Book Review - DanceHall: From Slave Ship to Ghetto DanceHall combines cultural geography, performance studies and cultural studies to examine performance culture across the Black Atlantic. Taking Jamaican dancehall music as its prime example, DanceHall reveals a complex web of cultural practices, politics, rituals, philosophies, and survival strategies that link Caribbean, African and African diasporic performance.
Book Review: Sometimes There's A Winner A story of poverty, injustice and revenge in Jamaica, SOMETIMES THERE'S A WINNER tells the story of a poor black gardener, Byron Reid, and his sister Nadia, who work for a wealthy white Lebanese-Jamaican family in Kingston. Byron Reid surpasses his work ambitions and achieves success in a variety of jobs with Abraham Faroud, and is driven to bankruptcy by his employer's son Fabian who exploits Nadia's innocence and vulnerability when she worked as a servant in the Faroud home.
Book Review: Tastes Like Home - My Caribbean Cookbook Tastes Like Home - My Caribbean Cookbook is more than just a book of recipes, it's a conversation about food and how it connects and forms part of Caribbean identity. The book is divided into two sections - a memoir section and a recipe section. Cynthia shares personal memories which help us understand Caribbean food and lifestyle.
Book Review: Pieces of the Past – A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane There is an old Jamaican saying ‘every mickle mek a muckle’. It means every experience – no matter how small – counts, because together they form a greater whole. There is another old Jamaican saying: ‘one one cocoa full basket’ which means that parts of things slowly combined make a whole. Pieces of the Past: A Stroll Down Jamaica’s Memory Lane is as much as combination of both meanings as it is an exploration of a deep-rooted interest in Jamaica’s rich history and culture.
Book Review: The Goat Woman of Largo Bay The Goat Woman of Largo Bay begins the detective series featuring Shad, a bartender in a fishing village in Jamaica, who is the community problem solver and right hand of Eric, an American who owns the bar and a hotel left in ruins by a hurricane. When Shad sees movement on the island offshore, he thinks it's just a goat. But it turns out to be Simone, an American who has run away from her professional and personal life in the U.S., an intriguing woman who captures Eric's heart
Book Review: Jamaica Fi Real Beautiful; aggressive; exuberant, talkative; humorous; resourceful; unpredictable – Jamaica brings many adjectives to mind, but boring is not one of them. No other country so young and so small has had such global cultural influence as the land of Marcus Garvey, Louis Bennett, Bob Marley and Usain Bolt. Jamaica Fi Real provides an in-depth look at Jamaica’s people, history, music, sports, religion and culture, creating a vivid twenty-first century portrait of perhaps the world’s most fascinating island.
Book Review: Marcus and the Amazons After traveling through the forest, Marcus returns to his home and discovers that Amazons have enslaved his colony and imprisoned Princess Amy, his bride-to-be. With the help of his friends from the forest, Marcus must save Princess Amy and rally his colony to stand against the Amazons. But during his stay in the forest, Marcus has also renounced violence. Will Marcus succeed?
Book Review - Daughter of the Caribbean Beloved Jamaica, the island of my birth, where brilliant sunshine and glistening white-sand beaches demand reverence; where the fruit is sweet and abundant; and where the people are strong, defiant and accomplished ... Daughter of the Caribbean is a love letter that pays homage to the culture and heritage of this exotic, beautiful and conflicting island paradise that is Jamaica.
Book Review - 118 Degrees Delicious 118 Degrees Delicious is a collection of delicious healthy live vegan raw food recipes. These simple recipes will inspire healthier choices while satisfying even the most discriminating of palates! All recipes are dairy and gluten free and include complete nutritional information!
Book Review: The Tangled Web In the dead of night, international media and entertainment tycoon Logan Armstrong flies back to the island of his birth. Armstrong is on a covert mission, known only to himself and three top government officials. Their plan? A plot to assassinate the corrupt head of state, a dangerous megalomaniac who, in his dirty dealings with Colombia’s leading drug cartel, is sacrificing his country’s future for personal gain. Unbeknownst to Armstrong and his colleagues, a parallel plot is being set into motion by the powerful jefé of the cartel, the beautiful and ruthless Maria Echevarría.
Book Review: A Soh Wi Do It! For more than a decade, Joelle Cohen Wright, wrote hilarious Jamaican interpretations of major news stories and current events have been entertaining readers across the globe. Joelle will be the first to admit that she has the ability to see humor in every aspect of life. Her comedic writings have been ‘viral’ in e-mails and on the Internet for several years.
Book Review: Ska - An Oral History Ska: An Oral History is the story of ska music, told through the words and narratives of those who invented it. In Jamaica, and later in England, this music defined the culture and social conditions of the people. Through the words of their songs, the uplifting rhythm of their vivacious tunes, and the character and skill of each musician, ska music was the foundation for musical forms and the musicians that evolved. Hearing first-hand the stories of these tumultuous times, these creative times, the story of ska music is finally told by those who were there.
