'A Love Of My Own'

If love, sex, friendship, family, money, power and betrayal sound like the ingredients of a great summer read for you, best selling author E. Lynn Harris provides all of that and more in his newest book, "A Love Of My Own". He visits The Early Show to talk about his eighth novel.

A Love Of My Own has some of the same reoccurring themes of previous novels, family, friendship and our need for love, a love outside of family and friends. But it deals more with issues of class within the African-American community, Harris says.

"I think it's a more accessible book for people. The wealth of African-Americans seems to be a theme, like "The Emperor of Ocean Park", written by Stephen L. Carter, because I have a character in my book who is one of the first black billionaires. The main characters also talk about knowing the difference between the haves and have-nots," says Harris, pointing out how African-Americans separate themselves from each other because of economic class.

Harris was writing the book at the time of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and he has his characters respond to the tragedy. He also has his characters respond to the death of Aaliyah, the pop singer who was killed in a plane crash last August.

Currently, Harris is working on a series of novels for young adults. It's called "Diaries of a Light Skin Colored Boy;" it's set in the 1970s. He was working on the rewrite of a script for the movies "Sparkle," that involved the singer Aaliyah. But, that project is now in limbo because of her death.