They don't call it "Black Friday" for nothing, people!

Let the consuming begin! This weekend is the traditional kick-off to holiday shopping, and, as you might expect, I want to remind you to think black books this Black Friday. (But don't stop there! Ella Curry wants y'all to be thinking black books all weekend, as she's hosting an online Black Books Weekend Nov. 27-30.)

This Friday, this weekend, whenever, pick up a book by a black author for at least one person on your list (let me know it and you could win a t-shirt!). Some suggestions:

Know someone who's been laid-off and needs a lift? What Doesn't Kill You, a funny novel about a woman who loses her job and finds her way by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, will be perfect!

Got a friend who digs fantasy? Get Shadow Valley and Great Sky Woman by Steven Barnes. “[Barnes] combines imagination, anthropology and beautiful storytelling as he takes readers to the foot of the Great Mountain, today known as Mount Kilimanjaro.” —Durham Triangle Tribune. IndieBound has a great interview with Barnes about his book Lion's Blood.

Your sister love Lisa Scottoline's thrillers? Introduce her to Pamela Samuels Young. She'll thank you!

Need to buy for someone who likes smart, witty literary fiction or books that make them scratch their head, crack up laughing, cringe, and turn pages like crazy? May I suggest the "fiendishly imaginative" Big Machine by Victor LaValle? I'm halfway through the book. My quickie review: Stephen King meets Richard Pryor.

Those seeing "Precious" and reading Push might like the novella A Deep Dark Secret by Kimberly Lawson Roby.

Give your BFF Wildflowers by Lyah Beth LeFlore. My Twitter book-friends say this is a delightful story about women's friendships (It's on my list).

Mom like romance? She ought to know Beverly Jenkins and Frances Ray. Yes, black authors even write bodice rippers and give good man-titty!

Why should you buy books by black authors?

Because if you like to read, you should know about all the good books that are out there. I'm telling you: You like it, we write it! I'm not interested in doing any "favors" for authors who write bad books. This isn't about quotas or affirmative action or liberal guilt. This blog isn't about begging for attention from white people. My mission is to spread the word that there are plenty, PLENTY, of great books that not enough people are hearing about. That's my reason.

Author Chimamanda Adichie offers another compelling reason, which she calls "the danger of the single story."

In an open letter to Oprah Winfrey author Virginia DeBerry makes another case for why books by black authors need more attention.

Author Bernice McFadden takes on "seg-book-ga-tion."

Now, I know you don't need additional reasons to check out books by black authors. But for your less with-it friends, here's my top 10 list.

Finally, happily, I want to introduce you to a couple more blogs trying to spread the word:

Check out the "Multicultural Minute" feature at Shen's Books. Here is a video suggesting YA books with biracial characters.

Authors of Color is a new blog chatting about good books we should all be hearing more about. She's got Pearl Cleage news! Y'all go on over and say hi.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Black Romance Novels: Guest Blogger Dee Stewart

With Valentine's Day on the horizon, we're talking romance today. Guys, a juicy novel is a great way to let your sweetheart know how you feel. Smart Bitches Who Read Trashy Books will help you decide what she might like. Want more ideas for your sweetheart, your best friend or yourself? Check out APOOO's All About Love Virtual Tour for interviews with a variety of romance writers. And White Readers Meet Black Authors is also here to help!

Here's a great article about the genesis of black romance novels.

Some authors to try:
Donna Hill
Leslie Esdaile Banks
Brenda Jackson
Francis Ray
Rochelle Alers
Readers, what are your favorite romances?

And from Guest Blogger Dee Stewart comes her favorite overall romances (see, told you we read your books!) and her favorite black romance novels. Thanks Dee!
Everything below is from Dee:

I'm a big romance novel fool. So big I watch the Sound of Music weekly. I have Pride & Prejudice on my nightstand, a complete collection of Shakespeare and the brooding Thomas Hardy novels , and I have a huge, big crush on all things Chris Botti and Sade. I got it bad y'all. I can find romance in just about any good tale. But the novels below drip with heart-yearning love and are page turners. Enjoy!

