Black Issues Book Review articles from November 2004

Black Issues Book Review archives from November 2004

Ujamaa 2004.(from the editor-in-chief)(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... If there is one unifying theme in this issue of Black Issues Book Review, it is collective economics, or Ujamaa, the fourth principle of Kwanzaa. This is the idea that we are individually and collectively the keepers of our own culture. Our...

A backward glance.(executive editor's view)(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... If there is a moment that captures the resonance of our accomplishments in 2004 with our magazine and in black publishing, it is the sound of the African drums accompanying the procession of exhibitors as we marched en masse for the first time...

The Zane craze.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I was really excited to read the story BIBR featured on the author Zane ("Zane, Inc.," September-October 2004). I had the pleasure of meeting her this summer at the Harlem Book Fair. She was nice enough to allow me, a girlfriend and my husband...

From 'Round the Way.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... While I appreciated the sophisticated objectivity of 'ROUND THE WAY ("It's Urban, It's Real, But Is It Literature?" BIBR, September-October 2004), as a hip-hop activist and author, it pains me when our community refers to books about street...

More on gay lit.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Thank you for the wonderful series of articles focused on black gay and lesbian writing, archiving and bookselling (BIBR, July-August 2004). As a longtime subscriber to BIBR, I have long wondered why there has been scant attention paid to the...

He pulled the plug.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(John Starks asked 15,000 copies put on hold)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... When former NBA guard John Starks read his ghostwritten autobiography, he didn't like some things in it and asked Sports Publishing to hold up all 15,000 copies, the company confirmed. Revisions quickly got under way, and reprints were expected...

The case of the purloined paragraphs.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening in the publishing industry)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a professor at Harvard Law School, and the school have acknowledged that he somehow cribbed six unattributed paragraphs from a Yale colleague, Jack M. Balkin. They appeared in Ogletree's book All Deliberate Speed:...

Deals.(Between the lines: the inside scoop on what's happening the publishing industry)
November 1, 2004... Nonfiction Virtually everyone else from first season of The Apprentice reality television show has already done a book or is planning to. Even the busy Donald already has several books to his credit. Now the last-fired Kwame Jackson is...

Post it.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... DANIEL MINTER, an artist in Portland, Maine, will see his work on this year's Kwanzaa stamp. The United States Postal Service chose a design by Minter and graphic artist Derry Noyes of Washington, D.C. it was to he issued in Chicago, October...

And the winner [again] is ...(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Edward P. Jones should keep his best suit pressed and an acceptance speech handy. He most recently won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, presented September 7 in Cleveland, for his first novel The Known World (Amistad, August 2003), the story...

Genesis Press teams with Kensington.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Kensington Publishing Corp publishing is now the sole distributor for Genesis Press, the largest privately owned African American book publisher in the country. The agreement included all backlist Genesis Press rifles and the approximately 30...

The 2004 Miami Book Fair International.(Miami, FL)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The 2004 Miami Book Fair International, takes place from November 7-14. This year, it's 21st, the fair presets a Congress of Authors, November 7-14; the Street Fair takes place November 12-14. At the Congress of Authors, more than 300 authors...

Black publishing's inspirational godmother: Susan L. Taylor reflects on her 34 years nurturing writers at Essence and her dozen years as an author in conversation with Malaika Adero, the veteran book editor who midwifed Taylor's In the Spirit.(Interview)
November 1, 2004... Those impeccably groomed elegant braids. A flawless, unlined complexion--yes, even at age 58. The high forehead and graceful neck, and an easy carriage that makes her appear taller than she is at five feet nine. This is the iconic media image...

40 Days to a Life of G.O.L.D. (God-Ordained Life Development).(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... 40 Days to a Life of G.O.L.D. (God-Ordained Life Development) by Ed Gray, with Foreword by Les Brown Judson Press, July 2004 $15., ISBN 0-817-01463-2 A new author and licensed preacher, Ed Gray takes his readers on a 40-day journey filled...

Those Preaching Women, Vol. 4.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Those Preaching Women Volume 4 Edited by Ella Pearson Mitchell and Jacqueline B. Glass Judson Press, August 2004 $14., ISBN 0-817-01464-0 This collection of 24 scripturally sound, dynamic, soul-searching and inspiring sermons written...

The Real Deal: a Spiritual Guide for Black Teen Girls.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Real Deal: A Spiritual Guide for Black Teen Girls by Billie Montgomery Cook Judson Press, January 2004 $13., ISBN 0-817-01458-6 The Real Deal thoroughly and intensively attacks the worldly evils that confront today's African American...

