Buy Black Friday: Black Author Edition
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
You may have found that during this extended time we’re spending at home these days, you have more time to devote to the hobbies and activities that have eluded you in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. For many of us that means reading.
For this week’s edition of Buy Black Friday, we’re highlighting books from Black authors. Check out our list of must-reads for this year on the following pages. If you’re like me, you’ve given more than enough money to Amazon. So with this list, we’ll also be recommending some Black bookstores you can support as you check out these enthralling reads.
Check them out on the following pages.
Source: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster / Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
God Save The Queen Diva, Big Freedia
YOU already know that Big Freedia, the voice behind some of our favorite Hip Hop and R&B collaborations and the queen of bounce music, has a fascinating story. So it only makes sense that you want to read all about it, in her own words. According to Big Freedia’s website, this memoir, to be released on December 1, “chronicles the life of a poor choir boy from New Orleans who survived poverty, drugs, and bullying to become a world famous musical performer and reality TV personality.”
Since Freedia is from Louisiana, see if you can get this title from the Community Book Center in New Orleans.
Source: Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Luster, Raven Leilani
If your own life is feeling a little boring and humdrum, dive into the world Edie, a woman in her early twenties, trying to establish herself and making bad choices along the way. She could be like any of us in our twenties until she meets Eric, who invites Edie into the open marriage he shares with his wife in New Jersey.
This books has collected all types of awards, has been dubbed a New York Times bestseller and much more. It won’t disappoint.
Since this story takes place in New York, you can cop this sultry story from the only bookstore in the Bronx: The Lit Bar.
Source: Algonquin Books / Algonquin Books
His Only Wife, Peace Adzo Medie
You can tell from the title alone that this book is a doozy. Billed as a Crazy Rich Asians type of tale set in Ghana, it follows the life of Afi Tekple, a seamstress whose mother has convinced her to marry a man she doesn’t know. But Afi does know him and their relationship is designed to keep him from a woman they’ve dubbed inappropriate. Living in a big city away from her small village and serving a man who seems disinterested has proven quite the challenge for Afi who has to decide if the financial benefit is worth the trouble.
His Only Wife is set in Ghana, but if you’re in the United States, you can find this title at this bookstore in Georgia, Brave and Kind Books. Check it out here.
Source: Fortress Press / Fortress Press
Parable of the Brown Girl: The Sacred Lives of Girls of Color, Khristi Adams
This collection of short stories is all about the lives of girls of color. I don’t have to tell you all that these stories often go unheard and untold. The stories, according to the book’s description, “reveal profound cultural and theological truths,” illustrated by the people most often overlooked.
Source: Amistad / Amistad
Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic, Kenya Hunt
Dubbed one of this year’s must reads by Elle, Girl Gurl Grrrl, uses a collection of essays to highlight the ways in which Black women are being celebrated in ways they have never been before but still live lives that are complicated, complex and largely misunderstood by the greater society.
According to the book’s description, American journalist Kenya Hunt, who has been living and working in London for a decade, “ blends the popular and the personal, the frivolous and the momentous in a collection that truly reflects what it is to be living and thriving as a black woman today.”
Girl Gurl Grrrl is set to be released on December 8.
Source: West Virginia University Press / West Virginia University Press
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
If you’re like most of the Black women I know, then you grew up in church or have some type of connection to it. Whether you were a PK, overly familiar with the pews, or are just fascinated with the lives women in the church lead–behind the facade they put on for others, you’ll find someone in this book with whom you can relate.
Church Ladies explores the lives of nine church women through four generations. Each woman grapples with who she wants to be in the world while adhering to the church’s standards and expectations for Black women.
Source: William Morrow Paperbacks / William Morrow Paperbacks
When No One Is Watching, Alyssa Cole
If you like a bit of a thrill in your fiction, then Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching, will likely have you on the edge of your seat. This story explores the idea of gentrification as the perfection scenario for a horror to take place.
Sydney Green, the story’s protagonist watches sadly as her Brooklyn neighborhood becomes unrecognizable as neighbors leave, condos sprout up, and buildings go up for sale. While it may seem that these are just a sign of the times, a natural progression for city neighborhoods, it may be something more nefarious.
Source: Andy Cohen Books / Andy Cohen Books
The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey and Michaela Angela Davis
I may own some of these books on the list. I’m a bit of a collector…or hoarder. But I’ve actually read this one. I devoured it not only because it was extremely well-written but it also explained virtually ever question I’ve ever had about the diva that is Mariah Carey. From her biracial identity to her connection to Black culture and Black women, it’s all outlined intricately and beautifully in this biography–along with some surprises that sent me for a loop. Whether you’re a Carey fan or just enjoy a story of triumph, you’ll enjoy this one.
Source: Knopf / Knopf
Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi
Following the success of her remarkable debut Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi writes this novel about Gifty, a PhD candidate trying to find a scientific explanation for all of the suffering she witnesses from those around her. And even though she is highly educated, she also yearns for the ways in which she was raised in her evangelical church.
