Swing Time by Zadie Smith I’ve been hearing about Zadie Smith for some time now, and Swing Time in particular over the last few months. She’s one of England’s premier authors, and I’m not quite sure how she escaped my voracious high school book appetite. I’m elated to have finally found her. I was pleasantly…
Read MoreHow We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
You should read this book if you actually care about how Black women must get free. It requires that we connect the past to the present and honor the women that came before us, who were radical before we even understood what it meant to be so, and who were willing to put their bodies on the line before we were even born. For me, this is critical literature for conscious resistance in our current time.
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The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl
I hadn’t planned to review this book this week, but the Twitter Ignants were out in rare form this week over a chapter in Issa Rae’s book that talks about how Asian men are the only men suitable for Black women. Clearly, folks just look for the chapters that are the most inflammatory when taken out of context and only read those… or more likely, don’t even read at all because, in reality, the whole book is full of hilarious takes on what it’s like to be an (oftentimes awkward) Black girl navigating America. As one of those girls, I found Issa Rae’s commentary witty and compelling in its relatability to my own life.
Read MoreLittle Fires Everywhere
Full of questions about place, identity, and family, Little Fires Everywhere is a captivating read. It examines how where and who we come from shapes our journey and who we ultimately end up becoming.
Read MoreAn American Marriage
What moves this book from just a story of what happens when another Black man is wrongly accused of a crime and sent to prison, is the deep, complicated and soul touching saga of Roy and Celestial’s marriage. Their relationship was, as I said before, on the cusp of blossoming or dissolving just before Roy is snatched away from the life they were slowly piecing together.
Read MoreBehold the Dreamers
A story like Behold the Dreamers calls us to actually see the millions of folks who have come into America seeking the image of plenty and success that we have sold to the world as actual humans not as aliens seeking to do us harm.
Read MoreThe Journey Begins
Literary Black Girl is a book review blog dedicated to sharing stories written by women of color, and those of Black women in particular.
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