Summer Reading List
Editor, Tavis Staff and Listeners Share Their Picks

See NPR's Books of Summer 2002 for more reading recommendations from NPR, member stations and listeners.

Listen as Evette Porter, executive editor of the Black Issues Book Review, talks about books written by and about African Americans.

Evette Porter, executive editor of Black Issues Book Review Photo: Anthony Barboza, Black Issues Book Review

July 19, 2002 -- As recently as 15 years ago, the publishing world seemed to think that there were few readers around to support black authors. Then, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Terry McMillan all hit The New York Times bestseller list on the same week. Since then, the black publishing industry has grown tremendously. Today, black readers account for a large portion of the publishing market, and the boom in black authors continues.

On The Tavis Smiley Show, correspondent Karen Grigsby Bates talks to Evette Porter, executive editor of the Black Issues Book Review, about this trend. Porter also talks about the most popular summer books written by and about African Americans.

In addition, staff members of the The Tavis Smiley Show and listeners suggest their favorite books for the summer.


Evette Porter's Picks

The Emperor of Ocean Park, Stephen Carter

Thieves' Paradise, Eric Jerome Dickey

A Love of My Own, E. Lynn Harris

The Queen of Harlem, Brian Keith Jackson

Bad Boy Brawley Brown, Walter Mosley

Leslie, Omar Tyree


Staff Picks

Tavis Smiley, host
Up From Here: Reclaiming the Male Spirit, Iyanla Vanzant

Karen Grigsby Bates, correspondent
The Emperor of Ocean Park, Stephen Carter

Carline Watson, director
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Toyia Baker, assistant editor
Sisterfriends: Portraits of Sisterly Love, Michelle V. Agins (photos), Julia Chance (essays)

Ralph Cooper, production assistant
The African Dream; The Diaries of The Revolutionary War in the Congo, Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Rob Sachs, production assistant
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

Monique Shimm, production assistant
The Eye of the World - The Wheel of Time, Book 1, Robert Jordan


Listeners' Picks

Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler

The Bondwoman's Narrative, Hannah Crafts (edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)

Bucking the Sun, Ivan Doig

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison

If You Die Before You Wake, E. Hill

King Leopold's Ghost, Adam Hochschild

Climbing Up to Glory: A Short History of African Americans During the Civil War and Reconstruction, Wilbert L. Jenkins

Interesting Women, Andrea Lee

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X

The Debt, Randall Robinson

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser

The Prodigal Husband, Jacquelin Thomas

Race Matters, Cornel West

Black Robes, White Justice, Bruce Wright

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