Books by Indigenous Writers – Equal Opportunity Reader

[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] Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse

The black and white cover of Fevered Star is seen from above resting in the lap of a woman in a pink and white striped summer dress, a Thai iced tea with boba balanced on one knee.

(Buy this book!) Let me just rip the band-aid off; meh. I wanted to love this book because of what it is. I love fantasy that steps away from the hoary old medieval Europe tropes. This series, set in a world based on pre-Columbian South American cultures, follows a clash between age-old forces of lightContinue reading “[REVIEW] Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse”

[READING CHALLENGE] Kill Your #TBR!

Holy crap, how it is already August? I moved back to America ELEVEN MONTHS AGO and I honestly have no idea what’s going on here, still. What I do know is that I’ve amassed and imported an astonishing number of books that I intend to read. I haven’t made a big deal of it, butContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Kill Your #TBR!”

[BOOKLIST] Earth Is Ghetto: A Booklist Where Aliens Land Everywhere

Yellow brick wall with red mosaic "Space Invaders"-style alien in top right corner.

“Earth is ghetto / I want to leave / Can you beam me up / I’m out on the street by the corner store / You know the one on 15th…“ I’m sure many of you have heard the viral song by Aliah Sheffield by now–it’s the toast of TikTok. If not, take a moment andContinue reading “[BOOKLIST] Earth Is Ghetto: A Booklist Where Aliens Land Everywhere”

[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] Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger

⠀(Buy it HERE.) Seventeen-year old Elatsoe Bride has inherited the secrets of calling up the dead from her Six-Great-Grandmother, who bore the same name and protected the Apache people from invaders with a pack of trained ghost dogs and peerless bravery. Young Elatsoe has the same fearless streak and unnerving talents as her ancestor butContinue reading “[REVIEW] Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger”

[REVIEW] When My Brother Was An Aztec, Natalie Diaz

“When My Brother Was An Aztec/he lived in our basement and sacrificed my parents/every morning. It was awful.” Natalie Diaz’s When My Brother Was An Aztec is a legit masterpiece. Go read it, now. Books of poetry are sometimes navel-gazing, self-absorbed bores but this one is simply amazing. I slurped it down in two shortContinue reading “[REVIEW] When My Brother Was An Aztec, 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”