Where My Bitches At?

This book seems to be causing somewhat of a ruckus. I really don't know what to say.

Hold My Gold : A White Girl's Guide to the Hip-Hop World

Hokum

Here's a new one by Paul Beatty.

Author Paul Beatty is back in the swing of things with his latest effort, ‘Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor,’ which hits stores Jan. 17. Author of ‘Tuff’ and ‘Joker, Joker, Deuce,’ Beatty, a 43-year-old Los Angeles native, is renowned for pushing the envelope. “I write because I’m too afraid to steal, too ugly to act, too weak to fight, and too stupid in math to be a Cosmologist,” the irreverent scribe once said. With ‘Hokum,’ he collected humorous writings from the likes of W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, H. Rap Brown, Mike Tyson, Suzan-Lori Parks and Lord Finesse among others. We recently interviewed Paul Beatty about ‘Hokum’s’ controversial cover image and the overall state of black humor.

Profile: Edwidge Danticat

BlackReader.com has a nice little bio on one of my favorite writers. I think she is one of the best and the most likely to succeed Toni Morrison and Alice Walker in receiving a Pulitzer or a Nobel Prize. While Krik Krak was a collection of short stories, Breath, Eyes, Memory was her first novel and I was blown away by her style and mastery of words.

Edwidge Danticat was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti January 19, 1969. When she was two years old, her father André emigrated from Haiti to New York, to be followed two years later by her mother Rose, leaving the young Danticat to be raised by her aunt and uncle. It was during these years that she was exposed to the Haitian practice of storytelling. "Krik?" called Edwidge's aunts and grandmothers. "Krak!" would answer the little girl until the stories became her own.

It would be these memories of Haiti combined with her deep love for all things Haitian that would influence her writing both in style and content. While in Haiti, Danticat wrote her first short story about a girl who was visited by a clan of women each night. Although her formal education in Haiti was in French, she always spoke Haitian Creole at home.

At the age of 12, English would become her third language when she moved to Brooklyn to join her parents. Because of her French/Creole accent and Haitian upbringing, she never quite felt like she fit in, and turned to books as a source of solace. Ironically it would be the same unique blend of language that she was teased for in school that would make her writing compelling and powerful. Despite her challenges as an immigrant, Danticat has always been proud of her origin.

When Danticat entered Barnard College, she had decided to train as a nurse, but her ambition to write would win out and she went on to receive her BA in French literature. She continued with her education and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at Brown University, where as her thesis she wrote Breath, Eyes, Memory (Soho Press, 1994). This novel speaks of four generations of Haitian women who must overcome their poverty and powerlessness. The following year, she published Krik? Krak! (Soho Press, 1995), a collection of short stories about Haiti and Haitian-Americans longing for political freedoms and democracy. Krik? Krak! was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1995.

In an interview for NPR, Danticat said this of her book: "I wanted to raise the voice of a lot of the people that I knew growing up, and this was, for the most part, ... poor people who had extraordinary dreams but also very amazing obstacles." (NPR) Since completing her Masters Degree, she has taught creative writing at New York University, and the University of Miami and has worked with filmmakers Patricia Benoit and Jonathan Demme on projects on Haitian art and documentaries about Haiti.

I was thrilled when Oprah chose Breath, Eyes, Memory as her book club selection because I know exactly what she saw in the book. And, I agree with Oprah that Edwidge is "just so cute."

This Is No Accident

Last night I ran across a stack of books - some of which I hadn't finished reading. Among them was Wayne Dyer's The Power of Intention. It is a great book and I often watch the PBS program of his that airs during their subscription drives. So, today I run across this blog post by someone who seems to be on a quest that is similar to mine.

The one thought that's kept me focused (i.e. wouldn't let me go back to an industry I didn't like anymore just to collect a paycheck) is that in the past 2 years I discovered that I absolutely love living a creative life. And that being happy at work was like not working at all. Seriously, after years of managing, promoting, marketing, and writing about creative people and making their dreams reality, while simultaneously downplaying myself and my skills, something finally clicked. I want the creative freedom I helped other people have. I've decided to tend to myself and my needs first. Not only for my own sanity, but also to be able to truthfully say to my kid that she should follow her dreams. To do that, and feel good about it, I can't be half-assed about mine. It's important to lead by example.

