Diverse Books I Want to Read- BAME Edition| Carenza Bramwell

I think you would have to be living under a rock to not know about the situation in America and the movements happening around the world following the death of George Floyd and many other Black Americans. Many people have come out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, both in person and online. I have decided to do my bit by sharing some books by BAME/POC authors I want to read. Before I share the books I want to read, I am going to be including some links to useful and educational resources to support the BLM movement. If, like me, you are unable to donate, then these are some ways you can help without spending a penny:

Black Lives Matter Petitions- https://blacklivesmatter.com/petitions/

Change.org Petitions- https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-all-black-lives-matter 

Black Lives Matter Educational Information- https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/

The Financial Diet Donate Resource- https://thefinancialdiet.com/what-to-do-where-to-donate-how-to-support-black-lives-matter/

Ways to Help (USA)- https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

Black Lives Matter (UK)- http://blacklivesmatteruk.com/

This took me about five minutes of Googling to find all of this. Signing petitions takes very little time and is completely free. There is so much more information out there, including educational resources. I am ashamed to admit that I have never taken the time to educate myself on this important issue, but I am going to start doing my best to be able to help in any way I can. 

The books on this list are all be POC/BAME authors. Reading books is one way of educating yourself and supporting the BLM movement. I know there is a readathon being boosted on Twitter about reading books from Black authors. I will be making my own list of books I own and books I don't for me to make my way through. My entire list is about twenty-five books long and features authors from the BAME community. I will sharing a small fraction of those books, but again with some googling, you could find so many more in lists complied by people with more understanding than me.

Books I Own

Pictured Another Country by James Baldwin

The first book on my list is Go Tell It On A Mountain by James Baldwin. Baldwin was an African-American LGBT writer, who's works were published between the late 1940s to the late 1980s. He was heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement as well as the Gay Liberation Movement. I've had this book for years and I'm ashamed that I haven't read it. Go Tell It On A Mountain is a semi-autobiographical novel from 1953, featuring the struggles of black men and gay men.

I will add a small note here that in the photograph I have featured a different James Baldwin novel as my copy of Go Tell It On A Mountain is still in storage, but I plan on reading it once I find it.

The second book is a non-fiction book by British journalist, Gary Younge, called Another Day in the Death of America. It follows the lives of ten young people, mostly people of colour, killed in gun crime incidents on the same day. Younge, a black man who had been living in Chicago at the time, links it to incidents in his own life experiencing racism. I had read about a quarter of it a few years ago, but sadly put it down. I will mention that this could be triggering as it does deal with gun crime.

The next books are ones my parents own, but I plan on reading. The first is Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. The winner of the Booker Prize in 2019, it follows the lives of twelve (mostly black) women. It tells the tales of these twelve women from different parts of the country and at different stages in their lives. I've heard really good things about this one and I am excited to read it.

The final book on this section is a non-fiction book and that is Becoming by Michelle Obama. If you don't know who Michelle Obama is, then I'd be very surprised. My dad is currently reading this and I plan on reading it after him. Michelle Obama has led a very interesting life and after her time in the White House, she has gone on to do so much good for the black community in America. I really want to learn more about her and her life. 

Books I Don't Own

The first book on this list is due to come out on July 2nd (UK Publication date) and is You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson. It follows Liz, who feels she doesn't fit in for a variety of reasons, but decides to run for Prom Queen. Then Mack arrives, who also decides to run for Prom Queen. Mack is just as much an outsider as Liz, and Liz can't help but fall for her competition. An LGBT POC book? Sign me up. You can bet I will be ordering this and reading it as soon as it comes out.

The next book is due to come out September 1st (UK) and is The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed. Described as perfect for fans of THUG by Angie Thomas, it is set in 1992 and follows a group of black teenagers during the race riots in LA. I stumbled across this one by accident, but it sounds provoking and intriguing. 

One that's already out is A Phoenix First Must Burn, edited by Patrice Caldwell with contributions from many YA black authors. It is a collection of sixteen stories where black people take centre stage in genres where they wouldn't usually feature. I think the best way to describe it is to quote the description from the Amazon page "Evoking Beyoncé's Lemonade for a YA audience, these authors have woven worlds to create stunning narratives that centre Black women and gender nonconforming individuals".

My final entry on this list is one I've been meaning to read for a while and that is We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. While the central themes of this book are about feminism, I would like to read this as it isn't written from a white perspective. I only know what it's like to be a white woman and I feel it is my duty as a woman to learn what it is like for all women. 

There are so many books out there you can read, but these are just a few that are on my radar.

Carenza :) x