Reading Black Lives

READING BLACK LIVES

BOOK GROUP

The Reading Black Lives Book Group was founded in 2020 by Denise Woodin with a commitment to read books written by Black authors from the U.S. and abroad. Genres include contemporary novels, historical fiction, mysteries, and biographies. Join us for a discussion and fellowship on the book we have just read. All are welcome!
For more information, please contact [email protected].

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • INSPIRATION FOR THE MGM+ ORIGINAL SERIES • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • In his triumphant fictional debut, Stephen Carter combines a large-scale, riveting novel of suspense with the saga of a unique family. The Emperor of Ocean Park is set in two privileged worlds: the upper crust African American society of the Eastern seaboard—families who summer at Martha’s Vineyard—and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school.

“Beautifully written and cleverly plotted. A rich, complex family saga, one deftly woven through a fine legal thriller.” —John Grisham

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Currently reading:
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter

About Stephen

Stephen L. Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. His novels include The Emperor of Ocean Park and Back Channel, and his nonfiction includes Civility and Integrity.
Credit: https://stephencarterbooks.com/

Summary

Talcott Garland is a successful law professor, devoted father, and husband of a beautiful and ambitious woman, whose future desires may threaten the family he holds so dear. When Talcott’s father, Judge Oliver Garland, a disgraced former Supreme Court nominee, is found dead under suspicioius circumstances, Talcott wonders if he may have been murdered. Guided by the elements of a mysterious puzzle that his father left, Talcott must risk his marriage, his career and even his life in his quest for justice.

Superbly written and filled with memorable characters, The Emperor of Ocean Park is both a stunning literary achievement and a grand literary entertainment.

Credit: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/24851/the-emperor-of-ocean-park-by-stephen-l-carter/

Upcoming Reads in 2026

August 22 - The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen Carter

Previous Reads

Deacon King Kong – by James McBride
Beloved – by Toni Morrison
Such a Fun Age – by Kiley Reid
The Vanishing Half – by Brit Bennett
An American Marriage – by Tayari Jones
The Good Lord Bird – by James McBride
If Beale Street Could Talk – by James Baldwin
Memorial – by Bryan Washington
Their Eyes Were Watching God – by Zora Neale Hurston
Americanah – by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – by Christopher Paul Curtis
Washington Black – by Esi Edugyan
Devil in a Blue Dress – by Walter Mosley
Girl, Woman, Other – by Bernadine Evaristo
On Beauty – by Zadie Smith
On the Rooftop - by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Harlem Shuffle – by Colson Whitehead
When We Were Birds – by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
The Love Songs of W. E. B. DuBois - by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
How Beautiful We Were - by Imbolo Mbue
The Sellout - by Paul Beatty
The Violin Conspiracy - by Brendan Slocumb
Hidden Figures - by Margot Lee Shetterly
The House of Eve - by Sadeqa Johnson
Take My Hand - by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The Known World - by Edward P. Jones
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - by James McBride
Black Cake - by Charmaine Wilkerson
Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People - by Tiya Miles
One of Our Kind - by Nicola Yoon
The Fraud - by Zadie Smith
James - by Percival Everett
The Mothers - by Brit Bennett
Homegoing - by Yaa Gyasi
The Wedding - by Dorothy West
The Street - by Ann Petry
Come and Get It - by Kiley Reid
Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man's Search for Home - by Jonathan Capehart
Dream Count - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Hell of a Book - by Jason Mott
Passing - by Nella Larsen
The Wilderness - by Angela Flournoy
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray