Contemporary Black Fiction
Including the rare double feature: WSIR #16
Truly, I find great joy in thinking about and recommending books to people.
This is a book recommendation newsletter so I can appreciate that this insight may not shock you.
But sometimes I’m just not sure what book recommendations are of interest. Different people are looking for different things! Happily, my friend slash hero Danielle came along today and said, “I feel like when people talk about Black authors, it’s always Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou. I want more contemporary Black stories.”
OH YES HI HELLO I HAVE MANY SUGGESTIONS! CALL ON ME!
Listen, of course you want to read books like The Underground Railroad or Kindred, too, but below are some excellent novels with thoroughly contemporary Black characters, authors and situations. From literary to mystery to rom-com, there's something here for everyone!
Top of the list is Americanah. The plot summary - two Nigerians who make their way to the U.S. and U.K. under different circumstances - does no justice to this very funny, hugely insightful, sharply smart book. It’s a love story that’s also a bold commentary on race in America, Nigeria and the U.K.! Truly spectacular.
If you’d rather have a mystery, how about American Spy? It’s a Cold War spy romance (which is really only contemporary for Gen X I guess but ok) featuring a Black female FBI agent assigned to observe and undermine a foreign head of state. A hot thriller.
I read both Luster and Such a Fun Age in the past year, and in my mind they’re two sides of the same coin. Both are about a twenty-something woman who’s working jobs beneath her ambition and potential and ends up in a co-dependent relationship with an older white woman and her child. Luster is more literary, more visceral, and heavier, laying bare the messiness of a young woman’s New York life. Such a Fun Age is lighter and funnier, more empathetic, heroic and bigger-hearted. Both good!
An American Marriage is one of those beautiful novels that’s personal (about a, yes, marriage) while also a commentary on society (in this case, wrongful incarceration). It’s told from three POVs - Celestial (the woman), Roy (the man), and Andre (their friend) and I was deeply moved by both the writing and the plot.
Behold the Dreamers is so very readable and poignant, despite being about the unsparingly depressing topics of immigration, service jobs, and the 2008 financial crisis. It’s about a young couple that moves from Cameroon in search of the American Dream and works service jobs for wealthy white New Yorkers. A total page turner.
The Proposal is pure modern rom-com fairy tale greatness from START to FINISH. Charming characters, terrific witty banter, sexy and romantic hijinks, with a perfectly depicted Los Angeles. Wait, why don’t I read more of Jasmine Guillory’s books?
Lastly, Real Life is my wild card suggestion. It’s set over one weekend in the life of a gay graduate student and his friends and lovers, and it’s essentially a meditation on trauma, purpose and alienation. The depictions of his interactions (sexual, professional, platonic) are both so vulnerable and so violent that at the time it was too intense and sad for me, but I find myself thinking about this book a LOT. So maybe you want to read it?
What other kinds of recommendations do you want? Help a reader out!
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These recommendations link directly to Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores across the country. When you can, please consider buying from independent bookstores.
Past book recommendations can be found at my Bookshop.org affiliate page & in the archive.