Antebellum Dream Book: Poems
Alexander, Elizabeth
Graywolf Press. October. 72p.
ISBN: 1-55597-354-X. $14
These short poems touch on much about American life including the Civil Rights movement of the sixties and seventies, as well as such topics as childbirth and motherhood, dinner parties, dreams, rock concerts, and even chocolate bars.
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Rich Minds, Rich Rewards: 52 Ways to Enhance, Enrich, and Empower Your Life
Burton, Valerie
Strivers Row/Villard. October. 176p.
ISBN: 0-375-75710-4. $14.95
These simple instructions on how to make your life better stress self help. Such suggestions as "count your blessings," "save the drama," "mind your own business," and "get a mentor" are tried and true lessons that are worth repeating.
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Hand-me-down Heartache
Butler, Tajuana "TJ"
Villard. October. 224p.
ISBN: 0-375-50605-5. $22.95
College graduate Nina Lander moves back home with her parents while she works as a "temp," but becomes extremely frustrated watching her father mistreat her mother and her mother accepting the unhappiness it brings. Through all this Nina also tries to maintain her own love relationship.
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October Suite
Clair, Maxine
Random House. October. 336p. 
ISBN: 0-375-50630-6. $23.95
Set in 1950, Clair's story is about October Brown, a 23-year-old schoolteacher from the Midwest, who has an affair with a married handyman that ends in pregnancy and abandonment. However, the story also surrounds October's attempts at regaining her dignity after the birth of her son. When October wants to reunite with her son after leaving him with her sister Vergie, she finds that Vergie is not willing to let it happen.
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Cosbyology: Essays and Observations from the Doctor of Comedy
Cosby, Bill
Hyperion. November. 192p.
ISBN: 0-7868-6810-4. $17.95
This funny collection of material perfect for a stand-up routine covers topics from childhood, school, marriage, work, and sports. The stories come from his life.
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Hip-Hop Divas
Editors of Vibe Magazine
Three Rivers Press. October. 224p.
ISBN: 0-609-80836-2. $17
Essays and photographs offer a detailed look at the lives of fifteen of the women who've taken over the world of hip-hop including Eve, Lauryn Hill, and Mary J. Blige. Of course, there are also the trailblazers who fought for a place with the boys and set the stage for the new generation; women like Salt 'Pepa, Queen Latifah, and MC Lyte.
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Blowback
Fullilove, Eric James
Amistad Press. October. 320p.
ISBN: 0-06-621250-2. $24
Richard Whelan, the Black National Security Advisor to President Edgar Roswell, is framed for his girlfriend's murder. Fullilove's story is about Whelan as a fugitive dodging the Secret Service, corrupt cops, and shady individuals who would like to see him dead.
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Having What Matters: The Black Woman's Guide to Creating the Life She Really Wants
Greenwood, Monique
William Morrow. December. 224p.
ISBN: 0-688-17509-0. $25
The title is a mouthful, but according to Greenwood, it really is very simple-"she who has the most joy wins." With lots of cultural and historical references, she uses her personal life journey to create a roadmap to financial freedom, loving relationships, fulfilling work, and great style-a balanced life.
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Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius
Jackson, Lawrence
Wiley, John & Sons. October. 512p.
ISBN: 0-471-35414-7. $21 
This is the first Ellison (1914-1994) biography. He was an author, intellectual, and social critic who earned a number of honors including the 1953 National Book Award, the 1955 Prix de Rome from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and election to both the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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What I Wish I'd Known Before I Got Married 
James, Kay Coles
Multnomah Publishers. October. 248p.
ISBN: 1-576-73781-0. $10.99
James, a family advocate, believes in preparing before one gets married and therefore it is important to understand the issues surrounding finances, sex, children, and dealing with the extended family. Additionally, the Bible influences much of what James espouses.
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The Harris Family: A Novel
Johnson, RM
Simon & Schuster. November. 352p.
ISBN: 0-7432-1600-8. $23
Readers may remember Julius Harris from The Harris Men, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 55. This sequel takes place five years later and Julius' cancer is in remission and with renewed hope, despite the odds, he tries to bring his family together.
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Red on a Rose: A Novel
Jones, Patricia
HarperCollins. November. 384p.
ISBN: 0-380-81730-6. $14
Lila Giles' picture-perfect life is challenged beyond belief in a matter of seconds. She managed her own online reading room and routinely visited the elderly patients of her cardiac surgeon husband Jack Calloway. She was even considering becoming a mother…but is all shattered.
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Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
Jones, Quincy
Doubleday. October. 352p.
ISBN: 0-385-48896-3. $24.95
Finally, this major work by famed musician, composer, producer, and arranger, tells of the glamour, achievements, and pain along the way. Jones, who grew up poor on the Chicago streets, was saved from an errant life by the music of the trumpet (he played backup for Billie Holiday while in his teens). Jones has seemingly done it all and he has laid it all out for his adoring fans to share.
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Patti's Pearls: Lessons in Living Genuinely, Joyfully, Generously
LaBelle, Patti and Laura Randolph Lancaster
Warner Books. October. 160p.
ISBN: 0-446-52794-7. $19.95 
Grammy-winning singer LaBelle shares an assorted number of humorous anecdotes and touching experiences that she hopes helps to inspire others to live fulfilling and rewarding lives.
