New Books Coming Your Way, September 26, 2017

Unforgivable Love: A Retelling of Dangerous Liaisons by Sophfronia Scott
528 p.; Historical fiction

In this vivid reimagining of the French classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses, it’s the summer when Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier and a sweltering stretch has Harlem’s elite fleeing the city for Westchester County’s breezier climes, two predators stalk amidst the manicured gardens and fine old homes

Heiress Mae Malveaux rules society with an angel’s smile and a heart of stone. She made up her mind long ago that nobody would decide her fate. To have the pleasure she craves, control is paramount, especially control of the men Mae attracts like moths to a flame.

Valiant Jackson always gets what he wants—and he’s wanted Mae for years. The door finally opens for him when Mae strikes a bargain: seduce her virginal young cousin, Cecily, who is engaged to Frank Washington. Frank values her innocence above all else. If successful, Val’s reward will be a night with Mae.

But Val secretly seeks another prize. Elizabeth Townsend is fiercely loyal to her church and her civil rights attorney husband. Certain there is something redeemable in Mr. Jackson. Little does she know that her worst mistake will be Val’s greatest triumph.

bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward
160 p.; Poetry

Bone. Visceral. Close to. Stark.

The poems in Yrsa Daley-Ward’s collection bone are exactly that: reflections on a particular life honed to their essence—so clear and pared-down, they become universal.

From navigating the oft competing worlds of religion and desire, to balancing society’s expectations with the raw experience of being a woman in the world; from detailing the experiences of growing up as a first generation black British woman, to working through situations of dependence and abuse; from finding solace in the echoing caverns of depression and loss, to exploring the vulnerability and redemption in falling in love, each of the raw and immediate poems in Daley-Ward’s bone resonate to the core of what it means to be human.

Five-Carat Soul by James McBride
320 p.; Short stories

The stories in Five-Carat Soul—none of them ever published before—spring from the place where identity, humanity, and history converge. They’re funny and poignant, insightful and unpredictable, imaginative and authentic—all told with McBride’s unrivaled storytelling skill and meticulous eye for character and detail. McBride explores the ways we learn from the world and the people around us. An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by Civil War General Robert E. Lee now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens. Five strangers find themselves thrown together and face unexpected judgment. An American president draws inspiration from a conversation he overhears in a stable. And members of The Five-Carat Soul Bottom Bone Band recount stories from their own messy and hilarious lives.

Passage: A Novel by Khary Lazarre-White
192 p.; Fiction

Passage tells the story of Warrior, a young black man navigating the snowy winter streets of Harlem and Brooklyn in 1993. Warrior is surrounded by deep family love and a sustaining connection to his history, bonds that arm him as he confronts the urban forces that surround him—both supernatural and human—including some that seek his very destruction.

For Warrior and his peers, the reminders that they, as black men, aren’t meant to be fully free, are everywhere. The high schools are filled with teachers who aren’t qualified and don’t care as much about their students’ welfare as that they pass the state exams. Getting from point A to point B usually means eluding violence, and possibly death, at the hands of the “blue soldiers” and your own brothers. Making it home means accepting that you may open the door to find that someone you love did not have the same good fortune.

Warrior isn’t even safe in his own mind. He’s haunted by the spirits of ancestors and of the demons of the system of oppression. Though the story told in Passage takes place in 1993, there is a striking parallel between Warrior’s experience and the experiences of black male youth today, since nothing has really changed. Every memory in the novel is the memory of thousands of black families. Every conversation is a message both to those still in their youth and those who left their youth behind long ago. Passage is a novel for then and now.

The Perfect Present by Rochelle Alers, Cheris Hodges & Pamela Yaye
352 p.; Romance

A CHRISTMAS LAYOVER by Rochelle Alers
When Navy SEAL Captain Noah Crawford and elementary school teacher Sierra Nelson meet on a plane headed east from San Diego, they’re glad to pass the time in friendly conversation. But when a freak storm grounds them, Sierra offers Noah a place to spend the night—with her extended family, all of whom assume they’re a couple. And as the holiday spirit infuses every moment they spend together, they both begin to wonder if a relationship is a special gift they didn’t expect…

THE CHRISTMAS LESSON by Cheris Hodges
Kayla Matthews isn’t looking forward to heading home this Christmas. Divorced and struggling, nothing has turned out the way she expected—including her childhood friend, DeShawn Carter. Now the high school principal, he’s also the kind of man she’s always dreamed about. But before the holidays are over, Kayla has a chance to reclaim everything she once thought she wanted—or prove to DeShawn that they have a second chance worth celebrating…

CHRISTMAS WITH YOU by Pamela Yaye
Celebrity stylist Maya Malone can’t find anything joyous about the season, not since her ex-fiancé left her on Christmas Eve. But one look at suave, sexy sports agent Marc Cunningham is almost enough to change her mind. Their instant attraction feels like the best sort of present, except for one very large obstacle—Maya’s NFL star big brother, Marc’s new client. It will take more than holiday spirit to convince everyone involved that Marc and Maya’s connection will make the angels sing…

New Books Coming Your Way, April 5, 2016

Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge by Ovidia Yu
368 p. (Mystery; Singapore)

Slightly hobbled by a twisted ankle, crime-solving restaurateur Aunty Lee begrudgingly agrees to take a rest from running her famous café, Aunty Lee’s Delights, and turns over operations to her friend and new business partner Cherril.

