5 must-read books by Non-White Authors
The world is full of supercalifragilistic authors
When 2020 began, I decided to read at least 30 books in a year. Till the end of May, I had already read 15 books. From the authors of every nation to unique subjects, I have read a lot this year. From Haruki Murakami, Agatha Christie to Indian author, Amish Tripathi, I have read on a plethora of areas varying from magical realism, fiction, mythological, to murder mysteries.
Since I have read around a dozen of books, I have loved some books to an extent that I started thinking like the protagonists sometimes. But, today, I have decided to jot down a list of books that are written by Non-White authors and give you a beautiful read-time.
Killing Commendatore (Haruki Murakami)
My year started with this 1000 pages long book. And, in no time, I was captivated by the writing of Mr. Murakami. Earlier, I had read his books like Kafka On The Shore, Men Without Women, and Sputnik Sweetheart. But, this book had its own core.
The book focuses on an unnamed portrait painter protagonist and his out-of-the-world unrealistic adventures when his wife leaves him one day. When he ends up his adventure, he finds shelter at his friend’s father's place, who was a renowned painter himself. Inspired by him to paint again, one day he finds an unseen painting of the owner and his world starts to shift upside down. From hearing a ringing bell in the middle of the night, bringing the protagonist of the painting out in the real world, things get stranger and stranger like any other Murakami’s novel.
Although the book is hefty and lengthy, it still keeps you on the hook. I would recommend it to everyone looking for a book to read. It is one of those books where you want to stop and read more of it at the same time.
Magically magnetic and captivating!
The Shiva Trilogy (Amish Tripathi)
Amish Tripathi has created his own world of mythological fictitious characters. Shiva is a Hindu god and Amish Tripathi created a fictitious lifestyle of Shiva, took him as the protagonist, and created a beautiful Indian world divided by good and evil, divided by feminism and masculinity, and divided by Chandravanshis, Suryavanshis, and Nagas.
The Shiva Trilogy consists of there books — The Immortals of Meluha, Secrets of Nagas, and The Oath of Vayuputras.
Shiva, the leader of a mountain tribe starts his journey from Tibet. A commander from Meluhan kingdom comes and asks him to take his tribe to Meluha and live there. Shiva agrees and as a quarantine medicine, Shiva and his tribe are given a medicine called “Somras”. Surprisingly, the medicine turns Shiva’s throat blue while others stay normal. Suddenly, Shiva becomes “Neelkanth” for Meluhans and people start believing that the evil Chandravanshis will be destroyed by Shiva himself.
When Chandravanshis are defeated, Shiva finds out that evils were not the people he and his army defeated. But, the evils are Nagas! The whole trilogy is based on Shiva’s expedition to destroy evil when people have started believing “He is the destroyer of evil. He is the Mahadev!”
This series of books with scientific touch and the Indian values of the past give literal chills at times. The whole world created by Amish’s imagination is tight which binds us together in every Shiva’s expedition.
An exciting Mythological Adventure!
An American Marriage (Tayari Jones)
By far, my favorite book of the year! An American Marriage by Tayari Jones revolves around three main characters- Roy, Celestial, and Andre.
Roy and Celestial, a middle-class African-American couple who live in Atlanta travel to Eloe, Louisiana to visit Roy’s parents. They spend the night at the local Motel where an old lady falsely claims that Roy raped her. Roy was sentenced to 12 years of jail in the trial.
During the first few years, Roy and Celestial keep in touch by sending letters regularly, But, Roy starts feeling kind of frustrated when Celestial artist career shoots off and the gaps between letters increase. After three years of the sentence, Celestial decides to leave Roy and fall in love with her childhood best friend, Andre.
Since the couple never got divorced and Roy is released from jail early, he decides to go to Celestial and sort things out. Then starts the real tussle between the three!
An American Marriage carries both the protagonist smoothly and gives both Roy and Celestial a beautiful character space. Every character has his/her own arc and it is very well transcribed in the book. I would go on and on and still, I will be short of words to describe how beautiful this book is.
A perfect read about partners and their relationship tussle!
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas)
It is also my first read on racism. Although it is a young adult novel, it beautifully shows the life of a black kid growing up between white people in America. The Hate U Give aka THUG is the debut novel of Angie Thomas and created a lot of buzz amongst bibliophiles.
The book has a 16-year old black girl, Starr Carter as the protagonist who attends a private school in the posh area of the city. One night when she comes out of the party with her childhood friend, Khalil, his friend gets killed by a white police officer. And, in no time, Starr becomes a national news story and speaks about the racism and shooting on public platforms. The story takes a sharp turn when the jury doesn't indict the “murderer” police officer and riots in the city fires up.
If I tell you my tale with this book. I read the book in January and gave it to my friend. My friend read it, gave it to another friend. Now, it has been over five months and I have never got the book back as it passed on from one person to another. A fantastic read!
Wrenching, brave, and a familiar theme of racism
Dear Martin (Nic Stone)
Should I breathe air, or drink water?
If I ask you this, you would answer “BOTH!”. Right? Dear Martin and The Hate U Give are like that only. They are different — from writing to storytelling but we need both of them.
Justyce McAllister is a class topper who goes to a white prep school. He is a poor kid and who has joined the school- thanks to the scholarship. He always writes to Martin Luther King in his diary about how he feels being black. Before graduation, Justyce and his friend, Manny go for a duo trip to take a break from the city. At a stoplight, an off-duty white police officer named Garrett Tison tells the boys to turn off the music. Instead of doing that, Manny turns up the volume and the raged officer shoots at them, killing Manny.
The police offer frames Justyce for the murder and he gets arrested at school. While waiting for his trial, he reads the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though he does not get indicted, jury decides for a retrial on the felony murder charge of an officer. After two weeks, he gets to know that Tison is killed in his jail cell before he can be sentenced.
Justyce goes to Yale and decides to find who he really is before he can stand strong. Nic Stone sheds light on the bi-partisan politics of America with this book and the racial discrimination in the country.
Simple, short, and realistic!
Peace!