Authors of Color: Recommendations for Adult Summer Reading 2025Like this list

20 items

• Sister Snake

  a Novel

  Lee Koe, Amanda, 1987-

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  In this reimagining of a Chinese folktale, two sisters, who were once snakes during the Tang dynasty, lead very different and separate lives in the present, but their reconciliation in Singapore may expose their secret.

• When the Reckoning Comes

  a Novel

  McQueen, LaTanya,

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  Returning to her hometown for a plantation wedding, Mira is forced to acknowledge her history and save herself from what is to come as slaves who were tortured mercilessly roam the land seeking revenge on the descendants—the wedding guests—of those…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Almost Surely Dead

  Akhtar, Amina,

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  A successful pharmacist living in New York is dealing with the death of her mother and a broken engagement when someone tries to murder her repeatedly and she unwittingly becomes the subject of a true crime podcast.

• Driving While Black

  African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights

  Sorin, Gretchen Sullivan,

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  Sorin explores the role of travel in civil rights, the specific impact of the automobile on African American life, and the cultural importance of Victor and Alma Green’s famous Green Book.

• No Place to Bury the Dead

  a Novel

  Sainz Borgo, Karina, 1982-

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  A memory-erasing plague spreads across a Latin American country, causing Angustias and her family to flee and leading to tragedy.

• Martyr!

  Akbar, Kaveh,

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  Cyrus Shams, the orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, finds his obsession with martyrs leading him to examine the mysteries of his past and to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.

• Bibliophobia

  a Memoir

  Chihaya, Sarah,

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  Chihaya explores how books shaped her identity, battling depression and societal expectations, while reflecting on the transformative, sometimes painful impact of literature in challenging personal beliefs and navigating an inhospitable world.

• Goddess of the River

  Patel, Vaishnavi,

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  Born to the cursed river goddess, Prince Devavrata makes an oath to never claim his father’s throne and sets into motion a tragic war.

• The Right Swipe

  a Novel

  Rai, Alisha,

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  Cynical dating app creator Rhiannon Hunter must decide whether or not to give former pro-football player Samson Lima, who wooed her during one magical night and then disappeared, a second chance despite the fact that he's in league with a business…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We're Not Broken

  Changing the Autism Conversation

  Garcia, Eric, 1990-

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  In his first book, a journalist on the autism spectrum combines memoir and a wide-ranging critique of how America is failing autistic children and adults.

• The Only Good Indians

  a Novel

  Jones, Stephen Graham, 1972-

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  Four American Indian men from the Blackfeet Nation, who were childhood friends, find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives, against an entity that wants to exact revenge upon them for what they did during an elk hunt ten years earlier.

• I'm So (not) Over You

  Jackson, Kosoko,

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  Pretending to still be his ex’s current boyfriend in front of his parents, Kian reluctantly winds up being Hudson’s plus-one at a splashy Georgia wedding and the pair find themselves in need of hashing out their true feelings.

• How to Be An Antiracist

  Kendi, Ibram X.,

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  Through a widening circle of antiracist ideas, Kendi helps readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.

• Velvet Was the Night

  Moreno-Garcia, Silvia,

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  In 1970s Mexico City, Maite, a secretary with a penchant for romance novels, searches for her missing neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, which leads her to an eccentric gangster who longs to escape his own life, and together, they set out…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• There There

  a Novel

  Orange, Tommy, 1982-

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  This novel grapples with the complex history and identity of Native Americans and follows twelve characters, each of whom has private reasons for traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow.

• Eloquent Rage

  a Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

  Cooper, Brittney C., 1980-

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  Cooper describes her identification process in becoming an African American feminist, arguing that the anger of Black women is motivated by a desire for honesty and accountability and is a source of powerful energy in their fight for equality.

• This Cursed House

  Sandeen, Del,

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  A young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: they’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

• Olga Dies Dreaming

  Gonzalez, Xochitl, 1977-

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  Olga and Prieto’s mother, Blanca, abandoned her children to advance a militant political cause, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives.

• White Ivy

  a Novel

  Yang, Susie,

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  Years after she is sent away from Boston to China for shoplifting, a conflicted Chinese American woman reconnects with her golden-boy childhood crush before a ghost from the past threatens her ambitions.

• Adult Summer Reading 2025

  View on bpl.org

  Visit our webpage to learn more about the Adult Summer Reading Program, which runs from June 1 to August 31.