Essence book club recommended read program

Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall Moraga Waiting to Exhale by Terri McMillan Native Son by Richard Wright Kehinde by Buchi Emecheta Fences by August Wilson The Debt by Randall Robinson Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks The Wedding by Dorothy West Tumbling by Diane McKinney-Whetstone Hands down, Keke Palmer was one of the most refreshing presences at the Essence Festival. Whether playing the Dating Game or moderating a panel, the actress and singer was self-possessed and uncannily charming.

This is perfect for any young woman in your life who finds living in a social media age both liberating and, at times, a bit frightening.

Keke knows about that. You start your day with the best of intentions, right? Have you been there? Actually I live there, which is one of the reasons I thoroughly dived into a revelatory read from venerable writer Bonnie St. Often compared to Catcher in the Rye , Lord of the Flies also represents a coming-of-age story of innocence lost. Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Three and they label you a serial killer. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic.

And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. Not that she gets any credit. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her.

Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite's deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening. As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation.

But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place. A searing, utterly unvarnished debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an insightful, unsettling, often hilarious exploration of a culture trying to navigate the fault lines of an institution that has proven to be worthy of our great wariness and our great hope.

Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Animal Farm by George Orwell. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality.

One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. It feels to me like the kind of bold, timely, once-in-a-generation book that every house should have a copy of, and probably will before too long.

Starved for affection, Lina battles daily panic attacks and, after reconnecting with an old flame through social media, embarks on an affair that quickly becomes all-consuming.

In North Dakota we meet Maggie, the seventeen-year-old high school student who allegedly has a clandestine physical relationship with her handsome, married English teacher; the ensuing criminal trial will turn their quiet community upside down. Finally, in the northeast we meet Sloane, the successful, refined restaurant owner whose husband enjoys watching her have sex with other men and women.

Based on years of immersive reporting and told with astonishing frankness and immediacy, Three Women is both a feat of journalism and a triumph of storytelling, brimming with nuance and empathy.

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Philip Pullman's award-winning The Golden Compass is a masterwork of storytelling and suspense, critically acclaimed and hailed as a modern fantasy classic. This Yearling paperback edition includes 15 pages of bonus material: some found letters of Lord Asriel, his scientific notes and other archival documents. This edition also features artwork by Philip Pullman at the opening of each chapter.

This is a book no one should miss. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. American Psycho is bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognise but do not wish to confront.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. Continue reading More posts from across the blog. Read post. The Only Book Review Templates You'll Ever Need Whether you're reviewing a fiction or nonfiction book, our book review templates can help you write well-rounded book commentary!

Heard about Reedsy Discovery? Create your account. This is a retired blog. For the new and improved BackList blog, please visit www. I think the club is a fabulous idea! We need to put reading in the forefront of our media. From PW: Get set for a new book club logo from a trusted print magazine, which will appear on five books this year and six next year.

Essence magazine has just launched Essence Book Club Recommended Read program, focusing on recently released and classic fiction and nonfiction. The club's first consideration is "the quality of the read," explained books editor Patrik Henry Bass, but that doesn't exclude consideration of the price-point.