Book picks similar to
The Queen of Harlem: A Novel by Brian Keith Jackson
book-club
aa
gay
brenda-s-library
We'll Never Tell
Kayla Perrin - 2007
Tailored just for her. The kind that will teach her a lesson not to mess with me."--from We'll Never TellShandra James is a man stealer. It's a sport to her, a game that she always wins. As a pledge of the exclusive Alpha Sigma Pi sorority, she should know her place, and know not to throw herself at a sister's boyfriend. But she's marked a new target: Henry Reid.Henry's fiancée, Phoebe, and her sorority sisters, Miranda and Camille, decide to teach Shandra a lesson one night. A lesson that involves humiliation but nothing more. But unexpectedly the lesson turns deadly and the three women find themselves facing three new rules: Never mention what happened that night, protect each other, and tell no one. Yet when a murderer comes calling, they each discover that rules are meant to be broken. We'll Never Tell is Kayla Perrin's most provocative, suspenseful novel yet.
Black Boy
Richard Wright - 1945
An enduring story of one young man's coming of age during a particular time and place, Black Boy remains a seminal text in our history about what it means to be a man, black, and Southern in America.
Mama Day
Gloria Naylor - 1988
On the island of Willow Springs, off the Georgia coast, the powers of healer Mama Day are tested by her great niece, Cocoa, a stubbornly emancipated woman endangered by the island's darker forces.
In Sunlight and in Shadow
Mark Helprin - 2012
In 1946, Harry Copeland has returned after fighting in the 82nd Airborne from North Africa all the way to the Elbe. Reluctantly assuming the direction of the family fine leather goods manufacture, he finds his life unsatisfactory and on hold – until he is “accidentally” united with Catherine Thomas Hale, the woman for whom he has been waiting all his life, although the forces behind his patience have never been revealed to him. A young actress, singer, and heiress, she has been waiting for him, even if she has known this only in flashes that do not come clear to her until the end of the narrative, and that have not prevented her engagement to a much older man who has been taking advantage of her since childhood.The meeting of Catherine and Harry, their courtship, and their intense love, play out on the stage of New York awakening at mid-century – in the deep worlds of the theater, industry, and high finance, and during the collision of aristocratic New York society with the formidable wave of second-generation, fully assimilated Jews. Though after being broken in the war Harry wants nothing but peace, family, and love, organized crime carries on its extortions as always, even in a city now full of the kind of men who stormed the Point du Hoc and the Siegfried Line. This becomes his moral and physical struggle. While Catherine’s is of a different nature, it is just as consequential, and the courage required of her is perhaps even greater.Of the widest scope – from the air over Sicily to the heat-and-color-saturated Sacramento Valley; the Bay of Biscay to the sea off Maine; the steel mills of Gary, Indiana to the beaches of Amagansett; London in the blitz; the invasion of Normandy; and a single shell gliding across an American lake in August; from the luminous houses of the wealthy to the pounding of the boards beneath a Broadway chorus line – this is yet, first, and foremost a love story, but also a hymn to New York of the period when one great age elided into the other that we call our own. Rich in language and classical allusion, it is true to the mottoes at its outset: the Dantean “Amor mi mosse, che me fa parlare,” “Love moved me, and made me speak,” and to the lines of Lucretius that describe Catherine’s extraordinary representation of the powers, beauties, and graces of womanhood – “Nothing comes forth into the shores of light, or is glad or lovely without you.”
Anything Goes: A novel
Madison Smartt Bell - 2002
Jesse’s talent is for music, which has given him a livelihood and a home as a bass player in a bar band called Anything Goes. Band life offers the opportunity for the dregs of experience (hangovers, mildewed hotel rooms), and the antics of his band mates (all of them older than he is; some of them wiser, some not) offer more schooling in hard knocks.Anything Goes tells Jesse’s story over the course of a year, during which he finds his life slowly being tempered by the unexpected: by a dad who wants to make up and be part of Jesse’s life; by a female lead singer who suddenly makes the band sound a lot better than they have any right to be; and by the confidence Jesse begins to feel in his own musical talent.A complete departure from the sweeping historical vision of Madison Smartt Bell’s Haitian novels and the gritty cynicism of his intense urban dramas, Anything Goes confirms Bell as one of the most versatile, most gifted, most surprising novelists of his generation.
Oh Baby!
Randi Reisfeld - 2005
Talk about culture shock. And, between the eye-popping parties, hot boys, high-maintenance kids, and a heaping of drama, the girls can barely squeeze in time for e-mail catch-ups. But their wild summers on opposite coasts will teach Abby and Jamie things they never knew about love, lust, truth, lies, themselves . . . and each other.
Iola Leroy
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - 1892
After she is freed by the Union army, she works to reunify her family and embrace her heritage, committing herself to improving the conditions for blacks in America. Through her fascinating characters-including Iola's brother, who fights at the front in a colored regiment-Harper weaves a vibrant and provocative chronicle of the Civil War and its consequences through African American eyes in this critical contribution to the nation's literature.
Why the Tree Loves the Ax
Jim Lewis - 1998
Readers of Denis Johnson, David Foster Wallace, Mary Gaitskill, Susanna Moore, and other contemporary fiction writers will welcome this haunting novel about a 27-year-old woman who flees her failed marriage only to find herself involved in a perplexing spiral of murder, counterfeit, and false identity.
