{"id":50179,"date":"2022-11-22T15:23:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T15:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/?p=50179"},"modified":"2022-11-22T15:23:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T15:23:38","slug":"christmas-gift-guide-life-changing-books-written-by-poc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/christmas-gift-guide-life-changing-books-written-by-poc\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas gift guide: Life changing books written by  POC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><b>Starting to think about Christmas gifts for the bookworms in your life? It\u2019s never too early. <\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Fantasy fiction <\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Before the Coffee Gets Cold: The cosy million-copy sensation from Japan\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_WKYeB03OAybOKM&#038;asin=B07PZ7RPC2&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Time travel is real in this small Tokyo caf\u00e9. But there are rules. Travellers have to stay in the caf\u00e9 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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>YA fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>The Atlas Six by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivieblake.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Olivie Blake<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Atlas Six: The Number One Bestseller and TIkTok Sensation (Atlas series)\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_h6skGPgovJhfkT&#038;asin=B09H31J1XQ&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Magic, a secret society and dark academia &#8211; if you&#8217;re on BookTok then you&#8217;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&#8217;s library caretaker, <em>The Atlas Six<\/em> 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?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Epistolary novel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>On Earth We\u2019re Briefly Gorgeous by <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oceanvuong.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Ocean Vuong<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"On Earth We&#039;re Briefly Gorgeous: \u2018A masterpiece\u2019 \u2013 Max Porter\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_PYH8o0RKiGfnYr&#038;asin=B07HJV1XBB&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Imagine you\u2019re a Vietnamese-American writer, and your relationship with your mother &#8211; who has lived through the Vietnam War &#8211; has always been rocky. There\u2019s 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&#8217;ll never know. That is the premise of <i>On Earth We\u2019re Briefly Gorgeous,&nbsp;<\/i>a beautifully written blend of fiction and Vuong&#8217;s personal childhood experiences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Domestic fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Vanishing Half by <a href=\"https:\/\/britbennett.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brit Bennett<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Vanishing Half: Shortlisted for the Women&#039;s Prize 2021\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_oYJb4uokhIjHKY&#038;asin=B082KH5D4M&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Another TikTok favourite, <em>The Vanishing Half <\/em>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 &#8211; 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&#8217; paths collide?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Thriller fiction<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Other Black Girl by <a href=\"http:\/\/zakiyadalilaharris.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zakiya Dalila Harris<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Other Black Girl: The bestselling book behind the major 2023 TV series\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_siY9hWs1dlgbmK&#038;asin=B08NDZT2BL&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Real threat? Or paranoia? Sabotage? Or <i>self-<\/i>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\u2019s desk? Is Hazel behind these notes? Or is something bigger going on?<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:60px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Poetry<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>Obit by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/fattery12\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Victoria Chang&nbsp;<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Obit\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_tInvIKct4Mc7my&#038;asin=B086BRRDYF&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Grief comes in many forms. For Victoria Chang, it&#8217;s grieving the death of her mother, the loss of her father&#8217;s speech after a stroke, and the person she used to be before these events happened. <em>Obit&nbsp;<\/em>is grief strung into words. A deeply emotional and personal collection of poetry with the universal theme of grieving.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<p><strong>Words: Ashreya Jimi | Subbing: Elitsa Maymareva| Featured Image: Ashreya Jimi<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting to think about Christmas gifts for the bookworms in your life? It\u2019s never too early. Diversifying a personal library is an amazing way to support and understand the experiences of people of colour. From&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":50204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[632,926,1338,1347],"class_list":["post-50179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-culture","tag-authors","tag-books","tag-christmas-gifts","tag-christmas-shopping"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50179"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50333,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50179\/revisions\/50333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}