This has not been a normal month and as such this will not be a normal book blog post. I have been posting these monthly best book posts since almost the beginning of my blog life and I love posting them, but sometimes things in the world are too loud for you to ignore.
Earlier this month I posted a blog about resources about the Black Lives Matter movement since we need to be reading books and listening to Black Voices and Voices of Colour and you can find this post here.
While most of these books are Non-Fiction I want to make it very well known that we should not only be reading Black Non-Fiction. We should be reading Black Voices in Fiction, in Poetry, in Comics. This goes for Indigenous Voices, Asian Voices, Latinx Voices, LGBTQ+ Voices, and all other marginalized voices as well.
Due to the types of books and authors that are generally published and promoted the majority of your reading list is probably white. You shouldn’t feel bad about this, but this should be something that you should change.
That is why I am only going to be focusing on BIPOC authors this month. I have read books by White Authors and you can see everything that I am reading at my Goodreads Profile here.
Please let me know what you have been reading and loving this month.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
This book is one of the most powerful books that can be read/worked through. The book is divided into 28 chapters, meant to be worked through in 28 days with reflections and journalling prompts at the end of each day. Each chapter deals with a different facet of white supremacy, which we have all internalized. There are many days that I would read the title of the chapter, think that it didn’t apply to me and by the end realize that there were many things in my life that I didn’t realize that I did or that caused harm.
This book takes work and I am sure that I am going to work through it again, but it is a very important book.
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph
I have had this book on my periphery for a long time now, but never took the initiative to actually read it. While some of the information was familiar to me, having taken multiple Indigenous Studies courses through University I really appreciated Bob Joseph’s take on the Indian Act, the long standing repercussions of it, as well as the 94 Statements coming out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
This book is not a very long one, but it will make you think about Canada in a new way, an important way.
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Austin Channing Brown is a woman that I have heard speak on multiple podcasts and have seen on Instagram and Twitter, but I hadn’t had the chance to read her book. This book is a great introduction to Black existence in North America and the racial microaggressions and much bigger that are dealt with on a daily basis.
Channing Brown’s stories are engaging and informative, from why her parents named her Austin in the first place to experiences in Board Rooms and churches and I both learned a lot and had many moments of contemplation.
Good Talk by Mira Jacobs
This graphic novel is the true memoir of Mira, an Indian woman and her experiences with her family and racism, both from her own Indian Family for being “too dark” and in North America for not being white. Many of the stories are told through conversations with her biracial son as he begins to navigate a world that isn’t completely welcoming to him.
Partially by a Black Author
These two graphic novels are both very important, but as a disclaimer not all of the work were done by Authors of Colour, though in both cases the original text/life was a Black person.
March: Book One (March, #1) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
John Lewis is still a Senator, but long before that he was fighting for what was right through Sit-In’s and boycotts. This book is the first in a series about the life of John Lewis and it taught me a lot about his life before what is generally told in the media.
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler, Damian Duffy, and John Jennings
Kindred is often called the first Science Fiction novel published by a Black Female Author and it didn’t happen until the 1980’s. This graphic novel adaptation is painful to read, but is also extremely important.
The book centres around Dana, a Black writer living in the 1970’s when suddenly she is pulled back in time to a plantation in Maryland only to save the plantation owner’s son. From that moment on their lives are intertwined and she goes back and forth between her own time and the past, a past that also shows her her own ancestors. Note this book is quite graphic, but it is also needed.
Please let me know what you have been reading lately.
2020 Recap:
Numbers are for the full year, topics are for the challenges I completed this month.
Total 2020 Books: 148
Goodreads Choice Awards: 17/20
- Horror – The Institute by Stephen King
- Middle Grade & Children’s – The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
- Science Fiction – Recursion by Blake Crouch
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: 12/24
- Debut Novel by a Queer Author – I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
ARCs: 33
fivestarredlife.ca 
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