In Pursuit of Black Books

I owe all I am to books.

I own and have read approximately 1086 (give or take a few) books in my life and if what George R.R Martin has said about the lives of readers is true...I have had many lives and will undoubtedly have many more.

I cannot remember a time when I did not love to read. As a toddler I cried for books the way other children cried for toys. An an adolescent I would race through Nancy Drew novels and the occasional Hardy Boys every night so I could borrow another one from my school library the next day. As a teenager, my tastes in books changed, wink wink, but my love of reading never wavered.

The words “tek up yuh book” were never punishment for me as chances are, my head was already stuck in one. I will admit that over the course of the last five or so years “adulting” has gotten in the way of my reading. I became too tired for late night reading sessions and books I used to finish in a week would take me a month (or more).

Over the last five years or so and recently with the help of Rebel Women Lit , I’ve taken an active approach to not just reading more but reading better, reading queerer and reading blacker books.

It’s not until I actively started reading the works of Black women’s that I realize how much white authors I had consumed growing up. I am thankful for the Caribbean literature books and the poetry books I was exposed to in school but in general, most of my reading outside of school, was decidedly lacking in colour. Fun Fact, I probably still have most of my literature books from high school as well as some that I didn't actually study, I would keep my cousin’s literature books and those from other high schools if I could get them.

So while my youth was bereft of the work of black authors, I am determined to ensure that my adulthood is not. For the last two years, I’ve been trying to read 24 books but I’ve been a few books short two years running. While it bugs me that I don’t achieve my goal , I take solace in the fact that I’m doing much better than I was before because hey, life is still happening.

I’ve just finished my 5th book of the year (yay me!) and I thought I would share a few of my favourite black women books (books with black women leads and/or written by black women).