What have you all been reading? Due to my busy schedule, I’ve only managed to finish reading: The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy and Someone Birthed Them Broken by Ama Asantewa Diaka. I rated them were both 4 stars, but Diaka’s book is leaning more towards 4.5 stars – it’s very Ghanaian, in all (fantastic) ways!
I’ve been perusing the book streets lately and found 21 books super compelling – with respect to their synopses, and book cover designs. Most of these books are/will be published this year (2026) and some were published last year. I’m especially looking forward to new work from Zinzi Clemmons, Jessica George, Imbolo Mbue, Edwidge Danticat, Ayesha Harruna Attah, Tayari Jones, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah and Deesha Philyaw and Naima Coster. I’ve read and reviewed work by most of these writers, so reading their new work will be very exciting! Those reviews can be found here on this blog, or on my Goodreads.
What books have you read so far this year? What new books have you added to your TBR?
It’s summertime! What is everyone reading this summer?
This year, I set my Goodreads challenge to read 24 books – because we’re in the year 2024, duh! Well, we are halfway through the year and I’m proud to say that I’m about 3 books behind schedule haha.
I’ve read 9 books out of 24:
I’m very behind on my reading challenge, but I know I’ll achieve the 24 books goal – even if slowly.
I have only truly enjoyed reading 5 out of the 9 books I’ve read thus far- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh, The Other Significant Others (audio) by Rhaina Cohen, The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams and Dyscalculia (audio) by Camonghne Felix. These were 4 star reads for me, except The Other Significant Others which isn’t by a Black author, but such a stellar (non-fiction) book! I read the book via audio and deeply appreciated the arguments Cohen presented, as I believe centering friendships over romantic partnerships should be talked about more. That’s the only 5 star book I’ve read so far.
I’m yet to read a book I’m head over heels about this year though. And because of how unenthusiastic I am about books I’ve read so far, I find myself unable to focus on one book at a time. So, I’m currently reading:
I’m reading to Power Moves by Sarah Jakes Roberts via audio and alternating between Hangman and Our Gen. Whenever I practice book polygamy, it means I canโt focus on just one book. One book isn’t arresting my attention enough to finish and move on to the next, systematically. So far, Hangman (which was long-listed for the Women’s Prize this year) is weird! Weird, in a good, original way. But it gets boring after reading 30 pages at a time. Our Gen is quite fun to read, but I’m struggling to get to the plot of the story. But I’ll continue to push through.
Books I have on my radar/TBR for the 2nd half of the year:
I’m really excited to read My Parents’ Marriage because I love fellow Ghanaian-American Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond’s work. Temple Folk looks like a collection I would enjoy. I wish the podcast – Identity Politics, by Ikhlas Saleem and Makkah Ali wasn’t a thing of the past. I’d love to hear them speak to Aaliyah Bilal on her book!
Obviously Chigozie Obioma’s new novel is on my radar – I’ve been a huge fan from the beginning. Jonathan Escoffery’s collection – If I Survive You is popular and I would like to see what the hype is all about. Uche Okonkwo’s debut collection, A Kind of Madness is also on my radar because I love short story collections. Hopefully I can read some of these before the year ends and have some reviews up as well.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to slowly achieve my reading goal this year. I just want it to be more fun. I want to read books and enjoy storylines that I haven’t experienced before. I want to be consumed by original, thought-provoking, compelling work.
What is everyone reading this summer? Please share some of the books you’ve absolutely loved reading so far in 2024.
Below is my annual collage of new books to anticipate this year. Iโve compiled 121 new African, African-American, Black-Brit and Caribbean books that look very promising. This list/collage is just aย snippetย of books by Black authors 2024 has to offer!
Be sure to pre-order/purchase these books from your local bookstore, or you can use my affiliate link.
Pharmakon by Teju Cole
What new releases are you excited about? Please do share!
Below is my annual collage of new books to anticipate this year. Iโve compiled 102 new African, African-American, Black-Brit and Caribbean books that look very promising. Please note โ this list/collage is just a snippetof books by Black authors 2023 has to offer!
An enthralling and original first novel about exile, diaspora, and the impossibility of Black refuge in America and beyond.
In the morning, I received a phone call and was told to board a flight. The arrangements had been made on my behalf. I packed no clothes, because my clothes had been packed for me. A cararrived to pick me up.
A man returns home to sub-Saharan Africa after twenty-six years in America. When he arrives, he finds that he doesnโt recognize the country or anyone in it. Thankfully, someone recognizes him, a man who calls him brotherโsetting him on a quest to find his real brother, who is dying.
