We had such fun reading books we read previously during 2010 that we had to continue.  The criteria was simply that a member suggest a favorite, thus being labeled a “Biblio-favorite”, whether read by the group previously or not.

The following were the titles selected for 2011 – a rich and varied list.

• TUMBLING by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
• BLACK MANHATTAN by James Weldon Johnson
• THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
• BUFFALO SOLDIERS: A Narrative of the Black Calvary in the West by William H. Leckie
• DISINTEGRATION: The Splintering of Black America by Eugene Robinson
• FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW WAS ENUF by Ntozake Shange

Tumbling by Diane McKinney-Whetstone (Goodreads Author)

Diane McKinney-Whetstone’s lyrical first novel, Tumbling, vividly captures a tightly knit African-American neighborhood in South Philadelphia during the forties and fifties.

Its central characters, Herbie and Noon, are a loving but unconventional couple whose marriage remains unconsummated for many years as Noon struggles to repossess her sexuality after a brutal attack in her past. While she seeks salvation in the church, Herbie gains sexual gratification in the arms of a bewitching jazz singer named Ethel, a woman who profoundly affects both Noon’s and Herbie’s lives when she leaves with them, first, a baby girl and then later, a five-year-old named Liz.

When a road planned by the city council threatens to break up this South Philadelphia neighborhood, the community must band together. Unexpectedly, Noon rises up and takes the lead in the opposition, fighting for all she’s worth to keep her family and community together.

Tumbling is a beautiftilly rendered, poignant story about the ties that bind us and the secrets that keep us apart. With striking lyricism, Diane McKinney-Whetstone keenly guides us through the world of community, family, and the human heart.