Book Review: Frisson of Spirit Inspired by the Songs of Solomon, J.J. Blackwood’s Frisson of Spirit reveals her poetic journey of discovery and revelation, pointing readers toward the one true spirit of God. J.J. Blackwood brings alive the universal questions that plague all mankind about worth, purpose, and the meaning of life with beautiful poetry born out of her most intense moments of sorrow and joy. As John Keats’s conception of life in poetry sought expression in the soul, so J.J. Blackwood adds the expression of the spirit and the will in Frisson of Spirit to alleviate the suffering that is an integral part of the human condition.”
Book Review - The Baby Who Would Not... This story comes out of the consciousness of a baby called Kaeli. This particular little person makes landfall on a children’s ward at a hospital. Its location in a multi-cultural setting turns out to be an appropriate setting in which her free-thinking spirit can speak for herself and other babies. At first and on her own terms (and not unlike a small tropical storm), she sets some challenges which in all fairness, are manageable to all grownups concerned. To begin with, she rallies her new friends to object, obviously by action rather than words.
Book Review - "Portland: The Other Jamaica" "Portland: The Other Jamaica" is intended to convey the unique qualities of this most beautiful of parishes. Portland has more mountains, rivers, flora and fauna and rain and perhaps has experienced more natural calamities than any other parish. That environment has shaped Portland's history and has also attracted many dreamers and a few schemers, and still does. As Errol Flynn once said: "Portland is more beautiful than any woman". The people and the places of Portland have combined to create a parish like no other.
Book Review: Moon Jamaica VI Edition Moon Handbooks give you the tools to make your own choices, with suggestions on how to plan a trip that’s perfect for you, including: The Best of Jamaica, Local Spas and Hot Springs, Roots and Culture, The Adrenaline Junkie’s Fix, Vital Vittles: Jamaica’s Best Food, Hidden Beaches and Hillside Hikes. Additionally, Moon Jamaica provides 25 detailed and easy-to-use maps, plus the firsthand experience and unique perspective of author Oliver Hill.
Book Review - Seven Letters to Heaven Seven Letters to Heaven tells the personal experience of the author’s relationship with God and her faith, by way of her letters of prayer to Him. In a poignant, simple, and personal way, she shares how her letters were answered, and she encourages others to believe that, through faith, they can expect answers to their prayers.
Book Review: Sprinting into History: Jamaica and the 2008 Olympic Games Jamaica has long been a global power on the track, having achieved far more medals on a per capita basis than any other country in the Olympics. The impact that the country has made on the global athletic landscape belies its population and geographical size.
Book Review--Turn Your Passion Into Profit Business author, Walt F.J. Goodridge, shares his PassionProfit Philosophy and Formula to help a worldwide audience of anyone who yearns to escape the rat race, make money doing what they love, and live true to themselves.
Book Review - Keep On Pushing: Hot Lessons From Cool Runnings Keep On Pushing: Hot Lessons From Cool Runnings is a semi-autobiographical motivational book by original Jamaica bobsled team member Devon Harris. In this book Devon has brought together all that he has learned along the way, from his days as a student in Kingston, to his education at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, his life as a Jamaica Army officer, and of course to his experiences at three Olympics which changed his life forever.
Book Review: Forever Young At 50+ A compilation of 100 stories, featuring individuals over the age of 50 who have made great achievements, overcome tremendous adversity, and through it all, still remain forever young.
Book Review: Michael Manley: The Politics of Equality Michael Manley was a true internationalist who understood the complex interplay among national, regional and global processes. He readily grasped the fact that the historically determined structures underpinning these relationships played an important role in perpetuating the asymmetric power relations between the developed and developing countries and the need therefore for the adoption of a proactive stance in promoting the interests of the latter.
Book Review: Journey of Perseverance from Jamaica to America The objective of this book is to inspire others positively in their daily lives, regardless of their circumstances. There are some fascinating revelations that were challenging, humorous and entertaining, and this makes for interesting reading. The book is about the radical adjustments I had to make to the big city lifestyle from my country living in Jamaica.
Book Review: Jamaican by Birth American by Choice Legally sanctioned racial bias no longer exists in America. Nonetheless, bias remains a deeply divisive and debilitating scourge that ravages social intercourse. The inevitability of increasing diversity presents a severe dilemma that divides America — a country that remains exemplary in so many other respects. Confronting bias is therefore as much a critically significant interpersonal challenge as it is an extremely prickly opportunity. Spectacular, relentless demographic changes along with the paranoia associated with the resulting inescapable browning, or diminution in whiteness, of America, merely complicate this already worrisome dilemma.
Book Review: Bob Marley - The Complete Annotated Bibliography Bob Marley: The Complete Annotated Bibliography is a tremendous resource for all Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, The Wailers and reggae fans. For the first time ever, every single book that has been published on Bob Marley and Peter Tosh from around the world is documented in one bibliography.
