Read Until You Understand
novels, poetry, literary criticism, and history books by Black authors referenced in Farah Jasmine Griffin’s Read Until You Understand; The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature — forming a type of Black literary canon
created by kishmish
last updated August, 2026
Comments
Ooooh what a fascinating list, love to see this ❤️
kishmishOP
thanks, ayz 💕 you are always the sweetest and most supportive! this one really wasn’t anything i curated at all, just record-keeping of the books griffin mentions (i didn’t intentionally add or remove anything), but i agree that she discusses an awesome range of books! (her writing about them is brilliant too)
🫶🫶🫶🫶 always love to see your stuff!! I’ll have to check out Griffin’s work too!
Those Bones by Toni Cade Bambara is a book perfect for a list like this. Ive been trying to read it for years! Me and that book are going to be going back and forth until I decide to finish it.
kishmishOP
ooh, yes! It’s such a subtly multifaceted title, and you’re so right that one of its meanings is that individually many of these books require longer and repeated readings.
The Atlanta child murders absolutely terrify me, and I don’t think I could handle picking up that book at all right now. I really admire your commitment to it and want to work toward being able to do the same.
I saw you just started Read Until You Understand—super looking forward to your thoughts on it (if you choose to share any, of course—no pressure meant)!
The book is a lot to take it - the subject plus the page count is beyond daunting. I’m not reading it all at once that’s for sure. You’re very right to be petrified of the topic because Bambara doesn’t hold back in highlighting a parents anxiety’s after her child goes missing 😭.
Also I added Read Until You Understand to my TBR, I’m not currently reading it ! But I’m going to search for it it looks so necessary to my lexicon!
kishmishOP
I didn’t even realize how long it is! I think I assumed it would be shorter because I associate Bambara with her short stories. Daunting really is the word.
Ah, I’m sorry I mistook that update. I hope you enjoy whenever you do start it! 🫶🏽
