Ugly Ways
10 best books like Ugly Ways (Tina McElroy Ansa): This Bitter Earth, Life Is Short But Wide, Scenes from a Sistah, Some Soul to Keep, Disappearing Acts, 32 Candles, Brothers and Sisters, Orange Mint and Honey, I Wish I Had a Red Dress, What You Owe Me
| Author | Bernice L. McFadden |
| ISBN | 0452283817 |
In This Bitter Earth, Sugar Lacey is on her way out of Bigelow, Arkansas, where she’d come to break with the past. With her worn leopard-print suitcase and her head held high, she walks past the prying eyes of its small-minded, cruel-hearted townsfolk, praying for the strength to keep going. She doesn’t...
| Author | J. California Cooper |
| ISBN | 0385511345 |
Beloved writer J. California Cooper has won a legion of loyal fans and much critical acclaim for her powerful storytelling gifts. In language both spare and direct yet wondrously lyrical, LIFE IS SHORT BUT WIDE is an irresistible story of family that proves no matter who you are or what you do, you are...
| Author | Lolita Files |
| ISBN | 0446674427 |
This was pretty demm entertaining, LOL. I particularly loved the frank dialogue. Maybe it's because I don't read much women's lit, but somehow, I don't think I'd find as much unflinching discussion of sex elsewhere.
I do not say this easily since I heartily disapproved of one of the main characters...
| Author | J. California Cooper |
| ISBN | 0312193378 |
From the moment I finished my first J. California Cooper book I knew she would be one of my favorite authors. Since finishing my second book, I'm sure she's one of my favorites! Her books are so real that from page one you are hooked into the story. I have found myself talking to friends about characters from...
| Author | Terry McMillan |
| ISBN | 0451209133 |
He was tall, dark as bittersweet chocolate, and impossibly gorgeous, with a woman-melting smile. She was pretty and independent, petite and not too skinny, just his type. Franklin Swift was a sometimes-employed construction worker, and a not-quite-divorced daddy of two. Zora Banks was a teacher,...
| Author | Ernessa T. Carter |
| ISBN | 0061957844 |
This debut novel of longing for family, love, and acceptance finds some interesting territory before settling too early into inevitability. Davidia Jones, a nerdy child of poverty, is abused by her alcoholic mother and despicable father and is the subject of merciless taunting at her high school....
| Author | Bebe Moore Campbell |
| ISBN | 0425172678 |
Bebe Moore Campbell’s Brothers and Sisters, originally published by Putnam in 1994* in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating, is a true testament to what I wish we could see more of on bestseller lists today. Published during an era of growing racial tensions (though what era doesn’t have that?)...
| Author | Carleen Brice |
| ISBN | 0345499069 |
Broke and burned-out from grad school, Shay Dixon does the unthinkable after receiving a “vision” from her de facto spiritual adviser, blues singer Nina Simone. She phones Nona, the mother she had all but written off, asking if she can come home for a while.
When Shay was growing up, Nona...
| Author | Pearl Cleage |
| ISBN | 0380804883 |
Cleage captures the mores, culture, and rhythm of black urban youth and the romantic tensions between mature black adults as she weaves contemporary issues into a love story.
Joyce Mitchell was widowed far too young when her beloved husband, Mitch, died in a tragic accident five years ago....
| Author | Bebe Moore Campbell |
| ISBN | 0425186318 |
Wow, this book was so absurdly and comprehensively heartwarming! The whole goshdarn cast of white and black characters successfully work through every one of their issues with racial identity / abandoning or overbearing mommies and daddies / generational grudges / discrimination and privilege....
