Make the Next Book You Read Be From a Black Woman Author
When I was in a book club in LA, one of the members said to me, “You always pick books by Black women!” and I replied, “Yeah, I do that on purpose.” (I didn’t only choose books by Black women, but I was the only one who did.) It’s shocking to me that people won’t read books by an author with a name they can’t pronounce, or a background they don’t relate to. I mean, I read Roald Dahl books as a kid and (thank GOD) I don’t really have anything in common with him (sidenote, if you’re going to give your kids books you loved as a child, maybe give them a look through first. Roald Dahl books are extremely fatphobic and I didn’t remember that at all). Reading lets you experience all kinds of things, whether they’re showing you a family dynamic that’s unlike your own, or creating an entire fantasy world. Are you a white person who reads books by and about white people? Change that! Here’s something to consider: You could only read books written by black women for the rest of your life, and be able to read in every possible genre, across decades, in different styles, and never run out of books. Read widely! Read differently! Expand your mind! As I’ve mentioned, in 2017 I started writing down every book I read, and I went back through my book list and picked out some books by Black women authors that I’d recommend. All the book cover photos are affiliate links that will take you to IndieBound, so you can read a good book and support your local independent bookstore, plus if I’ve mentioned a book before, the text links will take you to that post. This is by no means a remotely comprehensive list, this is books I have read and liked. And I’m always looking for more, so hit me up with some recs of your own.
Do you want a little nonfiction? We’ve got a book on race theory, two memoirs from a trans woman (I think they pair really well together, read them back to back!), a great book about food and our relationship to it, a memoir about trauma, possibly one of my favorite celebrity memoirs, a hilarious advice book, and some humorous essays.
Do you prefer family dramas? Stop reading books about WASPs and pick up this one about a family that lives with a chimp, or this story about young adults in SoCal that is like a hybrid of a CW show as a prestige HBO series, but you know, a novel. There’s plenty of romance out there written by non-white women, and I think Jasmine Guillory’s books are a great place to start. And if you like poetry, or if you’re like me and think you don’t like poetry but you actually just hadn’t read Morgan Parker, then here’s something for you too.
Do you feel a spark of joy when you open a book and find out it starts with a map? Do you like fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction? Do you like when contemporary ideas are presented through the lens of a fantastical idea? Here’s some books for you too!
This is just a jumping off point (and this is also my pared down list), so use this as inspiration to try and read something different. You never know - you may find your new favorite book, or author, or genre!
