2023
Jackie Hill Perry – Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him
Alice Walker – In Love & Trouble
2022
Kiese Laymon – Long Division (second half)
Michael Zapata – The Lost Book of Adana Moreau
Kiley Reid – Such a Fun Age
Ayana Mathis – The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Raven Leilani – Luster
Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray – The Personal Librarian
Zakiya Dalila Harris – The Other Black Girl
adrienne maree brown – Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (started, unfinished)
2021
Roxane Gay – Ayiti
Edwidge Danticat – Everything Inside
Terry McMillan – I Almost Forgot About You (also here)
Roxane Gay – Hunger
Suzanne Collins: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Kiese Laymon – Long Division (first half)
2020
Octavia Butler – Lilith’s Brood (re-read)
Emily Bernard – Black Is the Body
Roxane Gay – Difficult Women
Atul Gawande – Being Mortal
Lois Lowry – The Giver
Lois Lowry – Gathering Blue
Lois Lowry – Messenger
Lois Lowry – Son
Octavia Butler – Seed to Harvest (re-read)
Liane Moriarty – The Hypnotist’s Love Story
Angie Smith – What Women Fear
Octavia Butler – Parable of the Sower
Brit Bennett – The Vanishing Half
2019
Baldwin, James If Beale Street Could Talk
Hurston, Zora Neale Barracoon
Jones, Tayari An American Marriage
Edim, Glory Well-Read Black Girl
Gyasi, Yaa Homegoing
Adeyemi, Tomi Children of Blood and Bone
Braithwaite, Oyinkan My Sister, the Serial Killer
Collins, Kathleen Notes from a Black Woman’s Diary
Carty-Williams, Candice Queenie
Rivers, Francine Redeeming Love
Imarisha, Walidah Octavia’s Brood
& Brown, Adrienne Maree
Adeyemi, Tomi Children of Virtue & Vengeance
2018
Blanco, Jodee Please Stop Laughing at Me
Crouch, Blake Dark Matter
Due, Tananarive The Black Rose
Knight, Wesley Thirst: Quenching Your Deepest Desire
Morrison, Toni Paradise
Orwell, George 1984
Turner, Jamie Langston A Garden to Keep
Channer, Colin (ed.) Kingston Noir
Coates, Ta-Nehisi Between the World and Me
Coelho, Paulo The Alchemist
Danticat, Edwidge (ed.) Haiti Noir
Koontz, Dean Lightening
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude
This is a list of books that I read prior to 2017. I’ve read many more books than are on this list, but I can’t keep up with things I don’t write down somewhere safe.
Advice
Harper, Hill Letters to a Young Sister
Lockwood, Michael J. Women Have all the Power…
Charters, Ann The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction, 7th Ed.
Donnell and Welsh The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Lit.
Early and Harris Best African American Fiction: 2009
Gates Jr. and McKay Norton Anthology of African American Lit., 2nd Ed.
Gilbert and Gubar Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, 2nd Ed.
Greenblatt, Stephen Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, 8th Ed.
Greenblatt, et. al. The Norton Shakespeare, based on Oxford, 2nd Ed.
Lauter, Paul Heath Anthology of Am. Lit. Colonial-1800; Vol. A, 5th Ed.
Lauter, Paul Heath Anthology of Am. Lit. 1800-1865; Vol. B, 5th Ed.
McMichael, et. al. Anthology of American Literature Vol. 2, 9th Ed.
Meyer, Michael Bedford Introduction to Literature 7th Ed.
Stavans, Ilan Norton Anthology of Latino Literature
Staunton, Howard The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare , Annotated
UCF Student Government The Cypress Dome Issue 17, 2006
UCF Student Government The Cypress Dome Issue 21, 2010
Crime/Medical Drama
Connelly, Michael City of Bones
Cook, Robin Outbreak
Cornwell, Patricia Black Notice
Holleman, Jane Holy Terror
Matera, Lia Havana Twist
Palmer, Michael Fatal
Patterson, James 1st to Die
Drama
Hansberry, Lorraine A Raisin in the Sun
Johnson, Keith Lee Hell has no Fury
Jones, Tarsha Have you Met Miss Jones?
