AALBC.com's
Best Selling Books for July and August 2007
Fiction | Nonfiction |
#1
Life
Doesn't Frighten Me Maya Angelou, Jean-Michel Basquiat (Illustrator) ISBN: 1556702884 Presents Maya Angelou's poem illustrated by paintings and drawings of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Features biographies of both the author and artist.
Maya Angelou's brave, defiant poem celebrates the courage
within each of us, young and old. From the scary thought of panthers in the
park to the unsettling scene of a new classroom, fearsome images are
summoned and dispelled by the power of faith in ourselves. |
#1
Confessions
of a Video Vixen ISBN: 0060842423 Read an AALBC.com Interview with Steffans Glass vases filled with marbles crashed all around us as he began tossing linens from the bed. As the marbles scattered, we laughed in unison ... I remember the exact moment that I first laid on my back for him ... My legs were wrapped around his waist and just before his body was to merge with mine, I noticed his upper right chest. On it was a tattoo with the words "Pain is Love." Confessions of a Video Vixen is the widely anticipated memoir of Karrine Steffans, the once sought-after sexy siren who appeared in the music videos of multiplatinum hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and LL Cool J. A top-paid video dancer, Karrine transitioned to film when acclaimed director F. Gary Gray picked her to costar in his film A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the movie and music video sets, swanky Miami and New York restaurants, and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only skims the surface of Karrine's life. This memoir -- part tell-all, part cautionary tale -- shows how Karrinne came to be the confidante of so many, why she kept their secrets, and how she found herself in Hollywood after a life marked by physical abuse, rape, and drugs -- all before she was twenty-six. By sharing her emotionally charged story, she hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticized industry. �Excerpted from the Introduction |
#2
Forever
a Hustler's Wife: A Novel Paperback: 288 pages The high priestess of the hood, Nikki Turner, is back with
the novel fans have been feenin� for: the sequel to her #1 best-selling
novel, A Hustler's Wife. |
#2 The Vixen Diaries Click to order via Amazon
Hardcover: 288 pages This titillating expos� chronicles the personal and professional adventures of this tabloid-laden socialite, dispelling some rumors, while confirming others. Diaries unveils the heavily shrouded Hollywood backrooms and its coveted secrets. Offering her ardent fans answers to burning questions and presenting lessons learned, this book will surely not disappoint. Karrine Steffans continues to dish out juicy gossip and the much sought after details of her star studded lifestyle and the celebrity men that helped her get where she needed to be. Karrine draws you in to get an up-close and personal look at the Hollywood life of fast money and sex; all the things that make for a great movie. She discusses her interactions with people after the release of Confessions of a Video Vixen and how she copes with it all. |
#3
Beloved Hardcover: 324 pages At the center of Toni Morrison's fifth novel, which earned her the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is an almost unspeakable act of horror and heroism: a woman brutally kills her infant daughter rather than allow her to be enslaved. The woman is Sethe, and the novel traces her journey from slavery to freedom during and immediately following the Civil War. Woven into this circular, mesmerizing narrative are the horrible truths of Sethe's past: the incredible cruelties she endured as a slave, and the hardships she suffered in her journey north to freedom. Just as Sethe finds the past too painful to remember, and the future just "a matter of keeping the past at bay," her story is almost too painful to read. Yet Morrison manages to imbue the wreckage of her characters' lives with compassion, humanity, and humor. Part ghost story, part history lesson, part folk tale, Beloved finds beauty in the unbearable, and lets us all see the enduring promise of hope that lies in anyone's future. |
#3
It's
No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, from Seduction to Scandal--a Hip-Hop Helen of
Troy Tells All by Carmen Bryan, Vanessa Satten ISBN: 1416532668 Carmen Bryan is no stranger to the rap world. Not only did she work at Def Jam and Capitol Records but she shares a daughter with hip-hop superstar Nas -- a relationship made extremely public through Nas's celebrity status, rap lyrics, and the ever-present media. Now, in It's No Secret, a strong, resilient Carmen bares all, telling her side of the story and leaving no detail unturned -- with the true candor and raw emotion of someone who has been there, done that, and survived. From a clandestine relationship with Nas's biggest rival, Jay-Z, that stirred up the biggest feud in hip-hop history, to seeing her reputation in tatters and a once loving relationship with Nas fall apart, Carmen depicts her trying journey to become the strong woman and mother she is today. After years of turmoil that included drugs, sex, greed, and violence -- and abandoning what she had always prized above all, her freedom -- Carmen took a stand, focusing on herself. After years of pursuit by the media, Carmen sets the record straight in It's No Secret -- and has no regrets. |
#4
Thieves�
Paradise by Format: Hardcover, 320pp. Twenty-five-year-old Dante Brown is down and out in L.A.
