Uncle Tom's Children

Written by: Richard Wright

Firstline: My first lesson in how to live as a Negro came when I was quite small.

Why you should read this book: This collection features five short stories and one biographical essay written early in the author's career. These pieces all describe the inherent terror of the Jim Crow south and the way it victimized Black people in twentieth century America, with violence and murder featuring prominently among the arsenal of tools used by segregationists to enforce social control. These are dangerous, frightening stories about a zero-sum game that is always fixed in favor of the house, wonderfully written with deep insight and wisdom, but difficult to read in terms of the suffering of the characters.

Why you shouldn't read this book: There aren't really any happy endings and four of the stories have absolutely brutal endings. 

Wise Child

Written by: Monica Furlong

First line: Juniper was different from us.

Why you should read this book: Wise Child's mother abandoned her long ago, her father is always away at sea, and her grandmother dies when she is nine, so by the customs of her medieval Scottish village, the community gathers to determine who will care for her, and the best candidate for the job is Juniper, the unmarried woman who lives outside of town, never attends mass, is quite obviously a witch. With some apprehension, Wise Child begins a new life, learning Latin and the healing arts and cleaning up after herself and a whole host of skills she could not imagine in her old life, until she finds that she loves her new foster mother and might even want to follow in her footsteps. But there are dangers in her new life—her biological mother, who is a very different kind of witch, wants her back, and the village priest doesn't want any kind of witches alive anywhere—and Wise Child must learn to solve problems and make fast, grown-up decisions while she is still a little girl.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are one of those completely humorless Christians who believe that anyone who doesn't attend your particular church must be in league with the devil,

When Women Were Dragons

Written by: Kelly Barnhill

First line: Greetings, Mother— I do not have much time.

Why you should read this book: Over the course of a few hours in 1955, when Alex was still a little girl, hundreds of thousands of women suddenly, and, apparently, of their own volition, turned into large, beautiful, fearsome dragons (often devouring their male oppressors in the process) and flew away, leaving behind children, family, and the smouldering remains of their homes. Alex's mother isn't among the dragons, but her aunt is, and "dragon" becomes an especially dirty word, even as Alex's younger orphan cousin (who Alex is told in no uncertain terms has always been her sister) seems fascinated with a subject that no one ever, ever discusses. This novel by an award-winning fantasy author harnesses the power of women who are larger on the inside than the are on the outside, who have swallowed their rage for too long, and who are still realizing how much power they possess. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You might not find much to enjoy if you're some kind of misogynist.

The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love

Written by: Sonya Renee Taylor 

First line: Long before there was a digital media and education company or a radical self-love movement with hundreds of thousands of followers on our website and social media pages, before anyone cared to write about us in newsprint or interview me on television, before people began to send me photos of their bodies with my words etched in ink on their backs, forearms, and shoulders (which never stops being awesome and weird), there was a word...well, words. 

Why you should read this book: Radical self-love asks us to embrace our bodies, with all their unique diversities and divergences, for their remarkable abilities to contain our spirits and allow us to live our lives, and to take this love to the extreme and extend to all bodies the same joyful and shameless celebration. Taylor categorizes the cultural shame and narrow boundaries of acceptable forms as body terrorism and assures us that whoever we are, however we look, and whatever our abilities, we are enough, and worthy of kindness, first from ourselves, but also from the world. Full of provocative inquiries and reflections, this remarkable and important book provides a road map for active and healthy change that every reader can use to improve the world, to increase their own comfort in their own skin.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You lack a corporeal form and don't interact with anyone who lives in a body. (This book should be required reading for being human.)

Parable of the Talents

Written by: Octavia E. Butler

First line: Here we are—/Energy,/Mass,/Life,/Shaping life,/Mind,/Shaping Mind,/God,/Shaping God.

Why you should read this book: Powerful, brutal, and more terrifyingly true to life than any near-future science fiction novel has any right to be, this sequel to the Parable of the Sower includes more excerpts from Olamina's Earthseed: The Books of the Living, recollections from Olamina's daughter, the writings of Olamina's husband, Bankole, and brother, Marcus, along with vast chunks from Olamina's own diaries. While prepared, always, for change, Olamina's Earthseed community cannot stand the rising tide of religious fascism sweeping the country under the rule of a radical conservative president who (frighteningly, presciently) gets elected with the campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." Unsurprisingly, for Olamina and most of her loved ones America becomes much, much worse, but with Earthseed as a blueprint for the survival and evolution of the human race, she is able to survive the horror of "Christian America" and help humanity fulfill what she believes to be its true Destiny.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You seriously believe our actual president is actually making America "great again," but if you believe that you probably don't read much of note anyway, at least not provocative, award winning speculative fiction by African-American women.

Wonder

Written by: RJ Palacio

First line: I know I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid.

Why you should read this book: Auggie Pullman really hit the genetic lottery with an astonishing combination of chromosomal abnormalities that make his face anything but ordinary, which he knows, because of the way other kids run away screaming when they see him on the playground. All his life he's been sick and set apart from the world that most kids inhabit, but his mother wants him to start fifth grade with other kids his age, and Auggie lets himself be convinced that he could possibly do this one thing like a normal kid. Told in multiple points of view, including Auggie's, his sister's, his friends, and his sister's friends, this is the story of a prejudice and perseverance, torture and triumph, as Auggie navigates the real world, populated by real people, and works through his real problems.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You know you'd feel better if you could just fix that little crooked part of your nose.

The Well of Loneliness

Written by: Radclyffe Hall

First line: Not very far from Upton-on-Severn--between it, in fact, and the Malvern Hills--stands the country seat of the Gordons of Bramley; well-timbered, well-cottaged, well-fenced and well-watered, having, in this latter respect, a stream that forks in exactly the right position to feed two large lakes in the grounds.

Why you should read this book: Heart breaking and achingly human, this book is widely considered the first lesbian novel, although today it's more likely that its protagonist, Stephen Gordon, would probably be considered a trans man, and the word "lesbian" never appears in the book ("invert" being the proper term of the day). Raised in a rough and tumble way by a father who wanted a son, Stephen desires the life of a boy, and then of a man, but is always made to feel an outcast and ridiculed for her mode of dress and action. Despite these trials and the prejudice she faces in her own family and community, Stephen grows up kind, thoughtful, and generally successful, and eventually finds her way to places where her "inversion" is better understood and accepted, although owing to the fact that this book was written almost 90 years ago, it remains tragic in nature and Stephen never truly accepts herself.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're scared to come out.

Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite

Written by: Suki Kim

First line: Time there seemed to pass differently.

Why you should read this book: I know I'm not the only American fascinated, bewildered, and curious about life in North Korea, as evidenced by the number of months I had to wait for this library reserve, and it did not disappoint in terms of sheer, mind-blowing insanity, and its descriptions of a world that is hardly imaginable. Suki Kim, born in South Korea, immigrated to America at age 13, and was also curious about the closed country where some of her relatives had disappeared before she was born, so she disguised herself as a Christian missionary among a group of Christian missionaries disguised as teachers, and spent two semesters living in a virtual prison while gathering intelligence about the most closed country on the planet. I devoured this fascinating narrative in a few hours and highly recommend it to anyone with the least interest in North Korea, oppressive regimes, the meaning of freedom, human rights, or brainwashing an entire country.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are a Christian missionary disguised as a teacher for the purpose of maintaining a presence in North Korea in case the country should ever open up enough to enable you to proselytize there.