Books of Interest to Jamaicans

Dr. Erskine’s latest book on Black Theology and Black Faith

Why would Africa’s children turn to the God of their oppressors for liberation? 
Beginning with the Middle Passage, which brought millions of Africans into the Caribbean and the United States, Erskine unpacks the background and distinctive ideas of Black theology.

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Dr. Kong belongs in the tradition of Mark Twain with this fanciful and entertaining account of a man whose story is not widely known. Chock full of local wit and wisdom, this tale tells us far more about Jamaica and her people than would a mere biography

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner
New York Times Notable Book
Best Book of the Year for The Washington Post* The New Yorker * Time * The Atlantic * Los Angeles Times * NPR * Harper’s Bazaar * Vulture * Town & Country * San Francisco Chronicle * Christian Science Monitor * Mother Jones * Barack Obama
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

“Impossible to put down…Each lyrical line sings and soars, freeing the reader as it did the writer.” —People

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Renowned reggae historian Roger Steffens’s riveting oral history of Bob Marley’s life draws on four decades of intimate interviews with band members, family, lovers, and confidants―many speaking publicly for the first time. Hailed by the New York Times Book Review as a “crucial voice” in the documentation of Marley’s legacy, Steffens spent years traveling with the Wailers and taking iconic photographs.

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It’s Easy ‘Son’, Quit Making Things Difficult: Lasting Life Lessons from a Coach and Mentor

This book depicts the value of mentorship by way of the lasting life lessons Coach Moultrie imparted to his students at Howard University. Author and former student, Gerald Hector, originally from Jamaica, does a brilliant job capturing those lessons and applying them to today’s challenges and beyond.

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Calabar Old Boy pens Children’s book: DJEMBE

DJEMBE tells the story of a boy’s journey from self-doubt, low self esteem and fear to self-love and pride.

Buy here: https://amzn.to/49rf1TU

Frances-Marie Coke’s Debut Novel: When Banana Stains Fade

When Banana Stains Fade will draw its readers into the compelling drama of over four generations of a Jamaican family, told through the lifeline of its women.” –Rachel Manley.

Buy Here: https://amzn.to/3BiGavK

A Brief History of Seven Killings won the Booker Prize in 2015

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. This book is a sprawling novel inspired by the attempted assassination of Bob Marley.

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The Hero of Fern Gully and other Jamaican Short Stories

The Hero of Fern Gully was a finalist for the International Book Awards.

It delivers a fascinating glimpse of Jamaican island life-past and present.

“I read “The Hero of Fern Gully” in one long evening, and since I was immediately taken by it, I have now completed a careful read of it. .The book shows a really deep knowledge of Jamaica and some of its people, mostly as it was when it was still a colony of Britain, even though many things haven’t really changed since then!

It is a sort of compendium put in a narrative and very entertaining form, with stories covering a wide variety of topics – history, geography, agriculture, cuisine, religion, varying life styles, vocabulary – you name it, it is there! Humour too – I laughed most at the “upside-down burial” story.

Jamaicans, wherever they are, or whatever age they may be, would find “The Hero of Fern Gully” a most interesting and entertaining book, and for tourists, it could be a “real souvenir.” – Rev. Dr. Barry Davies

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Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation

Homecoming draws on over a hundred first-hand interviews, archival recordings and memoirs by the women and men who came to Britain from the West Indies between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. In their own words, we witness the transition from the optimism of the first post-war arrivals to the race riots of the late 1950s. We hear from nurses in Manchester; bus drivers in Bristol; seamstresses in Birmingham; teachers in Croydon; dockers in Cardiff; inter-racial lovers in High Wycombe, and Carnival Queens in Leeds.

Buy Here: https://amzn.to/4fZJKK5

Miss Lou: Louise Bennett and Jamaican Culture

Louise Bennett Coverley, ‘Miss Lou’, has for decades represented the ‘face’ of Jamaican culture, the essence of what it is to be Jamaican. As a poet, performer, storyteller, singer, actress, writer, broadcaster, folklore scholar and children’s television show host, she won hearts and souls for Jamaica with her humorous yet compelling performances worldwide. It is Miss Lou, more than any other figure in Jamaica’s history, who showed that the language spoken by most Jamaicans – patois or Jamaican Creole – is worthy of respect.

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Anna Carries Water

Anna fetches water from the spring every day, but she can’t carry it on her head like her older brothers and sisters. In this charming and poetic family story set in Jamaica, Commonwealth Prize-winning author Olive Senior shows young readers the power of determination, as Anna achieves her goal and overcomes her fear.

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The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other!

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FINALIST FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION. Finalist for the 2023 Pen/Faulkner Award, the DUBLIN Literary Award, the Southern Book Award, and the Gordon Burns Award. Nominated for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the 2023 Pen/Jean Stein Open Book Award, the 2023 Pen/Bingham Prize, the 2022 Story Prize, the Dublin Literary Prize, the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the 2023 Brooklyn Library Prize, and the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize. National Bestseller. IndieNext Pick. One of The New York Times Book Review‘s 100 Notable Books of 2022.

If I Survive You is a collection of connected short stories that reads like a novel, that reads like real life, that reads like fiction written at the highest level.”

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Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret – Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and Midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life.

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NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Two estranged siblings delve into their mother’s hidden past and how it all connects to her traditional Jamaican black cake—in this immersive family saga, “a character-driven, multigenerational story that’s meant to be savored” 

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The Stress Book: Forty-Plus Ways to Manage Stress & Enjoy Your Life 

THE STRESS BOOK IS A RECIPIENT OF MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED (100-PLUS) LITERARY AWARDS, including the Independent Author Network (IAN) 2022 first-place Nonfiction Book of the Year and Outstanding Creator Award winner for Best Nonfiction Book, spring 2023. It made the shortlist of finalists for the 2023 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize Book of the Year and Goody Business Book Awards-Top Impact Author Award-2023.

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PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD FINALIST

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Slate • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Ma Taffy may be blind but she sees everything. So when her great-nephew Kaia comes home from school in tears, what she senses sends a deep fear running through her. A teacher has cut off Kaia’s dreadlocksa violation of the family’s Rastafari beliefsand this single impulsive action will have ramifications that stretch throughout the entire community.

Buy Here: https://amzn.to/4ioNqa2

A review of Jamaican Entrepreneurship:

Dr. Laman’s writing style is at once solidly analytical and entertaining. His entrepreneurs introduce us to the diverse and essential social, cultural and political elements that underpin the Jamaican experience. These entrepreneurs, by their very character, defy the reality that surrounds them and single mindedly pursue their aspirations undaunted by obstacles, sabotage and failure … They are like entrepreneurs anywhere, impacting our world but in a uniquely Jamaican way.

Purchase: https://amzn.to/42qaeAc