Voice of London

Starting to think about Christmas gifts for the bookworms in your life? It’s never too early.

Diversifying a personal library is an amazing way to support and understand the experiences of people of colour. From BookTok trendy books to relatively underrated reads, this list includes a range of titles to entertain readers of all kinds. These books are on their way to being modern classics, so they are perfect gifts for book lovers.

Fantasy fiction

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Time travel is real in this small Tokyo café. But there are rules. Travellers have to stay in the café and, most importantly, they must get back to the present before their coffee gets cold. From saying their first goodbyes to their last hellos, the book follows four timelines with hopes of finding emotional fulfilment. This is a book filled with adventure but at its centre is the everlasting love we have for one another. 

YA fiction

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Magic, a secret society and dark academia – if you’re on BookTok then you’ve definitely stumbled on this gem. The narrative centres around the affluent Alexandrian Society, a society for the most gifted magicians. Recruited by Atlas Blakely, the organisation’s library caretaker, The Atlas Six have a year to prove their worth in order to find a place within the society. But at the end of the year, six will become five. Which one will be left behind? 

Epistolary novel

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Imagine you’re a Vietnamese-American writer, and your relationship with your mother – who has lived through the Vietnam War – has always been rocky. There’s so much you want to finally tell her. So you do. You write letters to her about everything in your life you hid from her, open up old wounds, and try to heal stubborn ones. But your mother is illiterate. So, these are things she’ll never know. That is the premise of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, a beautifully written blend of fiction and Vuong’s personal childhood experiences. 

Domestic fiction

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Another TikTok favourite, The Vanishing Half follows the lives of four black women. In 1954 at the age of 16, twin sisters Desiree and Stella run away from their small town – going their separate ways. Decades later, both women have married and had daughters of their own. However, one of them is now passing as a white woman, with no one in her life knowing her true identity. So what happens when their daughters’ paths collide? 

Thriller fiction

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Real threat? Or paranoia? Sabotage? Or self-sabotage? These are the questions that flood your mind while reading this book. The story follows Nella Rogers an editorial assistant at Wagner Books and the only black employee within the whole company. So when Hazel, another Black woman, starts working at the company Nella might have found a companion. Or so it seems. What happens when eerie and threatening notes start appearing on Nella’s desk? Is Hazel behind these notes? Or is something bigger going on?

Poetry

Obit by Victoria Chang 

Grief comes in many forms. For Victoria Chang, it’s grieving the death of her mother, the loss of her father’s speech after a stroke, and the person she used to be before these events happened. Obit is grief strung into words. A deeply emotional and personal collection of poetry with the universal theme of grieving. 

Words: Ashreya Jimi | Subbing: Elitsa Maymareva| Featured Image: Ashreya Jimi