A list that includes those previously read (but want to read again) and new books yet to be opened, the traveling bookshelf's genres span art, anthropology, memoir, social science and religion.

Anyone interested in starting a Skype book club?

Pick your poison (I'm open to doing one art book and one literature book at the same time):

Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison

The Wretched of the Earth
Frantz Fanon

Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective
Amina Wadud

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah

The Karma of Brown Folk
Vijay Prashad

Frida Kahlo: Song of Herself
Salomon Grimberg

Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography
Zora Neale Hurston

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
William Kamkwamba

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
Ntozake Shange

Becoming Black: Creating Identity in the African Diaspora
Michelle M. Wright

Jose Marti Reader: Writings on the Americas
José Martí

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America
Moustafa Bayoumi

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
Dambisa Moyo

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
Miguel Ruiz

One Day My Soul Just Opened Up: 40 Days and 40 Nights Toward Spiritual Strength and Personal Growth
Iyanla Vanzant

Femmes du monde
Titouan Lamazou

Frida Kahlo: The Paintings
Hayden Herrera

Somehow, life caught up with me and confiscated my prime reading time.  However, I have set a goal to get back in the habit by dedicating myself to setting aside at least an hour every day to read a book.

Hopefully this will help me re-prioritize my time and an hour will lead to two hours to five hours to eight hours to an entire day (and my always on point thought process will remain sharp).

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

First up

The first book up to bat is Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus.

From the publisher:

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty is Muhammad Yunus's memoir of how he decided to change his life in order to help the world's poor. In it he traces the intellectual and spiritual journey that led him to fundamentally rethink the economic relationship between rich and poor, and the challenges he and his colleagues faced in founding Grameen. He also provides wise, hopeful guidance for anyone who would like to join him in "putting homelessness and destitution in a museum so that one day our children will visit it and ask how we could have allowed such a terrible thing to go on for so long." The definitive history of micro-credit direct from the man that conceived of it, Banker to the Poor is necessary and inspirational reading for anyone interested in economics, public policy, philanthropy, social history, and business.

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
Muhammed Yunus
PublicAffairs
2003

His selections include a literary collection that represents the global diversity of our evolving world including a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Junot Díaz, the paternal memoirs of America's choice for change, a French translation of the fictional tale of a child solider in Liberia and Sierra Leone, a story of "passing" in Apartheid South Africa (from an author Nobel Prize Laureate Toni Morrison calls seductive, brilliant and precious); and a non-Wire-esque coming of age story of a B-more native as he travels into manhood.

I'm still a bit behind in the game of catch-up when it comes to the written word.  However, I am adding all but one of these, which I've already read, to the long list of books I need to consume.

Also, in an effort to dwindle that list, I've started reading How to Rent a Negro by the beautiful and amusing Damali Ayo.  A tongue-in-cheek tale of how non-people of color can look hip, hot and culturally aware by simply adding a black person to their daily répertoire, How to Rent a Negro is a must read for those of us who cringe when asked "Can I touch your hair?" or stand victim to the ever popular "tanned skin test" (also known as "I'm darker than <insert name of token African descendant here>" test).  More to come on that subject.