26. Freakonomics

A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

I should have read this long ago, probably, as its been a bestseller for a couple of years now. But those of us who work in bookstores rarely read bestsellers. I know for me, if that many people are buying it and reading it, then I think something is wrong with it! Book snob.

I finally picked it up because one of the high schools in our area have it on their students' summer reading list. And I thought, "I can't have these high-schoolers reading an economics book that I haven't!" Book snob.

This is not the type of stuff you covered in your university economics class. I felt it was more a sociology book with lots of supporting data. Topics covered include: why do drug dealers live with their mothers, does having an "ethnic" name affect your future station in life, how does legalizing abortion affect the crime rate. Very interesting stuff. I like random facts like this. But because I read it so late in the game, I've already heard a lot of these studies before.

Great book if you find the interconnectedness of random events intriguing.

25. The Vixen Manual

How to Find, Seduce, & Keep the Man You Want

by Karrine Steffans

Any time I review a book by Karrine Steffans I get a lot of blog traffic. The number one domain of the visitors? Morehouse College!! LOL. Yes, those studious brothers at the institution of higher learning up the street from me love them some Ms. Karrine! These are your future leaders, y'all!

Unlike her earlier books, which were memoirs, this is a how-to book for women on dealing with relationships. You would be wrong if you thought she was just going to dish about her secret sex tips to keep him coming back. In fact, the chapter that deals with sex is written late in the book and is barely 10% of the whole thing. She focuses much more on creating your own life before committing to another and how to keep the resulting relationship fresh and alive. Although this is not the name-dropping tell-all that her other books were, she does seem to have learned valuable lessons from her past and shares what she did wrong to help to do right.

Apparently Steffans started this book before she wrote the others and has been working on it off and on. I know a lot of people have a problem with her and the way she has lived her life and won't even pick this book up because they have already made up there minds about her. More people would read this, I think, if it was published before her memoirs. While I found it a little too long & sometimes redundant (a couple chapters could have been shaved off), I would put this up there with Steve Harvey's Act Like A Lady, Think Like a Man for relationship advice.

R.I.P. E. Lynn Harris

This is just too sad. I still cry every day since I heard the news on Friday.
On my way home from work, my manager sent me a text saying that E. Lynn Harris had passed away. Her husband called the store to let her know. (When you work in retail with no access to TV or radio, you need lifelines from the outside world to let you know whats happening.) I thought she was joking at first, but soon realized that she wouldn't play around like that.

I started crying right there on the train as I searched the Internet on my crappy cell phone for more information. They were reporting that he had a heart attack in Los Angeles while on book tour.

I met Mr. Harris when I first moved to Atlanta in the early '90's (I never remember the exact year). I was managing First World Bookstore, a Black bookstore and he had just self-published Invisible Life and was taking it around to different outlets and selling it from the trunk of his car. My boss bought a whole box of them and we continued to buy from him directly until the mainstream publishing world caught wind and and he got his first book contract. We were as proud of him as if he were a family member.

Our paths have crossed many times over the years as the world of bookselling is small and the world of Black bookselling is even smaller. Those encounters became more frequent in the last couple of years since Harris moved into the neighborhood where my current job is located and we became an almost weekly stop for him. While I am the only employee there who reads his books, everyone there knew who he was and made sure to speak and treat him with respect (bookstore employees treat nice authors with a reverence that we seldom show to customers).
One of our cashiers, a straight White man, talked with Harris at length during each visit about the latest in college sports (both are avid fans) and Harris' son, who was off to college himself.

Just a couple weeks ago, the last time I saw him, we talked about his new book contract and how excited he was. I always asked about what he was reading (Sag Harbor, which he liked & The Help, which he was not as enthusiastic about but determined to finish). He talked about connecting with fans on Facebook and I tried to convince him to get on Twitter!

Over the years I have told customers and friends that he was one of the few authors who consistently got better and better with each book. Yes, Invisible Life (and I read the self-published version) wasn't the best written book, but I believe that he studied his craft and worked hard and it shows in every subsequent work since.

I will miss him as an author and as a member of my extended book community.

For Colored Girls...

Last night I went to the opening of the True Colors Theatre Company of For Colored Girls... here in Atlanta at the Southwest Arts Center. I went as the guest of my friend John who is a judge with the Suzi Bass Awards, which honors the works of Atlanta theatre.

The Southwest Arts Center is a beautiful facility located in the southwest (duh) section of Atlanta. For those of you unfamiliar this area is mostly an affluent, African-American community. You pass some really nice homes on the way there. The center has an auditorium as well as galleries for visual art.

