LADIES FIRST

The successful actress and rap singer offers a frank, down-to-earth, but somewhat unsurprising review of the hard life lessons she has learned, about self-respect, love, and independence. There’s little here that may be startling (“Too many women look for what’s in a man’s pocket, not what’s in his heart”; “If you’re broken, no man is going to fix you”). But Latifah delivers her insights with a biographical frankness (dealing with her struggles with abusive relationships and questions of self-worth) and salty directness that her young female fans (for whom the book seems to be written) are likely to find engaging and convincing. (Author tour)