★★★★★

 

As June comes to an end and we take a step into July, I thought it was time to enlighten you on some upcoming releases. It's a short list but each one is important and should definitely be added to your To Be Read list!

The Pink Line: The World's Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser

Release date: 2 July

Six years in the making, The Pink Line follows protagonists from nine countries all over the globe to tell the story of how LGBTQ+ Rights became one of the world's new human rights frontiers in the second decade of the twenty-first century. From refugees in South Africa to activists in Egypt, transgender women in Russia and transitioning teens in the American Mid-West, The Pink Line folds intimate and deeply affecting stories of individuals, families and communities into a definitive account of how the world has changed, so dramatically, in just a decade. And in doing so he reveals a troubling new equation that has come in to play: while same-sex marriage and gender transitions are now celebrated in some parts of the world, laws to criminalise homosexuality and gender non-conformity have been strengthened in others. In a work of great scope and wonderful storytelling, this is the groundbreaking, definitive account of how issues of sexuality and gender identity divide and unite the world today.

Why should you read this?

The Pink Line is a beautifully written, immensely moving book. Gevisser puts together powerful stories of people around the globe who talk about the sufferings and triumphs of the complex movement of Queer civil rights. He has taken the time to thoroughly talk to those from a range of backgrounds: the privileged and unprivileged, every race and every nationality. His book is both enlightening and disturbing, but is a must read for those wanting to have more of an understanding of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Release date: 7 July

It's 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl's display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella's mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all - and in the process, they learn that there's more to Cinderella's story than they ever knew...

Why should you read this?

This book has been described as Queer Black girls overthrowing the patriarchy - and that's exactly what it is! Bayron takes the original fairytale and completely flips it on its head to give us this fierce and twisted story of girls taking down the corrupt system they live in. What more could you want? This modern, inclusive and highly relevant story will have you rooting for everyone wanting to break the wall and make a change in the world.

Dear NHS compiled and edited by Adam Kay

Release date: 9 July

The NHS is our single greatest achievement as a country. No matter who you are, no matter what your health needs are, and no matter how much money you have, the NHS is there for you. In Dear NHS, 100 inspirational people come together to share their stories of how the national health service has been for them, and changed their lives in the process. By turns deeply moving, hilarious, hopeful and impassioned, these stories together become a love letter to the NHS and the 1.4 million people who go above and beyond the call of duty every single day - selflessly, generously, putting others before themselves, never more so than now.

Why should you read this?

With the likes of Candice Carty-Williams, Dawn French, Stanley Tucci and Louis Theroux contributing to this brilliant book, it brings us together to shout our praises even more for the NHS. This powerful, heartfelt anthology features 100 personal stories from well-known names who share their experience and gratitude for the wonderful health service we're lucky to have here in the UK. What's even more incredible is that all author and publisher profits will go to NHS Charities Together to fund vital research and projects, and The Lullaby Trust which supports parents bereaved of babies and young children. I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

Olive by Emma Gannon

Release date: 23 July

Independent. Adrift. Anxious. Loyal. Kind. Knows her own mind. Olive is many things, and it's okay that she's still figuring it all out, navigating her world without a compass. But life comes with expectations, there are choices to be made, boxes to tick and - sometimes - stereotypes to fulfil. And when her best friends' lives start to branch away towards marriage and motherhood, leaving the path they've always followed together, Olive starts to question her choices - because life according to Olive looks a little bit different.

Why should you read this?

Have you ever felt completely content with your life but one decision makes you stand out from the crowd even though it shouldn't? For Olive, that's the decision to not have children. Gannon uses wit, sarcasm and smart storytelling to make it clear to those who don't understand that not wanting children is okay and should be deemed normal. It's a thought provoking story of friendship, choice of motherhood and acceptance that will leave you with a lasting feeling of warmth.

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

Release date: 28 July

Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organisation to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time - her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town's racist history that still haunt the present?

Why should you read this?

