For the first installment of my “Broaden Your Shelves” series, I wanted to suggest a list of books in honor of Black History Month. Growing up, I was always an avid reader who read anything that fell into my lap. However, I didn’t realize how non-diverse my shelves were until someone offhandedly brought it up in conversation. Since then, I’ve made a continuous effort to broaden my shelves, and I encourage you to as well! Expanding your literature intake and diversifying its origins exposes you to various perspectives that you wouldn’t otherwise have considered. Instead of always viewing life through one lens, you see life from the angle of various genders, sexes, nationalities, ethnicities, cultures, religions, etc. Doing so might change the way you interact with those around you, make decisions, and view the world.
It’s critical that you recognize other viewpoints and ways of life as a concious, active member of this world. So get to reading!
-The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison
-Beloved by Toni Morrison
-Jazz by Toni Morrison
-Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
-Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
-The Color Purple by Alice Walker
-A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines
-The Complete Stories by Zora Neale Hurston
-Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
-Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay
-Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
-Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
-Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
-I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
-The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid
-My Brother by Jamaica Kincaid
-Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
-Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
-White Teeth by Zadie Smith
-Native Son by Richard Wright