Rose's Bookshelf

Laughing at my Pain: a Review of Trevor Noah’s Bio, Born a Crime

  11/10/2022

I first saw Trevor Noah doing a comedy routine on a talk show. He was a young South African with an amazing knack for American hip hop dialects giving credence to the theory that humor lies not in what you say as much as how you say it. Then, he landed as...

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The Back Family’s Guide to College Admissions:  A Must for Every Family with College-Bound Students

  10/20/2022

There’s a new book in town! Or should I say “on the bookshelf”? Co-authors Timothy Fields and Sherem Herndon-Brown have recently published The Black Family’s Guide to College Admissions: A Conversation about Education, Parenting and Race. It’s a one-of-a-k...

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New on the Menu: Black Cake!

  10/13/2022

There’s a new item on the menu, or I should say, a new author on the scene. Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel, Black Cake, is taking readers by storm. Already a New York Times bestseller, it’s a delightful story of three generations of a family. From an un...

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Our Gen, the Latest Novel for My Generation

  09/08/2022

I am a big fan of Diane McKinney Whetstone. I have loved her work since I got lost in the throes of her first book, Tumbling. It was the novel I most enjoyed with my Oprah-inspired book club when it debuted in 1996. I have revisited the text at least three...

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Viola Davis' Finding Me

  06/30/2022

I have admired Viola Davis from her hit TV series How to Get Away with Murder to her award-winning role as Rose in August Wilson's Fences on both Broadway and on the screen. From her first Oscar for eight minutes of acting in Doubt, to her critically-accla...

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Basking in The Warmth of Other Suns

  02/17/2022

In 1925, Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and Culture (ASNLC), and in February 1926, the first Negro History Week was observed. By 1970, it had broadened to Black History Month. For years, I directed and even toured my...

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A Testament of Will

  01/21/2022

When Will, the autobiography of Will Smith made its debut in November 2021, it was an instant bestseller. Copies were flying off the shelves in bookstores, and like the top-ranking box office actor, the man himself, Will was breaking records and driving th...

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Interview with Author B. Berry

  12/08/2021

1 .Good morning, Miss Berry! Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do. Good day! My Name is B. Berry and I write mysteries. I love writing murder mysteries in particular. It may see odd to some, to be so intrigued with murder but I always say: I...

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Interview with Author Joyce A. Brown

  11/19/2021

This week marked the launch of My Soul Cries Out, a stunning mystery that addresses domestic violence and the power of the spirit to demand justice. I met the author, Joyce A. Brown in college, and we have stayed connected over the years, sharing family st...

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Passing the Time with The Vanishing Half

  11/18/2021

The blockbuster novel of 2020 had to be Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Act, the story of separated twins from the 1950s through the 1990s. Named “Best Book of 2020” by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, Vanity Fair, Glamour, People and N...

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