So I gave a lot of thought to what I love. I love the business of fiber arts. I love working with and talking to unique and inspiring women (and the occasional man) everyday. I dig talking to the reps and the process of deciding what to stock. I love working in a shop, but at the end of the day it's not my shop.

I believe in the power of intention. If you put your intentions out in the world and believe in them, you begin the process of manifestation. I also believe its time to get out of my own way, stop being hesitant, step outside of my comfort zone and do what obviously needs to be done. And so, in that spirit, the time has come for me make my intentions known. I want to create a successful fiber arts business. I want to own a yarn shop with fun classes and interesting workshops. I want to create a growing community of fiber enthusiasts. I want to teach more classes, design more patterns, learn to spin and dye yarn, try my hand at weaving, and write a book. And I want my secret project to be successful beyond my wildest dreams.

By declaring my intentions earlier and in my private blogs, I am hoping that I draw in opportunities to explore and exploit my creative side and pursue my dreams as a book lover and aspiring writer.

The Indian In You

I cannot name a black person who doesn't claim to have a "little Indian" in them. Myself included, I supposedly have Cherokee lineage. But, here is a list of resources to check out so that you can trace your Native American heritage.

For those trying to confirm their Afro-Native heritage, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Oklahoma Historical Society and the National Archives and Records Administration in Fort Worth, Texas, are treasure troves. A visit to your family’s birthplace to explore nearby university or county libraries, historical societies and courthouses can also be useful.

Before booking a trip, first consider turning your inner Sherlock Holmes toward your local bookstore or library. Not only will this trim your expenses, but it will also help you focus your sleuthing for greater rewards, our experts say.

The Past As We Remember It

Hmmm! With people still buzzing about James Frey's "fradulent" memoir, it's funny that I'd run across this course description at the UC Berkeley Extension on memoir writing:

Introduction to Memoir Writing
X6 (3 semester units in English)

The notion that we each have a distinct and compelling story to tell is the essence of memoir--a genre that depends on the past as we remember it. Through reading and writing exercises, you explore the shifting landscape of memory and the creative license that it affords you on the page. The course examines why the concepts of 'truth' and 'nonfiction' can sometimes seem at odds, and helps students to reconcile the two. The assigned writing exercises build toward a 15-20 page memoir.

As I said earlier, it's all in the expectation and even though there was some admitted embellishing, it is evident that the memoir genre has some grey areas.

A Million Little Thin Lines

While I believe I've posted my last words on the James Frey/Million Little Pieces saga, it has opened up an interesting debate. I actually never knew that there was any kind of distinction between a memoir and an autobiography.

That debate has exposed rifts throughout the publishing industry this week, not least one between a prominent author - Gay Talese - and the similarly prominent publisher of Mr. Frey's book, Nan A. Talese. The two, of course, are husband and wife.

Mr. Talese, a renowned author of nonfiction books and a former reporter for The New York Times, said in an interview yesterday that he believed it was unacceptable for an author or a publisher to present as nonfiction a work that contained any composite or fictional characters or events, or that otherwise blurred the lines between truth and fiction.

'Nonfiction takes no liberty with the facts, and it should not,' Mr. Talese said. 'I think all writers should be held accountable. The trouble with book publishers is that they don't have the staff or they don't want to have the staff to ensure the veracity of a writer. You could argue that they had better, or they're going to have more stories like this one. My wife is going to hate me for this, but that is what I believe.'

His wife, Ms. Talese, whose Nan A. Talese imprint at the Doubleday unit of Random House published Mr. Frey's book, disagreed, saying memoir cannot be held to the same standard as history or biography.

'Nonfiction is not a single monolithic category as defined by the best-seller list,' she said yesterday when asked to comment on her husband's remarks. 'Memoir is personal recollection. It is not absolute fact. It's how one remembers what happened. That is different from history and criticism and biography, and they cannot be measured by the same yardstick.'

'I adore Gay, but this is a debate that we've been having for 40 years,' Ms. Talese said.

