One of my goals for Black History Month is to revisit my favorite books with strong female characters, as well as find some new book recommendations. It is very important to me to not only read books that discussed Black trauma but showed the success of Black women as well. I’m still trying to make my way through my Octavia Butler reading list, but I have to share with you guys some books that I think every woman should read. What all these books have in common is that they have Black women overcoming obstacles and still being brilliant. These books are in a variety of genres, so you can find something here whether you prefer fiction or nonfiction, short or long books.
Children of Blood and Bone #1 by Tomi Adeyemi
This is the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha series, and it is 544 pages of brilliance. The main character, Zélie, is so passionate and strong, and you’ll definitely be rooting for her by the novel’s end. Zélie is a powerful magic user who doesn’t realize just how special she is. As she is whisked away on an adventure, she learns to trust and love herself. I read this novel in just two days – it was that awesome! This was the first time I had read a series about magic with such a diverse cast of characters.
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
I’m so grateful to one of my writing professors here at Susquehanna for assigning this book to read. I’d only ever read Lorde’s poetry up until this point, but Zami is proof of just how talented a writer Lorde is. With the creation of Zami, Lorde brought to life a new genre called the biomythography. This book is a crucial development in Black literature, as well as groundbreaking. In Zami, Lorde discusses taboo topics such as sex, gender, and identity. This book forever changed my concept of feminism for the better.
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
I truly fell in love with this book when I watched an interview with Ward talking about how much the story means to her. It is a memoir, but it’s told in such a beautiful, raw, and vulnerable way that makes you feel like you’re reading a novel. If you enjoy reading sad stories, this is definitely right for you. I never cry about books, but with this one, I got so emotionally attached to the characters that I felt very emotional by the book’s conclusion. Honestly, I’d recommend all of Ward’s books.
Small Island: A Novel by Andrea Levy
This novel means so much to me because this was the first piece of literature written by a Black woman that I wasn’t assigned to read in school. I attended affluent public schools with a mostly white populus who only ever assigned white male authors for me to read about. The few times my classes learned about Black authors, the only narratives we were assigned to read were about Black trauma. I’m grateful that I was able to read these books, but I wish I could’ve been exposed to novels depicting Black joy. I think this message is important so that young people don’t associate pain and trauma with just one specific group of people. Small Island was published in 2004, and I consider it to be an underrated modern classic. It’s a historical fiction novel told from four points of view. This book was really groundbreaking for the time. It features an interracial couple and the unfair limitations they experience in their relationship. What really drew me in were the surprising twists and turns of the plot, so it’s definitely thrilling and suspenseful too.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
Speaking of emotional books, this memoir by Roxane Gay made me feel angry and emotional in all the right ways. I used to feel very self-conscious about my weight, so I was grateful to find a book that discussed body image issues. What I admire is the way Gay was able to describe the intersection between body image issues and feminist issues. The anecdotal stories are so beautifully paired together that the memoir almost reads like a novel. In my opinion, this is one of Gay’s most underrated, yet important works.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
While we can all agree that 2020 was a terrible time, one thing I did enjoy seeing last year was so many Black women on the covers of romance novels. While romance novels aren’t my favorite genre, I appreciate a well-written romance as much as the next girl. Now I enjoy the genre even more that has diverse representation. Everything, Everything (2015) is a young adult romance novel that came out a few years before the upsurge in diverse representation in young adult books, and that’s what drew me in. Madeline has all the qualities of an unforgettable heroine: she’s feisty but kind, free-spirited but eager to please her mother. I related to Madeline’s close relationship with her mom, and I loved that the novel’s plot wasn’t just focused on the romance. It was also focused on mothers and daughters learning to grow apart and how such an important relationship really affects a young girl’s life. This was the first time I had ever read a book that addressed such an important topic.
