It’s almost fall! I saw this post on #bookstagram today and loved it so much that I am sharing it here with you. Thank you Linda for your wonderful drawing! It is still a sweltering 90+ heat index in sunny Dallas-Fort Worth, but that hasn’t stopped me from drinking chai tea and burning a fir scented candle. If you don’t have fall, you’ve got to make it for yourself. My family is planning a quick jaunt over to Colorado for a week later this month, and I am hoping I get to experience at least a small amount of beautiful color changing leaves.
In the spirit of Rory Gilmore, onto this month’s quick lit. The unrest that everyone is feeling – because of the anti-racist protests, the fires along the west coast, and the upcoming election – has, surprise surprise, found its way into my reading life. Traci over at @thestackspod on Instagram (and the host of The Stacks podcast) put it well that “your books won’t save you.” And I agree. Reading about anti-racism from Ibram X. Kendi, or books like ‘I Think You’re Wrong But I’m Listing’ by the Pantsuit Politics team, won’t change the world. However, I do believe in the power of books to change perspective. I am doing my best to change and widen my own mind. Thus, the theme of this post (and most of my reading for the month) is books written by people of color (POC). Here is a small selection of books I’ve read over the last two weeks that feature POC or are written by POC that I truly enjoyed.
Darius The Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Darius is a Persian teen struggling with his identity in his family unit and his own depressive feelings. He doesn’t fit in at his American school, and then suddenly has to take a trip to Iran to visit his dying grandfather. The novel follows his train of thought throughout the weeks he spends in Iran as he learns more about his own father’s struggles with depression. He makes a wonderful friend, Sohrab, who teaches him what it means to find his own space in the world. Darius has qualities that everyone can identify with, especially those who need to work to maintain their mental health. Khorram has a way of writing that dives deep into your soul to find that vulnerable place, and then shares a nugget of wisdom from Darius as he learns that showing vulnerability actually helps you grow.
You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Dara
Jasmine is playing Carmen on the set of a telenovela, who ends up falling in love with her costar, despite her jefa plan after a messy breakup. I love telenovelas, so of course I loved this book. Jasmine is whip smart and relatable and her romantic interest Ashton, aka Angel, is quite sexy. I grew up on the south Texas border with Mexico, so this felt a little like home with all of the Spanglish.
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
This is a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in Brooklyn, NY. I really enjoyed finding the similarities and differences between Austen’s work. Zoboi includes poetry written by the main character ZZ that portray the struggles of a black/Latinx woman. The poetry is accessible, and is only a small portion of the book (in case it doesn’t sound like something you’d enjoy). It is definitely a YA novel, full of angst-y teen drama that isn’t present in the original P&P. If you don’t know much about black/Latinx culture, or the black experience in NYC, then this will be a real treat for you. Also, P&P is not required reading before this book.
Fullmetal Alchemist (Vol 1-3) by Hiromu Arakawa
This book was recommended by my friend Samir (Hi!) and is also one of the top rated manga series of all time. For good reason! Arakawa’s writing and illustration (and Akira Watanabe’s translation) is whip smart and funny. She really makes you care for the Elric brothers, who are alchemists searching to find a cure to their bodies’ missing parts. I don’t want to give away the whole story, as I did read three volumes, but I will for sure be reading the rest of these. I was laughing out loud at many times, and felt a strong love for the Elric brothers who I desperately want to succeed in their missions.
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Here we take a hard right turn into a gritty novel about Maggie, who spends her time fighting Navajo monsters. Roanhorse tells the stories of ancient Navajo legends come to life in this opening novel of an urban fantasy series that immerses you in the world of the Diné. Maggie chases after and takes care of a few different monsters, all the while entertaining a relationship with Kai. They both have clan blood in them that gives them cool supernatural powers. At times it got a bit too gory for me, but for most people that won’t be an issue. The ending is a small cliff, not a full cliffhanger, but does lead into the next novel.
While all of these novels were written by people of color, I think it’s important to note that the author’s background is not the defining reason that I enjoyed these novels. Good books can be written by anyone. If you’re looking, you can find wonderful works by people of color, instead of the mainly white novels that traditional publishing houses are marketing. Books written by people who are different than you (in my case, I am white) will open your eyes in a wonderful way. I recommend every single one of these books to you, reader. My favorite of the bunch, as of today, was Fullmetal Alchemist, with Darius the Great coming in at a close second.
SJP Books 