After doing a stretch of hard time in juvenile jail, he cleaned up his act
as a computer techie-only to be laid off when the economy went south. Now
he's facing a mountain of unpaid bills, a car on its last legs, imminent
eviction, and a snowball's chance in hell with Pam, a sexy waitress/actress
on the hunt for a man with means. |
#4
Diary
of a Lost Girl ISBN: 0971201986 Kola Boof's long awaited autobiography "Diary of a Lost Girl" is nothing less than magnificent. Many will be spellbound by more than 90 pages detailing her terrifying experience as Osama Bin Laden's former mistress, but the Sudanese-born Novelist/Poet writes even more profoundly about the hardships of being vaginally circumcised, about witnessing her birth parents killed in her presence as a small child, about slavery and Arabism in Sudan, about being adopted and raised in the U.S. by African Americans, about her quest for true love, and in one particularly daring chapter, about her hopes for the future of her sons. Add to that years of psychiatric treatment, a struggle with manic anger and quite a few daring romances other than Bin Laden and you've got the perfect ingredients for a feature film. Readers will find themselves fascinated as innocent young Naima Bint Harith tragically becomes the vitriolic complicated temptress Kola. A doomed movie starlet, feminist activist and "kept woman"...who ultimately emerges as the loving mother, outspoken novelist/poet and professional cook that we know today as Kola Boof. Throughout the book, Kola speaks in a voice so utterly naked, truthful and unpretentious that it's impossible not to fall in love with her. |
#5
A
Hustler's Wife ISBN: 0970247257 The 5th best-selling book on AALBC.com for all of 2004 (more than 100,000 copies in print) Sweet innocent Yarni, from a well-to do family, by chance, meets Richmond's notorious drug kingpin, Des. Immediately they develop an astronomical love, which separates her from her family and friends. But when Des, is sentenced to life in prison, she will learn, being a hustler's wife isn't as easy, with her sole provider behind bars. Travel with Yarni, as she survives when the script if flipped. At times she plays the game, and at other times...the game plays her. Her journey is filled with laughter, tears, failures, triumphs and perseverance. Nikki's debut novel is a smorgasbord of manipulation, street-life, greed, betrayal, envy, money, power and revenge. |
#5
The
Covenant with Black America
Tavis Smiley (Editor) ISBN: 0883782774 Read A Review The Covenant with Black America Six years' worth of symposiums come together in this rich collection of essays that plot a course for African Americans, explaining how individuals and households can make changes that will immediately improve their circumstances in areas ranging from health and education to crime reduction and financial well-being. Each chapter outlines one key issue and provides a list of resources, suggestions for action, and a checklist for what concerned citizens can do to keep their communities progressing socially, politically, and economically. Though the African American community faces devastating social disparities�in which more than 8 million people live in poverty�this celebration of possibility, hope, and strength will help leaders and citizens keep Black America moving forward. |
#6
Addicted Paperback, 336pp. Addicted is the story of Zoe, an African-American female arts dealer. It traces her life from the time she first meets her husband, Jason, in the fifth grade, falls in love with him over a game of Twister in the eighth grade, loses her virginity to him in high school and eventually marries him. Everything seems perfect in Zoe's life to her friends and family as she secretly deals with serious problems in her marriage. After failing to get Jason to open up to her sexually, Zoe becomes involved in not one, not two but three extramarital affairs. By the time she seeks the aid of a prominent female African-American therapist, the walls of her picture perfect life have already started to crumble. The book shifts into high gear as Zoe finds out that everyone from her lovers to her husband to her own mother are hiding secrets of their own. Her best friend, Brina, is physically abused by her alcoholic boyfriend, Dempsey. Zoe discovers under hypnosis that her fascination with sex stems from two incidents in her early childhood she had buried deeply into the crevices of her mind. She is stalked and attacked. The book comes to a head on a cold, dark mountain following a trail of murders and the true murderer is anyone's guess. Addicted does for women what Fatal Attraction did for men. It will make a woman think twice before risking it all. |
#6
From A Red Zone: Critical Perspectives on Race,
Politics & Culture
Paperback: 242 pages This collection of essays explores several sites of
racialized power, from scholarly works embedded in academic disciplines to
