Luvon Roberson is happiest when she's reading a book or talking about one. She gets to do both as What's The 411 Book Editor. The daughter of a single mom who worked the night shift, she and her sister were "latch-key" kids. She spent hours reading on her bed and writing stories and poems. And, so began her lifelong love of books and storytelling. What's The 411 marks Luvon's return to TV, after a much earlier stint at WTNH-TV as a field producer/researcher, which she nabbed by beating out 50 others for the job.

She then teamed up with now-writer Ifa Iyaun (whose sister is Ntozake Shange) to develop The Book Team Folklore Project for the New Haven Board of Education. From there, she headed to the University of London, for her first Master's degree, returning to the US two years later to begin Ph.D. studies in the anthropology department at Columbia University. Zora Neale Hurston, her favorite novelist-folklorist-anthropologist, studied in the same department. Leaving Columbia with her second Master's, she moved to a focus on books and writing: She was an Associate Editor at NASW Publications, taught English literature to gifted students of color in the acclaimed Prep for Prep program, and taught Journal Writing to adult students at The College of New Rochelle. Then she began a long career in public relations, ranging from NYC's iconic Howard J. Rubenstein agency to global giant Omnicom, where she was a Senior Vice President at Fleishman-Hillard.

Among her recent adventures with books and writing, Luvon lists: Columnist, features writer, copy editor at Harlem News; book reviewer at ThoughtGallery.org; facilitator of book talks, literary-Biblical classes, and coordinator of large-scale book events for hundreds at The Riverside Church. Luvon is especially grateful to Gloria Steinem and NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray for using their skills as writers and their national and global visibility to showcase a new book, Breaking Through: 2014 Anthology from the Next Generation of Woman Writers. Luvon is the copy editor of Breaking Through and volunteers with Girls Write Now.

She calls herself "bookish," and reads at least one book each week. She's currently reading three books – Harlem Nocturne, by Farah Jasmine Griffin; My Secret History, by Paul Theroux; and – for the fourth time -- Moses, Man of the Mountain, by Zora Neale Hurston. Luvon belongs to three book clubs. And, she will accept all invitations to visit your book club! She wants to know what you're reading...What's The 411 on your bookshelf, Nook, or Kindle?

There are several books about music’s greatest wonders coming out this autumn. Some of the books, we think you will want to know about are:

Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain by Alan Light

Are you a Prince fan or know a Prince fan?

If so, then you may want to put Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain on your holiday shopping list.

Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film—each one a commercial success and cultural milestone. How did this semi-autobiographical musical masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds come to alter the recording landscape and become an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans? For the answer, check out Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain by Alan Light, an acclaimed music journalist and former senior editor of Rolling Stone; due out in December 2014.

The Universal Tone: My Life by Carlos Santana

Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana is one of those rare artists whose music has an immense reach within the mainstream from '60s classic rock (the Abraxas album) to '90s commercial pop (the multiplatinum Supernatural).

In 1967 in San Francisco, just a few weeks after the Summer of Love, a young Mexican guitarist took the stage at the Fillmore Auditorium and played a blistering solo that announced the arrival of a prodigious musical talent. Two years later -- after he played a historic set at Woodstock -- the world came to know the name Carlos Santana, his sensual and instantly recognizable guitar sound, and the legendary band that blended electric blues, psychedelic rock, Latin rhythms, and modern jazz, and that still bears his name.

Carlos Santana documents his rise as one of rock's great guitarists and career highs in this forthcoming book, The Universal Tone: My Life, due out in November 2014.

Lenny Kravitz by Lenny Kravitz (with Anthony DeCurtis, Pharrell Williams and Marla Hamburg Kennedy)

Lenny Kravitz is the quintessential rock god: he has musical chops, glamorous style, and sex appeal for miles. Kravitz’s talents as a writer, producer, actor, and multi-instrumentalist are without question: he has won four consecutive Grammy Awards, setting a record for the most wins in the "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" category, has sold more than thirty-eight million albums worldwide, and remains always in the public eye by appearing in blockbuster films.

This book, Lenny Kravitz, includes photographs spanning Kravitz’s time in the public eye, from his earliest days kicking around in New York City in the 1980s to traveling the world; from shots of Lenny composing in hotel rooms to performing in front of massive crowds; and from fashion shoots to intimate personal settings.

A visual celebration of one of rock’s sexiest, most magnetic stars, Lenny Kravitz, includes a conversation with Pharrell Williams. Lenny Kravitz illustrates the raw sensual power that has captivated his fans all over the world.