The café serves as a meeting place for an animal rescue society that Cherril once supported. They were forced to dissolve three years earlier after a British expat killed the puppy she’d adopted, sparking a firestorm of scandal. The expat, Allison Fitzgerald, left Singapore in disgrace, but has returned with an ax to grind (and a lawsuit). At the café one afternoon, Cherril receives word that Allison has been found dead in her hotel—and foul play is suspected. When a veterinarian, who was also involved in the scandal, is found dead, suspicion soon falls on the animal activists. What started with an internet witch hunt has ended in murder—and in a tightly knit, law-and-order society like Singapore, everyone is on edge.

Before anyone else gets hurt—and to save her business—Aunty Lee must get to the bottom of what really happened three years earlier, and figure out who is to be trusted in this tangled web of scandal and lies.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul by James McBride
256 p. (Non-fiction; biography)

James Brown is arguably among the most famous African Americans in the world. James McBride, himself a black man and a musician with southern roots, traveled South on a tip from Brown’s grandson promising to give him a scoop on the real man behind the legend. Despite his enormous influence, Brown’s musical legacy remains largely underappreciated, his will is a legal nightmare, and as his fortune is dispersed to warring lawyers, not a penny has been paid to educate the poor white and black children of Georgia, according to his wishes. His body is lying in a coffin on his daughter’s front yard and the man himself has remained an elusive enigma. McBride met with relatives, neighbors, friends, Brown’s “adopted” son Al Sharpton, fellow musicians who played in Brown’s band—who have never talked about Brown on the record before—and yet what he discovered what not what he expected. In this gripping narrative—at once adventure, music narrative, and social commentary—McBride comes to understand the reason that Brown has remained hidden to us all these years and what that means for us today.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Country of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu
320 p. (Fiction; Bosnia/Serbia)

From the moment Marija walks into Lara's classroom, freshly moved to Serbia from Sarajevo, Lara is enchanted by her vibrant beauty, confidence, and wild energy--and knows that the two are destined to be lifelong friends. Closer than sisters, the girls share everything, from stolen fruit and Hollywood movies as girls to philosophies and even lovers as young women. But when the Bosnian War pits their homelands against each other in a bloodbath, Lara and Marija are forced to separate for the first time: romantic Lara heads to America with her Hollywood-handsome new husband, and fierce Marija returns to her native Sarajevo to combat the war through journalism behind Bosnian lines.

In America, Lara seeks fulfillment through work and family, but when news from Marija ceases, the uncertainty torments Lara, driving her on a quest to find her friend. As Lara travels through war-torn Serbia and Bosnia, following clues that may yet lead to the flesh-and-blood Marija, she must also wrestle with truths about her own identity.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Even in Paradise by Elizabeth Nunez
320 p. (Fiction; Carribean)

Peter Ducksworth, a Trinidadian widower of English ancestry, retires to Barbados, believing he will find an earthly paradise there. He decides to divide his land among his three daughters while he is alive, his intention not unlike that of King Lear, who hoped "That future strife/May be prevented now." But Lear made the fatal mistake of confusing flattery with love, and so does Ducksworth. Feeling snubbed by his youngest daughter, Ducksworth decides that only after he dies will she receive her portion of the land. In the meantime, he gives his two older daughters their portions, ironically setting in motion the very strife he hoped to prevent.

Beautifully written in elegant prose, this is a novel about greed, resentment, jealousy, betrayal, and romantic love in the postcolonial world of the Caribbean, giving us a diverse cast of characters of African, Indian, Chinese, Syrian/Lebanese, and English ancestry.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Return Flights by Jarita Davis
88 p. (Poetry; Cape Verde)

These poems—varying from narrative to imagist to lyrical—reflect the “sodade” of Cape Verdean culture that is shaped by separation and longing—longing for the home that has been left behind and for loved ones who have departed. Cape Verdean communities extend beyond national boundaries and are paradoxically independent of place, even when inspired by it. Return Flights marks a turning point for Cape Verdean American culture, one in which a partially forgotten past becomes a starting point for possible futures, both of new transoceanic contacts and of new reinventions of culture.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Hardly War by Don Mee Choi
112 p. (Poetry; Korea/Vietnam)

Hardly War, Don Mee Choi's major second collection, defies history, national identity, and militarism. Using artifacts from Choi's father, a professional photographer during the Korean and Vietnam wars, she combines memoir, image, and opera to explore her paternal relationship and heritage. Here poetry and geopolitics are inseparable twin sisters, conjoined to the belly of a warring empire.

Like fried potato chips – I believe so,
utterly so – The hush-hush proving
ground was utterly proven as history –
Hardly=History – I believe so, eerily so
– hush hush – Now watch this
performance – Bull's-eye – An uncanny
human understanding on target –
Absolute=History – loaded with
terrifying meaning – The Air Force
doesn't say, hence Ugly=Narration –

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound


Glory over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
384 p. (Historical fiction; African-American)

The author of the New York Times bestseller and beloved book club favorite The Kitchen House continues the story of Jamie Pyke, son of both a slave and master of Tall Oakes, whose deadly secret compels him to take a treacherous journey through the Underground Railroad.

