Staff Picks - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

In an earlier post, David talked about 50 page guideline. If a book doesn't grab you after 50 pages, then it's ok to put it aside and try something else. In theory, I agree with this. Life is short after all and it is overwhelming to think of all that is out there to read. In practice, I have a really hard time with this. It's not often that I can put a book aside once I have started. I can think of two instances. Moby Dick and Harry Potter. This is starting to feel confessional. The librarian who didn't finish Harry Potter.

Maybe this could be another posting for another time - books everyone else seemed to like, but not me.

My point is, if I followed the 50 page guideline, then I wouldn't have finished Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. This book was recommended to me by someone whose book tastes suit mine. So I was surprised when I didn't initially like it.

In a nutshell, an elderly Ukrainian man (living in England) marries a much younger woman and his adult daughters are outraged. The woman is obviously looking for a way into the country (she too is Ukrainian) and does not treat him very kindly. In the ensuing drama family secrets are revealed.

My objection was not with the writing style. It was light and humorous and I was amused by the English Ukrainian language. It was the subject matter. I found it to be sad despite the lighthearted treatment. However, I stuck it out and was charmed and thoroughly amused by the end. Especially the last page. That's all I'll say about that.

It is hard to think of similar reads for this one. Joyce Carol Oates might be a choice for those interested in family dramas. I came across The Year is '42 by Nella Bielski. This book deals with Kiev under German occupation. It might contain a flavour of what the family underwent before emigrating to England.

And I will continue to accept her book recommendations. She was right in the end.

New Books You Might Have Missed - Fiction

With so many great books being added to the Library's collection every day, it's not hard to imagine you might miss a few. Here's the latest peek at a few that have come across my desk in the last few weeks which caught my eye.

Confessions of a Beauty Addict by Nadine Haobsh - nothing is better to shake up those winter blahs that a dash of beauty and glamour chick lit style. Fired from her job as a columnist for a hip magazine, Bella Hunter is forced to take a position at dowdy competitor. Fun, frivolity from the author of the “Jolie in NYC” blog.

In the Convent of Little Flowers by Indu Sundaresan - bestselling author (of The Splendor of Silence and others) brings 9 stories of life in modern India. Lush description, intriguing characters and insight into the beauty and contradictions of India in the 21st century.

Noise: fiction inspired by Sonic Youth, edited by Peter Wild - 21 writers pen stories inspired by the music of Sonic Youth who embraced noise and dissonance and became one of America’s most influential rock bands.

Water Dogs by Lewis Robinson - 1st novel of suspense. Set in Maine: a man disappears during a snowstorm and the brother of Bennie - the story’s down-on-his-luck protagonist - becomes the main suspect in the disappearance. Bennie’s investigations uncover questions that go well beyond the crime at hand

Book News Feb 23 - 28

Sleeper Hits:


A group of publisher reps who dub themselves The Dewey Divas and The Dudes, got librarians at a conference in Ontario to help them pick three books that they think will be the sleeper hits (ie. Books that aren’t obvious bestsellers but come to be so) of this season. Here’s what they picked:

• The Missing by Tim Gautreaux: historical fiction set on the steamships of the Mississippi as a man searches for a missing girl and uncovers the secrets of his own family tragedies.
  
• The Local News by Miriam Gershow: a novel of a young girl growing up first in the shadow of her older brother, and then in the shadow of her older brother’s mysterious disappearance.
  
• The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball: a young man weaves tales to a young woman who lost her memory in an accident in an effort to help her remember her past.

Do you like complexity in your reading?
Well then you should know about the first installment of the Warwick Prize which was awarded this past week. The prize, set up by the University of Warwick (UK), will be awarded ever other year to titles that fit a specific theme. This year’s theme? Complexity

A neat feature of this prize - it considers works across genres, so nominees could be fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, poetry, plays - you name it.



This year’s winner: The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.

