Welcome to In Reading Color, a space where we focus on literature by and about people of color.
As a mood reader, I am, at times, a very simple person. Sometimes, figuring out what to read next feels like I need to consult the stars. Other times, it’s just simply inspired by the season. As such, with the sun bright and the temperature outside a smooth 66 degrees, I’m in the mood for books that feel like spring. For me, this means novels that take place during the spring (obviously), or ones that have general, plant-based themes, or themes of rebirth.
I’ll share a few with you after getting into some new releases!
Bookish Goods
Floral Bookmark with Black Women by HoneyGirlCreative
In theme with our books today, allow me to offer up these pretty, flowery book marks. $4
New Releases
The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela
Whether it’s because I just started paying more attention to them or because there really are more of them, I’ve been noticing more reading coming out that focuses on the long-term effects of living as a person in the margins.Varela’s stories in The People Who Report More Stress are about these people, who have to withdraw in order to survive. A queer man goes searching for a long-term partner and weeds out political moderates, but then wonders if his approach is the best after some uncomfortable encounters; a childcare worker teaches children Spanish with Selena’s songs; a Latine father suffers though microaggressions during playdates with a white mother, and more.
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
Dr. Briana Ortiz is simply going through it. Like, through it, through it. Her divorce has cemented, her brother is still looking for a kidney donor, and she might not even get that promotion she needs. It will probably go to the new male doctor, who she’s totally ready to hate on. But the new doc, Dr. Maddox, flips the script on Bri by sending her a letter…which she responds to with a letter of her own. Now the two are in constant communication, and she’s even allowed him to have lunch with her in her “sob closet.” As the two grow even closer, the good doc Maddox does a favor for her that is life-saving in this super sweet romance.
More New Releases
Butter: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments by Gayl Jones (Fiction, Short Stories)
Verity and the Forbidden Suitor by J.J. McAvoy (Historical Romance)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (Fiction)
Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison (Fiction)
Black Girls Must Have It All by Jayne Allen
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee (Fantasy)
Throwback by Maureen Goo (YA, Science Fiction)
The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila (YA, Fantasy)
The Little Mermaid: Make A Splash by Ashley Franklin (Children’s Picture Book)
The Loud Librarian by Jenna Beatrice, illustrated by Erika Lynne Jones (Children’s Picture Book)
Naming Ceremony by Seina Wedlick, illustrated by Jenin Mohammed
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, translated by Alison Watts
Sentaro’s dream of becoming a writer seems to fade more and more everyday. With his criminal record and drinking habit, all he seems able to to do for now is sell dorayaki, a Japanese pancake filled with sweet bean paste. His life gets an inspired jolt, though, when he meets Tokue. She’s disabled because of a disease that has filled her life with a lot of suffering, but despite her past, she makes the best sweet bean paste. She starts to teach Sentaro how to achieve sweet bean past perfection, and as they get to know each other better, the pasts they’re both trying to hide start to reveal themselves.
Magnolia, 木蘭 by Nina Mingya Powles
This poetry collection screams “Spring!” to me lately because of the cover, yes, but also because of its focus on the senses, which I think is vital for a spring book. After living through the cold and monochromatic winter, spring is a time for our senses to reawaken and start to differentiate between stimuli again. And it’s through the senses that Powles explores the liminal spaces between languages, memories of a biracial childhood, and the joy of food and nature.
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
Beautiful covers aside, this YA novel is giving spring because of its plant magic (!). High schooler Briseis is a magical girl. She can will seeds to grow and manipulate plants in other ways. But she keeps her magic hidden from other people, except for her adoptive mothers, and doesn’t explore her power much out of fear. When her biological aunt Circe, who she never knew she had, dies, she leaves her a run down estate in upstate New York. Once the family of three makes the move, it’s at the estate that Bri learns more of her family, and therefore herself, while making tinctures for people, even as she fends off odd groups and mysterious women. This is like the perfect mix of Greek mythology and plant magic with gothic sensibilities. Kalynn Bayron is basically an auto buy for me at this point.
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Thanks for reading; it’s been cute! If you want to reach out and connect, email me at erica@riotnewmedia.com or tweet at me @erica_eze_. You can find me on the Hey YA podcast with the fab Tirzah Price, as well as in the In The Club newsletter.
Until next time,
Erica