ethnic museums and several race-based exclusionary political practices. The
point of view is comparative--that of a woman of color feminist--and that of
one born into a red zone, the world of urban Native America in the second
half of the twentieth century. Arguing that the experiences of indigenous
peoples--as subjects of museum display, anthropological investigation, and
history writing, as well as those whose communities have provided both
cultural commodities for mass consumption and exemplars for performative
appropriation--often overlap those experienced by other racialized
communities ( primarily within the United States, Africa, and the
Caribbean), this work offers a wide-ranging analysis of several symbolic and
political regimes of racial and gender power. Polemical in tone, the essays
are each grounded in an historical consciousness specific to communities of
color in the contemporary U.S. |
#7
Bitch Reloaded Paperback: 216 pages The femme fatale of the streets is back and she s deadlier than ever.
Precious miraculously survives her brush with death, but the celebration is
cut short when tragedy strikes. Convinced that Nico Carter is responsible
for ripping her world apart, Precious' sole purpose for living is to make
him pay in blood. The street life that she left behind calls her name as
Precious wreaks havoc on anyone who stands in her way of getting revenge.
While on her path of destruction, new enemies arise and old friends
resurface, complicating Precious plans to bring Nico down. But soon she
realizes that everything isn't what it seems. Will the dark road Precious
travels finally lead to her own demise once and for all? |
#7
Harlem:
Lost and Found Michael Henry Adams Hardcover: 240 pages Harlem is known throughout the world as the center of African-American history and culture in the United States. At the end of the 19th century, Harlem was an enclave of the upper bourgeois, and in the beginning of the 20th century, it absorbed a great number of new inhabitants displaced from midtown. This era saw the Harlem Renaissance, in which a group of artists, writers, and jazz musicians had an important role in influencing world popular culture. The same period saw a flourishing of architecture and design in beautiful houses, churches, apartment buildings, theaters, and commercial buildings. After a period of decline, largely due to state and federal neglect, Harlem is once again experiencing a revival. Author, preservationist, and Harlem resident Michael Henry Adams presents in this volume an architectural and social history of Harlem. Starting in its early days - the establishment of the first European farms in the mid-1660s, Thomas Jefferson's dinner at the Morris-Jumel mansion - the story encompasses great periods of social upheaval and change. Numerous architectural styles were employed by the builders of Harlem, notably neo-Palladianism, and specially commissioned color photographs capture the area as its architecture and interiors are being lovingly restored. Harlem: Lost and Found tells of the history and also of the present of this once ignored and now vibrant metropolitan center. |
#8
Caramel
Flava: The Eroticanoir.com Anthology Zane (Editor) ISBN: 074329727X Zane, the queen of
erotic fiction and publisher of Strebor Books, an imprint of Atria
Books/Simon & Schuster, presents the second in a series of collections of
great erotic fiction. Based on the Featured Erotica section of her website,
Eroticanoir.com, which gets more than three million hits a year from around
the world, these sensual tales, handpicked by Zane, are sure to please her
fans. |
#8
Letters
to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny Hill Harper ISBN: 1592402003 Voted One of the Top 10 Non-Fiction Books of 2006 �Young men today have been bombarded with images of
wealth and success that tell them that buying the hottest car or the most
bling-blingin� jewelry is what they should be motivated by. There is an
overwhelming sales pitch targeted at these young men that subliminally
suggests that material goods are what makes them real men. I want young men
to have knowledge of the things that bring them true empowerment: education,
a strong sense of purpose, compassion, confidence, and humility, to name a
few. |
#9
Let that Be the
