AALBC.com's
Best Selling Books for September and October 2005
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The Zane Effect 53% of the top 10 fiction titles sold (trending downward but still amazingly high) |
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Fiction to Non fiction ratio 51% to 49% (highest ever for non-fiction) |
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Top Selling Book (most number of copies sold): Confessions of a Video Vixen |
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Highest Conversion Ratio: Vivid - 71% of people who clicked link actually purchased book (Ratio for all books on AALBC.com = 6.28%) |
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Sleeper Title: Bourbon Street (look for this title to continue to slowly grow in popularity) |
Fiction | Nonfiction |
#1
ISBN: 0670031445 Since Terry McMillan's breakout novel Waiting To Exhale surged onto the bestseller lists, critics and readers alike have been captivated by her irreverent, often-hilarious take on the issues faced by contemporary women. With The Interruption of Everything she picks up, pitch-perfect, the dilemmas of midlife: an empty nest. Hormones gone wild. Too many irrelevant demands and too little room to breathe. Marilyn Grimes is about ready to jump out of her skin. She's the consummate wife and mother of three grown kids. She's got a no-great-shakes-but-a-good-provider of a husband, Leon; and a live-in mother-in-law, Arthurine, who comes with a bingo-playing beau, Prezell, and an elderly pooch, Snuffy. Marilyn's two best friends, Paulette and Bunny, are the quintessential take-no-prisoners, vintage McMillan girlfriends who will be there when Marilyn jumps, but . . . she's just not sure exactly where that will be . . . or when. First, she needs to remember what she used to love and call back some of her own postponed dreams. But just as Marilyn's plans for making changes are taking shape, life comes up with a few twists of its own. Suddenly Marilyn must reinvent just about everything: marriage, friendship, family-and not least of all, herself. The Interruption of Everything is a triumphant testament to the fact that the detour is the path, and living life "by the numbers" never quite adds up. |
#1
ISBN: 0060842423 Read an AALBC.com Book Review by Kam WilliamsGlass vases filled with marbles crashed all around us as he began tossing linens from the bed. As the marbles scattered, we laughed in unison ... I remember the exact moment that I first laid on my back for him ... My legs were wrapped around his waist and just before his body was to merge with mine, I noticed his upper right chest. On it was a tattoo with the words "Pain is Love." Confessions of a Video Vixen is the widely anticipated memoir of Karrine Steffans, the once sought-after sexy siren who appeared in the music videos of multiplatinum hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and LL Cool J. A top-paid video dancer, Karrine transitioned to film when acclaimed director F. Gary Gray picked her to costar in his film A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the movie and music video sets, swanky Miami and New York restaurants, and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only skims the surface of Karrine's life. This memoir -- part tell-all, part cautionary tale -- shows how Karrinne came to be the confidante of so many, why she kept their secrets, and how she found herself in Hollywood after a life marked by physical abuse, rape, and drugs -- all before she was twenty-six. By sharing her emotionally charged story, she hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticized industry. |
#2
by Zane Format: Paperback, 2nd ed., 304pp. After more than two years of entertaining tens of thousands of loyal readers on the Internet with her vivid imagination, a large collection of Zane's erotica is finally available in a published format. Zane has captivated the minds of both sexes and all races. She has completely shattered the myth that men are more sexual in nature than women and that African-American women in particular are inhibited compared to their female counterparts of other races. The erotica collection is divided into three sections: Wild, Wilder and Off Da Damn Hook. Her characters run the gamut from the sensual housewife that wants her husband to experiment more to the secret underground sorority of women that let it all hang out literally. |
#2
ISBN: 0913543004 Advice for parents, educators, community, and church members is provided in this guide for ensuring that African American boys grow up to be strong, committed, and responsible African American men. This book answers such questions as Why are there more black boys in remedial and special education classes than girls? Why are more girls on the honor roll? When do African American boys see a positive black male role model? Is the future of black boys in the hands of their mothers and white female teachers? and When does a boy become a man? The significance of rite of passage activities, including mentoring, male bonding, and spirituality, are all described. |
#3
by Diane Dorce
ISBN: 0971201951
Diane Dorce evokes true terror in this sexy, suspenseful,
thriller from Door of Kush. Atlanta, years after the Olympics, decades after Jim Crow,
forges ahead and becomes the number one city in the nation, for murder. In
the heart of Atlanta, the city too busy to hate, the powers that be
converge, murder is a blurb and death is sold to the highest bidder.