MIND SHAPER, a book of poetry, Prayers and Patois, MIND SHAPER, a book of poetry, Prayers and Patois, connects us to one another in this rapidly, global cultural integration. Your experiences will go from simple emoting to showing an eminent capacity to reason. Education, in its broadest sense, is found more on the outside of a classroom than within its four walls
Book Review - Great Spirits: Portraits Of Life-Changing World Music Artists What do such artists as Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Nina Simone, and Sun Ra have in common? All created uniquely powerful musical art that had a profound effect on their audiences. Through their music and their lives they became forces for liberation, challenging the established order and inspiring people around the world to look at life in new ways.
Book Review: Dog-Heart Told in two voices, educated Jamaican English and the nation-language of the people, this dramatic novel tells the story of a well-meaning, middle-class woman and a young boy from the ghetto whom she desperately wants to help.
Book Review: What's New Doc? Jamaican, Elaine Myrie-Richards is a retired physician who lives in Winter Springs, Florida. Recalling the many humorous encounters she had experienced while working at the Veterans’ Affairs Out-Patient Clinic in Orlando, Florida. (V.A.O.P.C.) the author decided to collect funny stories from fellow medical professionals.
Book Review: Hot Chocolat Hot Chocolat is the second in Judy Powell’s series of sizzling Jamaican romance novels. It is the sequel to Hot Summer, which came second in the Toronto Romance Writers Competition. Hot Chocolat is “hot and sweet – a delicious combination”.
Book Review: The Village Curtain The Village Curtain is a collection of fictional stories, sketches and imaginary characters woven into a novel and set in the coastal communities of Jamaica . Considerable effort is made to make the physical and technical descriptions of the conditions and methods employed by village fishermen as precise as possible.
Dear Dad...Ky-mani Marley's Autobiography - Book Review Family ties are the ties that bind, but when unraveled, they can be the threads that nearly hang us to death. In fact, sometimes our most vehement enemies emerge from the same sources from which we yearn to receive so much love—our families. Ky-Mani Marley knows this firsthand.
Run to Freedom - Book Review Run to Freedom is an adventure story for junior readers, set on an eighteenth century sugar plantation in Jamaica. The young protagonist is Kofi, son of an enslaved Asante warrior named Kwame. Kofi's father fights vigorously against enslavement, and vows to escape the plantation and find a way to free his wife and children.
Olympic Gardens - Jamaican Book Review Olympic Gardens is a coming-of-age story, a powerful evocation of the life of an unwanted boy that grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. Most countries have their celebrity town like York of the British writers and the Trench Town of Bob Marley. This story is important work that has not been done so far in this genre about the town of Olympic Gardens.
Eroticism, Spirituality, and Resistance in Black Women's Writings - Book Review Western European mythology and history tend to view spirituality and sexuality as opposite extremes. But sex can be more than a function of the body and religion more than a function of the mind, as exemplified in the works and characters of such writers as Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Opal Palmer Adisa, and Edwidge Danticat.
Stages of Me - Jamaican Book Review Stages of Me is a 238-page novel that revolves around the disintegration of the intricately interwoven lives of members of three starkly different New Jersey families. The story is at times gritty, in-your-face and unflinching, but at its core is one that is predicated on love as it explores the dizzying peaks and depressing lows of family relationships.
I And I Bob Marley - Book Review Born in the Jamaican countryside in 1945, Bob Marley seemed special from birth. The curious, intuitive boy had an extraordinary gift for absorbing and interpreting the world around him.
Book Review: A Cow Called Boy A touching story of Josh's fight to save his hand-reared bull-calf, Boy, from the butcher's greedy hands. A Cow Called Boy is a humorous and dramatic true-to-life novella or novelette which can be enjoyed as a serialized bed-time story read to pre-literate tots.
Reaper of Souls: A Novel of the 1957 Kendal Crash - Jamaican Book Review The Kendal crash was, at the time, the world’s worst train catastrophe and the worst disaster in Jamaica’s history, taking more than 250 lives, including 14 from East’s family. Using the disaster as a backdrop, as well as eyewitness and survivor accounts, archival photographs, and the Commission of Inquiry Report (1958), East imagines a different outcome of the tragedy for the fictional Scott family.
Reaper of Souls begins on the day of the catastrophe and follows the Scotts as they leave Jamaica as part of the Great West Indian Migration to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Dead Yard : Jamaican Book Review Jamaica used to the source of much of Britain’s wealth, an island where slaves grew sugar and the money flowed out in vast quantities. It was a tropical paradise for the planters, a Babylonian exile for the Africans shipped to the Caribbean. Since independence in 1962, it has gradually become associated with a new kind of hell, a society where extreme violence has become ordinary and gangs control the areas where most Jamaicans live.
