Books by Black Writers – Page 3 – Equal Opportunity Reader

[REVIEW] Forty Acres, by Dwayne Alexander Smith

A Black woman's hand(my hand) holds a Kindle displaying the black and white cover of Forty Acres in front of a freshly chopped woodpile, complete with axe.

(Buy this on Bookshop) I had to think long and hard about what to say about this book and to be honest, I’m still not sure. Let’s start with the premise. (Warning: I’m going all in with the spoilers for this one.) Martin Grey is an up-and-coming, black and bougie New York attorney. When heContinue reading “[REVIEW] Forty Acres, by Dwayne Alexander Smith”

[REVIEW] The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw

(Buy it from Bookshop) sigh I don’t think this collection of short stories was meant for me, y’all. I wanted it to be. Nine stories about Black women and their connections to themselves and the church seemed right up my alley, and I was genuinely excited to get into this and see myself and myContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw”

[REVIEW] The Gatekeeper’s Staff(TJ Young And The Orishas Book 1), by Antoine Bandele

A black and white ebook standing on a cement block, underneath a halo-shaped fluorescent light.

(Find it HERE.) I LOVED THIS. Before I get into the review, let me just say–if you know a pre-teen boy who loves magic and adventure, get him this book. If he’s Black, get him two copies. This is the first book I’ve read in 2021 that made me want to clap and cheer andContinue reading “[REVIEW] The Gatekeeper’s Staff(TJ Young And The Orishas Book 1), by Antoine Bandele”

[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”

[REVIEW] Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement, Angela Y Davis

(Find it HERE.) Back in March, my favorite radical independent publisher Haymarket Books made several titles available for free as a contribution to keeping the world mentally occupied and socially engaged during the initial COVID-19 lockdowns. I downloaded them all and immediately started reading this collection of speeches and interviews from Angela Y. Davis, famouslyContinue reading “[REVIEW] Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement, Angela Y Davis”

[REVIEW] The A.I. Who Loved Me, Alyssa Cole

A Kindle e-reader sitting in front of an iced coffee and a donut on a wooden table. The book displayed on the reader is The A.I. Who Loved Me. There is a Black woman, an Asian man, a house cat and a basket of laundry on the cover.

(Buy it HERE). I have to admit–I wasn’t sure what to think about this romance novella at first. The premise seemed like it could easily go very wrong. Trinity, a Black data analyst is home on admistrative leave recovering from PTSD from a mysterious work accident when she falls for Li Wei, a Chinese…robot? Correction–he’sContinue reading “[REVIEW] The A.I. Who Loved Me, Alyssa Cole”

[BOOKLIST] Happy Black People: The Most Anti-Racist Booklist Ever

Sometimes, I feel like the most revolutionary thing Black people can do is be happy. At this point, we are 8 weeks deep into some sort of Great Global Awakening, or perhaps just a very long Nap Interruption.(#hashtagwoke) Protests continue worldwide, as do stunning acts of bravery, kindness, and well…fascism, infuriatingly. The world is changing,Continue reading “[BOOKLIST] Happy Black People: The Most Anti-Racist Booklist Ever”