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James by Percival Everett

James by Percival Everett

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You have probably heard of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a story about a runaway boy, Huck Finn, and a runaway slave, Jim, who decide to sail down the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered to be an anti-racist book, despite its heavy use of a certain racial slur (I should point out that this slur also appears quite frequently in James as well), and the character of Jim is depicted as honorable and intelligent, albeit gullible and loyal to Huck even after Huck plays tricks on him. James is a reimagining of Huck and Jim’s adventures told from Jim’s perspective, and it tells a more authentic story about slavery and the deep-seated racism of the South, something that I think only a Black writer can do. I found James to be an uncomfortable read, but it is also a very interesting story that I recommend whether or not you have read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

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The Book of Negroes is a novel about an African woman who was sold into slavery, and who spends the rest of her life fighting for a tenuous freedom that takes her full circle back to her country of birth. It is a bleak story, of course, but not as violent in its depiction of the slave trade as it could have been, so I found it to be a more palatable read than some other books about slavery that I have read. What I found most interesting about The Book of Negroes, though, was the details about the African slave trade that do not get discussed much. If anything, I recommend reading The Book of Negroes for the history as you can tell Lawrence Hill put much effort into researching this novel.

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The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

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The Radium Girls is a nonfiction account of the incredibly horrifying story of the radium-dial factory workers in the United States. Their job was to paint watches, clocks and military dials with a luminous substance made from radium, but what they did not know is that radium is a dangerous element that would eventually kill them. I had heard of the Radium Girls before reading this book, but Kate Moore’s book really hits home the mistreatment of these women by the companies they worked for, medical professionals, and even their own communities.

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Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

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I came across Moon of the Crusted Snow while browsing the Indigo website. It is essentially a story about the apocalypse, which attracted my attention because I love stories about the apocalypse. Weird, I know. But I like to get ideas for what to do or not to do when shit hits the fan. Moon of the Crusted Snow is a somewhat interesting story, but I feel like it ended before it really got started and overall the novel was just okay.

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The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

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The Ministry of Time is Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel. I love time travel stories, and there has been a lot of buzz around this book, so I decided to buy it. I absolutely loved The Ministry of Time and can see it on my short list of favourite books of 2024. I made the mistake of going onto Goodreads (ugh) and checking out the reviews on there, and I am baffled by the number of one-star reviews, as well as the false accusations of plagiarism against this book because it shares the same name as the Spanish TV show El Ministerio del Tiempo. As someone who has seen El Ministerio del Tiempo AND read The Ministry of Time, I can assure you that there is no plagiarism involved. Both are delightful to watch/read.

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White Teeth by Zadie Smith

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

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White Teeth was originally published in the year 2000 and is Zadie Smith’s first novel. It is a pretty impressive debut considering Smith was only 24 years old when it was published. It is a thick book that took me nearly two weeks to read, and it is Dickensian with a large cast of characters. It reads like a quaint 19th or early 20th century novel even though it is set in the late 20th century. White Teeth is broadly about the immigrant experience in western culture. It took a bit for me to get into the story, but I ended up finding it to be an interesting and humorous read.

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One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole

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One of Us Knows is the second novel that I have read by Alyssa Cole. The first was When No One is Watching, which I read before I started this blog. Both novels explore the horrors of racism. When No One is Watching is about the sinister gentrification of a Brooklyn neighbourhood. I liked it enough that I wanted to read Cole’s next thriller, One of Us Knows, but I somehow missed in the synopsis that the protagonist has dissociative identity disorder (DID – formerly known as multiple personality disorder), which almost stopped me from reading it as I feel that DID is a sensitive subject matter that not many people take seriously. However, my curiosity won out and I ended up being completely engrossed by this novel.

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Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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Where Sleeping Girls Lie is Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s second novel, after her debut Ace of Spades. I have pretty much gravitated away from YA novels, but I decided to give Àbíké-Íyímídé’s second novel a chance because I liked Ace of Spades and I appreciate that her YA fiction is grounded in realism. Unfortunately, I was not as engrossed by Where Sleeping Girls Lie as I was by Ace of Spades. I feel as though this novel is lacking something, and after pondering over it, I have concluded that it is because the characters are somewhat bland.

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