With the Founding Fathers.(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Basic Civitas Books, April 2003 $18.95, ISBN 0-465-02729-6 Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. wears a number of hats as a scholar, but none as impressively and consistently astonishing as that of a "literary detective or...

Practical Virtues: Everyday Values and Devotions for African American Families.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... by the Reverend Floyd Flake and the Reverend M. Elaine McCollins Flake Amistad, September 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-09060-X With excerpts from such notables as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Booker T....

The Black Dancing Body: a Geography From Coon to Cool.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... by Brenda Dixon Gottschild Palgrave Macmillan, October 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-312-24047-3 In today's enlightened society, they are many books available covering nearly every aspect of dance. Few titles, if any, I wager, are as direct,...

Finding the Good.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Lucas L. Johnson II Rutledge Hill Press, August 2003 $19.99, ISBN 1-401-60037-9 In the summer of 1995, Lucas L. Johnson II, a journalist in Nashville, Tennessee, drove to Henning, Tennessee, to interview Fred Montgomery, a childhood...

A.L.T: a Memoir.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... by Andre Leon Talley Villard Books, April 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-375-50828-7 Readers of Vogue will be familiar with Andre Leon Talley's whimsical and informative "StyleFax" column in which he talks about everything from John Galliano's new...

Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2003... by Susan Fales-Hill HarperCollins Publishers, April 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-52356-5 Always Wear Joy is Susan Fales-Hill's beautiful "valentine" to her adoring mother. As the daughter of Josephine Premice, a legendary black performer and...

Art for little people: captivated by drawing as a child, Synthia Saint James nourishes that love in young people.(children's bookshelf)
November 1, 2003... Synthia Saint James, whose work conveys family, harmony and unity, is an internationally acclaimed artist with dozens of commissions and projects in the works. Her paintings hang in the collections of such high-profile people as Johnnie L....

The 12 books of Christmas: something for every young reader.(children's bookshelf)
November 1, 2003... Black Issues Book Review's editor for children's books, Suzanne Rust, chose a dozen books to provide a range of choices for young readers this season, as well as the sampling for young-adult readers that follows: Fishing Day by Andrea...

Witnesses to history: transitions noted.(tribute)
November 1, 2003... SAM LACY, 99, died May 8, 2003. America has lost a key player in the integration of major league baseball. Sam Lacy had been file sports editor for The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper since 1944 and was considered by many to be "the father of...

Flying off the shelves.
November 1, 2003... Hardcover Fiction 1. The Other Woman/ Eric Jerome Dickey (1) ($23.95, Dutton, ISBN 0-525-94724-8) Betrayal shakes up the picture-perfect marriage of a black middle-class couple in L.A.; the eighth novel by the best-selling author...