Given everything that has happened in the world recently, I didn’t read as much as I wanted to in the month of June. With that being said, I figured I would reflect on what I’ve read so far this year and look at which books I want to get to before the end of the year.
What I’ve Read So Far
I am a painfully slow reader 😅 so my list of read books probably pales in comparison to many others, but considering that this is the most amount of books I’ve read in over a decade — and we’re only halfway through the year — I was encouraged by how much I’ve accomplished so far. I’ve reviewed *most* of these books on this site, and I may or may not do retrospective reviews for the ones that I haven’t yet covered.
- Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart
- Toni Morrison – Sula
- Oyinkan Braithwaite – My Sister, the Serial Killer
- Chimamandah Ngozi Adichie – Americanah
- Octavia E. Butler – Kindred
- Tomi Adeyemi – Children of Blood and Bone
- Octavia E. Butler – Dawn
- Nnedi Okorafor – Binti
- Octavia E. Butler – Adulthood Rites
- Upile Chisala – soft magic
- Tayari Jones – An American Marriage
- Lupita Nyong’o & Vashti Harrison – Sulwe
- Octavia E. Butler – Imago
- Morgan Parker – Magical Negro
- Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – We Should All Be Feminists
- Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye
What I’m Currently Reading:
- James Baldwin – Go Tell It On the Mountain
I’ve learned a lot about James Baldwin over the years, watched a few of his speeches/debates, and even saw the film adaptation of his novel If Beale Street Could Talk, but this is actually my first encounter with his written work. I started this book right after finishing The Bluest Eye, but I lost a bit of the motivation to continue, given just how insane this past month was. I’m hoping to get that spark back and finish it soon, because I was highly intrigued by the little that I did read.
TBR
I can’t promise myself anything, but these are just some of the books I want to get to before the end of the year. I’m keeping this list short so that I actually have a chance of reaching this goal 😂
- Fiction,
- N.K. Jemisin – The Fifth Season (as well as other N.K. Jemisin books)
- Abi Daré – The Girl with the Louding Voice
- Yaa Gyasi – Homegoing
- Colson Whitehead – The Nickel Boys
- Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
- Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Water Dancer
- Nnedi Okorafor – Who Fears Death
- Non-fiction/Memoir
- Saeed Jones – How We Fight for Our Lives
- George M. Johnson – All Boys Aren’t Blue
- Angela Davis – Are Prisons Obsolete?
- bell hooks – We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
- Ta-Nehisi Coates – The Case for Reparations
- Poetry
- Danez Smith – Homie
What books have you read so far this year? Which ones did you like the most? What books do you plan on reading this year?
A Black Lit Blog 