In Hangman, Maya Binyam tells the story of that search, and of the phantoms, guides, tricksters, bureaucrats, debtors, taxi drivers, relatives, riddles, and strangers that will lead to the truth.
It is an uncommonly assured debut: an existential journey; a tragic farce; a slapstick tragedy; and a strange, and strangely honest, story of one manโs stubborn quest to find refugeโin this world and in the world that lies beyond it.
This incendiary debut of linked stories narrates the everyday lives of Soweto residents, from the early years of apartheid to its dissolution and beyond.
Imbued with the thrilling texture of township language and life, and uncompromising in its depiction of Black South Africa, Innards tells the intimate stories of everyday folks processing the savagery of apartheid with grit, wit, and their own distinctive, bewildering humor.
Magogodi oa Mphela Makheneโwho was born in apartheid-era South Africaโplunges readers into an electrifying first collection filled with indelible characters. Meet a fake PhD and exโfreedom fighter who remains unbothered by his own duplicity, a girl who goes mute after stumbling on a burning body, and twin siblings nursing a scorching feud. Like many Americans today, Innardsโ characters mirror the difficulty of navigating the shadows of a living past alongside the uncertain opportunities of the promised land.
A work of intelligence and visionโflush with forgiveness, rage, ugliness, and wild beautyโInnards heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.
WOMB CITY imagines a dark and deadly future Botswana, rich with culture and true folklore, which begs the question: how far must one go to destroy the structures of inequality upon which a society was founded? How far must a mother go to save the life of her child?
Nelah seems to have it all: wealth, fame, a husband, and a child on the way. But in a body her husband controls via microchip and the tailspin of a loveless marriage, her hopes and dreams come to a devastating halt. A drug-fueled night of celebration ends in a hit-and-run. To dodge a sentencing in a society that favors men, Nelah and her side-piece, Janith Koshal, finish the victim off and bury the body.
But the secret claws its way into Nelah’s life from the grave. As her victim’s vengeful ghost begins exacting a bloody revenge on everyone Nelah holds dear, she?ll have to unravel her society’s terrible secrets to stop those in power, and become a monster unlike any other to quench the ghost’s violent thirst
Below is my annual collage of new books to anticipate this year. This year I’m not doing the most by highlighting 99 books like I did last year. Iโve compiled just 69 new African, African-American, Black-Brit and Caribbean books that look very promising.
Please note โ this list/collage is just aย snippetย of books by Black authors 2022 has to offer!
What new releases are you excited about? Please do share!
Below is my annual collage of new books to anticipate this year. Iโve compiled 99 new African, African-American, Black-Brit and Caribbean books that look very promising. Please note โ this list/collage is just a snippet of books by Black authors 2021 has to offer!
Hover over the images to read the blurbs and/or to pre-order the books.
Fifteen-year-old Mack is a hopeless romantic – he blames the films he’s grown up watching. He has liked Karim for as long as he can remember, and is ecstatic when Karim becomes his boyfriend – it feels like love.
But when Mack’s dad gets a job on a film in Scotland, Mack has to move, and soon he discovers how painful love can be. It’s horrible being so far away from Karim, but the worst part is that Karim doesn’t make the effort to visit. Love shouldn’t be only on the weekends.
Then, when Mack meets actor Finlay on a film set, he experiences something powerful, a feeling like love at first sight. How long until he tells Karim – and when will his old life and new life collide?
An unsettling tale of murder in a country whose dead slaves are shackled with stories that must be heard.
The Year of Return, linked to the 400th anniversary of slaves landing in the US, memorialised the many who died during the slave trade in Ghana, particularly at Elmina Castle, while encouraging members of the African diaspora to visit.
As Black diasporans around the world make the pilgrimage to West Africa, three African-American friends join in the festivities to explore Ghanaโs colonial past and its underground queer scene. They are thrust into the hands of two guides, Kobby and Nana, whose intentions arenโt clear, yet they are the narrators we have to trust. Kobby, a modern deviant according to Nanaโs traditional and religious principles, offers a more upscale and privileged tour of Ghana and also becomes the friendsโ link to Accraโs secret gay culture. Nanaโs adherence to his pastorโs teachings against sin makes him hate Kobby enough to want to kill.
Carefree Black Girlsย is an exploration and celebration of black womenโs identity and impact on pop culture, as well as the enduring stereotypes they face, from a film and culture critic forย HuffPost.
