My last blog spoke to the fact that of all the books I read in 2020 only 46.5% were written by BIPOC authors. I want to keep raising that percentage of reading and not just in non-fiction but throughout the genres I enjoy.
Haddi had the brilliant idea of five categories of books she wants to read each month and to be clear my 2021 goal setting is totally a riff off of her brilliant idea. I decided to focus on reading a wider range of authors and a wider range of genres each month so I have turned to the Heritage Month Guide schedule to guide and inspire me (see below).
Most of the months of the year celebrate particular heritages and so I am going to create a list of books (okay it will more likely be a stack of books – see picture below) of various genres written by authors within the celebrated heritage. The genres will begin with the following:
- Novel
- History
- Essays
- Poetry
I am 100% sure that as I research and look up different books to fit these heritage categories my list will expand far beyond these four, but I hope to read these at the very least each month. I will also start with my own shelves. As many of you already know I have many…many books I have never read in my home and so each month’s search will begin with a scouring of my own shelves to see what I could read or reread in these categories. And yet, I cannot wait to do the research for the possibilities and I will of course be asking you all for recommendations ;).
There are a few months that don’t celebrate a heritage which I kind of love too. This gives me a bit of a break and that is always good for me. Self-discipline is not one of my spiritual gifts, so grace periods are necessary in my life and I’m more likely to finish the project if they are pre-scheduled which these are, so whoop whoop!
Now on to February’s reading for Black History Month. Below I have outlined what I WILL and what I HOPE (this is a LOT of books) to read. If you are looking for some great lists to jump start your reading for Black History month, here are a few I have been using:
- Six Black American Contemporary Poets You Need to Know
- Barack Obama’s Recommended Reading List
- 66 of the Year’s Most Anticipated Fiction by Black Authors
- 50 Amazing Books By Black Authors From The Past 5 Years (note: does not include 2020 titles)
February Reading
| Title | Author | Notes |
| Pleasure Activism | adrienne marie brown | From my shelves Nonfiction Will read for sure 🙂 Author who I LOOOOOOVE! |
| So You Want to Talk About Race | Ijeoma Oluo | From my shelves Nonfiction Will read |
| Autopsy (Button Poetry) | Donte Collins | Purchased Poetry Will read |
| Go Tell it on the Mountain | James Baldwin | Purchased Autobiographical Novel Will read |
| Fumbled | Alexa Martin | Library Novel Will read |
| Snapped | Alexa Martin | Library Novel Will read |
| Blitzed | Alexa Martin | Library Novel Will read |
| Life on Mars: Poems | Tracy K. Smith | Purchased Poetry Read Feb/Mar |
| Your Silence Will Not Protect You | Audre Lorde | Purchased Essays Read Feb/Mar |
| A Promised Land | Barack Obama | Borrowing Memoir Gonna start… |
| The Warmth of Other Suns | Isabel Wilkerson | From my shelves Nonfiction I hope to start …(583 pages is a lot for me) |
Well Book War readers that is what I have for February. Wish me luck and happy reading to you all!
