MahoganyBooks Adult Bestsellers | November 2021

The MahoganyBooks Adult Bestsellers list is more than just a look at the Top Five books purchased over the past month from our store and website. It’s a list that takes into account the interests and concerns of African American readers/shoppers regardless of publisher, recency of publication, or book promotions geared at manufacturing sales.

Quite simply, our bestsellers list is a representation of the kinds of literary content that matters to them. #BlackBooksMatter

So without further ado, we present our…

November 2021 | MahoganyBooks Adult Bestsellers


#1 – The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones

A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present.

In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.

The New York Times Magazine‘s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.

This is a book that speaks directly to our current moment, contextualizing the systems of race and caste within which we operate today. It reveals long-glossed-over truths around our nation’s founding and construction–and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary American life.


#2 – Will by Will Smith

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

Will Smith’s transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest rap stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner transformation and outer triumph, and Will tells it astonishingly well. But it’s only half the story.

Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn’t see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn’t signed up for. It turned out Will Smith’s education wasn’t nearly over.

This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckWill is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world’s biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.


#3 – Feeding The Soul by Tabitha Brown

You are seen, you are loved, and you are heard!

Before Tabitha Brown was one of the most popular personalities in the world, sharing her delicious vegan home cooking and compassionate wisdom with millions of followers across social media, she was an aspiring actress who in 2016 began struggling with undiagnosed chronic autoimmune pain. Her condition made her believe she wouldn’t live to see forty–until she started listening to what her soul and her body truly needed. Now, in this life-changing book, Tabitha shares the wisdom she gained from her own journey, showing readers how to make a life for themselves that is rooted in nonjudgmental kindness and love, both for themselves and for others.

Tabitha grounds her lessons in stories about her own life, career, faith, and family in this funny, down-to-earth book, built around the catchphrases that her fans know and love, including:

Hello There!: Why hope, joy, and clarity are so very needed

That’s Your Business: Defining yourself, and being okay with that

Have the Most Amazing Day . . .: Choosing joy and living with intention

But Don’t Go Messin’ Up No One Else’s: Learning to walk in kindness even when the world doesn’t feel kind

Like So, Like That: Living life without measurement

Very Good: Living in peace and creating good from the bad

Rich with personal stories and inspirational quotes, and sprinkled with a few easy vegan recipes, Feeding the Soul is a book to share–and to return to when you want to feel seen, loved, and heard.


#4 – Today I Affirm: A Journal That Nurtures Self Care by Alexandra Elle

From Alex Elle, celebrated poet and author of Neon Soul and Words from a Wanderer, comes Today I Affirm–a journal and guide to reading and writing daily affirmations. 

Writing serves as a form of meditation. When we slow down and settle into ourselves, affirmations can assist us in self-awareness, introspection, and understanding. Today I Affirm helps walk readers through the ins and outs of cultivating positive self-talk in a way that is stress-free and easy to understand. This innovative book includes affirmations written by the author, short bits of inspiration, charts to fill in, as well as journal pages all with the focus on self-care.

Alexandra Elle is an author, certified breathwork coach, and writing to heal facilitator living in Maryland with her husband and children.

Writing came into her life by way of therapy and the exploration of healing through journaling. The intention behind Alex’s work is to build community & self-care practices through literature & language.

Quarterly, Alex teaches workshops, online courses, and retreats centered around assisting others in finding their voices through storytelling rooted in truth without shame.


#5 – Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman

The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman

Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing. In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage. Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, this beautifully designed volume features poems in many inventive styles and structures and shines a light on a moment of reckoning. Call Us What We Carry reveals that Gorman has become our messenger from the past, our voice for the future.

Including “The Hill We Climb,” the stirring poem read at the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, this debut collection of the same name reveals an energizing and unforgettable new voice in America poetry.

Amanda Gorman is the inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. She is a committed activist who works on the local, national, and international levels to support girls’ education and empowerment. Amanda’s activism and poetry have been featured on the Today Show, PBS Kids, and CBS This Morning, and in The New York Times, Vogue, Essence, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is also the author of the forthcoming picture book Change Sings illustrated by #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long. After graduating from Harvard University, she now lives in Los Angeles.

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