Reading across the interwebs, there have been loads of bloggie book people who have joined in with reading-related challenges and similar goals at various times. I’m not usually a challenge kinda person (although the TBR Challenge is always an appealing one, informal though my own personal one maybe).

So, I was perusing my own TBR when I realized that I had quite a few books on the topic of POC (specifically those of African descent) or by POCs. Add to that the fact that February is Black History Month in the U.S., and I realized that I could, in fact, do my own themed reading month (all very unofficial and flexible though it may be).

With this in mind, I’ve gathered up some titles from my own shelves and thus have collected a small shelf of recommended reading for the next few weeks or so. Seeing as the month is recognizing the history of African-Americans, I’ve limited this themed reading project to books by or about people who are linked with the African continent (and its numerous countries) in one way or another. So – as I tend to get a bit skittish about tackling reading lists and such (even if it is one that I myself have devised), this is a very laid-back (almost falling over) type of project so it may or may not work. We will see. I’m thinking that this will be a rather cool way to spend the next few weeks, and I’m hoping on learning quite a bit along the way.

Here’s the book list that I gathered up from my TBR shelves:

• Like One of the Family: Conversations from a Domestic’s Life – Alice Childress (1956) F
• Saturday is for Funerals – Unity Dow and Max Essex (2010) NF
• The Known World – Edward P. Jones (2003) F – DNF.
• Mother Country: Britain’s Black Community on the Home Front 1939-1945 – Stephen Bourne (2010) – NF
• Kaffir Boy – Mark Mathabane (1986) NF autobio
• My Traitor’s Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face his Country, his Tribe, and his Conscience – Rian Malan (2000) NF
• The Girl who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa – Alexander McCall Smith (2004) F. DNF.
• 12 Years a Slave – Solomon Northrup (1853) NF
• The Color Purple – Alice Walker (1982) F – and it’s epistolary!! Be still my heart.
• Merle and Other Stories – Paule Marshall (1985) F-short stories
• The Other Side of Truth – Beverley Naidoo (2000) F-YA
• Native Son – Richard Wright (1940) F
• They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of three Lost Boys from the Sudan – Benjamin Ajak, Alephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein (2005) NF – autobio
• Little Bee – Chris Cleave (2008) F
• Rules of the Wild: A Novel of Africa – Francesco Marciano (1998) F. DNF.
• So Long a Letter – Mariama Bâ (1979) F – and it’s epistolary. Be still my heart!
• A Walk Around the West Indies – Hunter Davies (2001) NF-travel

Other potential titles – these I’ll have to get from the library:

• Brown Girl Dreaming – Jacqueline Woodson (poetry)
• Boy, Snow, Bird – Helen Oyeyemi F
• A Raisin in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry Play
• Poetry – Alice Walker? Gwendolyn Brooks? Langston Hughes? Songs of Jamaica – Claude McKay?
• The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden – Jonas Jonasson (F) “charming”

If you have a title to recommend for me, please let me know. Happy to add to the list!

NOTE: Links reflect my own reviews from reading these titles, most of which occurred following BHM. :-}