Books by Black Authors that Should Absolutely Be On Your Reading List

My love for reading started at a very young age, and my love for writing followed soon after. I’ve always been a fiction kinda girl. I love slipping between the pages of a book and finding myself in faraway lands or distant time periods. I love growing close to a character, feeling as if I’ve made a new friend by the end of a story. Lately, I’ve begun expanding my readings to include non-fiction and self help, and, as with everything else, I’m especially drawn to work by Black authors. Bonus points if they’re a Black woman *winks*.

So, here are some of my favorite books written by Black authors, including a few that I haven’t gotten to yet, but have on my radar. Enjoy!

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

I picked this book up on a whim at the airport, having forgotten to bring one to read on the plane. When I spent the $30, I thought that this better be the best book I ever read given how I could’ve gotten it on Amazon for less than half the price. I bought it anyway, because I’d heard great things and it was on my list.

It delivered. I literally finished in less than a week, and it felt like I used to feel when I was 12, living in the library at the end of my block and reading two books a week. I’ve read some really good books lately, but this was the first one in a while that truly pained me to have to put down.

Such a Fun Age examines the stark intersections of race and class in a way that feels honest and relatable. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes uncomfortable, but always compelling, this is a well-written novel with characters and experiences that feel familiar, and a page-turning plot. Solid 10 out of 10, and I’ve been annoyingly recommending it to everybody who’ll listen.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Homegoing was an emotional, eye-opening narrative of two sides of the same coin. On one hand is Effia, an African woman who marries a British official and lives in a castle on the Cape Coast of Africa; on the other is her half-sister Esi, captured by the British and held in the dungeon of that same castle before being sold into American slavery. We follow their descendants through the generations, split between Africa and America, up until present day.

Homegoing examines the role West Africans played in the enslavement of their own people, while detailing the long-lasting, heart-wrenching consequences. Beautifully written and overflowing with cultural insight, Homegoing was truly exceptional reading.

No Disrespect by Sister Souljah

Whew, a classic. This was another page-turner — I got through the book in a single weekend, wondering why I hadn’t read it before.

No Disrespect is a memoir that reads like a novel, so it was super easy for me to love the book. Sister Souljah reflects on various relationships in her life to examine love from different perspectives — familial, romantic, platonic — and how they all influence each other. Of course, in true Sister Souljah fashion, she scrutinizes the way race has shaped the way Black people love and interact with one another, implying that racism is at the root of the issues we face in our community.

Read my full review here!

All About Love by bell hooks

Is this one required reading yet? I feel like there’s some unspoken rule that it is lol, because I know so many people who have read and loved it.

Similar to Sister Souljah’s No Disrespect, All About Love urgently examines the flawed perspective and practice of love in American culture. bell hooks describes how we’ve undervalued the importance and power of living with a love ethic, and offers suggestions for finding our way back home to love.

While slow for me at times, All About Love was a very powerful and important read as a whole. Taking the time to truly digest her musings is essential — this is a book that is meant to be read slowly and reflected upon fully.

Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Glory Edim

Well-Read Black Girl is the namesake of the book club and online community from which it extends. It’s an anthology of inspiring essays meant to serve as a space for Black women to affirm our experiences and find our place within the world, and ourselves, through literature. The Black women writers whose voices make up this book pay homage to literary powerhouses such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston, reflecting on how they poured into them with their words; how they read these stories and saw their own within them.

As an avid reader and passionate writer, this book made me feel seen. Within the pages, I felt at home, in community with women who understand the fulfillment of being a well-read Black girl. Read my full review here!

We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union

I love memoirs because they make us feel like we know the people we may admire or respect or simply stan. We get an exclusive peak into the insides of their lives — their relationships, their secrets, their highs and their lows. We get to see these gorgeous, successful people for what they are — human.

Gabrielle Union writes her memoir in a way that makes us feel like we’re girlfriends, chatting over a glass of wine. It’s authentic and fun, and of course, she drops some personal bombs that we don’t see coming.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

I described this book as art that truly made me feel in my full review. I felt joy, I felt sadness, I felt rage. Just Mercy details the true story of Walter McMillian, a poor Black man falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death in Alabama. It’s not just an insight into his case, however; it provides a broader view of race and justice in America, and how the two are truly like oil and water.

This was an excellent read, I highly recommend.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

This was another one of those Black girl coming of age stories that I can’t get enough of lol. Enter Queenie, Jamaican-British journalist reeling from a break-up, miscarriage, and loss of her job and home. We bear witness to her mental downward spiral, then the subsequent recovery. Along the way, we see how race and sexuality intertwine as Queenie struggles to keep it all together. We see her fall apart. We see her gain the courage to start therapy, despite pushback from her Jamaican family. And finally, we watch her pick herself back up and heal.

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

For me, Year of Yes wasn’t a life-changing read, but that’s because of Shonda Rhimes’ writing style, which I chat about in my full review. Regardless, it was still a valuable and hopeful lesson in navigating the world confidently and betting on yourself. Read about some of the things I’m saying “yes” to after reading Year of Yes!