Detective Zack Monstar is put in charge of a bizarre murder case involving
two local men. To every one including Zack, it was obvious they were shot,
that was his first deduction, until Medical Examiner Bobby Semien produced
other evidence that proved at least one of the men may have been exposed or
injected with a deadly virus, the same virus that is sweeping the nations of
Africa, killing thousands daily. |
#3
Format: Hardcover, 112pp. The scholar, theologian, and activist who has been acclaimed as one of the most eloquent voices in our ongoing racial debate now bridges the gulf between black and white America in a work of enormous resonance and moral authority. West takes on the questions of politics, economics, ethics, and spirituality and addresses the crisis in black leadership. Race Matters contains West's most powerful essays on the issues relevant to black Americans today: despair, black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. And the insights that he brings to these complicated problems remain fresh, exciting, creative, and compassionate. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium. |
#4
by Zane ISBN: 0743466985 The Sisters of APF is Zane's first book based on one of her most popular short story subjects, the sexy escapades of a sorority like no other. APF stands for Alpha Phi Fuckem, a sorority dedicated to sexual freedom and the fulfillment of its members. Zane's APF stories have appeared in her earlier collections, including The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth, and are favorites among her readers. Many readers have written to Zane and asked to join the sorority or to launch a new chapter in their region. APF is fantasy, but the enthusiasm of Zane's fans is real. So now, with The Sisters of APF, she's offering readers what they want, a book-length story chronicling the adventures -- and recruitment process -- of the fearlessly sexy women of APF. Mary Ann is the daughter of a chicken farmer from South Dakota. She has never been more than fifty miles from home and has led a sheltered life. By the time she goes off to college in Washington, D.C., she has been intimate with only one man -- her high school sweetheart. The resident manager of Mary Ann's dormitory, Patricia, befriends the country bumpkin. She finds Mary Ann amusing, but also senses something intriguing about her, hidden under the surface. After Mary Ann becomes smitten with Trevor, the campus playboy, Patricia is determined to show Mary Ann how not to be a victim, but rather how to outdo the players and heartbreakers. She indoctrinates Mary Ann into the ranks of the sexiest secret society ever: the sisters of APF. |
#4
ISBN:
0913543675 This unique look at health care interprets scriptures of the Bible and adapts and applies the wisdom found there to modern ways of life. These scriptures teach that the prevention of diseases is not in the hands of doctors, but rather in what individuals eat and how they live. Health-minded Americans will learn how to avoid the disease-causing preservatives, growth hormones, and pesticides of the meat and dairy industries that pollute the once-fresh foods that the public consumes. Also included is an in-depth discussion of Satan's influence on the advertising industry and how it is linked to drug, cigarette, and alcohol addictions among the American people. |
#5
Format: Paperback, 391pp. An AALBC Best Selling Book April 2001 It's 1786 and Dr. Viveca Lancaster is frustrated by the limits placed upon female physicians of color. When she is offered the chance to set up a practice in the small all Black community of Grayson Grove, Michigan she leaves her California home and heads east. The very determined Viveca is one of the few nineteenth century Black women to graduate from the prestigious Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania but she needs more than determination to facedown handsome Nate Grayson, the Grove's bull-headed mayor. Nate Grayson goes to the train station expecting Dr. V. Lancaster to be a man. When the lovely dark-skinned Viveca introduces herself he is speechless, then wants her back on the train and out of his town. It's 1876 and women aren't supposed to be doctors, men are. However he isn't prepared for her stubbornness and fire, nor for the vivid way she heals, then steals his heart. |
#5
ISBN: 0974900028 This critical analysis looks at the disproportionate number of African American males in special education. Arguing that the problem is race and gender driven, questions covered include Why does Europe send more females to special education? Why does America lead the world in giving children Ritalin? Is there a relationship between sugar, Ritalin, and cocaine? and Is there a relationship between special education and prison? More than 100 strategies to help teachers and parents keep black boys in the regular classroom, such as revising teacher expectations, increasing parental involvement, changing teaching styles from a left-brain abstract approach to a right brain hands-on approach, redoing the curriculum, understanding the impact of mass media, and fostering healthy eating habits. |
#6
