VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

This book rocks! To start with, it has 28,000 movie reviews. The reviews are well written and 20-200 words long, so you can read them in less than a minute.
Before the Internet, this book was the movie geek's bible. It has movies indexed in 10 different catagories. You can easily find actors, directors, writers, cinematographers--with lists of all their work.
People with Ipads can sit in bed and browse IMDB; I can sit in bed with this book and find movie info just as fast, with more concise, better-written content.
You should read this book because it will introduce you to many as-yet-unknown treasures in a very organized fashion.
http://www.amazon.com/Videohounds-Golden-Movie-Retriever-2011/dp/1414442866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274406163&sr=1-1

Top 5 Books about African Americans that Cornel West won't be reading

1. Oprah: a biography

2. Tiger: the real story

3. L.T. : over the edge (Lawrence Taylor)

4. Bobby Brown: the truth

5. T.O. : terrell owens

The Autobiography of Dick Gregory (the real title's on the cover photo)

As a white dude, I'm not too keen about saying or writing the book's title on the big ol' internet, where context and interpretation can be a little too plastic for my taste.
...On to the book: Dick Gregory's story resonated with me because, like me, he grew up broke, without a dad around, then found refuge in the sport of competitive running, and always had a humorous slant to his personality. It turns out Dick Gregory was much funnier and faster than me, so I find him inspirational--a good reason to read a book.
He writes a no-holds-barred, first-person account of growing up black in the pre-civil rights era, and being present at major civil rights events in the 1960's.
He talks about an equally-arduous struggle--becoming a successful professional comedian.
Dick Gregory had a genius sense of irony, which had a way of making powerful material palatable to a white audience.
Do read his autobiography; he was a true pioneer.
http://www.amazon.com/Nigger-Autobiography-Dick-Gregory/dp/0671735608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274321635&sr=1-1

Top Three Books to read after Midnight Cowboy

3 more to prompt interior thinking and make you anxious:

1. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

2. The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe

3. Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky

Midnight Cowboy

In reading James Leo Herlihy's Midnight Cowboy, we walk a lonely walk with lost soul Joe Buck, a simple-minded man without a real place in any community.
The cold chaos of the big world is a formidable foe for Joe Buck's malnourished but true heart.

Why you should read Midnight Cowboy: the story cuts deep, connecting you with powerful emotions as you think about Joe Buck's plight, then your own place in the world--your connections (or lack of) to people, family, community, the world at large, and our purpose and meaning in the grand scheme of things.
http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Cowboy-James-Leo-Herlihy/dp/0743452496