In stores and on Amazon now.

Benson: The Autobiography by George Benson with Alan Goldsher

Over the course of his fifty-year career, George Benson has performed for hundreds of millions of fans around the world, received 10 Grammy Awards, and recorded with some of the most revered musicians of his era. In 2011, he earned a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Masters Award. And he has finally decided to tell his story.

An open and truthful storyteller, Benson discusses in Benson: The Autobiography, his near-arrest for domestic abuse, the tragic illnesses that afflicted his family, the secret lives of his musical cohorts, and racism’s effect on his life and art. His long-awaited book allows readers to meet one of the most beloved, prolific, and bestselling musicians of any era.

In stores and on Amazon now.

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities by Herbie Hancock with Lisa Dickey

In Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, the legendary jazz musician and composer reflects on a life and a thriving career that has spanned seven decades. A true innovator, Herbie Hancock has had an enormous influence on both acoustic and electric jazz, R&B and hip-hop, with his ongoing exploration of different musical genres, winning fourteen Grammy awards along the way.

From his beginnings as a child prodigy to his work in Miles Davis’s second great quintet; from his innovations as the leader of his own groundbreaking sextet to his collaborations with everyone from Wayne Shorter to Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder; Herbie Hancock: Possibilities reveals the method behind Hancock’s undeniable musical genius.

Hancock shares his musical influences, colorful behind-the-scenes stories, his long and happy marriage, and how Buddhism inspires him creatively and personally. Honest, enlightening, and as electrifyingly vital as the man who wrote it, Herbie Hancock: Possibilities promises to be an invaluable contribution to jazz literature and a must-read for fans and music lovers.

In stores and on Amazon now.

The Dirty Version: On Stage, In the Studio, and in the Streets with Ol’ Dirty Bastard by Buddha Monk and Mickey Hess

On the tenth anniversary of his death, The Dirty Version is the first biography of hip hop superstar and founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, to be written by someone from his inner circle: his right-hand man and best friend, Buddha Monk.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard rocketed to fame with the Wu-Tang Clan, the raucous and renegade group that altered the world of hip hop forever. ODB was one of the Clan’s wildest icons and most inventive performers, and when he died of an overdose in 2004 at the age of thirty-five, millions of fans mourned the loss. ODB lives on in epic proportions and his antics are legend: he once picked up his welfare check in a limousine; lifted a burning car off a four-year-old girl in Brooklyn; stole a fifty-dollar pair of sneakers on tour at the peak of his success. Many have questioned whether his stunts were carefully calculated or the result of paranoia and mental instability.

Now, Dirty’s friend since childhood, Buddha Monk, a Wu-Tang collaborator on stage and in the studio, reveals the truth about the complex and talented performer. From their days together on the streets of Brooklyn to the meteoric rise of Wu-Tang’s star, from bouts in prison to court-mandated rehab, from Dirty’s favorite kind of pizza to his struggles with fame and success, Buddha tells the real story—The Dirty Version—of the legendary rapper.

The Dirty Version: On Stage, In the Studio, and in the Streets with Ol’ Dirty Bastard is in stores and on Amazon in November 2014.

What happens when you eat from the Tree of Life and gain immortality?

Well, God gets very, very angry with you!

And, that's just the beginning of the battle between God and the Edenites in a new book, THE LAST KING, by first-time novelist, A. Yamina Collins.

WATCH VIDEO: Interview with THE LAST KING author, A. Yamina Collins

Caught between God and the Edenites is Emmy, a 6-foot tall African American woman and unsuspecting mortal, living in -- of all places -- Lake George, New York. Then, there's Gilead, an Edenite --standing 6'7' and gorgeous by anyone's definition. He's a doctor, lives in a mansion, plays polo, and has a panther as a pet. Another thing: he's lived for at least three centuries. And, his brother Markus is white. The two men, however, happen to share the same height and profession. Well, sort of.

Emmy, Gilead, and Markus – along with a few dozen other characters – make up the world created by author A. Yamina Collins.

Yamina Collins recently stopped by What's The 411's studio home, BRIC Arts Media House, to chat with me about her new sci-fi romance novel, THE LAST KING, an e-book, being released in monthly episodes/volumes. Ms. Collins not only imagines a uniquely populated world in upstate New York of unaware mortals co-existing with exotic animals and sword-wielding immortals who ride in chariots, but she also has imagined who these characters might be – if they came to life in our world -- in the "real" world.

