6 Books to Read By Black Authors - From Non-Fiction to Romance
Books and other forms of media are about stories. And whose stories get told and what stories we read and enjoy matter. They shape our worldview, give us glimpses into worlds we’ve never experienced or seen – be they real or imagined. It’s what I love so much about books and why they are so amazing. They open our eyes and broaden our worlds and expand our empathy towards others.
Black Lives Matter. We cannot say that enough or stress it enough. And while I will never truly understand what it’s like to be black in America and the horrors they face daily, I can, we all can listen to their stories, and learn and hopefully expand our hearts and minds to our fellow people. Because without empathy and understanding, we are doomed to perpetuate cruelty and bigotry.
So here are just a few books by black authors, about black experiences that I’ve read and highly recommend. I tried to pick a wide variety of genres, including some lighter stuff. Also, all but one of these authors are women.
Fantasy: The Killing Moon by NK Jemisin
NK Jemisin is one of the most lauded and important fantasy writers active right now, hands down. She wasn’t just the first African-American to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel (the book nerd equivalent of Oscar for Best Picture), she won it three years in a row. Most people will recommend those books, but my favorite by her is The Killing Moon, a novel set in a city where the main law is peace, and magic is wrought by harvesting dreams. It’s one of the most original novels I’ve read and tragically under the radar.
Non-fiction: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
I read this book only once, in high school, and I have never forgotten it. Not just the overall book, but specific moments, scenes, even paragraphs remain in my brain. That’s how powerful Maya Angelou’s writing is. And yet, this book, despite the darkness and horror in it, never feels sunken down by it. It’s weighty without being heavy. It shows both the lightness in the dark, and darkness in the light.
Non-fiction: The Autobiography of Malcom X as told by Alex Haley
This book is another one that’s stuck with me for years. Malcolm X is a person whose name comes with a lot of baggage and pre-conceptions. This book will challenge those. But you have to be willing to let your mind be opened, to push away those preconceptions, and to learn. This is a book that will make you uncomfortable about everything and everyone, including about Malcolm X. It’s not a self-congratulatory, pat on the back portrayal of him. But it will make you think. And that alone makes it worth reading.
Children’s/YA – Color Me Dark by Patricia C McKissack
Color Me Dark is one of the Dear America books (hands down one of the smartest and best children’s series ever) and I think I read it first in middle school. This novel is set in 1919, during the Great Migration of Black Americans from the South to the Northern cities, and one of the worst race riots in the 20th century, the Red Summer in Chicago. This book deals openly with lynchings, the KKK, and race riots, but major theme is actually colorism – that’s actually what gives the novel its name.
One quote from this book has been breaking my heart over and over these past days. The main character is wondering, at the end of 1919, what life will be like in 2020 and she asks “Will there still be prejudice? I hope not.”
Romance - The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
If you need some delightful, rom-com joy, read this book. I love this author and I have all the books in what I refer to as her Romance Extended Universe. This is the second one, but it’s the first one I read, and is just so delightful about a woman whose very casual boyfriend proposes out of no where at a ball game (spelling her name wrong on the jumbotron!) and the lovely doctor sitting a few rows away who helps her out of the stadium before the cameras and media descend. Romance novels are such trope vehicles that they ride or die on the details and the dimensionality of their characters, and Guillory never disappoints on either.
Romance - The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
COVID-19 left me in a massive creative slump (you can just see how little I’ve written here since the shutdowns began in March) but also created a massive reading slump for nearly 2 months. You know what broke me out of that reading slump? This book. I started reading an excerpt online one night, accidentally bought it as an eBook, and then proceeded to read the entire thing that night, going to sleep at 4 something am. Yes, it’s that good, and more importantly, that enjoyable. As an added bonus, this novel’s female protagonist is Afro-Latinx, as is the author herself. Black people from Brazil and the rest of South and Central America are often forgotten, left out of all the narratives, erasure that needs to be fought. And if you can fight it and read a delightful romance novel at the same time, then so much the better.
A special thanks to Nea (@bookish_nea) on Twitter and my friend Hannah for helping inspire this post.
