Five Books By Caribbean Authors On My TBR for the First Few Months of 2025
Welcome back to My Jamaican Vignettes.
As I shared in my first post of 2025, I want to read a book by a Caribbean author each month in 2025. So I should have 12 new Caribbean books read by December. I am excited about this small personal challenge.
Here are the five books that I have on my Kindle that are ready and waiting for me to dive into.
Five Books By Caribbean Authors on my 2025 TBR
The God of Good Looks by Breanne Mc Ivor was released in 2023 and is Mc Ivor’s debut novel.
According to Rebel Women Lit the novel is:
“Sharp-witted and fiercely fun, The God of Good Looks alternates between Bianca’s diary entries and Obadiah’s first-person narrative to portray modern Trinidad’s rigid class barriers and the fraught impact of beauty commodification in a patriarchal society.”
The online bookstore goes on to describe the book as “Boisterous, moving, and full of meaty, universally relatable questions, Mc Ivor’s sparkling debut is an open-hearted, awakening tale about prejudice and pride, the masks we wear, and what we can become if we dare to take them off.”
Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta is a short story collection and I think I will start it this month and read a story each day and see how I get on with it. I haven’t researched the themes or details.
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is a 2022 novel set in Trinidad and Tobago and it is Banwo’s debut.
Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud is a 2020 novel also set in Trinidad and Tobago. I sense a theme here.
Then lastly, Pleasantview is a 2021 story collection by Celeste Mohammed, also from Trinidad and Tobago.
If I love these stories and they truly resonate with me, I plan to get physical copies. I want to shop locally so let me know if you know where I can get copies. Rebel Women Lit and Bookophilia come to mind as options.
This year, you can expect monthly reading wrap-ups with mini reviews of each book I read. I plan to post them on the first Sunday of the new month. So January’s reading wrap-up should go live on Sunday 2 February 2025.
Please share recommendations for other books by Caribbean writers. I would also look to read from other islands outside of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, so please share your recommendations. I also joined the Book of Cinz book club (technically I joined in 2024) but this year I will participate. The January book is the Book of Night Women by Marlon James (I own this book and read it years ago so I don’t think I will re-read it).
Also have you read any of the books on my list?
Talk again next Sunday.
Chantel DaCosta
Chantel DaCosta is a storyteller, editor and lifestyle blogger. She is passionate about mental health awareness and Jamaican women's own-voices stories.