by Zane ISBN: 0743470974 In the latest romantic romp from New York Times best-selling author Zane, two hapless lovers get lost in a dating game gone awry. When Washington, D.C., chiropractor Yardley Brown goes to his local bank, it isn't only to make deposits into his account. He has long since accrued some interest in Rayne Waters, a bank employee who's too beautiful to be true -- and too beautiful to be single. At least that's what Yardley believes, which is why he has never approached her. Little does he know that Rayne is anything but taken. Not for want of trying, of course. But after barely surviving a dating disaster with her hairdresser's brother and then falling for a member of her church band who, it turns out, is celibate, she's on the verge of giving up. That is, until Yardley -- discouraged by his own slew of dead-end romances -- finally works up the courage to give her a try. The true craziness, however, is just beginning, thanks to a cast of characters who seem bent on botching the young couple's relationship. There's Rayne's erratic mother, who constantly boasts about being a "good whore"; Yardley's playboy buddies, always trolling for sex; and, worst of all, past lovers who make a habit of popping up and ruining things as only old flames (or previous mistakes) can. Weaving the carnal and the comical in true Zane fashion, Rayne and Yardley's struggle to find love in a world gone mad is a timeless talk about everything that can go wrong in the dating game -- and a few things that can go right. |
#6
ISBN: 0960229477 Written in the 1940's and published in 1957. BLACK FACT: PROOF: |
#7
ISBN: 0786714328 Read an AALBC.com Book Review by Thumper "With a stranger's eye and a Texan's gait, Deke Watley makes his way through the riot of color and noise on Bourbon Street to the wrought-iron gates of the hotel Moreau. He is expected; he's come for August Moreau's private game. Deke is a gambler, and he's toted up some good winnings at poker, only the stakes he'll be playing for in New Orleans could cost him his life." "Like decadent, dangerous, lush New Orleans itself, this first novel set in 1958 entangles the wary yet unsuspecting Deke in coils of deceit and revenge. For everywhere, whether he's brooding over a drink at the Ten Spot Bar or hobbling through the house of horrors at a deserted amusement park or jousting with Mardi Gras revelers in the sleepless city's raucous streets, Deke's destiny is stalking him; and often it does not wear a mask." "From the moment Deke enters the plush world of the blinded but still powerful white business magnate August Moreau and his mulatto son - the mercurial, angry, wildly inventive Alexander - no one that Deke encounters is quite what he seems. Not the desk clerk, who hides half his face in a black silk sheath; not the well-spoken bellhop, who carries a loaded pistol in his expensive tailored suits. Not the smart and slutty Stacy or her timid husband, Pritchett. And certainly not the elusive, beautiful Hannah: She once killed a man, although that was some years after the time Deke knew, and abandoned, her in a small town back in Texas." Destiny may have stacked its deck against him, yet Deke has got no choice. He's a gambler, and no matter how perilous his alliances, how deadly the consequences, he can only play out the hand he's been dealt. |
#7
by Cornel West ISBN: 1594200297 In Democracy Matters, West returns to the analysis of the arrested development of democracy-both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle East. In a strikingly original diagnosis, he argues that if America is to become a better steward of democratization around the world, we must first wake up to the long history of imperialist corruption that has plagued our own democracy. Both our failure to foster peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the crisis of Islamist anti-Americanism stem largely from hypocrisies in our dealings with the world. Racism and imperial expansionism have gone hand in hand in our country's inexorable drive toward hegemony, and our current militarism is only the latest expression of that drive. Even as we are shocked by Islamic fundamentalism, our own brand of fundamentalism, which West dubs Constantinian Christianity, has joined forces with imperialist corporate and political elites in an unholy alliance, and four decades after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., insidious racism still inflicts debilitating psychic pain on so many of our citizens. But there is a deep democratic tradition in America of impassioned commitment to the fight against imperialist corruptions-the last great expression of which was the civil rights movement led by Dr. King-and West brings forth the powerful voices of that great democratizing tradition in a brilliant and deeply moving call for the revival of our better democratic nature. His impassioned and provocative argument for the revitalization of America's democracy will reshape the terms of the raging national debate about America's role in today's troubled world. |
#8
