Books about indigenous people – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] The Truth According To Ember, by Danica Nava

The Kindle cover of The Truth According To Ember, depicting a long haired, smiling, attractive Indigenous couple facing each other, sits on a balcony, propped against a potted plant, with stripes of sunlight splashed across it.

(Buy this book here.) Before I begin, let’s all please clap a little for this, the very first romance novel about Indigenous people by an Indigenous writer published by a traditional publisher. Then, let’s all boo those publishers for depriving us all of something so good for so long. And then, let’s clap again becauseContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Truth According To Ember, by Danica Nava”

[HEAR ME OUT] I Don’t Think I Like the Film Adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon

The film crossover book cover of Killers of the Flower Moon, featuring photographs of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, and Lily Gladstone

(Buy the book here. It’s better than the movie.) If you haven’t read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, you should. It’s an excellent work of non-fiction that illustrates one of many examples of how America’s present wealth and power were created by systematically disenfranchising and murdering Black and Indigenous people who assumedContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] I Don’t Think I Like the Film Adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon”

[REVIEW] The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones

My hand holds up a Kindle displaying the cover of The Only Good Indians--a mysterious pair of antlers in the dark. In the background, there is a huge and creepy old house, a condemned sign barely visible.

(Buy this book.) Listen. This horror novel has been out for two years now, so I’m just going to go ahead and start with a spoiler. The monster is an elk. If you’re like me and your initial response to that is to lean back and say “pfffft, LAME!”, then you should also read thisContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones”

[REVIEW] Moon of the Crusted Snow, by Waubgeshig Rice

(Find it HERE.) Evan Whitesky is a loving father, doting husband, and pretty good moose hunter who lives on an Anishinaabe reserve in Northern Canada. As he preps for the upcoming winter, a massive power outage cuts the reserve entirely off from the outside world. While Evan and his family are somewhat secure, partially becauseContinue reading “[REVIEW] Moon of the Crusted Snow, by Waubgeshig Rice”

[REVIEW] Black Indian, by Shonda Buchanan

(Find it HERE.) Why don’t I like this book? ⠀⠀ I really wanted to. It’s a memoir of the author’s multiracial family, who were coded Black by American caste norms but felt culturally closer to their Choctaw and Coharie Indigenous ancestors who purchased and integrated African slaves, then expelled their mixed descendants in a bidContinue reading “[REVIEW] Black Indian, by Shonda Buchanan”

[BOOKLIST] Indigenous Americans Still Exist!: What I Read for Native American Heritage Month

All year I’ve been reading around themes. In February I read books by Black American authors for Black History Month. In May I read books by Asian and Asian-American authors for Asian-Pacific-Islander Heritage Month. Pride Month had me exploring the words of authors in the LGBTQIA+ community and a little over a month ago, IContinue reading “[BOOKLIST] Indigenous Americans Still Exist!: What I Read for Native American Heritage Month”

[REVIEW] The Brave, by James Bird

(Buy it HERE.) 13-year old Collin has an OCD-related condition that makes him compulsively count the letters in every word said to him and blurt it out. This has gotten him bullied out of every school in the area and his distant, alcoholic dad finally can’t take it anymore. He packs up Collin and hisContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Brave, by James Bird”

[REVIEW] PostColonial Love Poem, Natalie Diaz

(Buy it HERE.) You know the face that jazz and blues musicians make when someone’s playing real good? That stank face, that disbelieving, how is this real, umph-umph–UMPH this is so good it almost hurts face folks get when the art is hitting every bit of your spirit right? You know that face? ⠀⠀ ThatContinue reading “[REVIEW] PostColonial Love Poem, Natalie Diaz”

[REVIEW]Heartbeat Braves, Pamela Sanderson

⭐⭐⭐/5⠀💑⠀A while ago I re-read the classic, yet embarrassingly dated and racially insensitive Indian Romance Career Achievement award-nominated novel Brave Heart. Ever since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for something to read by an indigenous author as penance because there are alarmingly few Native American authors in my overall reading rotation. ⠀💏⠀I firstContinue reading “[REVIEW]Heartbeat Braves, Pamela Sanderson”