AAL Past Titles
African American Literature Book Discussion Group
Past Reads: 2007-2009
2007
Jan
The Emperor of Ocean Park (Carter, Stephen L.)
Feb
Breath Eyes and Memory (Danticat, Edwidge)
March
Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns (Cooper, J. California)
April
Is Bill Cosby Right?: or has the Black middle class lost its mind? (Dyson, Michael Eric
May
Kindred ( Butler, Octavia)
June
Caine River (Tademy, Lalita)
July
Abraham's Well (Foster),Sharon Ewell
Aug
The Wedding (West, Dorothy)
Sep
Covenant with Black America (Smiley, Tavis, ed)
Oct
Raising Fences (Datcher, Micahe;)
Nov
Of Beetles & Angels (Asgedom, Mawi)
Dec
October Suite (Clair, Maxine)
2008
Jan
Go Tell it on the Mountain (Baldwin, James)
Feb
Enough (Williams, Juan)
Mar
No Disrespect (Sistah Souljah)
April
For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Shange, Ntozake)
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (Giaovanni, Nikki)
May
The Beuatiful Things That Heaven Bears (Mengestu, Dinaw)
June
A Love Noir (Turnipseed, Erica Simone)
July
A Long Way Gone (Beah, Ishmael)
Aug
Blessings (Jackson, Sheneska)
Sep
The Brightness of Her Dawn (Palmer, Geri)
Oct
The Latino Challenge (Hutchinson, Earl Ofari)
Nov
What Next (Mosley, Walter)
Dec
L'il Mama's Rules (Jackson, Sheneska)
2009
January
Audacity of Hope (Obama, Barack)
February
The Outsider (Richard Wright)
March - Women's History Month
When and Where I Enter (Paula J. Giddings)
April-National Poetry Month
Shimmy, Shimmy, Shimmy Like My Sister Kate (Nikki Giovanni, Ed.)
May-African American Mental Health Awareness Month
72-Hour Hold (Bebe Moore Campbell)
June
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
July
Sister Outsider (Audre Lourde)
August
The Good Negress (A.J. Verdelle)
September
Seen It All And Done the Rest (Pearl Cleage)
October
Pig Candy: Taking My Father South Taking My Father Home (Lise Funderburg)
November
Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans
December
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Kadir Nelson)
.
2010
January
Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany by Hans J. Massaquoi
February
Where I Must Go by Angela Jackson
March
Josephine Baker in Art and Life by Bennetta Jules-Rosette.
April - 2009 BCALA Literary Award Winner
Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward
May
Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely
June
Cuttin’ Up: Wit and Wisdom From Black Barber Shops by Craig Marberry
July
I may not get there with you : the true Martin Luther King, Jr by Dyson, Michael Eric
August
I may not get there with you : the true Martin Luther King, Jr by Dyson, Michael Eric
September
Sap Rising by Christine Lincoln.
October
Gabriel’s Story by David Anthony Durham
November
I’m Still Standing:From Wounded Soldier to US Citizen-My Journey Home by Shoshana Johnson
2011
January
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
February
Dutch by Teri Woods
March
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
April
Have Mercy by Earl Sewell
May
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
June
I Say a Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris
September
Well-Paid Slave by Brad Snyder
October
Who Does She Think She Is? by Benilde Little
November
King of the World by David Remnick
December
The Warmth of Other Sons by Isabel Wilkerson
2012
January
Disintegration by Eugene Robinson
February
Extraordinary Ordinary People by Condoleezza Rice
March
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
April
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
May
What I Know for Sure by Tavis Smiley
June
Who Is Afraid of Post Blackness by Toure
July
The GQ Candidate by Keli Goff
September
Erasure by Percival L. Everett
October
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
November
Betsey Brown by Ntozake Shange
December
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
