Books and More - Discussion Groups

January 28
Dominion by Calvin Baker

Dominion tells the story of the Merian family, Jasper Merian, newly freed from bondage in Virginia at the close of the seventeenth century, leaves for the uncharted free territory of the west, where he aims to carve out a utopia in the wilderness of the Carolinas. While grappling with the legacy he has left behind, Jasper must build a home for himself to pass down to his two sons - one enslaved, the other free. Despite the hardships of frontier life and the malignant local spirit Ould Lowe, Jasper and his wife manage to build the thriving estate, Stonehouses. The farm passes through three generations, ministered in turn by Jasper's son and grandson. Their lives bring them up against the natural (and occasionally supernatural) world, colonial politics, the injustices of slavery, the Revolutionary War, and questions of fidelity and the heart. When Jasper's grandson, Caleum, is discharged from the colonial army, he lingers in New Amsterdam with another woman instead of returning to his family, and the threads binding Stonehouses together begin to unravel. Ould Lowe, long restrained, again haunts the land, and, like his grandfather, Caleum must ultimately face the demon. --BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

February 25
Chocolate Sangria by Tracy Price-Thompson

Juanita Lucas is a young woman living in a housing project in Brooklyn. Although she has a very light complexion, she is proud of her blackness, even as she takes a beating from the very sistahs she tries so hard to emulate. Her only friend, Scooter Morrison, is an upwardly mobile brother who also happens to be young, gifted, and gay. Then a chance encounter with two fine Puerto Rican men changes Juanita's and Scooter's lives in ways they could never have imagined. There is Conan, a hardworking man who wrestles with both his love for Juanita and his guilt over his brother's death; and Jorge, an unscrupulous bad-boy thug who has no problem using what he's got to get what he wants, until he comes dangerously close to getting scorched by his own flames. Fast-paced, suspenseful, and unpredictable, Chocolate Sangria explores the hearts of two lovers who get caught in the great cultural divide, and the devastating consequences of keeping secrets, telling lies, and betraying those you love. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

March 24
After: A Novel by Marita Golden

After joining the police force and building a family with his wife, Bunny, Carson Blake is finally in control of his life in the enclave where African American wealth and privilege share the same zip code with Black American crime and tragedy. Both Carson and his wife have great careers and three beautiful children: Roslyn, Roseanne, and Juwan. Carson is a devoted father, determined not to be the father that his father was to him. But while Juwan's astounding artistic talent is his father's pride, the boy's close relationship with classmate Will conjures up emotions and questions in Carson that threaten to spill over and poison the entire Blake family. And then, one night in March, Carson stops a young Black man for speeding. He orders Paul Houston to exit the car and drop to his knees. But when Houston retrieves something from his waistband and turns to face Carson, three shots are fired, one man loses his life, and two families are wrenched from everything that came before and hurled into the haunting future of everything that will come after. When it is revealed that Paul was only holding a cell phone, Carson's carefully woven world begins to unravel. --BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

April 28
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Howard Belsey is an Englishman abroad, an academic teaching in Wellington, a college town in New England. Married young, thirty years later he is struggling to revive his love for his African American wife Kiki. Meanwhile, his three teenage children-Jerome, Zora and Levi-are each seeking the passions, ideals and commitments that will guide them through their own lives.
Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

May 19
The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele

How did a beautiful, talented college student fall in love with a man serving twenty to life for murder? And why did she marry him? At a time when one in four black men are caught in the web of the criminal justice system, Asha Bandele shatters the myths of prisoners' wives and tells a story of embracing the beauty of love in the ugliest circumstances and of people's ability to change, to do better, to grow. Whether she is describing her restricted but romantic courtship with Rashid -- when letters were like dates, like "whispers on the slow, blue-light dance floor" -- or riding the bus upstate with the other wives and girlfriends, Asha Bandele creates haunting images and reflections so powerful and unique that they beg to be reread and savored. At the same time that she recalls the extreme ups and downs that accompany a relationship constantly scrutinized by guards and surveillance cameras, she confronts her own dark secrets and sadness. The love of a man with an ugly past but a firm belief in redemption is what heals her broken spirit and grants her the courage and confidence to embrace life again. This is a love story extraordinary in its circumstances but universal in its message. With unblinking honesty, Asha Bandele writes about the tenuous balance of power upon which most relationships rest, the deep needs that bring two people together, the jealousy and insecurity that can drive them apart. But most of all, The Prisoner's Wife reminds us why we love -- what we give up for it and what we receive from it. An immensely gifted poet whom the Bay Guardian has called "an essential new voice in African-American literature," Asha Bandele has written a remarkably candid book that resonates with poetic language and abundant insight.
Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

June 23
Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due

As a young girl, Phoenix Smalls almost died when a piano nearly crushed her. Fourteen years later, Phoenix is an R&B singer on the cusp of stardom, anxiously awaiting the release of her debut album, Rising. While working in St. Louis, she happens upon the old piano again, setting off a series of haunting, erotic, encounters with the spirit of Jazz Legend Scott Joplin. Now, the pressures of fame, and a ghost seeking to live forever, threaten to end Phoenix's career--and life--before it can take flight.