This new, stand-alone novel opens in 1830, and Jamie, who fled from the Virginian plantation he once called home, is passing in Philadelphia society as a wealthy white silversmith. After many years of striving, Jamie has achieved acclaim and security, only to discover that his aristocratic lover Caroline is pregnant. Before he can reveal his real identity to her, he learns that his beloved servant Pan has been captured and sold into slavery in the South. Pan’s father, to whom Jamie owes a great debt, pleads for Jamie’s help, and Jamie agrees, knowing the journey will take him perilously close to Tall Oakes and the ruthless slave hunter who is still searching for him. Meanwhile, Caroline’s father learns and exposes Jamie’s secret, and Jamie loses his home, his business, and finally Caroline.

Heartbroken and with nothing to lose, Jamie embarks on a trip to a North Carolina plantation where Pan is being held with a former Tall Oakes slave named Sukey, who is intent on getting Pan to the Underground Railroad. Soon the three of them are running through the Great Dismal Swamp, the notoriously deadly hiding place for escaped slaves. Though they have help from those in the Underground Railroad, not all of them will make it out alive.

Purchase: Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

#BookReview: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Synopsis: Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry’s master quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town—with Brown, who believes he’s a girl.

Over the ensuing months, Henry—whom Brown nicknames Little Onion—conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859—one of the great catalysts for the Civil War.

Review: I LOVE James McBride.  He has a tendency to see things that others don't and bring them to our attention.  I really enjoyed Song Yet Unsung a few years back.  I would say it's my favorite from him so far.  He has a good grasp on historical fiction, as witnessed in Song and Miracle at St. Anna.  After it won the National Book Award, I knew I had to give The Good Lord Bird a read.

It should be noted that while the book is based in history, it is mostly satirical.  While at first I found that amusing, it grew old and stale quickly.  A boy pretending to be a girl, living in the wilderness with John Brown and his group of men, can be a sticky situation.  It's an even stickier situation when the boy is a bit dense and doesn't always make the most logical decisions.

The book tended to drag on in parts and by the time I made it to the end, I just wanted McBride to bring on the raid and wrap up the story.  It reminded me of a joke that's gone on entirely too long, but no one wants to tell the comedian so they continue to listen in hopes that it'll be over soon.  Make no mistake, McBride is a great storyteller, this story just wasn't enough to really interest me.

Much more entertaining was an appearance by McBride and the Good Lord Bird Band at the New York Public Library last month.  In between McBride reading excerpts from the book, the band (of which he is a part) sang and played songs that fit the book scenes.  It was simply amazing.  I watched the live stream on YouTube and have included a part of it below for your enjoyment.

432pp
Published: August 2013

#BookReview: SONG YET SUNG by James McBride

I did not expect to like to this book.  As a matter of fact, it sat in my "to be read" pile for three weeks before I even picked it up.  Even then, I only did so because it was due back at the library soon.  Out of all of the books in my stack, it's the one I should have picked up first because I absolutely loved it.

With Song Yet Sung James McBride has managed the perfect blend of historical fiction with just a little touch of the paranormal.  In reading it, I'm reminded of Octavia E. Butler's Kindred.  Song Yet Sung follows the lives of slaves and slave catchers along Maryland's eastern shore.  In an area full of abolitionists, free men and oysterman, Amber and Wiley live a peaceful existence with their widowed mistress and her son. The peace on their farm is interrupted the day "the Dreamer" comes into their lives.

Captured by the notorious slave stealer, Patty Cannon, and her gang, the beautiful Liz finds herself locked in the attic with fourteen other slaves.  Injured during her capture, she's nursed back to health by "the woman with no name."  When a turn of events frees the captives, the elderly woman with no name knows that freedom is not in her future.  Instead, she gives to Liz the code that will lead her to freedom. Today, most have heard of the codes that were quilted into blocks during slavery to guide runaways along their journey.  These codes would tell slaves in the area if it was save to move, if someone was on the run, in which direction they should go, etc.  Though she doesn't understand the code, Liz makes note of it and starts her quest to freedom.

Liz dreams of a future that includes yellow, brown and white people standing on a large campground listening to a brown man singing the song yet sung; brown people in moving machines shooting other brown people; and children losing themselves in front of a talking box.  With the help of the mysterious Woolman who lives in the swamp, the blacksmith, an oysterman and Amber, Liz's dreams are realized.

What did you like about this book?
It was so unexpectedly good.  You definitely have to be a thinking person to understand the dreams of which Liz speaks.  The addition of Patty Cannon, a real person, made the story that much more captivating.

What did you dislike about this book?
I was unclear on maybe two or three paragraphs right at the end of the book.  I'm sure re-reading them may bring some clarity.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Nothing.  James McBride seems to hit it out of the ballpark each time.

368pp
Published February 2008


Originally posted June 28, 2010