What is #SixforSunday?
#SixforSunday was a little blog feature Steph @ A little but a lot started in June 2017 for herself. It’s a weekly blog post where you get to share 6 books which fill a certain prompt. Originally, #SixforSunday was a post Steph did that she never thought she would stick with! It was her place to share 6 bookish things under a given prompt. (If you want to see her first post, you can check it out here!) She started it thinking it would fizzle out and that she would run out of things to use as prompts: She never imagined that it would transform itself into something OTHER PEOPLE JOIN IN WITH every week. For further details of the rules and links to the prompts for this meme, please visit Steph’s blog here. (Don’t forget to follow and tag Steph alittlebutalot on Twitter and Instagram – @eenalol – if you join in! Also, I made this little banner for this prompt, using graphics from her blog. I hope Steph likes it!)
This week – October 24, 2021 – the topic celebrates the UK’s Black History Month with:
Black Authors I want to read.
I don’t usually pay attention to the race of an author before I read their books, I’m more interested in the genre and subject matter. But once in a while I will notice, if the genre and the subject matter fit my tastes. For example, I’ve had Zadie Smith on my radar for quite some time, but I only recently read one of her books – albeit a collection of her short stories. Some Black authors sound good, like Octavia Butler, but I’m really not into her fantasy magical genre. There are many Black poets I’ve read, like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes, but I’ve never read any of Angelou’s autobiographies, or any of Hughes’ fiction. With more #OwnVoices books coming out these days, there are even more Black authors I’d like to read. So, without any further ado…
6 – Brit Bennett – when her book “The Mothers” showed up on Edelweiss and NetGalley, I tried to get the ARC, but was denied. By the way, I didn’t know she was Black when I asked for the ARC, and that changed nothing for me. I’m not as sure about her subsequent novel, “The Vanishing Half” however.
5 –
4 – Colson Whitehead – I’ve heard marvelous things about his books, but frankly, I’m a bit worried about the hype. Maybe I’ll start with something he wrote before he became a household name.
3 – Alice Walker – I’ve only seen the movie The Color Purple, but I’d love to read the book, and I know that’s not the only thing she’s written. Someone just reviewed her Meridian for the 1976Club, for example.
2 – Toni Morrison – my sister loves her books, and she’s recommended her “Beloved” to me. It does sound good, but there are others that sound even better – like The Bluest Eye!
1 – James Baldwin – I just won his “Giovanni’s Room” and I’ve put it on my Classics Club Spin #28, but I might read it anyway if it doesn’t come up in the lottery.
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
Some great authors here. I enjoy Talia Hibbert and her Brown Sisters series.
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Some great authors there. I’ve read # 2, 3, 4, and 5, most of their books.
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I read one of Colson Whitehead’s books, and I didn’t really get it. To be fair, it was in a genre that wasn’t really my thing, but, as you say, there’s been a lot of hype about him, so I had great expectations!
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Great list! I totally understand your fear that Whitehead may be over-hyped (there’s so much hype these days). I read Underground Railroad about a year ago, however, and IMO Whitehead is one of the best around, i.e. no hype! I must say, however, that Railroad is very, very upsetting at times and, if you don’t like magic realism, it might not be your thing. I plan on catching up with his work, probably with his most recent, Harlem Shuffle, for something a bit lighter.
Like you, I’d like to read Coates but a different work, i.e. his essay collection (Between the World and Me) rather than The Water Dancers (not that I don’t want to read that too but . . .). I’d also like to read something by Dorothy West, probably The Wedding and Teju Cole (I’ve had a copy of Open City forever). Add Octavia Butler (I love sci-fi and don’t care which one); Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Americanah, also sitting unread on the shelf) and, to increase the variety, Toni Cade Bambara’s short story collection, Gorilla, My Love (I’ve read one of the stories; it was great but somehow I didn’t finish the collection).
What a fun feature! I’ll have to start checking it out on Steph’s blog.
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Yeah… not much into fantasy or magical stuff, so I have my doubts about those. Still… you never know.
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I enjoyed The Mother’s and Vanishing Half. I DNF Underground Railroad because it was so trauma filled and I wasn’t in the right head space. So I was hesitant to pick up Nickel Boys but I’ve read great reviews. The Color Purple was also a difficult read for me. The Water Dancer is good but it does contain some magical realism which I don’t usually enjoy but I attributed it mostly to culture and I was able to enjoy the story. I think you’d like it.
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I like this meme! One book I read this year that goes with this theme (it is even from the UK) is Loud Black Girls: 20 Black Women Writer’s Ask What’s Next. It was fascinating to read about racism somewhere other than here in the USA. I did not agree with all of the authors, but most made their points very well and I was in tune with them.
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I’m like you, I don’t often attend to an author’s skin colour or any other features when I first pick up a book, but now that I’ve lived the veil so to speak and interact more directly with authors for my blog, I know that there are several wonderful MM Romance writers who are BIPOC that I already follow… I’m also finding that there are more covers that represent BIPOC models coming into the genre as well… I’m hoping it’s a growing trend 🙂
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