I guess it would stand to reason that a "memoir" would be a book based on one's memory regarding one's life. Lord knows I've heard "embellishments" of events that I witnessed with someone and wonder if we saw the same thing. I also remember when Tatum O'Neil was on Oprah discussing her "memoir" and her father wrote a letter saying that her recollection of her childhood and relationship with him was quite divergent from his. Even within families, different children often recall experiences with what almost seems like different sets of parents. While Frey did admit to changing some names to "protect the innocent," he also took creative license with a few of the events. The question will be if that is acceptable for a book to still be called a memoir. The great epic, Roots, is even described as faction. I think it is all in setting expectations for the reader. Now that I know that there are a million little thin lines in non-fiction genres, I can sleep at night.

Oprah Speaks

Here's to hoping this is the last word on this story. I watched James Frey on Larry King and turned when the hour was over. For some reason I turned back to CNN and realized that Larry (cutting into Anderson Cooper's show) was still on and Oprah was on the phone. James was there, with his mother, as Oprah defended his book.

Oprah Winfrey broke her silence about James Frey's disputed memoir of addiction, 'A Million Little Pieces,' dismissing allegations of falsehoods as 'much ado about nothing' and urging readers who have been inspired by the book to 'Keep holding on.'

'What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves,' Winfrey said Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.

Frey has been under intense scrutiny since The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, posted a story last Sunday alleging the author had substantially fabricated his criminal record and other aspects of his past.

Publishers, writers and readers have offered their opinions, but none mattered so much as Winfrey's. Her selection last fall of 'A Million Little Pieces' for her book club made the memoir a million seller and she might have fatally ruined Frey's reputation by condemning him.

Frey, in his first interview since The Smoking Gun story came out, acknowledged he had embellished parts of the book but said that was common for memoirs and defended 'the essential truth' of 'A Million Little Pieces.'

'The book is about drug addiction and alcoholism,' he said. 'The emotional truth is there.'

Frey claims that The Smoking Gun is focusing on 18-20 pages out of more than 400, that the bulk of the story takes place in a rehab center and that TSG is focusing on parts of the book that are immaterial to the point of the story.

Now! Can we stop vilifying this man before he ends up back in rehab?

Do You Want Your Money Back?

Alrighty! Let's get some perspective here before this spirals out of control into something much deeper than it really is. Random House is offering refunds to people who bought the book directly from them? Why would anyone want a refund? I don't know why most people read (not counting students) but I read for entertainment. From the number of copies sold, it appears that many people were duly entertained. What could anyone possibly have invested in whether this guy was really as big of a drug abusing criminal as he claimed to be? Was the book better because it was a memoir? How sick are people if they need this to be true in order for the book to remain a best seller.

Random House is offering refunds to readers who bought James Frey's drug and alcohol memoir 'A Million Little Pieces' directly from the publisher, following accusations the author exaggerated his story."

Readers calling Random House's customer service line to complain Wednesday were told that if the book was bought directly from the publisher it could be returned for a full refund. Those who bought the book at a bookstore were told to try and return it to the store where it was bought.

"If the book was bought directly from us we will refund the purchase price in full," one Random House customer service told Reuters, adding that readers would have to return the book with the original invoice. "If you bought it at a book store, we ask that you return the book to the book store."

Only a small portion of consumers buy books directly from publishers. However, the agent said Random House normally sells books to consumers as nonrefundable but is offering refunds on Frey's book "because of the controversy surrounding it."

Random House subsequently issued a statement saying it was standard procedure to offer refunds. Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. also said it is standard practice to offer refunds for returned books.

Frey's memoir of alcohol and drug-induced mayhem sold 1.77 million copies last year after being chosen by Oprah Winfrey's book club in September, making it the best-selling nonfiction book in 2005. Only Harry Potter sold more copies.

Part of the reason I never bought it was because I really didn't care to read about someone with that much of a tortured and troubled life. Now that there is the possibility that much of it is false, maybe I will grab a copy.

Update: Random House denies giving refunds.

Oprah's Still Mum

Honestly, what is there to say? It's possible that she was sucked into believing a fantasy novel billed as a memior. Heck, perhaps the dude was such a druggie that he thinks what he wrote is true. Perhaps he has "a beautiful mind" or something. But, she's still leaving it alone right now or perhaps she has her staff doing their their own investigation.

Oprah Winfrey appeared yesterday to write off the author whose addiction memoir - which she helped turn into a mega-seller - now looks like a tall tale.

Winfrey's Web site, Oprah.com, dropped a notice seeking viewers willing to go on her TV show to discuss how James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces' changed their lives.