Short listed titles (with links to the library catalogue where we own them):

• Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 by Lisa Appignanesi,
  
• The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi? by Francisco Goldman,
  
• Reinventing the Sacred by Stuart A Kauffman,
  
• The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross and
  
• Montano's Malady by Enrique Vila-Matas.

Canada Reads:

Next week is Canada Reads - the annual CBC radio event where celebrity guests defend 5 books and argue it out until 1 is declared the book that all Canadians will read. This year’s five nominees are:

• The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
• The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay
• Fruit by Brian Francis
• The Outlander by Gil Adamson
• Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards

Who do you predict will win?

Who Reads What?: celebrity reads

Never judge a book ... same goes for people too. While Lucy was madly scrambling to control the chocolates on the assembly line, who would have thought Lucille would be in her dressing room reading Boswell's Life of Johnson? How do we know this?

I stumbled upon this website and thought it was fun. Who Reads What is a labour of love created by Librarian Glenna Nowell and the staff at the Gardiner Public Library in Maine. They survey celebrities each year about what they are reading or what books have had an impact on their lives. Have a poke through and see which celebrities share your favourite books.

Here are recommendations from some of our favourite authors:

Sue Grafton recommends MILA 18, by Leon Uris

Robert Crais recommends The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett

Carolyn Hart recommends Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynn Truss
Ursula K. Le Guin recommends Kim, by Rudyard Kipling
Ray Bradbury recommends The Friendly Persuasion, by Jessamyn West
Mary Higgins Clark recommends The Kite Runner, by Khalid Hosseini
Jodi Picoult recommends The Ice Queen, by Alice Hoffman
James Lee Burke recommends The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner

What the heck is a bildungsroman?

This is a question I’ve heard more than once when someone stumbles across this term in our library catalogue. And I can’t say I’m surprised - if it’s not a word you’ve encountered before, it’s a bit hard to know where to start looking for meaning.

Webster’s Dictionary defines bildungsroman as “a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character”, I more simply describe it as a coming-of-age novel. (btw, if you know German, you probably already knew what the term means as it comes from German: Bildung education + Roman novel)

You can search the term “Bildungsromans” as a subject in our library catalogue and get over 900 entries for stories that fit this genre. But, to save you some time - here’s a few of my favourites to get your started:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Princess by Dai Sijie: In lush prose, the author tells the story of two boys sent to the mountains for re-education during the Cultural Revolution. They risk further persecution when they discover a cache of banned western literature and meet the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.

Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether: Growing up in Harlem in the 1930s, Francie experiences hope and despair in a story that Publisher’s Weekly called “A tough, tender, bitter novel of a black girl struggling towards womanhood and survival”. A particularly interesting novel if you've read the story of another fictional Francie, Betty Smith’s classic bildungsroman A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: In a book that by alternately makes you laugh out loud and sob with heartache, the story of Oskar (in my opinion one of fiction’s most precocious and endearing child characters) and his New York City-wide search to find the lock that matches the key he found in his late father’s closet.

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb: It’s probably been 10 years since I read this one, so I’m a bit foggy on the plot details, but what I do remember is Lamb’s spot-on depiction of youthful insecurity as a young woman comes to accept herself. Probably one of the most accurate depictions of a female character by a male writer I’ve experienced.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl: Hands down my favourite book of the last few years. Blue van Meer struggles to find her place in the elite private school she begins to attend in her senior year. She’s quirky and smart, but still a teenager faced with the social pressures of high school life. Add to that a mystery that begins to envelop her whole life, and you’ve got the makings of a page turner.

(The book covers at the top of the post link to a few randomly selected bildungsromans from the library collection as well)

Six Degrees of the Library Collection - Whiting Writers Award to Arthur C. Clarke

In the spirit of the theory of six degrees of separation - that any two people in the world can be connected to one another through six relationships - we bring you what will become a semi-regular feature called “Six Degrees of the Library Collection”-- a walk through the connections between seemingly random items in the HPL collection.

