Rating Guide:
☆ – do not recommend reading; lacked most things a book/good story should have.
☆☆ – a good concept but not well-executed.
☆☆☆ – a good concept, a solid foundation, but lacking in some areas. books with this rating may be repetitious, have an unsurprising/predictable plot, or flat characters.
☆☆☆☆ – a strong, enjoyable book; a solid recommendation. usually leisure-reads.
☆☆☆☆☆ – the highest recommendation, fell in love with the book and would read it again.
Titles highlighted in grey are written by BIPOC authors.
Monday’s Not Coming – Tiffany D. Jackson ☆☆☆☆
Washington Black – Esi Edugyan ☆☆☆☆☆
Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things – Josh Clark, Chuck Bryant ☆☆☆
The Colours of my Heart – Faiz Ahmad Faiz (trans. Baran Farooqi) ☆☆
The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett ☆☆☆
Melmoth – Sarah Perry ☆☆
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone – Lori Gottlieb ☆☆☆☆☆
Devotions – Mary Oliver ☆☆☆☆☆
The Fishermen – Chigozie Obioma ☆☆☆☆☆
The Only Good Indians – Stephen Graham Jones ☆☆☆☆☆
Cinders & Sparrows – Stefan Bachmann ☆☆
Sharks in the Time of Saviors – Kawai Strong Washburn ☆☆☆☆☆
Featherhood – Charlie Gilmour ☆☆
Inadvertent – Karl Knausgaard ☆☆☆
The Fifth Season – NK Jemisin ☆☆☆☆☆
Luster – Raven Leilani ☆☆☆
Life of Pi – Yann Martel ☆☆☆☆
Friday Black – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ☆☆☆☆☆
My Struggle: Book 5 – Karl Ove Knausgaard ☆☆☆☆☆
The Dream We Carry – Olav Hauge ☆☆☆☆
Hatchet – Gary Paulsen ☆☆
Breasts and Eggs – Mieko Kawakami ☆☆☆☆☆
Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik ☆☆☆☆☆
Of Women and Salt – Gabriela Garcia ☆☆☆
Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia ☆☆☆
How to Carry Soup – CM Rivers ☆☆
Razorblade Tears – SA Cosby ☆☆☆☆
Blackbird 4PM – Brett Maddux ☆☆☆☆
Fox & I – Catherine Raven ☆☆☆☆
The Obelisk Gate – NK Jemisin ☆☆☆☆☆
The Best of James Herriot ☆☆☆☆☆
Welcome to America – Linda Bostrom Knausgard ☆☆
The Stone Sky – NK Jemisin ☆☆☆☆☆
We Are Unprepared – Meg Little Reilly ☆☆
Queenie – Candice Carty-Williams ☆☆☆
Beautiful World, Where Are You? - Sally Rooney ☆☆☆
Lore Olympus – Rachel Smythe ☆☆☆
The Princess Bride – William Goldman ☆☆☆☆
The Wolf and the Watchman – Niklas Natt och Dag ☆☆☆☆☆
In the Dream House – Carmen Maria Machado ☆☆ ☆
Dragon Teeth – Michael Crichton ☆☆☆☆
Cuyahoga – Pete Beatty ☆☆☆
Writers & Lovers – Lily King ☆☆☆
Around the World in 80 Trees – Jonathan Drori, ill. Lucille Clerc ☆☆☆☆☆
If you've read any of the above books and have a differing opinion, feel free to leave a comment! I'm always open to re-evaluating.