Books You'd Recommend

You've read it, it was great, and you want others to enjoy it also. So share away...

Don't forget to add:

Title + Author

Synopsis

Why You're Recommending It

Other tidbits you're like to share

Little Bee
By Chris Cleave
288 pages; Simon & Schuster

The voice that speaks from the first page of Chris Cleave's Little Bee is
one you might never have heard—the voice of a smart, wary, heartsick
immigrant scarred by the terrors of her past. "When I say that I am a
refugee, you must understand that there is no refuge," says "Little
Bee," a young Nigerian who has made her way from a brutal British
detention center to the home of a women's magazine editor whose life
once intersected—horribly, mercifully—with the girl's own. Read this
urgent and wryly funny novel for its insights into simple humanity, the
force that can disarm fear. He was apart of Oprah's book club and its on the her must read 2009 so far. Trust Me its a good book.

The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir
By StaceyAnn Chin


Description:

A fresh, forthright, affecting memoir by Jamaican performance artist
Chin finds warmth and humor in her abject, parentless childhood. The
"Paradise" of the title is the slum of Montego Bay, Jamaica, where Chin
spent her hardscrabble adolescence, and her remarkable memoir is framed
around her mother's rejection of her and her older brother, Delano, and
the uncertainty about who Chin's father really was.

Born to a young,
street-savvy girl with a "penchant for distinguished older men with
money" (in this case, a local Chinese businessman who always insisted
he was not Chin's father), Chin spent her early years along with Delano
under the care of their stern, God-fearing, illiterate grandmother.
Early on, the spirited, defiant youngster learned to lie about her
parentage, while the poverty and neediness of the siblings rendered
them charity cases for relatives in Bethel Town and Kingston.

Once,
their mother came to visit them from where she lived in Montreal,
Canada, though she quickly foisted them onto other relatives for good,
leaving Chin, at age nine, to fend for herself in the shack of her
harsh great-aunt whose boys routinely attempted to rape her.
Nonetheless, Chin excelled at school, thanks to financial help from the
man who refused to acknowledge his paternity, and became an emigrant
success story later in New York.

My Recommendation:
StaceyAnn delves into her turbulent upbringing and eventually into her college years and being a lesbian in Jamaica. There is such an absence of Caribbean memoirs and glbt authors that StaceyAnn's book is a sunflower in a desert. A definite read, hard to put down, and draws you in.

I would recommend Frederick Douglass; A Narrative of an American Slave.

It follows the life of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. It is absolutely inspiring! He went through so much and even taught himself how to read! It should be required reading for every single person, not just black people. The first few pages will make you cry, but by the end of the book you will be so inspired.

I'd also love to read the Black Book which is a collection of media images and historical documents in African American history. It received a nice review on theroot.com. Looks interesting. I bet it has at least one picture of a vintage ad for straightening cream!

The Book of Negroes
Animal Farm

Secrets and Lies

by Rhonda McKnight

Faith and Jonah are a married couple with 2 kids. Things are going well until the secrets and lies begin. It's a great read. This is McKnight's debut novel and what an excellent one it is!!!!

First Monday In August by Khyrra

This is my debut novel about a sequence of events stemming from the murder Omar Bentley, the local football star that was headed to greatness. This small Georgia town is rocked to its core with the secrets that start spilling like beans. Tyeese, who witnesses the murder is afraid to tell anyone because that would mean confessing her infidelity to her longtime boyfriend, Turk. But as we all know, what's done in the dark surely comes to light. And as Turk tries to figure whats going on with the woman he loves, he will face some of his own demons along the way. Tyeese's godfather Malcolm, who is home for the first time in years, wants to help but finds that investigating the murder of this young man reveals a love he thought was long gone. Could Omar be the son he never got the chance to know? And if so, how does he handle it??

Along with other memorable characters this story leads the reader through the lives of those you will cheer for, cry for, and want to defend before it's over.

Anyone who enjoys a well spun story will enjoy First Monday In August because I definitely enjoyed letting my imagination run free!

justicenga wrote:Secrets and Lies

by Rhonda McKnight

Faith and Jonah are a married couple with 2 kids. Things are going well until the secrets and lies begin. It's a great read. This is McKnight's debut novel and what an excellent one it is!!!!

Girl, thank you for recommending my book. Love ya!