'Did you ... get inspired to overcome your own battle with drug or alcohol addiction?' the Web site asked as late as Monday night.

For a second day, Winfrey's office in Chicago had no direct comment on the serious doubts about the book raised by The Smoking Gun Web site.

It reported Monday that Frey 'wholly fabricated' or 'wildly embellished' his account of drugs, crime, rehab and redemption, which moved Winfrey to tears last fall and earned a spot in Oprah's Book Club.

In a new statement, Frey's publishers, Doubleday/Anchor, said yesterday, 'By definition, [a memoir] is highly personal.

'In publishing Mr. Frey, we decided 'A Million Little Pieces' was his story, told in his own way, and he represented to us that his version of events was true to his recollections.'

The book, which is No. 1 on The New York Times paperback best-seller list, also was No. 1 yesterday on Amazon.com.

A Million Little Lies?

I just saw this guy on Oprah last week. She absolutely loved his book. But, I suppose there is some reason why I never bought it even though it has almost made it into my Costco basket a number of times. The Smoking Gun says that A Million Little Pieces is filled with a million little lies!

Three months ago, in what the talk show host termed a 'radical departure,' Winfrey announced that 'A Million Little Pieces,' author James Frey's nonfiction memoir of his vomit-caked years as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal, was her latest selection for the world's most powerful book club.

In an October 26 show entitled 'The Man Who Kept Oprah Awake At Night,' Winfrey hailed Frey's graphic and coarse book as 'like nothing you've ever read before. Everybody at Harpo is reading it. When we were staying up late at night reading it, we'd come in the next morning saying, 'What page are you on?'' In emotional filmed testimonials, employees of Winfrey's Harpo Productions lauded the book as revelatory, with some choking back tears. When the camera then returned to a damp-eyed Winfrey, she said, 'I'm crying 'cause these are all my Harpo family so, and we all loved the book so much.'

But a six-week investigation by The Smoking Gun reveals that there may be a lot less to love about Frey's runaway hit, which has sold more than 3.5 million copies and, thanks to Winfrey, has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list for the past 15 weeks. Next to the latest Harry Potter title, Nielsen BookScan reported Friday, Frey's book sold more copies in the U.S. in 2005--1.77 million--than any other title, with the majority of that total coming after Winfrey's selection.

Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book. The 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw 'wanted in three states.'

The Smoking Gun must have done extensive research because a) they have a special web page design just for this article b) it is six freakin' pages long. The sad thing is that even if this book is found to be totally false, it sounds like a captivating story. It still could have been great fiction and the acclaim may have been just as great. We'll have to see what Oprah says - though I guess it doesn't matter. She already made him a millionaire.

Who Are The Gate Keepers in Black Publishing?

Well! This is apropos given my last post regarding the state of black literature. Who, exactly, is controlling the industry when it comes to black books? Black Issues Book Review addresses the matter in its latest issue.

1992 was a year of demarcation in the book industry – it marked the beginning of an era when the industry finally took notice of African Americans as a viable book market. There was good reason why 1992 came to hold this distinction. While there had been occasional bestsellers by black authors since the publication of Richard Wright’s Native Son in 1940, this was a year when no less than five works by black woman authors were on the best-seller lists at nearly the same time: Jazz by Toni Morrison, Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan, The Color Purple (10th Anniversary Edition) by Alice Walker, Brothers and Sisters by Bebe Moore Campbell, and Playing in the Dark, also by Toni Morrison.

Although widely read by non-black audiences, the 1992 bestsellers were written by black authors primarily for a black audience. Not surprisingly, African Americans flocked in unprecedented numbers to bookstores to buy them - demonstrating beyond any doubt that blacks were an untapped and underserved book market.

In the 15 years since 1992, a significant question remains unanswered: Is the representation of African Americans at the highest levels of the book publishing industry commensurate with their spending on books? In this edition of BIBR, we seek the answer to this question, as it is indicative of the degree to which we are in charge of our own cultural destiny. Writers write, but decision makers in the book industries control access to publication and distribution – they are, in other words, the gatekeepers of black literary culture.

Our research into the power wielded by blacks in publishing has uncovered both good news and bad. It has also led to the compilation of a list of the most influential African Americans in book publishing today.

