A list compiled by by Yolanda Sangweni of AfriPOP! Magazine
(via AfriPOP)
*there are more than 50 books on this list (shrug)

Anthem of the Decades by Mazisi Kunene.
Biko by Donald Woods
Roots by Alex Haley
Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo
Head Above Water by Buchi Emecheta
The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda
You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town, David’s Story and Playing in the Light by Zoe Wicomb
Mother to Mother by Sindiwe Magona
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai
Hero of the Nation by Henry Masauko Chipembere
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Distant View of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Song for Night and Becoming Abigail by Chris Abani
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Desert Flower and Desert Dawn by Waris Dirie
Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival by Fadumo Korn
When Rain Clouds Gather, Maru and A Question of Power by Bessie Head
Women are Different by Flora Nwapa
The Stone Virgins by Yvonne Vera
Call me Woman by Ellen Kuzwayo
And They didn’t Die by Lauretta Ngcobo
Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, Petals of Blood and Weep Not Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
Black Sunlight by Dambudzo Marechera
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
Ready For Revolution by Kwame Ture
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
The Making of Black Revolutionaries by James Forman
Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams
The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop
The Isis Papers by Frances Cress Welsing
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Dreams From My Father, Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
O’ Mandingo!: The Only Black at a Dinner Party by Eric Miyeni
Gerard Sekoto: I Am An African by Chabani Manganyi
The Good Women of China by Xue Xinran
Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success, a Spider-Web Doctrine by Chika Onyeani
Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
Scatter the Ashes and Go and Hyenas by Mongane Wally Serote
Black God of the Sun by Ekow Eshun
Mavericks by Lauren Beukes
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Indaba and My Children by Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen
The Spirit of Intimacy by Sobonfu E. Somé
God’s Bit of Wood and The Money Order with White Genesis by Ousmane Sembène
Zenzele: A letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire
The Bible
The Land Is Ours: The Political Legacy of Mangaliso Sobukwe by S.E.M. Pheko
Subukwe and Apartheid by Benjamin Pogrund
I Write What I Like by Steve Biko
Blues People by Amiri Baraka
Stolen Legacy by George G. M. James
Democracy Matters by Cornel West
Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience edited by Henry Louis Gates and Anthony Appiah
Speak So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Lucy Hurston

*still working on this and of course the list constantly growing. i have a lot of reading to do.

gorgeous book illustrations by award-winning artist shadra strickland.
(via loveisnear)

I lay in an uncomfortable position, my head at a strange angle so that it stayed on Victor’s shoulder and my body curving back so that it tucked into him. He was sleeping, his breathing as even, as unhurried, as everything else about him. In contrast my thoughts churned, though I didn’t allow myself to think about my lost virginity. He had looked faintly surprised, probably because I had offered no resistance, required no coaxing. He wanted to apologize, but I wouldn’t let him. He didn’t know what he had done for me. Instead I thought about my tummy swelling with child. I would get pregnant, I was sure of it. I was the sort of person who never got away with wrongdoing. If everyone was skipping classes, the teachers would only come looking on the day I followed suit. But I had slept with him anyway, knowing I would be caught and disgraced. Caught, disgraced, and noticed. I would be seen.

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dominickbrady:

bthny:

shorterexcerpts:

merrifulrhino:

(via palahniukandchocolate)

Always

Bookstores that stayed open to at least last-call/bar hours would be an ideal place for me to meet women. Ladies in bars may like books, but they might also be illiterate. A late-night bookstore would at least have extra odds.

What about a combination bookstore/bar? That probably already exists somewhere, right?

A bookstore/bar combo would be the best thing ever.

aaaaaactually, st. mark’s bookshop in east village (nyc) is open pretty late. until midnight i think. they don’t sell boos, but east village/l.e.s. is packed with some of the best nightlife (and beautiful people and good food!) in manhattan if you ask me.