The war had no end in sight. At the airport, past the security check, Mom, whose eyes were already tearing behind her gold-frame prescription glasses, took me in her thick arms for a weepy welcome home. She smelled of coconut sunscreen and gushed affection like warm water spilling from a garden hose. 

Dad, who was turning sixty that summer, gave me an awkward back slap.  He looked skinny and underfed, his mouth missing a few teeth toward the back.

This annotated bibliography is a comprehensive overview of the titles most prominently displayed on the bookshelves—real or virtual—of the cosmopolitan educated heterosexual male of color whose intention is to seduce the bodies and minds of cosmopolitan educated heterosexual females of color.  Jenna Lang of The Guardian effectively sums up his quandary: “How do you pick the perfect book to confer the desired air of intelligence and approachability, not to mention the combined sex appeal of Brad and Angelina?”  Brangelina notwithstanding, Lang’s question permeates all aspects of Said Male’s lifestyle choices, from iPod playlist to faux-hawk coiffure.