In late October, winners of the annual Whiting Writings Award were announced. The award goes to ten emerging authors who show great talent and promise. Winners included novelist Mischa Berlinski, whose first novel Fieldwork was a National Book Award Nominee last year, and writer Manuel Munoz, author of the short story collection The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue.

Jeffrey Eugenides, author of the book Middlesex, was a previous winner of the Whiting Writers’Award in 1993.  Jeffrey Eugenides is also the author of The Virgin Suicides, which was adapted for film by director Sophia Coppola. Sophia Coppola’s most recent film, Marie Antoinette was inspired by her reading of Antonia Fraser’s 2002 biography Marie Antoinette: the Journey.

Antonia Fraser, a celebrated writer of historical biography, married Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter in 1980. Pinter passed away on December 24th.

In addition to being a celebrated writer of his own account, Pinter adapted a number of pieces for film, including the writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

The book the Handmaid’s Tale won the inaugural Arthur C. Clarke award for Science Fiction writing. The award was created by the celebrated Science Fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (who also died in 2008).

Readalikes - Just Take My Heart, by Mary Higgins Clark

Talk about longevity and consistency! I won't say how long I've worked at the library (ahem!), but Mary Higgins Clark was a bestseller author then (and decades before in fact) and continues today with Just Take My Heart. Her fans are loyal.

Did you know that she is 82? She joins the rank of other octogenarian writers like P.D. James. Impressive to think that all of her novels been bestsellers.

Her latest novel explores the idea that a donor's memories and characteristics manifest themselves in the transplant recipient.

While you are waiting for your turn to read Clark's latest thriller, consider trying one of these authors.

Charlotte Vale Allen
Sandra Brown
Joy Fielding
Catherine Coulter
Elizabeth Lowell

Staff Picks - Charley's Web

Charley's Web, by Joy Fielding

Charley Web, a charming, but not always entirely likable journalist, makes her living stirring up controversy with her articles on Brazilian waxes, her lesbian mother and the high cost of designer handbags ($75 000 by the way). While dealing with her own dysfunctional, and sometimes estranged family, she is drawn into the world of Jill Rohmer and her positively deranged family. Rohmer is on death row for the torture and murder of three small children. Rohmer asks Webb to write her biography and tell her side of the story to the world.

I don't want to overuse a cliche, but a definite page turner which I had difficulty putting down.

Fans of Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell and Iris Johansen should definitely consider trying books by Joy Fielding.

These books have nothing in common...or do they?

What does “Salt: a world history” have to do with “The Secret Life of Lobsters”?

What about “Olives: the life and lore of a noble fruit” and “Chocolate: a bittersweet saga of dark and light”?

There are many books out there that explore the everyday life of “things”. The history of chocolate, salt, lobsters and olives are only a small example of ordinary “things” that are explored through anecdotal stories and humorous accounts of controversy, hardship and the mundane in a genre we call “microhistory”. These histories are presented in a story format, for an easy read and full of interesting information.

If you enjoy reading about the ordinary in a far from ordinary way, you’ll enjoy our collection of books that fall under the microhistory genre in our library catalogue.

Reading the Red Carpet - Popcorn Optional

With the Oscars only a day away, we're all scrambling to catch the latest movies nominated for the big night. But, what about staying at home and enjoying the books many of these movies are based on? I've taken a look at movies recently released and thought I'd suggest a list of books that we have at Halifax Public Libraries that you may enjoy.
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Frost/Nixon by David Frost
Q & A by Vikas Swanup
Doubt: a parable by John Patrick Shanley
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride
Miss Pettigrew lives for a day by Winifred Watson
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

100 Great American Novels You’ve (Probably) Never Read

A neat looking new book came across my desk today called “100 Great American Novels You’ve (Probably) Never Read”. Wow! They really have my number - I haven’t read a single one. Nor have I heard of most of them (although a number of the authors were familiar from other titles they’d written - phew, I don't have to hand back my English Lit degree just yet!).

