Best books by Black Authors

[Anonymous]

I’m looking through my shelves and adding to the list:

Gloria Naylor - Mama Day

Buchi Emecheta — The Bride Price (and others)

Jamaica Kincaid — Annie John

Marita Golden — fiction and nonfiction

Pamela Thomas Graham — series of Ivy League college mysteries

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot — Balm in Gilead

Isabel Wilkerson — Caste; The Warmth of Other Suns

Virginia Hamilton — including her YA books

Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor — Vibration Cooking. This is an awesome, awesome book. You don’t have to cook to enjoy it.

Norma Jean & Carole Darden — Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine. A cookbook with family history.

[Anonymous]

Don’t think anyone’s mentioned it yet—All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have always appreciated the short stories of Andrea Lee. Haven’t read her novels but would like to.

I haven’t read her fiction, but, many years ago, I enjoyed reading her Russian Journal.

[Anonymous]

There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

[Anonymous]

Possibly the most overlooked category for Black writers is Sci-Fi. Check out:

Tananarive Due, Octavia Butler, and Nnedi Okorafor (there are others). You may be pleasantly surprised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

DP. Ellison wrote another interesting novel called Juneteenth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

Which books? All of them.

[Anonymous]

I love Colson Whitehead's books, which span a lot of genres, including historical and sci-fi: Zone One, The Underground Railroad, Harlem Shuffle, and The Nickel Boys.

Also recommend Jesmyn Ward, N.K. Jemison, James McBride, Teju Cole, Attica Locke, and Walter Moseley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

Which books? All of them.

Not to be too uptight here, but the title of this thread is "BEST BOOKS by Black Authors" so I'm quite specifically looking for titles, not just author names. Thanks. I can run a search on names just like anyone else.

[Anonymous]

The Ugly Cry by Danielle Henderson
Somebody's Daughter by Ashely Ford

Both are debut memoir's, and have some similarities, but are wonderful stories. The Ugly Cry had be laughing and crying and just IN MY FEELS at so many points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say Black because I'm including writers who are not American. So they won't be self-describing as AA.

This is my list of favorites (some of whom are AA) I would love some new suggestions (some of these are very old). Thank you

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Beloved by Toni Morrison
I know why the cage bird sings by Maya Angelou
The color Purple by Alice Walker
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Hate You give by Angie Thomas
The Long Song by Andrea Levy

Several of these were on my Women's lit course list in the late 80s. Loved that class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

Which books? All of them.

Not to be too uptight here, but the title of this thread is "BEST BOOKS by Black Authors" so I'm quite specifically looking for titles, not just author names. Thanks. I can run a search on names just like anyone else.

You should read every book by every single one of those authors before any others on this list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

Which books? All of them.

Not to be too uptight here, but the title of this thread is "BEST BOOKS by Black Authors" so I'm quite specifically looking for titles, not just author names. Thanks. I can run a search on names just like anyone else.

You should read every book by every single one of those authors before any others on this list.

And you should write a more convincing post as to why

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a few stinkers listed, but I'll keep that to myself.

I like Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Danielle Evans, Walter Mosley, Ralph Ellison, Chester Himes, Tayari Jones, Attica Locke, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everrett and probably more but that's all I can think of now.

Which books though?
I only know Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, did he write anything else you can recommend?

Which books? All of them.

Not to be too uptight here, but the title of this thread is "BEST BOOKS by Black Authors" so I'm quite specifically looking for titles, not just author names. Thanks. I can run a search on names just like anyone else.

You should read every book by every single one of those authors before any others on this list.

And you should write a more convincing post as to why

+1