Hi everyone and welcome back to Book Break.
My name is Hena Bryan aka Bookish Babe, from the Youtube channel
Bookish Babe. I have partnered up with Book Break to bring to you guys some
titles that you should read after reading The Vanishing Half by Brit
Bennett. Now guys if you haven't already watched my review on The Vanishing Half,
I'm gonna include, you know when youtubers do that cool
thing where they put a video in their video,
so i'm gonna do that and i want you guys to go and watch that video, the link is
in the description. If you haven't read that book yet, guys, I
don't know what you're doing. I am telling you guys from now that is
the book of the year. Vanishing Half. Slaps. It snatches lives. So yeah guys I'm
gonna share with you guys some books that you should read after reading
The Vanishing Half. Let's get into it now guys. The first book that I want to speak
to you guys about today is Passing by Nella Larsen.
So if you enjoyed The Vanishing Half, this one
is definitely for you. This book is what The Vanishing Half
was based on. It explores topics such as racial identity,
gender and sexuality. Brief synop. I'm going to try my best not to give
everything away. I know I do that a lot. I will try my best.
Passing is written in a third person narrative, but the narrative is led by
Irene Redfield. The book starts off with Irene receiving a letter from her old
friend Claire. Claire is passing as white and is
also married to a very very very very very racist white man. Claire's husband
Jack finds out about her mixed heritage and
obviously Jack, being the racist person he is, he
says some nasty things. This book is fantastic and I would definitely
recommend it to everyone who read and loved The Vanishing
Half. So the second book that I want to speak to you guys about today
is Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi. This is another one that is
loosely based on Passing by Nella Larsen. So this book
basically opens with a young girl by the name of Boy running away from
her violent father. Boy being the unruly babe that she is, she
meets a man called Arturo. They end up getting married.
Boy is obsessed with her new stepdaughter
Snow, whose skin is white as snow. This family that she is married into,
they all pass as white people because they come
from an extremely light-skinned family. This book explores
post-race ideology, racial limbos, as well as the politics of passing, and I
really enjoyed this. Helen baby, you did that. The next book I
want to share with you guys is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. I feel like
everyone's read this book. This book, guys.
Chef's kiss. I love historical fiction, this is historical fiction,
and it spans across 250 years. It is basically about family lineage that
follows the lives of two half sisters. So the first sister whose
name is Effia is married to an Englishman who is a
slave trader. Second sister Esi is a slave and is
then sold to a plantation in Mississippi,
America. The book basically follows both their -
both of their bloodlines, and basically explores
250 years of a family, generation after generation after generation. And I
feel like this book is fantastic, I absolutely loved it. Yaa is a
fantastic author, obviously she's a Ghanaian American author, and she writes
beautifully. This is a very touching story. I feel
like if you enjoy Passing, if you enjoyed The Vanishing
Half, if you want to read more work by Black authors, then I would
definitely suggest starting with Yaa. Homegoing is a book like, honestly guys
if you haven't like i feel like everyone's read it,
so i would definitely definitely definitely recommend this one.
So yeah guys this is a fantastic book. Let's have a drink because
there's a lot on this list. Listen, being a reader is thirsty work.
Being a reader's thirsty work guys! The next book I want to share with all my babies
is Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat.
Now guys, now guys, I feel like, because you know what, I just want to say a few
words. This list is happening, this list is
popping, this list is for all the babies who want
to know what it feels like for the other babies. It's that list.
You know? I mean it's like a list. So this book is made up of nine short
stories and each story basically explores an experience that pertains
to being othered. And that is other as an Arab, other as a
Syrian, other as an immigrant. Honestly Dima writes like a pro. I
absolutely love this collection, because I'm someone who reads books like
this. Anyways. But I feel like I never really
get the opportunity to read stories that speak about being
othered from this perspective, of someone who is
of ethnic minority, but who isn't black. So I absolutely recommend this collection of
stories if you want to learn about being othered.
Okay so the next book I want to share with you guys today
is Love in Colour by Balu Babalola. I'm going to be releasing a standalone
review of this book next weekend, but I really want to get my
babies reading this book, because it is fantastic. This book is basically a
collection of mythical tales retold to include, you know, black people,
brown people, asian people, this people, that people, all people! I'm stupid.
To include everyone, honestly I'm only here for good literature.
I'm only here for good literature, you know, I'm only here for good literature.
Balu baby, Balu, you can write. I absolutely -
This one guys, reads, let's get into it. This is a book that I highly recommend
and I feel like it fits perfectly on this list,
because one, it is another writer of color,
and two, we want to diversify the literature that we're digesting.
And babies listen, the last book I'm going to share with
you guys today is Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
I read this, oh it was it last year
I think. I read this early last year and I fell in love with it.
This again is a collection of short stories, and each story is set in like a
dystopian near-future prosaic setting. If you're into dystopian
literature, and if you're into short stories that
explore racial identity as well as other social justice issues,
this was Nana's debut short story collection and I
absolutely loved it. I actually want to hear more thoughts on this so
I want to know what you guys think of this book, especially because I read it
and I absolutely loved it. I thought that each story was gripping
and I thought that each story spoke for itself, and definitely taught
you something by the end of it. So if you're into, as I said, books that
explore racial identity, as well as social justice issues, then I would
recommend. When it comes to debuts, y'all be writing some very very good debuts. So
honestly I would recommend this one. Now guys,
that concludes the entire video, and I'm really upset because I could
really go on forever and ever and ever and ever,
because I love to do that, I love, I just love recommending books,
I don't think there's any greater sport than recommending books.
Anyways guys I just want to say a massive thank you to Book Break for
having me on their channel today. As I said my name is Hena Bryan from the
YouTube channel Bookish Babe. Please show me some love and subscribe
to my channel. You can also find me on social media,
on Instagram, Twitter and Goodreads, and all of that information will be left in
the description box. Thank you once again Book Break for
having me, and I hope to see everyone again.
Bye now, bye!