SHAGGED MARRIED ANNOYED

WITCH, PLEASE

GROUNDED WITH LOUIS THEROUX

DESERT ISLAND DISCS

WHY I'M NO LONGER TALKING TO WHITE PEOPLE ABOUT RACE BY RENI EDDO-LODGE

THE HATE U GIVE BY ANGIE THOMAS

QUEENIE BY CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS

From the blurb: Caught between the Jamaican British family who don't seem to understand her, a job that's not all it promised and a man she can't get over, Queenie's life seems to be steadily spiralling out of control. Desperately trying to navigate her way through a hot mess of shifting cultures and toxic relationships and emerge with a shred of dignity, her missteps and misadventures will provoke howls of laughter and tears of pity - frequently on the same page.

Tackling issues as diverse as mental health, race, class and consent with a light yet sure touch, Queenie is refreshingly candid, delightfully compassionate and bracingly real. The perfect fable for a frenetic and confusing time, Carty-Williams' stellar novel is undoubtedly one of the 2019's most exciting debuts and announces its author as a fresh and vibrant new voice in British literature.

WELL-READ BLACK GIRL BY GLORY EDIM

From the blurb: Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives - but not everyone regularly sees themselves reflected on the pages of a book.

In this timely anthology, Glory Edim, founder of the online community, Well-Read Black Girl, brings together original essays by some of America's best Black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all - regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability - have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature.

Whether it's learning about the complexities of femalehood from Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison, finding a new type of love in The Color Purple, or using mythology to craft an alternative Black future, each essay reminds us why we turn to books in times of both struggle and relaxation. As she has done with her book club-turned-online community, Edim has created a space where black women's writing, knowledge and life experiences are lifted up, to be shared with all readers who value the power of a story to help us understand the world, and ourselves.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF FREEDOM BY DERAY MCKESSON

From the blurb: Five years ago, DeRay Mckesson quit his job as a schoolteacher, moved to Ferguson, Missouri, and spent the next 400 days on the streets as an activist, helping to bring the Black Lives Matter movement into being.

Now, in his first book, he draws on his own experiences - of growing up without his mother, with a father in recovery, of having a house burn down and a bully chase him home from school, of pacifying a traffic cop at gunpoint and being dragged out of a police station by his ankles, of determined activism on the streets and in the White House - to make the case for hope, for believing a better future is possible. It is a visionary's call to take responsibility for imagining, and then building, the world we want to live in.

STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING BY DR IBRAM X. KENDI

From the blurb: Its deeply researched and fast-moving narrative chronicles the journey of racist ideas from fifteenth-century Europe to present-day America through the lives of five major intellectuals - Puritan minister Cotton Mather, President Thomas Jefferson, fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, brilliant scholar W.E.B Du Bois, and legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis - showing how these ideas were developed, disseminated and eventually enshrined in American society.

Contrary to popular conception, it reveals that racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Instead, they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era, including anti-slavery and pro-civil rights advocates, who used their gifts and intelligence wittingly or otherwise to rationalise and justify existing racial disparities in everything from wealth to health. Seen in this piercing new light, racist ideas are shown to be the result, not the cause, of inequalities that stretch back over centuries, brought about ultimately through economic, political and cultural self-interest.

AMERICANAH BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

From the blurb: As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?

SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE BY IJEOMA OLUO

From the blurb: Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy - from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black Americans - has put a media spotlight on racism in our society. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law take umbrage when you asked to touch her hair - and how do you make it right? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they inject almost every aspect of American life.

HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES BY SAEED JONES

From the blurb: Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir. Jones tells the story of a young, Black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescence - into tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another - and to one another - as we fight to become ourselves.

SUCH A FUN AGE BY KILEY REID

From the blurb: When Emira is apprehended at a supermarket for 'kidnapping' the white child she's actually babysitting, it sets off an explosive chain of events. Her employer Alix, a feminist blogger with a 'personal brand' and the best of intentions, resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke and wary of Alix's desire to help. When she meets someone from Alix's past, the two women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know - about themselves, each other, and the messy dynamics of privilege.