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I loved Michelle Obama’s memoir so much, y’all. It was written elegantly, inviting us into her childhood home and allowing us to follow her through the myriad of experiences that has shaped our forever First Lady. We learn about her family and how they made her who she is. She gives us an inside look at her relationship with President Obama. We discover interesting tidbits, like how she taught her daughters not to wait up for any man, and how she actually hates politics.

It was even more special for me because she grew up in my city and even went to my high school. Reading her memoir felt so familiar. It’s definitely another book that I wholeheartedly recommend.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

I can’t mention Michelle’s memoir without including Barack’s, now can I? Lol. I haven’t read A Promised Land yet, but I am very excited to. Becoming was Michelle Obama’s journey to who she is, as an individual, a wife, a mother, and finally, our First Lady. I think of A Promised Land as the parallel to Becoming; Barack Obama’s journey, and what I anticipate is a very enthralling inside look at his presidency.

I will say, I’ve heard some unfavorable reviews about this book, and especially about Obama from what he’s written in it. That’s disheartening, but I have to remind myself that prominent Black people can’t be everything for everybody. We hold our own to such high standards, sometimes forgetting that above all — outside of the celebrity and activism and politics — we are human. So, I’m gonna give the book a try!

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Did you attend Howard University if you didn’t read Between the World and Me at some point during your matriculation?

Ta-Nehisi Coates addresses his son in what I’ve heard is similar to the way James Baldwin addressed his nephew in his 1963 book The Fire Next Time (which I haven’t read, but probably should). He warns his 15-year-old son about falling for the “Dream,” the utopian paragon of America crafted by white people, for white people — an America that has always been foreign to and even dangerous for Black people.

Between the World and Me is an examination of the burden of racial injustice on Black bodies. Although the general tone is more of a dispirited “this is the reality, you must learn your place in the Struggle” than a hopeful “this has been our past, but it won’t be our future,” it’s still a jolting piece of work written in that commanding yet poetic Ta-Nehisi Coates kinda way. If you’re Black in America, I’d probably categorize this as required reading.

More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth

Elaine Welteroth was named Editor-In-Chief of Teen Vogue magazine in 2016, the youngest and the second African American person to hold an Editor-In-Chief position in the publication’s history. Described as the “millennial Becoming” and “part memoir, part manifesto,” More Than Enough shares lessons on identity, race, and success and encourages Black women to confidently and boldly take up space.

This one has been on my list for a while now. I finally got around to ordering it on Amazon, and it’s sitting on my desk at this very moment, waiting.

Pussy Prayers: Sacred and Sensual Rituals for Wild Women of Color by Black Girl Bliss

Ugh, I am so glad I discovered this book. And I want every black woman in my life to discover it, too.

Pussy Prayers implores us to get back to ourselves through our pleasure centers, exploring our divine feminine and unique sexual experiences as black women. It includes affirmations, anecdotes, and rituals for exploring our feminine energy, healing, and embracing our inner power.

Words we’ve been taught are bad or naughty or nasty are usually words that carry tremendous power. Whether that power is positive or negative is for you to decide.

Pussy Prayers, Black Girl Bliss

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

This novel, set in the late 1900s, tells the tale of two Black, light-skinned twin sisters born into a community that “would never be white but refused to be treated like Negroes.” They eventually flee their small town, and one of the twins, passing as white, decides to reconstruct her identity, burying the Black parts of herself.

I can’t speak to the impact of the plot or the prose because I have yet to read it, but The Vanishing Half sounds like an emotional novel with a compelling storyline. I’ve read good reviews, and I have a copy, which I’ll be indulging in very soon!

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah is a book that has been on my list for a while — I’m not sure what I’m waiting for. So, although I can’t speak to its quality firsthand, I have heard nothing but rave reviews. And, based on its subject matter, I figured it deserves a spot on this list.

Americanah tells the story of two teenage lovers in Nigeria who part ways, one to Britain and one to America, to build a better life. What we get is a dissection of race and class across three continents, as well as an examination of love, loss, and identity.

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

When you think of feminism, what does it look like? Equality for women and men? What about equality for all women?

Mikki Kendall argues that the mainstream feminist movement is one that caters mostly to middle-class white women, disregarding the needs of the most marginalized groups of women — women who probably need feminism the most. While white women are fighting for things like career advancement and equal pay, black women are still fighting for basic dignities like food security and adequate healthcare.

Hood Feminism is an urgent call to action, if you will… especially if you consider yourself a feminist. Many of us have missed the mark. It’s okay, though — when you know better, you do better.

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I hope that you can find your place in one (or more! or most!) of the books on this list. There were so many others that I wanted to include… but then I would have a never-ending blog post that no one would read, right? That being said, stay tuned because there will be plenty more Ri’s Reads reading lists to follow. Next, I’ll probably put together a list of classics that are pretty much, at this point, required reading.

What are you currently reading? What’s on your list? Do you have any reading goals for this year? I wanna hear it all. Comment below!