Black History Month 2023 Books

As much as I wanted to branch out this month and seek out Black authors, I still must remain true to myself and select books that I will enjoy, therefore getting more out of it and learning something. I know I should read Native Son but I resist since I know how difficult it will be. Maybe I'll try it at some point, but this Black History Month I chose new-to-me books that fit in my world and what I like. I did pretty good and liked all the books I chose and feel inspired to continue reading outside my usual choices.

** The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell

* My Soul Looks Back by Jessica B. Harris - Good lord, but did Ms. Harris run with some pretty fantastic authors and musicians! The part that really wowed me was that James Baldwin read her - read her - his entire book If Beale Street Could Talk in the very room where he wrote it. He asked her opinion and she could only say it was an amazing story. Then she was lucky enough to have this very thing happen again but this time with Toni Morrison in the room. Toni, having been a successful editor, gave Baldwin the feedback he wanted - to be assured that his female characters rang true. Which they, of course, did.

* My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite - Bishop recommended this and I couldn't get into it at first. The sisters were narrated with American accents while everyone else had African accents (Nigerian to be exact). It threw off the set up I had in my brain and suddenly I went from seeing this as being set in Los Angeles to Lagos. Maybe I missed the part where the setting was revealed, but regardless, I don't think I would have finished the book if it wasn't only four hours long. It was good and held my interest while I drove down to Delaware and over to The Colonial Theatre. I can see it being set as a film in the future. 

* Make Me Rain by Nikki Giovanni - I normally would not have picked up a book of poems in audiobook form but I liked that the author narrated and that it was only two hours in length. I really liked Nikki Giovanni’s style of writing and saved her other audiobooks to listen to later.

* A Visible Man by Edward Enninful - I saw an episode of the Graham Norton Show where Edward Enninful was a guest and he discussed his new memoir. I added it to my list of holds for 2023 and finally got it in time for Black History Month. I don't know a ton about fashion, but I know a bit and it was interesting to hear the editor of British Vogue talk about his growing up in Ghana and then the move to London and how he fell in love with fashion. My fave part was when he walked into the British Vogue building and a "Karen" basically shouted at him that deliveries go through the back. Edward's response? "Uh-uh, not today, Satan. I'm the fuckin' editor of this magazine!" I am so working the name Satan in to all future insults. It isn't used enough. 

♥ Stuntboy, In the Meantime by Jason Reynolds with drawings by Raúl the Third - Such a fun, fun book! As I read along I could hear Kamau Bell narrating it for me. His voice is still stuck in my head from listening to his audiobook. This was a fun book with a good message and I will most definitely grab the next one in the series when it comes out.

♥ Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

¹ - audiobook

² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.