The idea of the book is that there are tonnes of novels out there that have all the qualities of classic novels, but just somehow have gotten overlooked. Many of the books are still in print or, if not, are available from libraries. For each book listed, the author gives a synopsis and other details. It seems like a great book for avid readers who are looking to find some hidden gems.

Here’s a few of the ones mentioned (including their original publication date) that are available from Halifax Public Libraries.

Bone by Fae Myenne Ng, (1993)

A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews (1976)

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)

McTeague: a Story of San Francisco by Frank Norris (1902)
The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan (1917)
Stones for Ibarra by Harriett Doerr (1983)
They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell (1937)
The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela (1935)

You can borrow 100 Great American Novels You’ve (Probably) Never Read too. Make a list of the ones you have and haven’t gotten to. The library can help you find some of them through Interlibrary Loan if we don’t own them.

Freedom to Read Week

February 22nd-28th, 2009 is Freedom to Read Week: “an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Check out the Challenged Books and Magazines List on the Freedom to Read Week Web Site - you may be surprised to see some of the things included.

The Spring Garden Road Library is hosting a program on Friday Feb 27th in recognition of Freedom to Read Week. We’ll be welcoming Dalhousie University English professor Alice Brittan to talk about the Nobel Prizewinning South African author J.M. Coetzee, who has been outspoken on the topic of censorship - including penning a book of essays called Giving Offense - Essays on Censorship - and faced censorship of his own award winning writing.

The program will begin at noon in the Program Room at the Spring Garden Road Branch.

Readalikes - The Associate

The Associate by John Grisham is his 22nd novel. According to his website, this latest novel is much like his earlier legal thriller The Firm. So, fans of his earlier works will want to take note.

As I was trolling about in other blogs, I came across the rumor that Shia LeBeouf is slated to play the lead in the film adaptation - (can anyone confirm or deny?)

In the meantime, while you are waiting for The Associate, you might like to explore one of these authors of legal thrillers:

Steve Martini
Lisa Scottoline
Brad Meltzer
William Bernhardt
Phillip Margolin

New Books You May Have Missed - Fiction

With so many great books being added to the Library's collection every day, it's not hard to imagine you might miss a few.

Here's a few that have come across my desk in the last few weeks, some recent publications, some re-releases but all of which caught my eye.

Biografi, by Lloyd Jones. A re-release of an earlier novel by the author who recently garnered attention for Mr. Pip. Set in Albania, Publishers Weekly called it “is equal parts travelogue, political reportage and mystery”.

The Double Hook, by Shelia Watson. New edition of the 1959 book that is considered Canada’s first modern novel.

Happy Trails to You, by Julie Hecht. New short stories by the O. Henry Prize winner. The

book jacket claims that with these stories the author “reclaims the darkly funny, existential territory for which she is known”.

Other Lives, by André Brink - the book jacket describes this as “three provoative and interconnected stories from one of the world’s greatest living writers”. Brink’s latest gives great insight into life in contemporary South Africa.

The Reverend’s Apprentice, by David N. Odhiambo. Contemporary America as seen through the eyes of an African Grad student. Odhiambo is Kenyan by birth but has lived in Canada and the US since 1977. Canadian author Lisa Moore has described him as “ultra smart and absolutely unique, alive with talent”.

A Sun for the Dying, by Jean-Claude Izzo. New from Europa Editions, which has been offering up a lot of great fiction in translation over the last few years. This story from the late French author known for his Noir fiction Marseilles Trilogy, follows a homeless man in a road journey from the North of France to the South as he tries to escape to warmer climes.

Sky Waves, by Michelle Butler Hallett - In a series of short, nonlinear chapters the up-and-coming Newfoundland author of Double-Blind and The Shadow Sign of Grace turns her satirical writing to the development of radio broadcasting in her home province.

The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction

If you enjoy literary non-fiction, which I certainly do, you should check out these prize winners:

The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction

Tim Cook has been award the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction for his book, Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917–1918, Volume Two.

