Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week, they post a new topic/top ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers. This week, I chose to list ten books written by African or African American Authors.
Death of a King by Tavis Smiley – This book I actually heard about on television when someone was interviewing the author, Tavis Smiley. I like how he said that this is the first book to deal with the last year of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. The strength he had to continue when so many had turned against him. I definitely want to read this one.
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo – I heard about this author in a Wall Street Journal article about African Authors. It is about a girl’s experience moving from Zimbabwe to the US. So I quickly added it to my TBR (To Be Read) list.
Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akapan – I saw this book on Oprah and added it to my TBR. It is a collection of stories about African children from various countries and their experiences.
Mother Poems by Hope Anita Smith – I never heard about this book but I came across it on BookOutlet and the price was amazing so I ordered it. It is about a young girl who loves her mother and the pain she feels when her mother dies. Having lost my mother almost 8 years ago now, I am still working through the pain and look for comfort in this book that deals with the death of a parent.
Belle by Paula Byrne – I have mentioned this book in earlier posts and still haven’t read it. It is a story about the first mixed-race girl introduced to high society England and raised as a lady.
Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories from the Underground Railroad by Betty DeRamus – I bought this on BookOutlet too and again a book I never heard about so I like going into books without too much hype so I can gain my own opinion.
The Black Girl Next Door by Jennife Baszile – This book is memoir about coming of age as a black girl in an exclusive white suburb in “integrated,” post-Civil Rights California. This should be an interesting read.
Sugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson, Marina Tamar Budhosa – When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered that they each had sugar in their family history, they were inspired to trace the globe-spanning story of the sweet substance and to seek out the voices of those who led bitter sugar lives. This book just sounds fascinating to me. A must read this year.
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – This debut novel by Helen Oyeyemi is a retelling of an old fairy tale with a twist dealing with identity in this case an African American that is passing for white. Sounds very intriguing.
Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah – This book deals with postwar life in Sierra Leone following two men who return to their town to try and rebuild but faced with many obstacles. I know very little about Sierra Leone so I look forward to learning more through this novel.
Hopefully I will get to read at least half of this list this year.
Happy Reading!
Belinda