After a snafu with the tickets (sometimes that happens when you are riding for free), we were let in right at curtain time.
Overall, the ladies, directed & choreographed by Jasmine Guy, did a fantastic job. Robin Givens (Lady in Orange) & Nicole Ari Parker (Lady in Purple) are given top billing and while they were better than I expected, the other actresses were the standouts. Yakini Horn, who I haven't seen since she was a little girl & only knew her as "Folami's daughter", was the Lady in Blue. A lifelong African dancer, she tore the choreography up! Crystal Fox, best known for her time on In The Heat of the Night (which is always on TV; no matter what time you turn it on, or what city you are in), was my favorite of the night as the Lady in Red. Danielle Deadwyler (Lady in Yellow) and Nevaina Rhodes (Lady in Green) round out this fabulous cast, as well as Omelika Kuumba, an accomplished African drummer, on percussion.

I didn't know it was opening night and there were a lot of local celebrities and politicians there. Tyler Perry was four seats away from me and Pearl Cleage was three rows in front of me.

If you are in Atlanta or will be visiting any time before August 9Th, make sure to fit this wonderful performance into your schedule.

Recent Reading

I wish you could read some of the brilliant posts that I have written in my head during my commute. Can't wait until Blogger develops the application that lets you post just with your thoughts. I really do want to blog more, but between my (imaginary) husband, my great (non-existent) children and my high-powered (low paying, retail) career, it's just difficult to find the time (I'm really lazy).

Anyway, here's what I've been reading:

21. The Island of Eternal Love by Daina Chaviano
Beautiful book! I love any and all things Cuban and am always on the lookout for fiction about the island. I initially picked up this book at work because the cover was so pretty. But I was reading something else at the time and put it down without further thought. Later that evening, one of my co-workers was working on reshelves and thought, "this is something that Toni might be interested in", and brought it to me. Since I am all about signs, I gave in to the Universe and dove in.
Cecilia is a Cuban-born Miami resident who still hasn't made peace with her new home. Longing for her past in Cuba, she befriends an old woman in a bar in Little Havana. The woman enthralls her with stories of their homeland that wind through history and weave in all of the cultures, African, Spanish & Chinese, that make up the people there. These stories also hold a clue to Cecilia's restlessness.
I love it when I can read fiction and also learn about history at the same time!


22. The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir by Staceyann Chin
I read this at the same time I was reading the book above, and because they both deal some aspect of the Chinese influence in the Caribbean, I kept mixing them up!
You may be familiar with Staceyann Chin from her appearances on Def Poetry Jam and the BET Jazz show My Two Cents. She was also on Oprah last year speaking about homophobia in the Caribbean community.
Chin is a Jamaica native who had a real hardscrabble childhood. She and her brother are the products of relationships that their mother had with Chinese men. While her brother's father is not a constant presence in his life, he does provide financial assistance. On the other hand, even though everyone remarks how much she looks like his other children, Staceyann's father insists that he is not her dad. Raised by their elderly grandmother after their mother emigrates to Canada, the two are shuffled from relative to relative when hard times come.
Staceyann's intelligence and forthright manner don't win her points in a society that expects women to act a certain way, especially when she starts to explore her sexuality. This is a great memoir that shows what you can achieve when you unabashedly focus on education and knowledge to help to overcome your circumstances.


23. Children of the Waters by Carleen Brice
I don't have the words to express how much I loved this book. I told someone recently that it was like Carleen reached into my brain and took out everything I loved and made it into a story.
Dog-loving (I hate dogs, but I am obsessed with the Dog Whisperer) Trish Taylor moves back to Denver with her teenage son, after divorcing her childhood sweetheart. As she settles into her new life, she realizes that she is always finding random puzzle pieces (I told y'all I believe in signs). While trying to figure out what they mean, she comes across something even more puzzling (sorry, bad pun), her sister, who she thought died in infancy is in fact alive.
Across town, Billie Cousins is an incense burning, meditating, altar building (this sounds like my apartment!) woman who derives strength from her African & Native American ancestors to help her through her health & relationships trials.
Brice weaves the story of these two women magically, while also discussing the cultural and racial divide that we continually cross with each other. In the end, our humanity is what matters most.

24. And Mistress Makes Three by Francis Ray
Francis Ray knows how to turn out a believable, romance novel. Gina Rawlins is a recently divorced, mother of two, who is trying to support herself and her children (because of sporadic child support checks) with an Internet travel agency. Unfortunately, her only repeat clients are her parents. Her young son misses his (cheating) father and her adolescent daughter thinks its Gina's faulty that their Dad left. Gina attends the Grand Opening of a local B & B in the hopes of drumming up more business and Max Chaneu, the owner, is so impressed by her improvement ideas that he hires her as a consultant. Will Gina be able to turn her business around and find love at the same time?