Zane (Editor) Paperback: 240 pages Breaking the Cycle is a stunning and moving anthology of stories, each of which focuses on an aspect of domestic abuse. This powerful collection is sure to serve as a wake-up call for people either dealing with a domestic abuse situation, or those watching someone else endure it. In the title story, Zane describes the turmoil that a young girl suffers at the hands of her stepfather. The girl and her mother plan their escape, but at the last minute the mother falters�causing her to break down and tell her daughter the long history of domestic abuse in her own family. In D.V. Bernard’s �The Lonely Echoes of My Youth,� readers are introduced to a young boy who witnesses an alluring young girl who encourages the boys around her to physically fight one another until they become violent by nature. And Nane Quartay’s provocative story �The Grindstone,� a tale based on the author’s own experience, describes a boy who witnesses a brutal murder, in which a woman decapitates her abusive husband with a machete. The boy’s mother is a victim of abuse herself, and as her son relates the story over and over, she starts speculating about the benefits of sharpening knives on a grindstone. These stories capture the dangerous realities of domestic abuse, while also pointing toward the steps that need to be taken to break the cycle that perpetuates it. It is sure to serve as a rallying cry for all those who desire victory over their own victimization, and a guide for understanding the complex undercurrents that make such patterns possible. |
#8
Format: Paperback, 3rd ed., 254pp. The book is a collection of interviews of men who have cheated. It examines how men are raised from childhood to be unfaithful and how parents play a large part in creating cheaters. It also takes a hard look at the role of the other woman as well as the tolerant wives and girlfriends. Never before has a book dealt with infidelity on such a realistic level. This is a book every woman and man should read |
#9
Zane (Editor) ISBN: 0743457021 Zane is back with Gettin' Buck Wild: Sex Chronicles II, more stories for the legion of readers that made The Sex Chronicles a bestseller. Zane's erotic short stories have captivated the minds of both sexes and all races. The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth did exactly what its title implies -- exploded the myth that men are more sexual in nature than women, and that African-American women in particular are inhibited compared to their female counterparts of other cultures. |
#9
ISBN: 1932450750 Would you like to be free from financial worries, rest at night knowing your bills are paid, and have peace of mind when it comes to money matters? Then you need Zero Debt - a 30-day action plan to fix your finances. In Zero Debt, you'll discover:
If you want to be debt-free and achieve financial freedom, you need an action plan to guide you. This book is your step-by-step plan. It’s simple. It’s easy to understand. And it works. The author, Lynnette Khalfani, has personally conquered more than $100,000 in credit card debt. And she did it WITHOUT filing for bankruptcy protection, enrolling in a debt management program or getting credit counseling. If Lynnette could tackle her bills and achieve ZERO DEBT status, so can you! |
#10
by Zane ISBN: 0743476239 Zane's legion of fans can't get enough of her way of telling a juicy, sexy story. Now, the New York Times best-selling queen of erotica brings us a tale of a woman with a split personality -- one highly sexed and one sexually repressed. Jonquinette Pierce has always been nervous when it comes to men. She took a job dealing with mostly women so she could avoid men. She goes to work and comes straight home during the week, but on the weekends her other self, Jude, takes over and goes on intense sexual escapades. Jonquinette recognizes that her alter ego is a problem and seeks to resolve it with the help of Dr. Marcella Spencer, the psychiatrist Zane originated in her best-selling novel Addicted. Jude's response is to get angry and go on a sexual rampage. In the meantime, Jonquinette becomes interested in her new neighbor, Mason, after having a conversation with him at a mutual friend's wedding. Jude has no intention of letting Jonquinette fall in love and find happiness at her expense. Jude is having way too much fun using the body she shares with Jonquinette. This "two faces of Eve" scenario is a fun fantasy for women who have imagined their own alter ego behaving badly in a sexual way. But for the leading lady of Nervous, this is a nightmare. Based on a short story of the same title from her best-selling collection, The Sex Chronicles, Nervous is classic Zane with an edge. So, relax, sit back. You're in for a nerve-tingling read. |
#10
ISBN: 0913543810 This compelling look at the relationship between the majority of African American students and their teachers provides answers and solutions to the hard-hitting questions facing education in today's black and mixed-race communities. Are teachers prepared by their college education departments to teach African American children? Are schools designed for middle-class children and, if so, what are the implications for the 50 percent of African Americans who live below the poverty line? Is the major issue between teachers and students class or racial difference? Why do some of the lowest test scores come from classrooms where black educators are teaching black students? How can parents negotiate with schools to prevent having their children placed in special education programs? Also included are teaching techniques and a list of exemplary schools that are successfully educating African Americans. |
AALBC.com generates book sales directly and through a number of affiliate programs. Our bestsellers list reflects sales generated via Amazon.com. This ranks book sales from September 1st through October 21st.
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