Peter Francis James
1) Native son
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English
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Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's novel is just as powerful today as when it was written -- in its reflection of poverty and hopelessness, and what...
2) Djibouti
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Language
English
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Description
In a modern-day pirate story, ambitious documentary filmmaker Dara Barr and her right-hand man, Xavier LeBo, a 72-year-old African American seafarer, get more than they bargained for on the Horn of Africa.
3) Road dogs
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English
Description
"Road Dogs is terrific, and Elmore Leonard is in a class of one."
—Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island and Mystic River
"You know from the first sentence that you're in the hands of the original Daddy Cool....This one'll kill you."
—Stephen King
Elmore Leonard is eternal. In Road Dogs, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award winner and "America's greatest crime master" (Newsweek) brings back...
5) Black Boy
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Language
English
Description
A special 75th anniversary edition of Richard Wright's powerful and unforgettable memoir, with a new foreword by John Edgar Wideman and an afterword by Malcolm Wright, the author's grandson.
When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that "if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there...
6) Scorpions
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English
Description
After reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang, the Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he acquires a gun--until a tragedy occurs.
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English
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Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his...
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English
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After escaping a death sentence in the summer of 1775, Octavian and his tutor find shelter but no safe harbor in British-occupied Boston and, persuaded by Lord Dunmore's proclamation offering freedom to slaves who join his counterrevolutionary Royal Ethiopian Regiment, Octavian and his friends soon find themselves engaged in naval raids on the Virginia coastline as the Revolutionary War breaks out in full force.
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Series
Socrates Fortlow novels volume 1
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English
Description
Socrates Fortlow, a tough, brooding ex-convict, explores philosophical questions of morality in a world beset with crime, poverty, and racism.
Author
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English
Description
Chauncey Greer the owner of Cute Boy Card Company and former boy band member is inspired to follow his dream of a singing career once again by a minister's message. After singing in church he is invited to sing at an upcoming revival. When Chauncey discovers the preacher is planning to speak out against gays and gay marriage, he and other gay members along with their friends and family stage a "Day of absence."
12) Fatal flaw
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Series
Victor Carl novels volume 3
Language
English
Description
The acclaimed author of Hostile Witness and Veritas is back with the legal thriller of the season—a sizzling tale of murder, innocence, and justice. . . . “William Lashner is . . . remarkable.”—Nelson DeMille
“Lust will make a fool of any man, but it is only love that can truly ruin him.” So believes Victor Carl, the antithesis of the classic sharp-eyed, cool, and dispassionate lawyer. Late one night Victor
...13) My soul to keep
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Series
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English
Description
Jessica, a black reporter in Miami, discovers her husband, Seth, is not 30, but 500 years old, a member of an Ethiopian order of immortals. Recalled by the order for leaking the secret, Seth vows to give his wife and daughter immortality. But do they really want it? A look at the pros and cons of living forever. By the author of The Between.
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English
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Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life. A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself brings these documents into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. (Bestseller)...
15) On beauty
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Language
English
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Description
Winner of the 2006 Orange Prize for fiction, another bestselling masterwork from the celebrated author of Swing Time and White Teeth
"In this sharp, engaging satire, beauty's only skin-deep, but funny cuts to the bone." —Kirkus Reviews
Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed...
"In this sharp, engaging satire, beauty's only skin-deep, but funny cuts to the bone." —Kirkus Reviews
Having hit bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle, this wise, hilarious novel reminds us why Zadie Smith has rocketed...
16) Discretion
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English
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For 20 years, Oufoula has carried a secret of his love for a woman named Marguerite, a woman who is not his wife. When the lovers are reunited, the rekindling of their passion forces Oufoula to come to terms with the core of his character. Is he willing to sacrifice his marriage, his career, and the very foundations of the life he has struggled to create, all for the love of one woman?
17) To be a slave
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English
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A compilation, selected from various sources and arranged chronologically, of the reminiscences of slaves and ex-slaves about their experiences from the leaving of Africa through the Civil War and into the early twentieth century.
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English
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The latest bestseller from E. Lynn Harris follows the lives of his most popular characters and invents even more wicked ways for them to get back at each other. Since her wedding to Basil Henderson turned into a washout, Yancey Harrington has remade herself as the mega-diva Yancey B.--and Basil has made it with everyone--but the Football Hall of Fame.
19) Walkin' the dog
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Series
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English
Description
Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict forced to define his own morality in a lawless world, confronts wrongs that most people would rather ignore and comes face-to-face with the most dangerous emotion: hope. It has been nine years since his release from prison, and he still makes his home in a two-room shack in a Watts alley. But he has a girlfriend now, a steady job, and he is even caring for a pet, the two-legged dog he calls Killer. These responsibilities...