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Post by Rosie on Jun 8, 2020 20:52:29 GMT 10
I have seen a lot of people say they want to read books by black and mixed race authors following the events of the last fortnight. I thought it might be nice to start a thread for recommendations of starting points.
Young Adult - I read a lot of Malorie Blackman when I was younger, and her Noughts and Crosses is great if you haven't read it already, though Pig Heart Boy has also always stuck with me.
Romance - Alyssa Cole writes modern royalty stories, and I am such a sucker for them! She's got a series called Reluctant Royals which starts with Princess in Theory, and I really like the female lead, but the sequel Duke in Disguise is probably my favourite. I've also read Jasmine Guillory's The Wedding Date, which I liked but Alyssa Cole's my personal preference.
Five star reads - Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This book starts in Ghana, and sees sisters separated by the slave trade - one stays in Ghana, and the other is sent to America. It's raw and beautiful, and each chapters is a different descendant of the sisters.
Other recommendations Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (fair warning this contains a few graphic scenes I found it difficult to get through), the obvious I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (if you've never read Angelou, do! Her poetry is powerful, but her autobiographies are also really special).
And things I'm planning to read: I know I need to educate myself on the things my country has done wrong, so I'm looking at Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch, and Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. I've also ordered The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, which looks like a really interesting read, about a Nigerian girl who wants an education, but is sold as the third wife to a much older man.
So, what can you recommend, what are you planning to read?
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Post by Kypriotha on Jun 9, 2020 8:38:38 GMT 10
I adore Mildred D. Taylor's books about the Logan family. Probably the most well-known one is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. If you like To Kill A Mockingbird, you will like the books with Cassie, although I also really like The Land, which tells the story of how Cassie's grandfather got the family's land.
I really enjoyed Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. It's YA magical/urban fantasy set in Nigeria. I've only read the first book in the series, but will definitely track down the others at some point. I also want to read her Binti books.
I found The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas really well written and moving. Her second book, On The Come Up, is also supposed to be really good, so I'll be borrowing that from my friend soon.
Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann is a YA romance book with a black asexual main character. It was mostly light reading, though I found the exploration of the main character's family and their expectations really interesting. Alice wasn't as driven as her high-achieving family, particularly her mother, would have liked. Alice decides she wants to be an interior designer, which doesn't fit with her mother's law plans for her. There were expectations on Alice to be a high-achiever and driven and successful - her family was a reasonably well-off black family and so it seemed like her family expected her to keep that up and there wasn't any room for her to chose a "lesser" profession.
From my own country, next in my to-read pile is Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe, which looks at what is told about Aboriginal Australian history and how it is wrong.
I also want to read Talking to my Country by Stan Grant, which is about racism and aboriginal identity in modern Auatralia.
I have so many other awesome sounding books on my to-read list and I keep finding more great recs. Here are some quick highlights: New release queer YA - You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson Queer memoir - All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson Fantasy - Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin Feminism - Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. My friends also enjoy her podcast with Tressie McMillam Cottom and Tressie's book of essays Thick. Having seen Tressie speak live, I feel like I can endorse her too as someone who is really interesting and engaging.
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Post by mistrali on Jun 9, 2020 11:24:41 GMT 10
I adored Kindred by Octavia Butler and am really looking forward to reading more of her books. I wasn’t a big fan of Fledgling when I read it, which is why it took me so long to get to her other works.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh is a wonderful SF YA book with black protagonists. N.K. Jemisin is also on my TBR.
The Black God’s Drums by P Djeli Clark also gets an “It’s illegal for books to be this good” out of five.
She’s not black (I think she’s Latina/Hispanic? I’m never sure of the right term) but Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora is also worth a read, as it has queer characters of colour.
I have been pretty terrible with reading diversely this year, and my Tammy reread has further derailed my good intentions. Next year will be my year to read only diverse authors, and hopefully only authors of colour.
I didn’t care for either Binti or Children of Blood and Bone
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Post by MythicMistress on Jun 15, 2020 23:04:34 GMT 10
In terms of reading more diverse authors, I've been meaning to read more of N.K.Jemisin's and Nnedi Okorafor's works, though I didn't really care for Okorafor's Binti books either.
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Post by devilinthedetails on Jun 18, 2020 0:37:46 GMT 10
Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, and Lamar Giles are all YA authors worth checking out. For adults, I also always have to recommend Toni Morrison.
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Post by Lisa on Jun 18, 2020 22:28:16 GMT 10
One that's relevant to everything going on today is a YA book I just finished: I'm Not Dying With You Tonight, by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal. Jones had a BLM protest video that went viral recently, and she was so eloquent in her anger that I had to check it out. This is a book about two girls - one Black, one white - who are stuck together during a race-driven riot and trying to get home. It switches POV each chapter, and really illuminates the differences in their experiences with authority and privilege. It's not the best book, but there's something about it that kind of reminds me of The Outsiders while having more immediate relevance.
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Post by Kypriotha on Jun 25, 2020 8:16:47 GMT 10
I recently found out about the book "Talkin' Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism" by Aileen Moreton-Robinson. It's apparently a must-read for Australian feminists in particular. There's a 20th anniversary edition coming out next month, so I'm planning on buying that.
I recently bought "Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia" by Anita Heiss (ed), which is 50 stories from various well-known and lesser-known Indigenous Australians about their experiences growing up in Australia. I'm particularly interested in reading Adam Goodes' contribution, though I'm not sure if it'll touch on the racism he was subjected to in his AFL career as an adult.
It's part of a series of books which also includes "Growing up African in Australia" by Maxine Beneba Clarke (ed). I bought the whole series, so I have plenty to read at the moment!
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Post by devilinthedetails on Nov 6, 2021 14:40:53 GMT 10
My Sister the Serial Killer is an excellent read. It is a suspense/thriller set in Nigeria. More psychological than gory though intended for adult rather than teen readers, I would say.
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Post by Rosie on Nov 17, 2021 21:02:02 GMT 10
I read Passing off the basis of the Netflix adaptation, which is a weird but interesting read. I would strongly recommend The Vanishing Half which covered similar themes and is definitely the kind of book which stays with you. Also finally got around to An American Marriage. I would really recommend Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry, which is a YA rom com about a girl who has to deal with her diary being made public. Bolu Babalola, who wrote Love in Colour, kept tweeting about it, and she never steers me wrong. Andrea Levy's Small Island is one of my favourite books but Louise Hare's This Lovely City covers a similar period - I listened to this on audiobook and it had such a lovely little jingle between chapters, and Sara Collins's Confessions of Frannie Langton is a mix between Atwood's Alias Grace and Shelley's Frankenstein. Luster was very much in the same terms as Queenie, sometimes a very dark read (Realised I have read almost exclusively female authors, should probably rectify that) My Sister the Serial Killer is an excellent read. It is a suspense/thriller set in Nigeria. More psychological than gory though intended for adult rather than teen readers, I would say. Yes, this was a really quirky read, I enjoyed it.
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