Reads 365: No.6
December - Year in Review
A mix of literary classics & essential reads.
Some of the books features heavy subject matter, so please be mindful of the content warnings and research them fully.
Your mental wellbeing matters.
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
Celie writes letters to God about her abuse, survival, and eventual liberation. Walker's epistolary masterpiece about Black women's resilience and love remains revolutionary.
✨ "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
💜 Heartbreak and hope
🏆 Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award
#MarginsXReads #TheColorPurple #AliceWalker #PulitzerPrize #BlackWomen #Sisterhood
The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
In the theocratic Republic of Gilead, women are property. Atwood's dystopian classic feels more urgent every year.
📚 Genre: Dystopian Fiction
📺 Inspired a cultural phenomenon
🏆 Governor General's Award
#MarginsXReads #TheHandmaidsTale #MargaretAtwood #Dystopia #FeministFiction #Resistance
An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy's life is shattered when he's wrongfully imprisoned. Jones explores love, loyalty, and what survives injustice in this devastating novel.
✨ What do you owe to the person who loved you before?
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
💔 Moral complexity
📚 Oprah's Book Club
#MarginsXReads #AnAmericanMarriage #TayariJones #WrongfulConviction #BlackLove #Marriage
The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
Starr witnesses her unarmed friend's murder by police. Thomas's YA debut sparked crucial conversations about police brutality, activism, and code-switching.
✨ "What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?"
📚 Genre: Young Adult
✊ Pages that changed YA
🎬 Major motion picture
#MarginsXReads #THUG #AngieThomas #BlackLivesMatter #YALit #PoliceViolence #Activism
Such a Fun Age
by Kiley Reid
A Black babysitter is accused of kidnapping the white child she cares for. Reid's debut is sharp social commentary wrapped in a page-turner about race, class, and privilege.
✨ "She was feeling what everyone feels when they're twenty-five: that all the adults had gotten together behind her back and let her down."
📚 Genre: Contemporary Fiction
📖 Pages you'll devour
#MarginsXReads #SuchAFunAge #KileyReid #Race #Class #ModernAmerica #MustRead
Kindred
by Octavia Butler
A Black woman in 1970s California keeps being pulled back to save her white ancestor - a plantation owner. Butler's time-travel classic forces us to confront slavery's legacy.
✨ Science fiction as historical reckoning.
📚 Genre: Science Fiction
👑 Afrofuturism pioneer
#MarginsXReads #Kindred #OctaviaButler #SciFi #Afrofuturism #Slavery #TimeTravel
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
Edna Pontellier awakens to her own desires in 1890s Louisiana. Chopin's proto-feminist novel was scandalous in 1899 and remains radical.
✨ "I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself."
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
🌊 Changed American lit
📚 Feminist classic
#MarginsXReads #TheAwakening #KateChopin #FeministClassic #AmericanLit #ProtoFeminist
December’s Year in Review list