The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is brillient. Still reading so I cant give a full synopsis.Its pretty good.Its also a best seller on Oprahs book club! :-)

"Divine" by Karen Kingsbury
This is an inspirational fictional story of a woman who overcome countless circumstances (some of her own doing; others, beyond her control). I cried. I would recommend any book by Karen Kingsbury. ---also---
"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers.

Octavia E. Butler's 1993 sci-fi novel Parable of the Sower and the Sequel Parable of the Talents are two of the best books I've read the first book is set just twenty-five years from now. Butler imagines a California beset by severe global warming, with the government virtually collapsed and anarchy run amuck. Written in the first person, Butler's narrator, Lauren, is a young woman who begins the book living in a walled community with her family. Life outside the walls is total chaos, and much effort is spent keeping the "barbarians" - people who have been dispossessed of home or property - on the outside. The book is a page turner after you have finished you will want more that is why you should have both books at the same time so you don't have to wait . You will be an Octavia Butler Fan for life !

"She's come undone" by Wally Lamb

It chronicles the life a woman named Georgia from the age 4 to 40. Through her parents divorce her being raped at the age or thirteen and her time in a mental institution. It is triumphant, brutally honest, and heart wrenching and will have you balling like a baby from beginning to end. It is my favorite book.

curlgurl19 wrote:"She's come undone" by Wally Lamb

It chronicles the life a woman named Georgia from the age 4 to 40. Through her parents divorce her being raped at the age or thirteen and her time in a mental institution. It is triumphant, brutally honest, and heart wrenching and will have you balling like a baby from beginning to end. It is my favorite book.

ITA this book was excellent I also loved " I know this much is True " by the same author. It's about a twin who has to deal with his twin's mental illness while dealing with his own feelings of being abused as a child !

I have also read "I know this much is true" another great read.

"Creatively written with humor, sauciness, and a sexy edge..." — Sharon Lewis of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers and BlackBookReviews.net

Creatively written with humor, sauciness, and a sexy edge, CHOCOLATE LEMONS AND PEPPERMINT TEARS: The Bittersweet Life of Xena will keep the reader quickly turning the pages. The novel is set in Los Angeles during the 1990's; the reader will take a ride on a fantastic voyage down memory lane. The characters are relatable, intelligent, sexy and funny. Xena is attractive and successful; has issues with her weight; wears her hair in a short afro and dares anyone to say something about it. As a matter of fact, Xena's character takes on a lot of the author's appearance and her life...hmmm! Renee has a love for younger men, full of life and doesn't have any problem speaking her mind. Energetic and hilarious, this debut novel is sure to put a smile on your face.

. .
"If you're ready for a great read... This is a must have!!!!" — Ayisha F. (Cali), July 13, 2009

Since I've picked this book up... I just can't put it down. I'm from Sac Town, so this book really hits close to home for me. It is phenomenally written and the characters are hilarious and very relatable. This is definitely a favorite in my collection and I am telling all my girlz to buy it. Bravo Ms. Robinson!!!

. .
"Fantastic!" — K. Knotts (Los Angeles, CA), May 31, 2009

Put on a comfy robe, pour yourself a glass of your favorite wine, curl up and be thorougly entertained by the hilarious, in-your-face-with-just-the-right-amount-of-raunch, "Chocolate Lemons and Peppermint Tears: The Bittersweet Life of Xena." Robin R. Robinson has a way with words and in the tradition of Terry McMillan, she takes no prisoners in this tale about the trials and tribulations of Xena, a righteous, together sista, and her quest for a man. And not just any old man will do either. See, this sista has set the bar very high; she knows her queenly worth and refuses to let desperation, or lack of the big "D" (as she so eloquently puts it), force her to settle for anything less than what she deserves. Alas, her Prince does arrive, but ultimately turns out to be a frog with a devastating secret. So, accompanied by her road-dog, Renee (a "Cougar" long before the term was coined), Xena moves to Los Angeles in an effort to purge him from her mind, body and soul, and find her real soulmate. The author does an excellent job of capturing the mid 90's single scene in Los Angeles. I know because I was there around that time. Trust me when I say: it was a bleak and desperate landscape! I fell in love with Xena. Her story is so relatable--you'll find yourself shouting out "amen" every couple of pages. I could tell you how the story ends, but I won't. Buy the book and see for yourself; you won't be sorry. As a matter of fact, I can't wait for a sequel. I'm telling all my girlfriends about this bold and sexy treat!

Check out my website: www.robinrrobinson.com
Peace and hair grease, ya'll.