Sunday, January 29, 2012

Open Wide the Freedom Gates

Taking in new inventory, yesterday, I came across the memoir recounting the extraordinary life of Dr. Dorothy Height...blessed with longevity, her life was an indefatigable and unwavering force directed at advocating for equality and opportunity for African Americans during most of the 20th century. I read her book a few years ago, while convalescing at home, and for a while it sat face out on the bottom shelf of a bookcase, so that every morning when I awoke, one of my first sights was Dr. Height's stately countenance and the uncompromising title of her book, which I felt was an imperative for my own life, going forward: Dr. Height's memoir is entitled, "open wide the freedom gates." I have acted on the imperative since then, but not as diligently as I might have had I kept the words at the forefront of my thoughts. So now reminded of that imperative, I have another guiding principle to help me to redeem my days, by looking for ways to expand opportunities for someone who needs access or information or something material to improve their lives, and that's just the inspiration I received from reading the title of Dr. Height's book. Thank you, Dr. Heights.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Books On Sale: Newly Arrived non-fiction, biography and fiction at Now Rise

Greetings dear friends -- and those of you who have just discovered Now Rise Books!

I am writing to say, "Thank you," to everyone who visited our storefront and purchased books from Now Rise in 2011.  Your confidence and loyalty means so much.  You have made this venture rewarding for me by sustaining Now Rise as a resource for readers and writers who value great books by and about the experience of people of African descent.  I look forward to finding wonderful titles to offer this year and blogging about good books and interesting issues.

After completing inventory at the end of 2011, I am starting 2012 by announcing a sale on many of my regular stock.  I hope the sale prices will encourage you to buy more books and to buy multiple books at one time--so that more of you will take advantage of our reduced shipping on multiple books in one order.  I also hope the sale prices will motivate you to buy sooner than you might otherwise.  I have an unsuspecting selfish motive: a successful sale will free up space in my very tiny storage unit so that I can bring into inventory more books that are recently purchased or that will be purchased in buying trips planned in the near future.

Over the next six weeks--beginning with this list at the Dr. King holiday through Black History Month--I will update this blog with books recently acquired--many at sale prices 15% less than what they would regularly be priced.  So buy soon and keep checking Now Rise for newly added selections.  Sign in on the mailing list of this blog to get notices of new titles added.  Please tell your friends and colleagues about us and, you know, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Warm regards to you all,

Lisa Monroe
Bookseller
Now Rise Books

View Now Rise Books on sale:
  • Click on each title below to see more details about the book OR 
  • Browse all books posted so far at Now Rise Books on Amazon.com. [Update: our books are still on sale at Amazon, but we stopped paying for a dedicated page--the cost of doing business! Aug. 2012]   Our regular inventory is on sale - most books are now reduced up to 15%.
  • SAVE MONEY: Take advantage of our discounted shipping when you purchase multiples titles in the same order!


Just arrived NON-FICTION from $3.75
The Mis-Education of the Negro   Carter G. Woodson (African American Images 2000 PB $3.75)

  Martin Luther King Jr. (HarperSan Francisco 1992 PB $5)

The FBI and Martin Luther King Jr: From "Solo" to Memphis   David J. Garrow (Norton 1981 PB $4)

Rehearsal for Reconstruction: The Port Royal Experiment   Jethro Koller Lieberman (Oxford UP 1976 PB $7.45)

The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925   Herbert George Gutman (Putnam 1976 HB $13.99)

Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South   Ira Berlin (Oxford UP 1981 PB $7.95)


Just arrived BIOGRAPHY / AUTOBIOGRAPHY from $4
Keep the Faith: A Memoir   Faith EvansGrand Central Publishing 2008 HB $7.95)
John Adams   David McCullough (Simon & Schuster 2001 HB $11.25)

Nigger   Dick Gregory Pocket Books 1990 Mass Market $4)

Magic Johnson: My Life   Earvin Johnson (Random House 1992 HB $7)

Angels Along the Way   Della Reese (Putnam 1997 HB $7.95)

Secrets of a Sparrow   Diana Ross (Villard 1993 HB $8.25)

For Us, the Living   Myrlie Evers-Williams (U of Mississippi 1996 HB $7) SOLD

Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference   Jessie Carney Smith (Visible Ink 1992 PB $9)


Just arrived FICTION & LITERATURE from $7.95

The Norton Anthology of African American Literature   Nellie Y. McKay (Norton 2004 CD-Rom attached PB $16) SOLD

The Good Negress: A Novel   A. J. Verdelle (Algonquin 1995 HB $7.95)

Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America   James A Emanuel (The Free Press 1968 HB $8.75)

God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse   James Weldon Johnson (Viking 1941 ninth printing HB $32) SOLD

This page was updated on August 18, 2012.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Canadian Esi Edugyan's novel is off the charts

Last year, the literary world just north of the U.S. border took notice of Edugyan Esi's novel, Half-Blood Blues. Esi, a 34 year-old Canadian-born author, won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada's highest literary honor. The honor is sweetened by its accompanying $50,000 cash award. If that were not enough, Esi also found herself on the very select short list for the Man Booker award last year, Britain's most distinguished literary honor.
Half-Blood Blues has been called a "bold and original exploration of black jazz musicians in Hitler's Germany."
A recent article in The Vancouver Sun noted that "Half-Blood Blues quickly blossomed into one of Canadian literature's great success stories. Publisher Patrick Crean of Thomas Allen Publishers says his company printed 3,000 copies in August."
Esi's novel was off the charts of Canadian fiction sales: the article also says that "there are now 115,000 copies of Half-Blood Blues in print in Canada. In one week alone, 9,000 copies sold here. Such numbers are remarkable in a country where, if a book sells 5,000 copies, it is deemed a bestseller."
Picador will publish a U.S. edition of Half-Blood Blues in February.