BIPOC Books to Gift

This is one of the fantasy releases of the year—it was a Good Morning America book club pick, an Indie Next Pick, and is a nominee for this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards. It’s inspired by the Chinese legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties, who must make a terrible sacrifice to avenge her sister’s murder and protect her people. It’s Fanli, a young military adviser, who first sees the potential to wield Xishi’s beauty as a weapon. He trains her in everything from classical instruments to hiding emotions, all so that she can infiltrate the king’s court, win his favor, and weaken the kingdom of Wu. Thing is, the more Xishi succeeds in her mission, the more there is at stake, and if her true intentions are revealed, it could bring her and who she truly loves down.

I’ve noticed that the friends I have who don’t read as much tend to like memoirs, and celebrity memoirs by funny people like Keke Palmer make especially perfect gifts. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows—Keke gets into her struggles with restarting her career after a decade, becoming a single mother, issues with boundaries, and more, all told in her singular voice. And let me just say that I know she spills in this, because the promo tour for the book has already involved revealing some behind-the-scenes Hollywood mess.

This romantasy—the latest from the bestselling Howzell Hall—promises The Witcher plus N.K. Jemisin realness. In it, Kai is a young woman lost—she doesn’t know who she is or how she came to be in a strange land with strange beasts, but she does know that she needs to get out before things get worse. She also knows that she has abilities she doesn’t quite understand, and that receiving help from the town’s blacksmith can be as vexing as it can be exhilarating.

I think cookbooks make perfect bookish gifts, and here, Lloyd Rose shares his love for Caribbean food with plant-based recipes. With staples like coconut milk, allspice, and curry powder, he shares not only veganized recipes from his Jamaican heritage, but also from other parts of the Caribbean, like Cuba, Trinidad, and Puerto Rico. I’m not vegan (anymore, lol), but I love incorporating plant-based dishes into my days.

If you’re looking for even more cookbooks to gift, check out this list I compiled some weeks back.

This Black-led, dark academia vampire romantasy with Ethiopian influences has been compared to Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House, which is a particular brand of dark fantasy I vibe with. In it, lost heiress Kidan Adane infiltrates Uxlay University, where students dedicate themselves to studying to preserve peace between humans and vampires. But Kidan is there because her family was killed and her sister kidnapped, with all signs pointing to Susenyos Sagad, the vampire bound to her family, being the culprit. But Susenyos—and giving into her own darkness—is alluring, and after a murder happens that echoes her sister’s disappearance, Kidan finds herself dangerously deeper into the vampire underworld.

I just mentioned this sapphic foodie romance a couple of weeks ago, but I also had to shout it out here as a really cute, bookish gift.

It follows Lan, a teenage girl in Vietnam who has a food blog, and Vietnamese American girl Vivi Huynh, who goes to Vietnam to find out more about her family. Once the two meet, they discover that they can help each other…in more ways than one.