Woo Wednesday
Black Author Edition
It’s weird to do a post about things to celebrate when everything seems so … ungood. But I guess now is precisely when we need stuff to celebrate the most. To that end, today I’m going to celebrate books I’ve loved by Black authors. This is by no means an exhaustive list—these are books I’ve read in the last couple of years.
If you’re going to purchase any of these, I recommend you go through Bookshop.org, which is where all the links point. Part of every book sold goes back to support independent bookstores.
A lot of people read this in school, but it was never assigned in any of my classes. In fact, I didn’t pick it up until 2019. In a way, I’m so glad I waited because I’m not sure I would have appreciated it as much in my younger days. Now, I’m a mother and the choice made by Sethe cuts to the bone. It’s a gorgeous novel, gothic, tragic, beautiful.
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
I am a history buff. I minored in it in college and I’m constantly reading non-fiction history books. However, Anderson’s book completely opened my eyes to how much history I didn’t know about my own country’s treatment of Black people. To understand the systemic issues today we have to understand how things were set up, and this book does that. I highly recommend it, and the audiobook is great.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
My family listened to this audiobook on a road trip. I’m so glad my son decided to put down his phone and tune into the book because it’s important. Empathy doesn’t spontaneously form. It must be coaxed into existence by purposefully opening ourselves to other’s experiences. This book is written as a letter to Ta-Nehisi’s son about being Black in America. Powerful stuff.
Okay so this isn’t technically a book, but it’s based on an unpublished book project by James Baldwin. I’ve watched this documentary multiple times because it’s so good. James Baldwin had a razor sharp wit and used words like a maestro. The documentary examines the Civil Rights movement through the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcom X, and Medgar Evers—all friends of Baldwin. His words are as important today as they were back then.
This novella is the first in a three-part series that is being made into a series for Hulu. The story’s titular character is a brilliant girl who runs away from home to attend college on another planet. The story blends coming-of-age adventure, science fiction, ancient African culture, and math magic. It’s so great.
Below is a list of books by Black authors on my To Be Read Pile (books I’ve bought but haven’t read yet).
What books have you read recently by Black authors? I’d love to add to my TBR list!
Thanks for sharing! I've just added a few more books to my TBR pile. One of the books that that touched me when I read it many years ago was "Push", by Sapphire. It caused me to really think.