Raising Up Young Heroes: Developing a Revolutionary Youth Ministry.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Raising Up Young Heroes: Developing a Revolutionary Youth Ministry by Efrem Smith, InterVarsity Press, June 2004, $12, ISBN 0-830-83209-2 Smith, a member of the CORE seminar training team of Youth Specialties and a senior pastor of The...

Sing it again: beloved old African American spirituals find a new following.(The Trouble I've Seen: The Big Book of Negro Spirituals)(Deep River: Music and Memory in Harlem Renaissance Thought )(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Old Negro spirituals, the raw, fervent plantation songs that helped African Americans through slavery, Emancipation and Jim Crow are finding a rebirth in the era of hip-hop. The same spirituals learned in Sunday school--"Let Us Break Bread...

Our treasured hymnals: a revered publishing tradition in black religious music, started in 1801, continues today.(Sing It Again)
November 1, 2004... Last year, while visiting an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cape Town, South Africa, I was moved to tears by a teenage boy who fervently joined in the singing of my favorite hymn, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." I must admit that I was...

Starting here, starting now: the basics of getting your book into print.(self-publishing: bonus package)
November 1, 2004... This special summarizes tips and self-publishers. BIBR has coveres the self-publishing phenomenon since the magazine launched nearly six years ago. We've run a Self-Publishing column by Victoria Christopher Murray in each issue, and we've...

BIBR best of 2004.
November 1, 2004... Best Black History Books African American Lives Edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Oxford University Press, April 2004, ISBN 0195-16024-X) The biographies of more than 6,000 noteworthy African Americans are...

Listen up: fans are demanding audiobooks faster than the industry can record them, and prices are coming down.(includes listings of best Black audiobooks, 2004)
November 1, 2004... Today's hectic lifestyles--commuting, work, kids and myriad daily chores--leave little time to sit down and work through that new Toni Morrison novel or the philosophizing of Cornel West on the body politic. By the end of a day, even determined...

From bad breaks to boons: D.C.'s Sisterspace plans a comeback and other tales of black survival.(market buzz)
November 1, 2004... On the evening of July 28, a standing-room only crowd gathered at Sisterspace and Books in Washington, D.C., for a book signing. They were not there to see a hip-hop, artist-turned-writer or a best-selling author of erotica. The group had come...

Power, passion and play.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Bibliophiles have an unabashed regard for the power of words to enlighten, empower, educate and entertain. Here are some gift suggestions for the "word people" on your holiday list. Merriam-Webster Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus offers...

The late, great ladies of song, and that Philly sound: how Celia, Dinah and Ella were crowned queens, and musicmakers in the City of Brotherly of Love became known for their soulful sounds.(Celia: My Life)(Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Biography)(Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Celia: My Life by Celia Cruz with Ana Christina Reymundo HarperCollins, July 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-060-72553-2 Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Biography by Stuart Nicholson Routledge, July 2004 $19.95, ISBN 0-415-97117-5 Queen: The Life...

A House on Fire: the Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul by John A. Jackson Oxford University Press, October 2004 $35, ISBN 0-195-14972-6 There are a few questions that come about as the result of the title of John A. Jackson's new book. The...

Other noteworthy titles.(Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy)(My Point of View)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy by David E. Weaver University Press of Mississippi August 2004, $26. ISBN 1-578-06651-4 Ruby Pearl Elzy rose from poverty in Pontotoc, Mississippi, to become one of the most beautiful...

What is color to an artist?(Archibald J. Motley Jr. The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, Volume IV)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Archibald J. Motley Jr. The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, Volume IV by Amy M. Mooney Pomegranate, September 2004 $35., ISBN 0-764-92886-4 As a portrait artist, Archibald J. Motley Jr. constructed images of African...

Uncovering Africa's riches.(Faces of Africa: Thirty Years of Photography)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Faces of Africa: Thirty Years of Photography by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher National Geographic September 2004 $35., ISBN 0-792-26830-X Great photography often is revelatory, and such is tire case with Faces of Africa by photographers...

The alphabet as ideographic art.(Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika by Saki Mafundikwa Mark Batty Publisher, May 2004 $34.95, ISBN 0-972-42406-7 Although the alphabet as we know it today was first scribbled down during the Middle Ages (the earliest known...

Commissioned by the Spirit.(Echo of the Spirit: A Photographer's Journey)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Echo of the Spirit: A Photographer's Journey by Chester Higgins Jr. Doubleday, October 2004 $29.95, ISBN 0-385-50978-2 CHESTER HIGGINS JR. was in college when his great uncle gave him some life-altering advice: "It's important to make a...

The Sweet Breath of Life: a Poetic Narrative of the African-American Family.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Sweet Breath of Life: A Poetic Narrative of the African-American Family by Ntozake Shange, edited by Frank Stewart Atria Books, October 2004 $29.95, ISBN 0-743-47897-5 It has been close to 50 years since The Sweet Flypaper of Life,...

Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry by Carl Phillips Graywolf Press, June 2004 $15, ISBN 1-555-97401-5 Coin of the Realm often leads like a treatise an spirituality, as is suggested by the title's placement of Life...

Ostinato Vamps.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Ostinato Vamps by Wanda Coleman University of Pittsburgh Press, October 2003 $12.95, ISBN 0-822-95833-3 With Ostinato Vamps, Wanda Coleman once again compels audiences to mine the depths "under the dark gnarled word" with her first...

Swapping recipes: popular community cookbooks keep African American culinary traditions alive.(the welcome table)
November 1, 2004... How did we first learn how to cook? For most of us, our earliest memories of preparing meals come from sitting at the feet of our mothers and grandmothers. The recipes we grew to know and love were passed down through the generations, rarely...

The golden girl: Marion Jones's glory shines through in her memoir.(arena)(Marion Jones: Life in the Fast Lane, An Illustrated Autobiography)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Marion Jones: Life in the Fast Lane, An Illustrated Autobiography by Marion Jones with Kate Sekules Warner Books, July 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-446-52455-7 For more than a decade, Marion Jones--with her five-feet-eleven inch, lean,...

Sometimes I cry, sometimes I laugh: J. California Cooper spins tales of common folk who insist on being heard.(spotlight)
November 1, 2004... J. CALIFORNIA COOPER IS AN ORIGINAL. She is the consummate storyteller, weaving tales that go straight to the soul of the many who wait to hear, feel and understand. "If you want to write," notes Cooper, who will not give her exact age,...

Facing up to HIV/AIDS: authors lift the veil on complex issues surrounding pandemic in Africa and black America.(Nurture: advice, fitness and health)
November 1, 2004... December 1, 2004, is World AIDS Day, an international appeal for accurate and timely information about the issues surrounding this devastating epidemic. New books are helping to fill that void, including several that address HIV/AIDS in African...

Immersed in West African ritual: a Brooklyn club samples the cuisine of Senegal to enrich its reading of a Senegalese novelist.(books & clubs)
November 1, 2004... Dear Aissatou: I have received your letter. By way of reply, I am beginning this diary, my prop in my distress. After reading these opening lines translated from its original French from Mariama Ba's poignant Senegalese novel So Long A later...

Twice the magic: how two novelists write as one--from dreaming the creative vision to sitting shoulder to shoulder in front of the keyboard.(the writing life)
November 1, 2004... "How do you two write novels together?" It's the question we are asked most often and the most difficult one to answer. We're tempted to say, "It's magic" because even after several books, the results are still magical to us. When we read...

Renaissance woman: Althea Gibson was a tennis legend, a professional golfer, actress, singer, political candidate, education advocate, and she wrote a memoir.(tribute)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Althea Gibson believed that records were meant to be broken, but it took four decades for another black tennis player to catch up to her back-to-back national and international championships. She still holds the record for winning 10...

Dreams from My Father: a Story of Race and Inheritance.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. by Barack Obama Three Rivers Press, August 2004 $13.95, ISBN 1-400-08277-3 Ever since his show-stopping speech at the Democratic National Convention, Americans have been asking, "Obama...

The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity by Stanley Crouch Basic Civitas, Books, October, 2004 $24., ISBN 0-465-01515-8 The mere mention of Stanley Crouch's name can raise the hairs on the back of your neck, particularly on those of...

Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Little, Brown and Company, January 2005 $25.95, ISBN 0-316-17232-4 In Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Blink, he argues that impressions or decisions made in a moment can be just...

Open House of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons, and the Search for a Room of My Own.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Open House: Of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons, and the Search for a Room of My Own by Patricia J. Williams Farrar, Straus & Giroux, November 2004 $24., ISBN 0-374-11407-2 Williams, a professor of law at Columbia University, is one of...

Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don't Have Bruises.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don't Have Bruises by Miles Marshall Lewis Akashic Books, October 2004 $14.95, ISBN 1-888-45171-8 This debut book is the latest installment of note in the effort to chronicle and...

Voodoo Queen: the Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau by Martha Ward University Press of Mississippi, March 2004 $26., ISBN 1-578-06629-8 If you've been to New Orleans's French Quarter you've most likely heard of Marie Laveau. You've probably...

A new light on an old master: scholars reexamine the provocative racial themes in the fiction of Charles W. Chesnutt.(bibliomane)(The Northern Stories of Charles W. Chesnutt)(Whiteness in the Novels of Charles W. Chesnutt)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Northern Stories of Charles W. Chesnutt Edited by Charles Duncan Ohio University Press, May 2004 $49.95, ISBN 0-821-41542-5 Whiteness in the Novels of Charles W. Chesnutt by Matthew Wilson University Press of Mississippi September 2004...