In 2013, Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term โcarefreeblackgirlsโ on Twitter. It was, as she says, โa way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for black women online.โ
In this collection of essays, Blay expands on that initial idea by looking at the significance of influential black women throughout history, including Josephine Baker, Michelle Obama, Rihanna, and Cardi B. Incorporating her own personal experiences as well as astute analysis of these famous women, Blay presents an empowering and celebratory portrait of black women and their effect on American culture. She also examines the many stereotypes that have clung to black women throughout history, whether it is the Mammy, the Angry Black Woman, or more recently, the Thot.
Michael decides to flee to America and end his life once all his savings run out. JJ Bola’s second novel is a story of millennial existential angst told through the eyes of a young Londoner who seems to have it all – a promising future, a solid career, strong friendships, a blossoming love story – but it’s the unbearable weight of life that leads him to decide to take his own.
As he grapples with issues bigger than him – political conflict, environmental desecration, police brutality – Michael seeks to find his place within a world that is complicated and unwelcoming.
Although he finds solace in the people that surround him, he alone must decide if his life is worth living.
Over the years, I’ve been slowly working my way through some compelling Black Brit reads. So far I’ve loved work by a few writers of African descent who reside in the UK (or who’ve lived there for an extended period of time), like – Diriye Osman, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Warsan Shire, Chibundu Onuzo.
I still have a ways to go with regards to reading more books from this special sector of Black literature, but below are 20 books by Black British authors that are on my radar this year! Some of these books were already highlighted in my annual New Releases To Anticipate! post in January, and majority are yet to be published this year. Obviously, this list/collage is just aย snippetย of books by Black Brit authors 2020 has to offer. The books highlighted in this post are just the ones on my TBR list!
Please click on the images to read the blurbs and/or to purchase the books.
Newlyweds, Celestial and Roy, are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is artist on the brink of an exciting career. They are settling into the routine of their life together, when they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didnโt commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Royโs time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Royโs conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.
This stirring love story is a deeply insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward- with hope and pain- into the future
โโ
Reviewย โย โ โ โ โ โ (5 stars)
I finished reading An American Marriage yesterday. I usually take my time with my current reads, but I devoured this book in two days because I just wanted to get the pain over and done with. A book hits differently when you read it once the hype has subsided. My heart!
I initially wanted to give up on this book after the first 40 pages, but my Mom encouraged me to finish it (the book was a gift to her last year, and she loved it even though it was a painful read). I wanted to stop reading because the story was laden with a type of grief I didn’t want to deal with, especially not during this anxious time of Coronavirus. The events that led to Roy’s arrest were traumatic, painful and heartbreaking to read – especially with him being innocent. While the couple’s arguments prior the arrest were probably normal, I wasn’t encouraged by their relationship, as a whole. Reading the letters Celestial and Roy wrote each other while Roy was in prison was heavy. Their relationship before and after prison was just heavy! *sigh*… Andre, really sir?
There are no good or bad characters in this story โ Iโm on everyoneโs side. I love that Jones showed how all the characters in this book came from imperfect (loving) families and how messy their relationships were. But I sympathize with Roy the most. Jones definitely highlights Black masculinity in all its forms, through poor Roy’s character, as well as the other men in this story – Andre, Big Roy, Carlos, Franklin, Uncle Banks. An American Marriage definitely reminds readers of the terrible effects of mass incarceration – not only for the people imprisoned, but also the friends and families involved. The last 50 pages of this book were probably the best! My heart raced as I was eager to know how the story would end. I quite liked how it ended, really. One thing that stuck out for me was how history repeated itself – with regards to how Celestial’s parents got married and Roy’s biological father in prisonโฆ
Jones made this book as Southern as possible and I loved that! Readers are acquainted with Georgia (Atlanta) and Louisiana (Eloe) via the landscape, the soul food, the accents and the lifestyles. Itโs hard not to crave shrimp croquettes and blackberry jam cake while reading!
An American Marriage reminded me of Baldwin’s ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ and Ava DuVernay’s documentary ’13th’ – both tragic explorations of the serious systemic issues America is slow to rectify. Jonesโ beautiful writing kept this story captivating, emotional and very human. I know this novel is a love story at it’s core, but ultimately, I found the story to be an intimately devastating tale that exposes the effects of Americaโs humongous issue of mass incarceration. Read this, if you have the heart.
Last thing! Maybe its because I’m almost a Dentist, but I canโt seem to get over how pained I am about Roy’s tooth… what’s the significance of the whole tooth thing? Someone please enlighten me!
โ โ โ โ โ (5 stars) โ Amazing book, I loved it. Absolutely recommend!
African Book Addict! 