This is only a portion of the article. It seems you have to subscribe to the hard copy of the magazine to read the full content. I do subscribe,and have for years, so will be checking my mailbox for its arrival.

Their Eyes Were Reading Smut?

I hate to go into my litany of "I told you so's" but I saw this coming years ago. Back in the days before blogging was popular, I had a website where I reviewed every book I read (and at the time, that may have been a couple a week). I was also a frequent reviewer, of said books, on Amazon.com. Though I read my share of popular black fiction at the time, I was mindful that the popular fiction of Terry Mc Millian, E. Lynne Harris and Eric Jerome Dickey was not in the same category as the literary magic of Toni Morrison, Edwidge Danticat and Alice Walker. I divided my reviews into three categories: Literature, Popular Fiction and Non-Fiction.

Books by then emerging authors such as Tananarive Due, Florence Ladd, Helen Elaine Lee, Pearl Cleage and Diane McKinney-Whetstone were granted access to the "Toni" club while "dating game" fiction by Omar Tyree (couldn't get beyond the first few chapters after a chronology snafu that pissed me off), Lolita Files (I reviewed Scenes From a Sistah on Amazon and got a downright funky note from her so-called business manager) and Benilde Little (whose style and quality I found far better than others) were products of the burgeoning Terry McMillan genre. I understood and prefaced the differences between the different sub-genres in the growing black book market on my site and in general conversation. Book snob that I was, I always got a little peeved when someone claimed to be an avid reader yet only read the sex and relationship drama filled novels by those whom I considered to be not so great writers or story tellers. Those same folks always claimed that Toni Morrison was "too hard" to understand or that they "couldn't get into" some of the deeper novels by writers who'd truly studied the craft and were well versed in literature as a whole.

So, it is no surprise that even the sexy, black soap opera genre has devolved into a market for overtly erotic/semi-pornographic books which, because the authors are black, get lumped into the "black literature" category - much to my chagrin and, apparently to that of Nick Chiles who wrote this piece for the New York Times.

With an extra spring in my step, I walked into the "African-American Literature" section - and what I saw there thoroughly embarrassed and disgusted me.

On shelf after shelf, in bookcase after bookcase, all that I could see was lurid book jackets displaying all forms of brown flesh, usually half-naked and in some erotic pose, often accompanied by guns and other symbols of criminal life. I felt as if I was walking into a pornography shop, except in this case the smut is being produced by and for my people, and it is called "literature."

As a black author, I had certainly become familiar with the sexualization and degradation of black fiction. Over the last several years, I had watched the shelves of black bookstores around the country and the tables of street vendors, particularly in New York City, become overrun with novels that seemed to appeal exclusively to our most prurient natures - as if these nasty books were pairing off back in the stockrooms like little paperback rabbits and churning out even more graphic offspring that make Ralph Ellison books cringe into a dusty corner.

Early last year I walked into a B. Dalton bookstore in a New Jersey mall where the manager had always proudly told me how well my books were selling. This time, I was introduced to a new manager who was just as proud to show me an enhanced black books section teeming with this new black erotica. I've also noticed much more of this oversexed genre in Barnes & Noble bookstores over the past few months, although it's harder to see there since the chain doesn't appear to have separate black fiction sections.

But up until that visit to Borders in Lithonia, I had thought this mostly a phenomenon of the black retail world, where the black bookstore owners and street vendors say they have to stock what sells, and increasingly what sells are stories that glorify and glamorize black criminals. The genre has been described by different names; "ghetto fiction" and "street lit" are two I've heard most often. Apparently, what we are now seeing is the crossover of this genre to mainstream bookstores.

But the placard above this section of Borders in Lithonia didn't say "Street Lit," it said "African-American Literature." We were all represented under that placard, the whole community of black authors - from me to Terry McMillan and Toni Morrison, from Yolanda Joe and Benilde Little to Edward P. Jones and Kuwana Haulsey - surrounded and swallowed whole on the shelves by an overwhelming wave of titles and jackets that I wouldn't want my 13-year-old son to see: "Hustlin' Backwards." "Legit Baller." "A Hustler's Wife." "Chocolate Flava."

I've heard defenders say that the main buyers of these books, young black women, have simply found something that speaks to them, and that it's great that they're reading something. I'd agree if these books were a starting point, and that readers ultimately turned to works inspired by the best that's in us, not the worst.