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My Brother's Keeper
Law III, Cortez
Issues of Blood Books, Atlanta. October. 240p.
ISBN: 0-9673478-0-7. $11.99
A single Christian woman finds her heart's desire for a husband, father, and friend, but she finds it in three eligible men. The reader experiences how Bathsheba navigates the love arena in the context of a contemporary church setting, her love for her God, and the "play or be played" world.
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Sap Rising: Stories
Lincoln, Christine
Pantheon. September. 176p.
ISBN: 0-375-42140-8. $20 
Lincoln's stories are generally about young African Americans struggling in rural settings. The story is about a woman who has to choose between loving a farmer, who reminds her of her father, and the desire to explore the unknown world beyond her own.
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Maximum Insight: Selected Columns of Bill Maxwell
Maxwell, Bill
University Press of Florida. November. 384 p.
ISBN: 0-8130-2436-6. $24.95
This selection of columns is primarily from Maxwell's twice-weekly column in the St. Petersburg Times and speaks mostly to humanity, and the lack thereof. The articles cover race as he asks some hard questions about injustice in America. He also talks about growing up in rural Florida, his love for books, and his journey in the separate worlds of whites and Blacks.
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Meeting of the Waters: A Novel
McLarin, Kim
William Morrow. November. 304p.
ISBN: 0-688-166905-8. $24
Porter Stockman, a white reporter, finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time the day the four Los Angeles police officers are acquitted for assaulting Rodney King, but Lenora Page, a Black reporter, rescues him. They fall in love, and McLarin tells of their bittersweet relationship.
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Too Beautiful for Words
Morris, Monique W.
Amistad Press. September. 288p.
ISBN: 0-06-621105-0. $24
Jason's mother Peaches was a prostitute, and when he was eight years old, his father Jesus, her pimp, killed her in front of him. It was difficult for Jason to live above that history, and when he became a father, he turned to Jesus to teach him the business. The triumph is that Jason was forced to face up to his past when he meets Chinaka, a former Black Panther.
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Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World
Mosley, Walter
Warner Books. November. 352p.
ISBN: 0-446-52954-0. $24.95
Science fiction writer Mosley tells of the United States between 2020 and 2040, where high-tech is ruler and human nature running a far second. The nine stories are interwoven as we get to imagine the future.
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From the Briarpatch File: On American Culture
Murray, Lincoln
Random House. November. 192p.
ISBN: 0-375-42142-4. $22
Murray provides a wonderful collection of essays, reviews, and interviews about New York in the 1920s and the early days of his career as a writer. He also shares insight on the achievements of Duke Ellington and William Faulkner and discusses what he believes are the social responsibilities of the Black educated elite.
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Joy
Murray, Victoria Christopher
Warner Books. November. 368p.
ISBN: 0-446-52875-7. $23.95
Murray, a Christian author, writes about Anya Mitchell who seems to have it all-a financial services company, a fiancé, and an unshakeable trust in God. When she is brutally attacked by a stalker, her faith helps her deal with the tragedy.
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Between Brothers: A Novel
Robinson, C. Kelly
Strivers Row/Villard. October. 480p.
ISBN: 0-375-75772-4. $13.95
Four young men Brandon, Larry, Terrance, and Oscar, seniors at a Black college, fight against all odds, including drug pushers in the neighborhood, to save a community center from failure. We also see them struggle as they face their own personal problems that are very similar to those of young men trying to do the right thing.
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The Fundamentals: 8 Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life
Thomas, Isiah
HarperCollins. November. 224p.
ISBN: 0-06-662074-0. $25
Ex-NBA star and now coach of the Indiana Pacer's basketball team, Thomas believes that there is power in dreams. He states it is important to choose mentors in life and one should welcome opportunities and challenges resulting from these meaningful associations. Also, he adds everyone needs a consistent, guiding vision, and that's only four of the eight points he raises, illustrating them with personal stories.
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No Man Can Hinder Me: The Journey from Slavery to Emancipation Through Song
Thomas, Velma Maia
Crown. September. 40p.
ISBN: 0-609-60719-7. $32.50
The author uses photographs, drawings, and reproductions of original documents to describe how African-American songs and spirituals preserved the history of slavery. Not only does she tell the story of the songs, but she also provides the CD collection of examples-many of them never before recorded.
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Render Me My Song: African-American Women Writers from Slavery to the Present
Russell, Sandi
Harper San Francisco. October. 256p.
0-863-58408-X. $19
This revised version of Russell's work, chronicles the lives of renowned African- American women writers such as Sojourner Truth, Zora Neale Hurston, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, and Ntozake Shange. However, she also includes writers Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Maya Angelou, who more recently arrived on the scene.
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The Haitian Trilogy
Walcott, Derek
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. November. 256p.
ISBN: 0-374-52813-6. $15
Walcott, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, tells the story of the West Indies as a cycle of war, conquest, and rebellion that happened over 400 years.
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Hoop Roots
Wideman, John Edgar 
Houghton Mifflin Company. October 2001. 224p.
0-395-85731-7. $24
As Wideman explores the roots of basketball in his latest memoir, we learn of his passion for the game. Wideman lived in the ghettos of Pittsburgh called Homewood and he often played basketball with white factory workers during their breaks. His first game of basketball changed his life as much as it has changed America.
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 Corinne Nelson is a contributing writer who has written for the Library Journal.