Crush
Lutishia Lovely - 2011
. . .White Mocha Michele GrantJayla has always played it safe, personally and professionally. Finding the perfect cup of coffee is about the most exciting thing in her life. But one look at free-spirited café owner Jason, and she's suddenly inspired to venture out of her comfort zone. . . Wanted: You Lutishia LovelyChaz Covington is the guy every man wants to be and every woman wants to have. So when a series of anonymous erotic letters begin arriving at his office, he is only mildly surprised. His prudish assistant, Lois, is shocked. But before it's all over, she won't be the only one. . .From One Lover to Another Cydney RaxLorraine Eafford is done with bad boys. She's ready for someone nice and reliable--someone just like her new co-worker, Wendell. But her ex won't take no for an answer, and Lorraine is about to show him just how bad this good girl can be. . ."Vibrant characters, artful storytelling, and an original voice make Lutishia Lovely worth every moment."--Donna Hill"Talented Grant entices, captivates and mesmerizes her readers." --Romantic Times on Heard It All Before". . .you'll find yourself drawn to Rax's juicy tale of out-of-order Buppies in love and lust." --Essence® on My Husband's Girlfriend
Tuesday's Child
Fern Michaels - 2012
. .On the eve of her retirement, Georgia attorney Mikala Aulani is as vivacious and vibrant as ever, eagerly anticipating a happy future with her partner, Ben. But if Kala has learned anything in thirty-five years of practicing law, it's that the truth can always surprise you. And when Adam Star turns up at her office, confessing to the long-ago murder of his wife, Kala must return to a notorious case that has never stopped haunting her. Ten years have passed since young nurse Sophie Lee was accused of murdering her wealthy patient, Audrey Star. Kala defended Sophie and had no doubt of her innocence--or of Adam Star's guilt--but the prosecution convinced a jury otherwise. Sophie was convicted on a Tuesday--the day on which every significant event in her life, good or bad, seems to happen. Now, on the verge of his death, Adam exonerates Sophie and also leaves her a huge fortune in atonement. Released from prison, Sophie retreats to Kala's house and tries to evade the media frenzy that surrounds her. Kala is determined to help her client make her way back into the world and adjust to her new wealth and freedom. Yet for both, there are still revelations in store--about the nature of redemption, the strange workings of fate, and the power of forgiveness. And most of all, about the secrets that hide in every heart--even those we think we know best.
Shoot the Moon
Billie Letts - 2004
In 1972, windswept DeClare, Oklahoma, was consumed by the murder of a young mother, Gaylene Harjo, and the disappearance of her baby, Nicky Jack. When the child's pajama bottoms were discovered on the banks of Willow Creek, everyone feared that he, too, had been killed, although his body was never found.Nearly thirty years later, Nicky Jack mysteriously returns to DeClare, shocking the town and stirring up long-buried memories. But what he discovers about the night he vanished is more astonishing than he or anyone could have imagine. Piece by piece, what emerges is a story of dashed hopes, desperate love, and a secret that still cries out for justice...and redemption.
God-Shaped Hole
Tiffanie DeBartolo - 2002
Everyone said she was a fraud, that she was just making it up. I'd really like to know why the hell a person would make up a thing like that.Written with the snap, glitter and wit of The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, God-Shaped Hole is a memorable, poignant love story that will leave you weeping with laughter. It is told in the wry, vulnerable voice of Beatrice "Trixie" Jordan who replies to a personal ad, "If your intentions are pure I am seeking a friend for the end of the world."In doing so, she meets Jacob Grace, a charming, effervescent thirty-something writer, a free spirit who is a passionate seeker of life. He possesses his own turn of phrase and ways of thinking and feeling that dissonantly harmonize with Trixie's off-center vision as they roller coaster through the joys and furies of their wrenching romance. Along the way they try to come to terms with the hurt brought about by their distant fathers who, in different ways, forsook them.This story will prove so touching you will rush to share it with a friend or loved one or even a stranger.
The Russian Concubine
Kate Furnivall - 2007
Always looking over her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old must steal to feed herself and her mother, Valentina, who numbered among the Russian elite until Bolsheviks murdered most of them, including her husband. As exiles, Lydia and Valentina have learned to survive in a foreign land.Often, Lydia steals away to meet with the handsome young freedom fighter Chang An Lo. But they face danger: Chiang Kai Shek's troops are headed toward Junchow to kill Reds like Chang, who has in his possession the jewels of a tsarina, meant as a gift for the despot's wife. The young pair's all-consuming love can only bring shame and peril upon them, from both sides. Those in power will do anything to quell it. But Lydia and Chang are powerless to end it.
The New Money Girls
Jimi Gaillard-Jefferson - 2018
Cahir is a tech millionaire. He would pay to have her, but he won't have to.
Nadia, the event planner, cares what people think of her. The only thing one married couple cares about is having her.
Delia, the escort, wants to be pay her bills and be a fashion stylist. Poppy wants to punish Delia for sleeping with her husband.
O’Shea has money, a career, and a sugar daddy she’s sick of. Even strangers are telling her to let go of the life she’s worked so hard to build and move on.
Sex, money, and now love for are coming for the New Money Girls even if they aren’t ready…
This story contains steamy sex scenes, unconventional thinking and lifestyles, and a group of women who go from friends to sisters.
Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral
Jessie Redmon Fauset - 1929
After the death of her parents, Angela moves to New York to escape the racism she believes is her only obstacle to opportunity. What she soon discovers is that being a woman has its own burdens that don't fade with the color of one's skin, and that love and marriage might not offer her salvation.