To some bookstores' credit, perhaps just having a "black section" (usually right next to the gay section) is convenient as I know, personally, people who will walk into a chain and ask where the black books are. I've also noticed that authors like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker have their works dispersed amongst the mainstream (white) literature as well as amongst the black books. So while I understand the angst in seeing a Pulitzer and Nobel winning authors like Toni, lumped in with soft porn authors like Zane simply because of race, I conclude that we cannot have it both ways.

I shop mostly online for books now but in the days when no weekend was worth living without a trip to the bookstore, I would make special trips to Oakland, from San Jose, just to go to the legendary Marcus Books where I could bask in the smell of every genre of black book from cookbook to historical non-fiction. If you want diversity in that which mainstream bookstores toss all into one basket, finding a black bookstore is the best solution. Otherwise, I think that stores need to get rid of the "black section" and intersperse the books by genre - not race. That may be a challenge for those who cannot take the time to understand some of the more prolific writers. Hunting for good books, without prior research, can be an all day thing.

Full story also at mezomorf.com.

Update: Debra Dickerson, guest blogging at Political Animal, also weighs in on this.

Getting Her Groove Back and Back and Back ...

I'm on a roll tonight when I should have left well enough alone. I found this tidbit on Salon.com just as I thought I was done. In the never ending saga of Terry McMillian's regained groove, it seems she was grooving all over the world while married to her handsome, Jamaican closeted husband.

A new year, a new wrinkle in Terry McMillan's surreal divorce proceedings. You'll recall that last year the author claimed that her much younger and very hot Jamaican hubby, Jonathan Plummer -- the inspiration for her bestselling book 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' -- manipulated her into marrying him so he could gain U.S. citizenship, and then went off and had gay affairs. Well, according to Page Six, McMillan had a cheating heart, too. 'Recently obtained' divorce papers submitted by Plummer include letters from McMillan that flaunt her own infidelities. 'I wonder how you'd feel if I told you that I had plenty of sex when I was in New York. When I was in Spain and Paris,' McMillan wrote. 'That I have been cheating on you for three years because you were a drag, because you were boring, because you got on my nerves because you were embarrassing ... you acted like a homosexual and you couldn't carry on an intelligent conversation.'

Strivers Row

While I am at it, I'd like to note Random House's special division which focuses on African American authors.

Strivers Row is a sub-imprint of Villard, which specializes in publishing current and contemporary fiction by African-American authors. Named for the street dubbed 'Strivers Row' -- West 138th and 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass Boulevards -- which was largely inhabited by first generation African American professionals during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, this imprint has as its mission the publishing quality African-American literature that captures the same spirit of hope, creativity, and promise as its namesake. Standouts include Sorority Sisters, by Tajuana Butler, Gloria Mallette's national bestseller Shades of Jade and C. Kelly Robinson's suspenseful coming-of-age story, Between Brothers.

Sweet Smell of Success

I am sitting at my computer right now smelling like Carol's Daughter's hair and body products. I began purchasing from an online distributer in 2000 before she even had her own online shopping site. I am a big fan and recommend her products whenever I get the chance. As I make yet another New Year's resolution to follow my own dreams, Lisa Price shares the story of how she made her own come true:

In this remarkable memoir, Lisa Price shares the extraordinary story of how she went from bankruptcy to successful entrepreneur—grossing more than two million a year while working from her very own Brooklyn home. Intoxicated by fragrance and scent even as a child, Lisa was famous among her friends for always smelling good. She never imagined that the oils she enjoyed mixing up for her own pleasure would give way to the hugely popular "Carol’s Daughter," a luxurious, all-natural line of bath and beauty products.

How did a young black woman in financial straits, unable to get a business loan and deeply in debt, churn out a multi-million dollar enterprise? With $100 in cash, her own kitchen, and the simple notion that people should follow their hearts (which Lisa did by following her nose!) But first Lisa had to face down her demons—her fears about money, low self-esteem, and a history of failed relationships. But as she tackled each problem, her confidence soared and her business was unstoppable. She met her husband and business partner, began a family, and bought a large, beautiful space in her Brooklyn neighborhood to sell her products—favorites like Honey Pudding, Mango Body Butter, and Jamaican Punch that stars such as Halle Berry, Erykah Badu, Maya Angelou, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Rosie Perez buy religiously.