Angel of Harlem.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Angel of Harlem by Kuwana Haulsey One World/Ballantine, September 2004 $19.95, ISBN 0-375-50870-8 The fictionalized story of Dr. May Chinn, the first black female physician in New York City, could have been a dry chronicle of a studious...

Kipligat's Chance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Kipligat's Chance by David Odhiambo St. Martin's Press, October 2004 $12.95, ISBN 0-312-32954-7 With this work, David Odhiambo, a Canada-based Kenyan writer, joins a third guard of African novelists made up of peers like Uganda's Moses...

More than You Know.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... More Than You Know by Rosalyn Story Agate, September 2004 $24.95, ISBN 0-972-45628-7 What comes to mind first as I finish Rosalyn Story's fiction debut, More Than You Know, is simply "wow." Some people just know how to spin a tale. A...

Who Slashed Celanire's Throat? A Fantastical Tale (Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Who Slashed Celanire's Throat? by Maryse Conde Atria Books, August 2004 $23., ISBN 0-743-48260-3 This fantastical tale is inspired by a crime committed in 1995 on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where an infant child was found...

The Color of Family.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Color of Family by Patricia Jones Avon Trade, December 2004 $12.95, ISBN 0-060-50965-1 When the final page turns and the cover shuts one last time, you will appreciate having read this book, threading together themes of color...

Back to Life.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Back to Life by Wendy Coakley-Thompson Dafina Books/Kensington Publishing. Corp. September 2004, $12., ISBN 0-758-20745-X The notion of Prince Charming is fairy-tale fodder to Lisa Martin, a rightfully bitter 29-year-old on the brink of...

Accident of Birth.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Accident of Birth by Heather Neff Harlem Moon/Broadway Books, November 2004 $12.95, ISBN 0-767-91751-0 Neff's third novel proves her talent as a gifted storyteller. Accident of Birth's Reba Freeman is living in two worlds: She is basking...

Sweet Bye-Bye.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Sweet Bye-Bye by Denise Michelle Harris Walk Worthy Press, September 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-446-50008-9 My father, a committed Christian, always says, "The only difference between myself and the 'world' is that I am a saved sinner." Sweet...

All Things Hidden.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... All Things Hidden by Judy Candis Walk Worthy Press/Warner Books September 2004 $13.95, ISBN 0-446-69315-4 Candis, owner of Bar-B-Q-King in Tampa, Florida, demonstrates in her debut novel that a story about danger, suspense and romance can...

Boaz Brown.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Boaz Brown by Michelle Stimpson Warner Books/Walk Worthy Press June 2004, $22.95, ISBN 1-446-53247-9 In this debut novel, Stimpson, an educational consultant, believes that "We as black women need to open ourselves up more to find the kind...

Mother Eternal Ann Everlastin's Dead.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Mother Eternal Ann Everlastin's Dead by Pat G'Orge-Walker Dafina Books/Kensington Publishing Corp. July 2004, $24., ISBN 0-758-2-379-9 Writer and Christian comedienne G'Orge-Walker returns with another hilarious romp with Sister Betty. In...

Departures.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Departures by Adrienne Bellamy New American Library, September 2004 $13.95, ISBN 0-451-21294-0 If you possess an indulging sense of humor, need help in developing one, or simply don't mind blushing, Departures may be the novel for you. It...

The Ties that Bind.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The lies That Bind by Electa Rome Parks New American Library, October 2004 $12.95, ISBN: 0-451-21321-1 Under the rubric of being "straight-up" and "realistic" about relationships, Parks presents us with a sordid novel about a "love"...

Gangsta Rap.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Gangsta Rap by Benjamin Zephaniah Bloomsbury Children's Books, August 2004 $7.95, ISBN 1-582-34886- 3 Ray, a 15-year-old male from London's East End, lives at home with his younger sister, Kori, and West Indian parents. With a natural...

Holiday offerings focus on the classics and heritage: new selections make perfect stocking stuffers.(children's bookshelf)
November 1, 2004... FOR GIFT GIVING Did I Tell You I Love You Today? by Deloris Jordan with Roslyn M. Jordan Illustrated by Shane W. Evans Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, December 2004 $16.95, ISBN 0-689-85271-1 Ages 1-6 A mother makes it her...

Flying off the shelves.
November 1, 2004... Hardcover Fiction 1. Gotham Diaries/Tonya Lewis Lee end Crystal McCrary Anthony (NEW) ($21.95, Hyperion Books, ISBN 1-401-30119-3) A savvy, witty and intriguing expose of the upper echelons of New York's African American society, by...