20 Books by Black Women
This blog post is inspired by the bookstagrammer @melanatedreader’s challenge to read 20 books by Black women in 2022. I did it! She has updated her challenge for 2023 to be 20 books by Black folx and I am hoping to complete that challenge as well.
There are so many resources with book recs to diversify your reading but I often find mainstream bookstagram and booktok showing the same books over and over. I hope this blog post gives you some more reads to add to your TBR list! This list includes my top 20 books by Black women (so far) plus a couple extra - so not just the ones I read in 2022.
My list of books by Black women includes memoirs, self improvement and money books, romance reads, essays, poetry, and more. These are listed in genre groupings because there is no way I could rank them - except Rabbit by Ms. Pat, that is one of my favorite books of all time.
Reminder - I have a book talk podcast called pish posh pages! Not all of these books have a corresponding podcast episode but a lot do so if you like podcasts, make sure to check out mine!
MEMOIRS
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Rabbit by Ms. Pat (my favorite!)
Miss Me With That by Rachel Lindsay
Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra James
SELF HELP, FEMINISM & MONEY - all of these are so good and I found them all beneficial
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhines (part memoir, part self help)
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall (YOU ALL NEED TO READ THIS.)
We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers
Get Good with Money by Tiffany Aliche
POEMS, ESSAYS & NOVELS
Black Girl Call Home by Jasmine Mans (my favorite read from 2022!)
Sometimes I Trip On How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
ROMANCE - all of these were so great! I love Tia and Talia and Robinne’s romance writing for different reasons.
The Perfect Find by Tia Williams
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Seven Days In June by Tia Williams
MORE ROMANCE - Jasmine Guillory writes the best rom coms & Tasha L. Harrison surprised me with this fabulous chef romance read!
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (my favorite from Jasmine that I have read so far)
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
Drunk in Love by Jasmine Guillory
The Bad In Each Other by Tasha L. Harrison
I hope you added some books to your TBR! If you have recs for me, please let me know in the comments!