Reason ISBN: 1886433852 #1 Best Selling Book On AALBC.com for 2004! Let That Be the Reason is the first of a quasi-fiction trilogy based on the author's real-life experiences. Pamela Xavier is abandoned by her drug dealing infant son's father (Chino) with a stack of bills, no food in the 'fridge, and an impending eviction notice. With no job prospects, Pamela feels backed into a corner and decides to get her "hustle" on. As a female caught up in a male-dominated game, Pamela relies on her alter-ego, Carmen, to deal with the streets, playas, dealers, drug lords, and of course, the law. In no time, Carmen is on top running a call-girl service, fencing operation, and drug cartel--and add to that, being a mom. With money on her mind and her mind on money, Carmen's hustle is taking the streets by storm but the ever-present danger brought on by the police and rival hustlers makes staying in the game perilous. Carmen wants out the game but her powerful drug connect, Dragos, wants her in. If she stays in, the police will force her to implicate Dragos. Her love interest, Delano, a noble hustler, wants Carmen out the game at all costs. Her first love and father of her son, Chino, wants Carmen in the game so he can connect with Dragos. . Carmen's made enough money and she wants out. But can she get out alive? And can she get out in time? Can Carmen, her infant son, and Delano live happily ever after? Vickie M. Stringer adroitly weaves fact and fiction and has written the most honest, provocative and compelling novel of the "Bad-Girl" genre. |
#9
I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages A phenomenal #1 bestseller that has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three years, this memoir traces Maya Angelou's childhood in a small, rural community during the 1930s. Filled with images and recollections that point to the dignity and courage of black men and women. Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but always affecting picture of the people--and the times--that touched her life. "This testimony from a black sister marks the beginning of a new era in the minds and hearts of all black men and women... I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity. I have no words for this achievement, but I know that not since the days of my childhood, when the people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself so moved... Her portrait is a biblical study in life in the midst of death." �James Baldwin |
#10
So
You Call Yourself a Man
ISBN: 0758207182 The acclaimed national best-selling author of such smart, sexy novels as The Preacher's Son and Player Haters returns with a tale of three best friends who've grown from boys to men together. But now that they�re each either married or about to be, they�re coming up against some of the real tests of manhood� James Robinson and his wife, Cathy, have had their rough patches. But seven years into their marriage, things are better, and hotter, than ever�until the not-so-distant past catches up with James. During a particularly rocky period, James hooked up with a woman on his UPS route, and he wasn�t just delivering packages. Now, three years later, the fling has come back to haunt him�with a baby in tow. James has to decide whether to tell his wife, or keep the affair a secret and give in to his ex-mistress's outrageous child support demands. The choice might not be so tough if he wasn�t falling in love�with his newfound son. Meanwhile, James's best friend, Brent Williams, has got his own romantic complications. He's a fine brother who's had women throwing themselves at him all his life, but it's taken Brent a while to find someone who wants him for the man he is on the inside. He thinks he's found her in his fianc�e, Alison Jones. The plus-size beauty isn�t his usual type, but more important to Brent, she's a born-again Christian, like him. They seem like a match made in heaven until a sexy third party threatens to come between them’someone Brent has been praying to resist. Ever since he got married and moved to Seattle, Sonny Harrison has missed his friends in New York. But that's going to change now that James has pulled some strings and gotten him a job at UPS. There's just one problem’sonny's wife. When Sonny tells her the good news, she promptly sends him packing. Sonny's heartbroken�until he reunites with his high school sweetheart, Tiffany. But his quick devotion soon turns suffocating�and scary. Tiffany wants out, but the harder she tries to end things, the harder Sonny hangs on. As his behavior becomes more and more obsessive, Brent and James may be the only ones who can intervene. But will helping Tiffany mean losing their friend forever? |
#10
Quitting
America: The Departure of a Black Man from His Native Land ISBN: 0525947582 Randall Robinson is quitting America, and this book charts his journey from the most powerful nation on earth to the tiny tropical island where his wife was born. His search for a more peaceful and hospitable place grew out of the disappointment and increasing sense of abandonment he felt in the land of his own birth-an America that has sapped the creative energies of his race and has "transfigured humanity."
|
AALBC.com generates book sales directly, and through a number of affiliate programs. Our bestsellers list reflects sales generated via Amazon.com. This list ranks book sales from July 1st through August 19th 2007.
For permission to reproduce this bestseller list, please
contact
troy@aalbc.com