Carylee Carrington and her family are from the Eastern end of the island of Jamaica, specifically Middleton, St. Thomas. Carrington’s mother migrated to the US first. Carrington, her father, and her sisters, joined her mother later, in East New York, Brooklyn before moving to the Flatbush/Midwood area. One thing that may surprise people about her is that she wanted to work in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), but having a family was more important to her. She is a single mother of two boys who are 12 and 9. “They are my everyday inspiration, my bodyguards, and business partners,” she said ..read more

“The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America” by Larry Tye c.2024, Mariner Books                                               $32.50                                     ..read more

Books on mothers and motherhood by various authors c.2024, Various publishers                              $20-$29.00                              Various page counts   Everybody’s had one at least once in their lives. Some people get two or more, while others don’t currently have any. Whatever your situ ..read more

“The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and the Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History” by Karen Valby c.2024, Pantheon                                            $29.00                              &nb ..read more

“The Black Box: Writing the Race” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. c.2024, Penguin Press                                     $30.00                                     262 pages   These days, everybody’s got a label maker. The color of your s ..read more

Books for Poetry Month by various authors c.2023, 2024, Various publishers                      $18.99 – $20.00                       Various page counts   On your hands, you got lots of time. You can make a song, you can make a rhyme. Make a long story, make a short one, write what you like, make it simple and fun. Writing poetry uses your imagination: you play with words, paint a pictu ..read more

What Do You Need?” by Lauren Wesley Wilson c.2024, Hay House $25.99                         264 pages   That wasn’t the answer you wanted. Beating around the bush, hemming and hawing, those aren’t answers. A solid yes or no, that’s what you require, a simple affirmative or negative, but you may not get it. Is the answer hung up somewhere, or is it being withheld? You may never know but author Lauren Wesley Wilson says you should never stop asking. In her new book “What D ..read more

“Pride and Joy” by Louisa Onomé c.2024, Atria Books                                        $27.99                                         336 pages   You never have just one. That’s how it goes when someth ..read more

Easter Books for Kids by various authors c.2024, Various publishers                                $12.99 – $18.99                     Various page counts   How do you know when it’s spring? The robins suddenly make an appearance in your back yard. The flowers begin to poke their heads from the ground and in the stores. Mom and Dad start makin ..read more

The new local bookstore in Brooklyn, Taylor and Co. Books, owned by Andrew Colarusso, is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month. As he was putting together the business plan, he was concerned that nobody would come into the bookstore. “I’m extremely proud of the bookstore and the influence it’s had in its first year. It’s been remarkable. Community support has been more generous and loving than I ever imagined,” he said. Colarusso grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Ditmas Park. Something surprising about him and his family is that other than books, they love movies. “My dad has a ..read more