A reading list

Hi, there.

I’ve taken a few weeks off from shipping this newsletter (though not from writing it), for reasons I hope are apparent. The whole world’s a tangle of emotions right now, and my little newsletter about pencils and books doesn’t add much to that, and in fact, might well detract. Distractions can be helpful in fraught times; I don’t want to be a distraction, or to myself be distracted.

So: A quick note to say I’ll be back in your inbox soon enough with more silly newsletters about writing novels and collecting stationery and such, but for now, I hope you’re continuing to stay safe, that you’re having important, necessary conversations with yourself, your family, and your community, and that you are reading books, especially those by authors who might be outside your daily or familiar, lived experiences.

Here are a few books—fiction and non—from Black authors that you might give a try:

• The Mothers or The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett

• Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• The Water Dancer and The Beautiful Struggle and We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy and Between the World and Me, Ta-nehisi Coates

• The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead

• The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin

• The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, edited by Jesmyn Ward; also Men We Reaped and Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

• The City We Became and How Long ‘til Black Future Month? and The Fifth Season / The Obelisk Gate / The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin

• American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson

• What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky, Lesley Nneka Arimah

• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson

• Version Control, Dexter Palmer

• Black Water Rising, Attica Locke

Also:

• So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo

• How to be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi

• Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad

(Note: All of the above links are to Powell’s Books, my local independent bookseller, and are not affiliate links. Powell’s has collected a number of book recommendations in an antiracism reading list, too.)

Please continue to wear masks and remain safe. And to be humble, be kind, and be committed to change where change is needed.

✏️Jg

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About the author

Jason Gurley is the author of Awake in the World, Eleanor, and other books. He lives and writes on a hill in Scappoose, Oregon. More at www.jasongurley.com or on Instagram.

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