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Apparently the New York Times has forgotten that people of color write books too. The paper’s just-released annual summer reading list compiled by critic Janet Maslin is all white. There is not one author of color on the list of 17 books appearing on the “Cool Books for Hot Summer Days” list. Of course, Maslin has come under heavy criticism for this oversight.
But this isn’t anything all too new for the Times. Gawker reports that past lists have not been too diverse as either. In 2012 the summer list was 90.4 percent white with one exception: Mindy Kaling. In 2013 it was 93.7 percent white, again with one exception: Kevin Kwan with Crazy Rich Asians. Things improved slightly in 2014 when the list was 88 percent white, except for Mariano Rivera and Laline Paul.
Turns out, Maslin had been planning to step down from her role as the publication’s book critic this July, and this could be her last summer reading list, reports The Independent.
Luckily, Coffee Book Shelves recently released its own list of Black beach reads. Compiled by Shade Lapite they include:
–Dorothy Koomson’s tenth novel, That Girl From Nowhere, which Lapite describes as “deliciously cryptic.”
––Skies of Ash, book two in Rachel Howzell Hall’s new series. If you like crime novels, this one is for you.
–Bernice L. McFadden’s beloved romance tale, Loving Donovan, which will be reissued this summer.
–Award-winning Americanah, which will be soon be made into a film with Selma’s David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o. It’s the third novel from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
–You can go wrong with Toni Morrison’s God Help The Child.
–Cynthia Bond’s Ruby, which was selected for for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0.
–then there Oprah Winfrey’s own collection of essays, What I Know For Sure, was released last autumn. The essays span 14 years in Oprah’s life, so it’s sure to be inspiring as well as intriguing.
–Issa Rae biography The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, which Lapite describes as “a mixture of revelation, self-reflection and frank perspective.”
–Author Attica Locke, who has been a producer on the TV series Empire as of late, has released Pleasantville, the sequel to her widely acclaimed novel Black Water Rising.
