Well-Read Black girl by Glory Edim book review

Posted by Simba Sloane

REVIEW👇🏾“All the books in my library hold a memory. When I was a child, they fulfilled promises and offered me a clear view of worlds- both real and imagined.“ 📙⁠⠀
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- taken from Well-Read Black girl by Glory Edim, #gifted by @simbaandsloane #TCMxSScollab⁠⠀
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Swipe left for @theculturedmarketer.reads audio reading of this caption if you prefer and check out my book blog for the full review (LINK IN BIO)⁠⠀
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❓ When you were younger, did you FIND YOURSELF in the stories you read? Which books shaped you pre-adulthood?📚⁠⠀
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Edim’s anthology of 21 essays by black women writers answers these exact questions and more on topics of womanhood, erasure and representation in 21 different and wonderfully unique ways.⁠⠀
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The story of this book and I began through my discovery of the online community @wellreadblackgirl, tracing the origin of this book back to its book club. 🧡⁠⠀
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The book’s collection of essays is grouped into sections, each punctuated by handy recommended reading lists of books written by black women. These reading lists explore classic novels (demystifying the version of ‘classics’ I grew up reading in my Lit classes!), black girlhood and friendships, science-fiction and fantasy, poetry and more.⁠⠀
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I usually pick up book recommendations in the bibliography section at the back of the books I read so it was great to see these selections woven into the overall structure of the book. The book is a fantastic resource for these selections alone.📖⁠⠀
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Although the essays were mostly written by black women who reside in the US, I smiled that the very last essayist featured hailed from the UK. I recognised her name, Lemara Lindsay-Price, commissioning editor at @merkybooks. Her essay is a testament to why representation is so important, to how books are windows and mirrors.📝⁠⠀
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All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the essays. What was beautiful was that I discovered shards of my story in their stories. Ultimately, isn’t that what reading is for? 🤔⁠⠀

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