91, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez "ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less...

81. 81. AS THE WICKED WATCH, premier novel by talk show host Tamron Hall Emmy-award-winning talk show host, wife, mother, and my former student, has found the time to write her first novel! So proud of what she's accomplished and her love of words and wr...

71. The biography, ALICE WALKER; A LIFE, by Evelyn C. White Alice Walker's life is remarkable not only because she was the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction (the book that won her that award, THE COLOR PURPLE, has been translated into...

SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward’s historic second National Book Award–winner is “perfectly poised for the moment” (The New York Times), an intimate portrait of three generations of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle. “Ward’s wr...

The first four books were recommended in April, National Poetry Month, so I chose to cover poetry books, a genre I had neglected. - THE HILL WE CLIMB by Amanda Gorman We were so taken by her performance on Inauguration Day, we missed some of the message!...

41. THE TRUTHS WE HOLD by Kamala Harris With all the celebration of Kamala Harris and her "chucks & pearls," I thought her book would be a great fit. It also comes in a young adult edition. From Vice President Kamala Harris, one of America's most inspirin...

--- - I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS by Maya Angelou In this first of six volumes of autobiography, poet Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled with disappointment, frustration, tragedy, and finally hard-won independence. Sent at a young age to live with...

21. BELOVED by Toni Morrison Beloved is another of my favorites, and it earned Toni Morrison the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. It was inspired by an 1856 article about a runaway slave who killed her children rather than have them taken back by slave catchers. T...

11. Ralph Ellison’s, INVISIBLE MAN With all that's been going on in our country and Juneteenth just around the corner, I thought I'd suggest a book that reflects our history. As my first male author, I chose Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, not to be confus...

Rose’s Bookshelf During the quarantine, I wanted to take the opportunity to read more, and I know many share that goal. But how many times have we spent hours scrolling on Amazon and Facebook pages, reading reviews, or even starting a new book and realizi...