McMillan, Terry A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Nabokov, Vladimir Lolita
Simply Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet (Tragedy)
Fiction
Dunant, Sarah The Birth of Venus (Historical Fiction)
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby
Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God
Morrison, Toni Sula
Stockett, Kathryn The Help
Wright, Richard Native Son
Folktales
Babloyan and Shumskaya Folk Tales from the Soviet Union
Marcantonio, Patricia S. Red Ridin’ in the Hood
Tchana, Katrin The Serpent Slayer…
Velde, Vivian Vande Cloaked in Red
Young, Ed Lon Po Po
Friendship/Romance
Adams, Stacy Hawkins watercolored pearls
Amos, Robyn Cosmic Rendezvous
Barbieri, Elaine Miranda and the Warrior
Brooks, Helen Mistress to a Millionaire
Brown, Sandra Eloquent Silence
Grant, Lovely, Rax Crush
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Scarlet Letter
Murray, Victoria C. Joy
Novak, Brenda Shooting the Moon
Rochon, Farrah Deliver Me
Tomlinson, Dar Broken
Graphic Novels
Bechdel, Alison Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Bellstorf, Arne Baby’s in Black
Brosgol, Vera Anya’s Ghost
Croci, Pascal Auschwitz
Hwa, Kim Dong The Color of Earth
Lat Kumpung Boy
Moore and Bolland Batman: The Killing Joke
Phelan, Matt The Storm in the Barn
Satrapi, Marjane Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Shakespeare, William A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Smith, Jeff Bone: Out from Boneville
Spiegelman, Art Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
Tan, Shaun The Arrival
Urrea, Luis Alberto Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush
Yang, Gene Luen American Born Chinese
Yang, Gene Luen Level Up
Latin American/Caribbean
Agosín, Marjorie At the Threshold of Memory
Agosín, Marjorie Dear Anne Frank
Allende, Isabel My Invented Country
Alvarez, Julia In the Name of Salomé
Cañon, James Tales from the Town of Widows…
Cofer, Judith Ortiz the Latin Deli
Ferré, Rosario The House on the Lagoon
Fornes, Maria Irene Fefu and her Friends
Poniatowska, Elena Lilus Kikus
Alexis, Jacques Stephen General Sun, My Brother
Danticat, Edwidge Anacaona: Golden Flower
Danticat, Edwidge Behind the Mountains
Danticat, Edwidge Breath, Eyes, Memory
Danticat, Edwidge Krik? Krak!
Danticat, Edwidge The Dew Breaker
Danticat, Edwidge The Farming of Bones
Kincaid, Jamaica Annie John
Prince, Mary The History of Mary Prince…
Roumain, Jacques Masters of the Dew
Memoir
McBride, James The Color of Water
Wiesel, Elie Night
LIS Career
Kane, Laura Townsend Straight from the Stacks
Shontz and Murray A Day in the Life
Race Relations
Delgado, Richard The Rodrigo Chronicles
Schaefer, Richard T. Race and Ethnicity in the United States
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Butler, Octavia E. Kindred
Butler, Octavia E. Lilith’s Brood
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower
Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Talents
Butler, Octavia E. Seed to Harvest
Lloyd, Marjorie Lewis It Must Have Been an Angel
Marsh, Kathy J. The Aura of Love
Starr, Pamela Leigh Illusions
Starr, Pamela Leigh Mission
Writing
Burroway, Janet Imaginative Writing
Lamott, Anne bird by bird…
McCloud, Scott Understanding Comics
Sebranek, Kemper, Meyer Writers Inc
Strunk and White The Elements of Style
Young Adult
Alexie, Sherman …Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Anderson, Laurie Halse Fever 1793
Choldenko, Gennifer No Passengers Beyond this Point
Collins, Suzanne The Hunger Games
Collins, Suzanne Catching Fire
Collins, Suzanne Mockingjay
Condie, Ally Matched
Condie, Ally Crossed
Condie, Ally Reached
Curtis, Christopher Paul The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963
Falls, Kat Dark Life
Flinn, Alex Cloaked
Funke, Cornelia The Thief Lord
Gaiman, Neil Coraline
Green, John The Fault in Our Stars
Haddix, Margaret P. Among the Hidden
Hirsch, Jeff The Darkest Path
Hirsch, Jeff The Eleventh Plague
Johnson, Angela the first part last
Joyce, William …Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Lu, Marie Legend
Meyer, Marissa Cinder
Meyer, Marissa Scarlet
Ryan, Pam Muñoz Becoming Naomi León
Schrefer, Eliot Endangered
Sepetys, Ruta between shades of gray
Skármeta, Antonio the composition
Stead, Rebecca When You Reach Me
Taylor, Theodore The Cay
Uehashi, Nahoko Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
Williams-Garcia, Rita One Crazy Summer
Yancey, Rick The 5th Wave
Yancey, Rick The Infinite Sea
Zhang, Kat What’s Left of Me
Other
Dallas, Gregor Metro Stop Paris… (Travel)
Eman, Diet Things We Couldn’t Say (Autobiography)
Frankl, Viktor Man’s Search for Meaning (Psychology)
Gawande, Atul Better (Personal Narrative)
Nietzsche, Friedrich Beyond Good & Evil (Philosophy)
Roth, Phillip Goodbye, Columbus (Novella/Short Stories)
Shange, Ntozake For Colored Girls… (Choreopoem)
Christine Gabriélle 