Watch a video interview with Tim Cook

Runners up were:

Angel of Vengeance: The “Girl Assassin,” the Governor of St. Petersburg and Russia's Revolutionary World, by Ana Siljak; and

Sugar: A Bittersweet History, by Elizabeth Abbott

Eight Award Winning Black Authors you should know about

It’s hard to pick just eight writers for this post - but I’ve given it a try. A mix of well established and more recent authors whose works have been awarded prizes in the last few years.

Toni Morrison - Okay, the first author is a bit of a gimme, because I’m pretty sure you’ve already heard of Toni Morrison. She’s the author of 9 novels (4 of which have been included in Oprah’s Book Club), the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, the first African American Nobel Laureate for Literature, and even been nominated for a couple of Grammy Awards. She writes intense, poetic fiction, often focusing on female characters and their struggles related to racism, poverty and gender-inequality. She generally voices her own audiobooks, which make for an interesting way to experience (or re-experience) her works.

Zadie Smith - she burst on the literary scene in 2000 with her first novel White Teeth, which won numerous awards including the Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize. The novel is set in modern day England and gives an insightful and humourous look into its evolution into a modern multi-ethnic nation. She is the author of two other novels.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Adichie is a Nigerian author of two award winning novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, both set in Nigeria. Her books bring to life the history and people of Nigeria, with a writing style that appeals to the five senses. In 2008, Adichie was the recipient of recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, aka the Genius Grant.

George Elliott Clarke - The Nova Scotian author is an award winner for poetry (Execution Poems - Governor General’s Award) and Fiction (George and Rue - Dartmouth Book Award), the first recipient of the Portia White Prize from the Nova Scotia Arts Council and is a member of the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada. His writing, frequently set in Nova Scotia and examining the history of African Nova Scotians, is marked by the creativity and rhythm of his language. Clarke has a new book coming out this spring called I & I. (edit - sorry, Clarke's book is actually already available in stores - published in January. The library is still awaiting copies.)

Stephen L. Carter - American writer Carter is the author of three books, and relatively new to the fiction scene. A law professor at Yale, his first novel the Emperor of Ocean Park was published in 2002 and was the winner of the The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, which “recognizes ... books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture.” His novels are generally tales of suspense - murder, secrets, political manipulation - set in the world of the wealthy and powerful.

Edward P. Jones - American novelist whose second book The Known World, a fictional look at slave ownership in pre-Civil War America, won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the Dublin IMPAC award. And this wasn’t even Jones’ first brush with prizewinning! His first book, Lost in the City, won the Pen/Hemingway Award and Jones himself was also the winner of the MacArthur Fellowship.

Octavia Butler - Not only was Butler another winner of the MacArthur Fellowship (that’s three in one post!), she was also the winner of Hugo and Nebula awards for her celebrated Science Fiction writing. Butler is described as a writer who used the speculative framework of Science Fiction to comment on real world issues of race, class, and other social issues.

Austin Clarke - In 2002, Clarke’s The Polished Hoe won the Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and brought a new level of popular attention to a Canadian author who had been steadily publishing since the 1980s. Born in Barbados and moving to Canada in the 1950s, Clarke’s fiction frequently focuses on the immigrant experience in Canada. He’s also the author of a tasty sounding book called Love and Sweet Food: a Culinary Memoir.

Library Loot

Something fun.

I stumbled across an interesting blog post from The Book Zombie, which highlights her Library Loot.

The posting contains a nice photo of what a reader has borrowed from their public library. In this particular case, it is Halifax Public Libraries and I love the selection of titles.

The Library Loot idea originated with bloggers Eva of A Striped Armchair and Alessandra from Out Of The Blue.

Manga suggestions for Adults

Although Japanese comic books have been popular since the 1930s, it has only been in recent years that their popularity has boomed in North America. Some of you are avid Manga readers, although there is a misconception that only children and tweens read "comics".

While I was reading Robin Brenner's article, Manga 101: Tips for the Curious, the Confused, and the Clueless, it occurred to me that we often don't feature comics for adults often enough. So, taking from Brenner's article, I thought I'd repost 5 recommended titles for men and women.

