Recommend me books written by Black authors!

[rkomar]

I've been meaning to read some Zadie Smith books for a while. She has won quite a few prestigious prizes, so I'm thinking they'll be well worth the time.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Wow, 548 years old?

Damn fingers. 58
Apache

[gmw]

Back when the book club was reading the aforementioned Passing by Nella Larsen, I also picked up the 1931 book: Black No More by George S. Schuyler, a science fiction tale in which a scientist invents a process to turn black people white.

I can't say it was a great book (I gave it just 3/5), but I did find the perspective interesting. I got the impression that the author didn't like anyone - black or white. It was also interesting to read more about Schuyler who six years later "moved sharply to the political right". It's made me interested in finding his autobiography, Black and Conservative, but I haven't found an accessible copy yet.

[gmw]

You might take a look at N.K. Jemisin. I've only read short stories of hers so far, but I've been meaning to try some of her novels.

[meeera]

Octavia Butler, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Claire G Coleman, NK Jemisin, Alisha Rai, Alyssa Cole, Nalo Hopkinson, Nisi Shawl, Tananarive Due, Victor Lavalle, Karen Lord, Rebecca Roanhorse, Beverly Jenkins, Jasmine Guillory

[hildea]

Thanks for the recommendations!

I've read some of them:

• Nella Larsen "Passing" - I remember liking it, and will check out the thread.
• Octavia Butler: I've read "Kindred", where a modern Black woman is thrown back in time to the early 1800s. A time travel story which really brings home that for the majority of people, the past wasn't just pretty dresses and quaint manners. I also have bought, but haven't read yet, "Parable of the Sower". I remember several people comparing it to "The Handmaid's Tale", saying that Parable was an even better comment on the current political developments. (That sounds pretty depressing, so I have to be in the right mood to read it.)
• Zadie Smith: I've read about halfway through "White Teeth", don't remember why I gave it up. As I remember it was well written, but didn't quite manage to hold my interest. Maybe I was more in the mood for space battles and wizards at the time, I'll give it another try.
• NK Jemisin: I've read some of her short stories from "When is Black Future Month" -- I really liked "The Ones Who Stay and Fight" (an answer to "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"). Her novels are definitively on my to-read list.
• Alisha Rai: I just finished "The Right Swipe" and "Girl Gone Viral", and liked them a lot. Cute romances, with enough drama to be interesting.
• Alyssa Cole: "A Princess in Theory" where a cynical and overworked student is spammed with emails about how she's betrothed to a prince, and "In order to aid in this process, please send the following verifications of identity: a scan of your license, passport, or other form of ID; up to date medical records—", and then it turns out that it's not fake I've been meaning to pick up "An Extraordinary Union", about two undercover agents during the US Civil War.

I'll check out the others -- some I've been meaning to read, and others are new to me. I think I'll start with Beverly Jenkins. I've been meaning to read her for a long time.

The discussion here is also interesting, I'll add to it later!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apache

Octavia Butler was a very good science fiction author. I read and enjoyed her books. She died at age 548 in 2007.
Also Samuel R. Delany has written some very good sci fi.
Apache

A really good book by Octavia E. Butler is Kindred. If read this and it is excellent.

The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

[najgori]

Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin. Check Gutenberg dot org

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by hildea

Nnedi Okorafor

One of my favorites.

I would add Dexter Palmer. Author of The Dream of Perpetual Motion, Version Control, and Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen.

The latter of which I'm happy to say I did not know had been released!

[Dr. Drib]

I can highly recommend Ralph Ellison's novel "Invisible Man."

This is a Literary novel and is considered a classic. I read this about 20 years ago, and I found it mesmerizing.

I think it's about time to read it again.

[BelleZora]

I enjoyed Walter Mosley's The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, as well as his Easy Rawlins mystery series. I just started The Long Fall, the first in his Leonid McGill series.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by issybird

I don’t buy this. If a story is about white characters I don’t think you can claim ignorance when the author turns out to be white, also. And most stories give some description of the main characters so it’s obvious. As I said above, there are probably some books that are aracial, in that there is no clue whatsoever, but they really are going to be very, very few.

You may not buy it for some odd reason, but it's the truth. I don't care about race when reading a synopsis in my favorite genres. I browse online and pick up books by Genre and Book synopsis; I do group and buddy reads on Goodreads, and I pick books to suit reading challenges based on cover items, author initials, cover colors, etc. I also have a large collection of books over the years I still need to get to. I don't research authors unless they become favorites.

Synopsis rarely lists the race of the main characters unless it pertains to the plot.

Originally Posted by issybird

Hardly a coincidence. For whatever reason, you gravitated toward white authors.

Yes, there are more white authors and some part of that is benign, in that it reflects the underlying population. But that’s not the whole of it, either.

I read mostly white authors, for a lot of reasons. But I’d never claim that I’m shocked, shocked to find out they’re mostly white. I certainly wouldn’t expect to be believed if I did.

I was merely sharing a story of being surprised when I researched my yearly reading a few years back. I tell the truth, but if people choose not to believe me for whatever reason, it doesn't really up bothering me, but I am surprised in this case because my story isn't weird or unlikely. That's twice I've oddly been called a liar recently here on MobileReads -- another was when reporting a bug with my Paperwhite 4.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I can highly recommend Ralph Ellison's novel "Invisible Man."

This is a Literary novel and is considered a classic. I read this about 20 years ago, and I found it mesmerizing.

I think it's about time to read it again.

I have this one to be read. I've always heard great things about it.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I was merely sharing a story of being surprised when I researched my yearly reading a few years back. I tell the truth, but if people choose not to believe me for whatever reason, it doesn't really up bothering me, but I am surprised in this case because my story isn't weird or unlikely. That's twice I've oddly been called a liar recently here on MobileReads -- another was when reporting a bug with my Paperwhite 4.

Just to be clear, I most certainly was not calling you a liar. However, I think the unacknowledged/unrealized bias in reading, where it’s possible to claim that you have no clue about the race of authors or characters, is problematic. There are assumptions that could be made and with complete accuracy.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by issybird

Just to be clear, I most certainly was not calling you a liar. However, I think the unacknowledged/unrealized bias in reading, where it’s possible to claim that you have no clue about the race of authors or characters, is problematic. There are assumptions that could be made and with complete accuracy.

We may have just had a small misunderstanding then. Sorry if that's the case.

To clarify with my original story, I was pointing out that I was surprised at myself that year because I figured that out of the large book volume (over 300 books), that surely it would have more of a mixture of author races when I went to check after BookRiot got me thinking about it. Instead, I found that only under 5 were not white authors out of over 300. That is the part that surprised me. I figured with the large volume, I would have somehow covered more races without searching them out, but apparently not.