I’ve seen others rave about Big Swiss — time to add to my TBR! I’m also curious what you thought about Momfluenced. I haven’t heard of it, but there cover and concept intrigued me when I saw it here.
You already know I’m a book stats nerd 😅 If you haven’t already, I’d recommend Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper, both are excellent memoirs by Black authors (Noah is South African so he is really more lowercase b black but he is still a BIPOC author). Bonus points because both audiobooks are narrated by the authors!
I thought Momfluenced was okay. It’s well written and there were definitely some interesting sections, but it was nothing revolutionary in terms of introducing me to things I haven’t considered before. But that’s just me! Thanks so much for the recs! I listened to Born a Crime on audio and loooooved it. Trevor Noah is such a good audiobook reader and so good at critiquing cultural biases and racism in such a straightforward way. I’ll check out Christian Cooper!
Good to know! I have a feeling it will be the same for me, but I might still pick it up as it’s been something I’ve thought about lately (the influence of social media on motherhood).
I figured you probably would have read Noah’s book already! I also want to add that if you haven’t read anything by Akwaeke Emezi that’s a must. I think Death of Vivek Ojo is my favorite work by them so far. I also enjoyed You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, although that one is borderline romance / lit fit.
Agree anything by Colson Whitehead for sure, also I think Dexter Palmer is way underrated. Jesmyn Ward, Octavia Butler, Percival Everett are some other options for Black writers.
My goal for 2025 is to track my reading. I've read so so many books last year but I have no clue of the total number. It'll be fun to see how many I read in 2025.
Hi! I was happy to see your list, especially Big Swiss and Severance which I have looked at, but haven't committed to.
Black authors I would recommend are: Ayana Mathis's "The Unsettled," Natasha Trethewey's "Memorial Drive," and Tayari Jones' "Leaving Atlanta." Don't let the dire subject matter of any of these turn you away. I found them all to be thought-provoking but not depressing. Also, Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Shuffle" is awesome!
Ooh, thank you for these great recommendations! I own Memorial Drive, so I’ll definitely bump that to the top of my list. I generally read a lot of heavy books, so the subject matter isn’t a deterrent. 😅 I hope you enjoy Severance and Big Swiss as much as I did! I’d love to hear about your experience if you pick them up.
I’ve seen others rave about Big Swiss — time to add to my TBR! I’m also curious what you thought about Momfluenced. I haven’t heard of it, but there cover and concept intrigued me when I saw it here.
You already know I’m a book stats nerd 😅 If you haven’t already, I’d recommend Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper, both are excellent memoirs by Black authors (Noah is South African so he is really more lowercase b black but he is still a BIPOC author). Bonus points because both audiobooks are narrated by the authors!
I thought Momfluenced was okay. It’s well written and there were definitely some interesting sections, but it was nothing revolutionary in terms of introducing me to things I haven’t considered before. But that’s just me! Thanks so much for the recs! I listened to Born a Crime on audio and loooooved it. Trevor Noah is such a good audiobook reader and so good at critiquing cultural biases and racism in such a straightforward way. I’ll check out Christian Cooper!
Good to know! I have a feeling it will be the same for me, but I might still pick it up as it’s been something I’ve thought about lately (the influence of social media on motherhood).
I figured you probably would have read Noah’s book already! I also want to add that if you haven’t read anything by Akwaeke Emezi that’s a must. I think Death of Vivek Ojo is my favorite work by them so far. I also enjoyed You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty, although that one is borderline romance / lit fit.
Ooooh, I haven’t! I’ll add them to my list for this year.
Agree anything by Colson Whitehead for sure, also I think Dexter Palmer is way underrated. Jesmyn Ward, Octavia Butler, Percival Everett are some other options for Black writers.
Thank you for these recommendations! ✨ I have Everett’s James waiting on my bookshelf so that’ll be one of my first reads this year!
My goal for 2025 is to track my reading. I've read so so many books last year but I have no clue of the total number. It'll be fun to see how many I read in 2025.
Looove it! Do you use StoryGraph? If so, come friend me!
Hi! I was happy to see your list, especially Big Swiss and Severance which I have looked at, but haven't committed to.
Black authors I would recommend are: Ayana Mathis's "The Unsettled," Natasha Trethewey's "Memorial Drive," and Tayari Jones' "Leaving Atlanta." Don't let the dire subject matter of any of these turn you away. I found them all to be thought-provoking but not depressing. Also, Colson Whitehead's "Harlem Shuffle" is awesome!
Happy reading and happy motherhood!
Ooh, thank you for these great recommendations! I own Memorial Drive, so I’ll definitely bump that to the top of my list. I generally read a lot of heavy books, so the subject matter isn’t a deterrent. 😅 I hope you enjoy Severance and Big Swiss as much as I did! I’d love to hear about your experience if you pick them up.