If you have more suggestions than the ones I have included, please share!

Five Suggestions for Women:

Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga
Three very different men discover the importance of family and friendship while working together at a decadent pastry shop. Endearing, charming, and very funny - great for older and college aged teens.

Nana by Ai Yazawa
Two girls named Nana seek new lives in Tokyo, one trying to make it on her own as a punk star, and the other searching for love and a new life.

Suppli * by Mari Okazaki
Minami, just dumped by her boyfriend of seven years, throws herself into her advertising job. But how can she find happiness when she just works all day?

Tramps Like Us * by Ogawa Yayoi
Sumire is an intelligent, ambitious woman, but all she seems to get for it is an ex-fiance who's intimidated by her, and a demotion because she refuses her bosses' advances. When she gives a teen guy a place to stay for a while, she discovers someone who won't judge her.

With the Light by Keiko Tobe
A young couple discovers their infant son is autistic; and this series chronicles the ups and downs of understanding and dealing with their son's condition.

Five Suggestions for Men:

Abandon the Old in Tokyo by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Tatsumi's grim vignettes of modern relationships, exploring the loneliness, psychoses, and misfortune of city life, are beautifully rendered, reading like literary fiction in visual form.

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
This six-volume science fiction epic, a complex examination of the perils of genetic manipulation, government conspiracies, and human ambition, is a classic that every library should own.

Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike
Koike's magnificent samurai revenge tale is by turns gripping, heartbreaking, and contemplative. The art remains eloquent, and the tale set the standard for the samurai tales that came after.

Monster by Naoki Urasawa
A thrilling tale of a surgeon who unwittingly unleashes a serial killer on the world, Monster is one of the best series being published today for the adult market.

Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka
All of Tezuka's brilliance is apparent in this single volume, from his desire to explore the dangers of science and medicine gone awry to his epic scale and distinctive art. A good place to start to see why he was called the god of Manga.

* to be ordered soon

Eight Popular Black Fiction Authors you should know about

Intrigue, romance, betrayal and even a little bit of religion; these contemporary fiction authors seem to have a little bit of something for everyone. They consistently appear on Essence magazine’s monthly bestseller lists compiled by African-American bookstores across the US and Canada.

Carl Weber: fast-paced novels of modern America. Weber’s novels frequently focus on family or close-knit friends and their trials and triumphs in love and life.

Omar Tyree: author of more than a dozen books, Tyree’s characters are frequently faced with coming-of-age style life decisions in situations of wealth or celebrity. Tyree’s books can be blunt with frank sexual descriptions and violence.

Pearl Cleage: down-to-earth stories of real people, facing real problems. Cleage’s novels may lack glitz and glamour, but they have arm-loads of sincerity and character. Cleage’s first novel What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day was an Oprah’s Book Club selection.

Walter Mosley : his early fame was created by his hard-boiled mystery series starring PI Easy Rawlins set in mid twentieth century LA, but Mosley has a growing output that now includes historical fiction, social commentary fiction and even science fiction.

Zane is a phenomenon. Beginning as a self-published author, she is now the name in contemporary, urban, erotic romance. Her stories are filled with steamy scenes from the world of modern love.

E. Lynn Harris: Soap opera style dramas that frequently focus on gay and bisexual characters, Harris famously self-published his first novel and sold it from the trunk of his car. These are page turning stories of love and betrayal.

Kimberla Lawson Roby: primarily writes about female characters their lives and relationships. Roby’s Reverend Curtis Black series is the wildly popular story of a charismatic, womanizing preacher.

Eric Jerome Dickey: Like many authors who have several books under their belt, Dickey has a few styles in his writing. His early novels focus on primarily urban, upwardly mobile professionals in their lives and careers. His newer novels mix romance and the criminal underworld and include a trilogy (starting with Sleeping With Strangers) featuring Gideon, a hitman entwined in a world of danger and intrigue.