Recs if you like Good Dirt...

this is your reminder to read books by Black authors all month, all year, every year— not just during Black History Month. it’s crucially important to be able to diversify your reading and your bookshelves. expand your mind, your perspectives, your knowledge, and your taste. if you don’t know where to start, here are some recommendations!

Books We Love from NPR began in 2013, always boasting over 200 books (almost 400 in recent years) featuring genres from memoirs, to cookbooks, to graphic novels, to children’s literature, to nonfiction, to novels. Check out NPR’s website to filter this massive list.

The list is in reverse alphabetical order directly from NPR.

Here's every book so far from BOTM's monthly shortlist since February 2015 for anyone who wants to read them all like I do!

Beautiful books for when your monthly reading roundup needs a little facelift 😉

lit fic featuring dysfunctional families

A few lovely books written by Black women spanning every genre!

A collection of historical fiction by Black authors that brings Black history to life through unforgettable characters, family stories, friendship, love, resilience, and everything in between.

These are the kinds of books that teach you something, break your heart a little, and stay with you long after the last page.

Nominees and winners of every category of the Good Reads Choice Awards for the year of 2025. Some books overlap so they were only entered once.

Goodreads 80 of the Past Decade’s Very Popular Fiction from 2016 - 2025

2025 Broken Country - Isola 2024 The Women - Real Americans 2023 Tom Lake - Weyward 2022 Demon Copperhead - Diamond Eye 2021 Reading List - Cloud Cuckoo Land 2020 My Dark Vanessa - Vanishing Half 2019 Giver of Stars - Girl, Woman, Other 2018 Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - Where the Crawdads Sing 2017 Stay with Me - 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo 2016 Lilac Girls - Behold the Dreamers

All the 2025 BOTM monthly, add on, and Allurial titles

This is a list of books that at least one person thinks you should read. A book that, no matter who you are, is worth giving a try. Out there in the world, this is someone's favourite book. They wish absolutely everyone they know would sit down and read it. Will you give any of these a chance? The books chosen for this list are members of the community, as well as my coworkers at the bookstore I work at.