In Success Never Smelled So Sweet, Lisa Price charts her amazing journey in lively, down-to-earth stories about her childhood growing up in Brooklyn and the often unexpected “accidents” in the kitchen that led to her bestselling scents. From the early cultivation of her sensory gift through cooking with her Trinidadian grandmother to her painful years in a rigid school system where she was berated by teachers and bullied by kids, Lisa speaks tenderly and wisely about the subtle ways in which life can guide us to our inner truth—even as it throws out difficult obstacles along the way.

For any woman who has ever longed to leave the nine-to-five grind and work successfully from home, Lisa Price’s story is a must-read. Filled with inspiring anecdotes, life advice from her own mother, Carol, and the recipes for some of her best-loved products, Success Never Smelled So Sweet is a book to read by candlelight while soaking in a silky rose-milk bath.

Reads Like A Biography

From the Black Issues Book Review site, Antionette Dykes reviews Third Girl From the Left by Martha Southgate.

Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1970 is not a place a smart black girl wants to linger.' So begins Third Girl From the Left by Martha Southgate. It is a wonderful 'back-in-the-day' narrative filled with biting, perceptive prose that reads in a melodic and thoughtful way and comes out as well-composed sheet music filled with many beats.

The fictional story hinges around 20-year-old Angela Edwards, who moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles in the 1970s to begin an acting career. Southgate writes with all of the wit and wisdom of an insider as Angela tries to navigate through live, love and Hollywood--sometimes in a Playboy bunny outfit. The author explores many sides of her main character with titillating honesty, humor and pain.

The book is set against the shroud of the blaxploitation film era, and the author skillfully incorporates actual people and events, using such real-life characters as Pam Grier, Wilt Chamberlain and Huey Newton. True events such as the Tulsa Race Riots add to the credibility of the story. In many scenes of the novel, there is an underlying musical score such as Sly and The Family Stone playing on a stereo at one of the wild '70s parties.

Third Girl From the Left reads like a biography, and that is really what is so impressive about the book. Southgate is wonderful at weaving Angela's memories from the past, and juxtaposing these memories to the present, which is actually the past. This novel is full of honest, multifaceted, tangible characters, and the author intertwines the memories of different characters from different generations into one solid mass. These characters come across as not forced, and the dialogue is playful and interesting.

Southgate does what a good novelist should do: she takes you on a journey to see life through someone else's eyes, allowing you to be a fly on the wall in their story, and just perhaps gives you room to empathize enough to contemplate on your own journey in life. Southgate is a former magazine editor and newspaper reporter who has written two award-winning novels, Another Way to Dance, (Laura leaf, January 1998) for young adults, and The Fall of Rome, (Scribner, January 2003), for adults. She is also a gifted storyteller.

New From Octavia Butler

Yes, I am still behind in my reading but cannot pass up the opportunity to share this about Octavia Butler's latest!

Octavia E. Butler has always given readers science fiction stories that are beautifully written and inclusive. Her novels, which include Pattern Master, Wild Seed and Parable of the Sower (all Aspect reprints from 1995, 1999 and 1995 respectively), are set in worlds that reflect much of our contemporary diversity and expand on it with the introduction of altered humans and separate species. Butler uses her fiction to explore many of our social concerns regarding race, gender, class and sexuality.

Fledgling delves into many of the same social issues Butler examines in her earlier novels. It is different, however, in that the imagined species Butler creates is a race of vampires who have created their own mutation. The fledgling referred to in the title is Shori, a young woman of startling abilities who, after losing her memory, must learn everything about her life and her people anew.

In Shori, Butler presents a vampire who is black, a distinctive quality she uses to touch on the race issues humans face, while at the same time making the fledgling's color one of the things that gives her added abilities. Along the way, Butler presents a tale full of mystery, suspense and taut storytelling that also challenges assumptions about gender, sexuality and relationships between the powerful and the weak. As with most of her novels, the building and sustaining of community is a major element of the tale, and shadows Shori's journey into the world of the Ina, the vampire portion of her heritage.

Butler's writing here is as gratifying as her other works, and will be pleasing to fans of her science fiction. It also appeals to diehard fans of vampire novels, although she rejects and challenges many of the established tenets of vampire lore. The novel is, above all, a literary gem that is accessible to all readers.