1. Atonement, Ian McEwan. Tragic, heartwrenching love story. The title tells the tale, the plot kicks in the gut. heart break at its best.
2. Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- Teen angst set during the Biafran war. Beautiful prose despite so much national confusion
3. Zora & Nicky- a modernized version of Romeo & Juliette set between two racially divided megachurches.
4. Shopgirl- Steve Martin is a comic icon, but I crave his romanctic novellas. Shopgirl is poignant, succint, and pitch perfect.
5. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer.You're never too young to fall in love with a vampire. Really. Edward's tortured love for Bella makes you fall for him so badly.
6. Nella Larsen, Quicksand and Passing. Both novellas are about African American women during the Harlem Renaissance who chose to pass for white for a better life. But the love story, that thing we women want so badly, kills them.
7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Schaffer. I'm a sucker for period pirces with love stories intertwined. This one is set in WWII with a twinge of humor to get through the hard parts.
8. Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates. Skip the movie and read the book. Although I want to see Leonardo and Kate again. I urge you to relish the book soon after if you can't resist the cinema. What Yates does with a story is profound and the unraveling of a marriage/rebirth of a marriage is incredible. Your heart will tear apart reading this one.
9. Stardust, Neil Gaman. Oh, I love a good fairy tale. I love an adult one even better. This beauty is reminiscent of Princess Bride, but so much more. The idea of falling in love with a star reminds me of Stevie Wonder's hit "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Me." You'll love this fantasy.
10. Tess of the D'ubbervilles, Thomas Hardy. I love pastorals. I do. Mariette in Ectasy, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. But Thomas Hardy...ooh what it does with a simple cow milking scene takes my breath away.
A bonus, an unconventional love story is Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. Forget Brad Pitt for a moment. What Chucky P does with the story frame is amazing. More importantly the premise of a disturbed man who believes the only way to a disturbed woman's hurt is to believe in his own reinvention of himself is what Crazy in Love has to mean. LOL.
Dee Stewart's Top 10 Black Romances
1. Zora & Nicky, Claudia Burney
2. Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. Kindred, Octavia Butler
4. Abraham's Well, Sharon Ewell Foster
5. Quicksand, Nella Larsen
6. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
7. Awakening Mercy, Angela Benson
8. Jewel, Beverly Jenkins
9. Too Beautiful to Die, Glenville Lovell
10. Love, Toni Morrison

Guest post from The Bottom of Heaven

Claudia from The Bottom of Heaven, a blog about "post-modern blackness," submits this guest post about fiction about slavery. I tend to be skittish about reading books about slaves (or any stories that involve mental, sexual or physical abuse), though I did read Song Yet Sung. But this piece challenges that position and because of her recommendation I'm definitely going to check out one of the Beverly Jenkins and see how I do. I love that an English prof can recommend literary fiction and romance in the same post! By the way, Jenkins has a new book out in January called Bring on the Blessings.

Please leave comments for Claudia here or at The Bottom of Heaven.

Everything following is from Claudia:

"Liberating Literature: Encountering Slavery in Black Fiction"

One of the unofficial rules of the monthly African-American book club that I attend is "no slaves" - that is, we don't read stories that take place during slavery. We've read everything else: from Zora Neale Hurston to Walter Mosley and Zane. But rarely do our selections venture into the Antebellum Era. When I raise the issue among the group of well-educated, assertive black female friends, I'm gently reminded that our book club is for fun and relaxing reading.

And stories about slaves? "Too depressing."

Readers who are new to black fiction may be similarly reluctant to immerse themselves in a world that imagines the inner lives and experiences of enslaved blacks and their white owners from years past. For some, the subject evokes guilt or shame that feels devastatingly personal. For others, slavery is too removed from their own experience or, perhaps, an old wound best left alone.

Nevertheless, as an English professor, I know that black writers have found fresh, inventive ways to bring African-American history into genre fiction. There's more here than public whippings and spoiled southern belles. These texts also take risks by exploring the everyday lives of enslaved blacks through sophisticated humor, romance, and unconventional points of view. So before you tackle Beloved or The Known World (two of my favorite novels about slavery), allow me to make the following introductions:

* Meet Charles Chesnutt: This late-19th century black writer's collection, The Conjure Woman, is filled with captivating southern folktales set during slavery. Unlike the Br'er Rabbit Tales adapted by Joel Chandler Harris, Chesnutt's black characters contain a stronger sense of dignity, determination, and intellectual vigor. The elderly black narrator in stories like "The Goophered Grapevine" is both an expert storyteller and trickster figure who finds ingenious ways to protect his livelihood. So if you enjoy Zora Neale Hurston, take a chance with Chesnutt.

* Meet Charles Johnson: Johnson's award-winning novel, Middle Passage, chronicles the grueling transatlantic journey of enslaved Africans, but what distinguishes this novel is the witty, sardonic observations of its free black narrator - a thief named Rutherford Calhoun. He's a stowaway on a slave ship who moves from apathetic outsider to reluctant hero in a surprisingly clever odyssey between bondage and freedom. And if you enjoy Johnson's style, you may also find Ishmael Reed's satirical neo-slave narrative, Flight to Canada, to be of interest.

* Meet Beverly Jenkins: Her historical romance fiction breaks new ground with well-written love stories that take place during and after Emancipation. Her characters are not only former slaves, but New Orleans Creoles, Buffalo Soldiers, and black Seminoles out West. More importantly, she incorporates historical details into her fiction in a subtle and seamless manner, without over-burdening the romance plot; most of her books even include bibliographies. My favorites include Night Song, Indigo, and any novel that features the smokin' hot Le Veq brothers. (Oh yes, and Jenkins is the author that finally persuaded my book club to suspend the "no slaves" rule.)

Just to be clear, my intent is not to "make light" of slavery, or to suggest that these novels should serve as a substitute for tough, honest American history lessons. I only want to acknowledge that when it comes to stories about our turbulent racial past, African American fiction contains a wide range of creative mediums to carry the message. Each of these writers have found innovative ways to approach historical truths that are, at times, "depressing." Given the realities of slavery, this is unavoidable. But if writers like Chesnutt , Johnson, and Jenkins also bring us closer to a shared understanding of how far we have come as a nation, then there is hopefulness, too, and empathy that speaks to the power of great storytelling.

If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how they grapple with the subject of slavery. Other suggestions for books and authors are also welcome!