She shared with me that she imagines "Emmy" as Lupita Nyong'o, the Academy Award-winning actress who starred in 12 Years a Slave. Instead of Ms. Nyong'o's signature close-crop natural, as "Emmy," the actress sports jazz musician and vocalist Esperanza Spalding's trademark looser-curl natural.

"Gilead" in her view might be played by two-time Academy Award-winner, actor, producer, and director Denzel Washington, but about 30 years ago, when he starred in the TV hit drama St. Elsewhere (1982-1988).

"Markus," the brother of "Gilead," could be Chris Hemsworth, the Australian actor we cheered for in blockbuster movies like Thor and The Avengers.

SPOILER ALERT: Ms. Collins also let me know that she will introduce many other characters in upcoming episodes of THE LAST KING, and that, in addition to Markus, Gilead has 19 other family members! She reveals a few other spoilers in our interview. So, LAST KING fans, watch and listen!

THE LAST KING is in top-100 Amazon best-sellers list in Fantasy, Sci Fi, Women's Fiction Literature, and Christian Women's Literature. More than 15,000 monthly visitors stop by Yamina's blog, yaminatoday.com, to check in on the latest episode/volume of THE LAST KING. You can also find her on Twitter @yaminatoday.

A graduate of New York University, Ms. Collins resides in New York City and is the author of THE BLUEBERRY MILLER FILES, a quirky collection of short stories.

P.S. After the interview, Ms. Collins and I, along with What's The 411 producer, Ruth J. Morrison, celebrated the author's 8/23 birthday. Reaching in the large birthday bag, filled with objects based on themes in THE LAST KING, Ms. Collins immediately placed the fur-trimmed sparkling pink tiara on her head. She then pulled out the plastic sword, brandishing it in true swashbuckling style. I think Emmy and Gilead would've been proud!

From Left to Right: A. Yamina Collins, Author, THE LAST KING; Ruth J. Morrison, CEO, What's The 411 Networks; Luvon Roberson, Book Editor, What's The 411

VIDEO: Toni Marie Ricci and Michael Bell Collaborate on Groundbreaking Book and Art Phenomenon: SCARS OF A REAL MOB WIFE 

Accompanied by artist Michael Bell, Toni Marie Ricci spoke to What's The 411TV correspondent Barbara Bullard about the genesis of I MARRIED A MOBSTER and her forthcoming book, SCARS OF A REAL MOB WIFE.

The conversation took place at Tene Nicole Marketing and Public Relations' Shopping Night Out to benefit Beating Cancer in Heels.

The television show, I MARRIED A MOBSTER, gave Toni Marie Ricci an opportunity to tell her story about being married for 17 years to someone who lived the mob life in an unfiltered manner. Toni Marie Ricci believes that her upcoming book, SCARS OF A REAL MOB WIFE, will show women that they can move out of bad situations and go forward with their lives.

Michael Bell hopes that the entire process of creating the art to accompany SCARS OF A REAL MOB WIFE was a cathartic process that helped Toni Marie Ricci to release some of the things that she has experienced emotionally.

He sees his seven-portrait series of Toni Marie Ricci's life as groundbreaking, as it has never been done before. The first painting will encapsulate everything and the next six will unfold like chapters in a book.

Michael Bell said, "When you're creating a narrative portrait of someone's life, it's a way of letting that person know that their story matters, it should be immortalized, it should carry on, longer than it might even make headlines in the news."

"These paintings will say what the words in the book will often fail to describe accurately. They will do what words can't say. It's pretty amazing," he added.

SCARS OF A REAL MOB WIFE is expected to be released, along with the art installation, in early 2013.

Shopping Night Out was conceived by Nikkia McClain, Founder and CEO, Tene Nicole Marketing and Public Relations. Shopping Night Out benefits Beating Cancer in Heels, a non-profit organization created by Marlena Ortiz, a 28-year-old breast cancer survivor.

VIDEO: Reading and storytelling to make a difference in the lives of children

On a cold wintry Saturday morning, there was a ReadVolution going on at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church and the George H. Murray Preparatory Academy in Brooklyn, NY, where members of the Brooklyn community came together to read to children.

Reverend Kirby Spivey III, Summer Spivey, Mary Brooks, and Tammy Hall discussed why reading to children at an early age is important. The video also features young kids discussing their favorite books, and in some cases, their favorite book was their first book.

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church is led by Reverend Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood.

VIDEO: Kids attending Readvolution!, a reading event, at George H. Murray Preparatory Academy and Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, talk about their favorite books