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Noname Selections at LAPL

Keith Kesler, Social Media Librarian, Public Relations Department,
members at a book club, man with a blue mustache

We are excited to partner with Noname's Book Club to keep you up to date in finding all the selections free of charge.

Launched in the summer of 2019, Chicago rapper Noname's book club features two titles per month. The website describes the series as "Reading material for the homies" and elaborates, "From cult classics to the words of emergent authors, Noname’s Book Club highlights books that speak on human conditions in critical and original ways."

Noname's Book Club currently has meetups in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York City. At the end of the month, participants can attend an end-of-month program where they unpack each book.

Every month, we'll update this page with the book club's recommended titles.

This month's selection is: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney.


Noname Book Club Selections


Book cover of How Europe underdeveloped Africa
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
Rodney, Walter

Book cover for Devil in a Blue Dress
Devil in a Blue Dress
Mosley, Walter

Devil in a Blue Dress is Walter Mosely’s first published book and the introduction of his most popular character, the African American private detective Easy Rawlins. Set in 1940’s Watts, Devil in a Blue Dress looks at crime and racial politics of Los Angeles of the time. After being fired from his factory job, Rawlins is hired to find a young white woman named Daphne Monet. But he soon finds himself embroiled in something much deeper than a missing persons case. Starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Tom Sizemore and Jennifer Beals, the 1995 film adaptation can be checked out on DVD with your library card today. 


Book cover of No more police : a case for abolition
No More Police: A Case for Abolition
Kaba, Mariame

Book cover of Vagabonds!
Vagabonds!
Osunde, Eloghosa

Book cover for The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History
The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History
Walker, David

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David Walker is the Black Power history textbook of your dreams. It tells the nuanced and real story of the Black Panther party with engaging, clean-lined full-color art by Kwame Anderson that feels like photos, and propels this vibrant history through both well-known and lesser-known events. Notable in this graphic nonfiction are the artist's and author's finely-honed ability to balance image and text on the page; there's a lot of information in this book, but it never feels crowded or rushed. The Black Panther Party is both an excellent history and a great graphic novel. With three starred reviews, Library Journal recommended this title "for all adult and teen collections." 


Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism, and the Movement for Black Lives
Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism, and the Movement for Black Lives
Murch, Donna Jean

Book cover of The Communist manifesto
The Communist Manifesto
Marx, Karl

Book cover of The coldest winter ever
The Coldest Winter Ever
Souljah, Sister

Book cover for Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)
Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else)
Táíwò, Olúfẹmi O

Book cover for The Temple of my Familiar
The Temple of my Familiar
Walker, Alice

Book cover for Of Water and the Spirit
Of Water and the Spirit
Somé, Malidoma Patrice

Book cover for The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
Petrus, Junauda

Book cover for Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments
Hartman, Saidiya V.

Book cover for Care Free Black Girls
Care Free Black Girls
Blay, Zeba

Book cover for Intimate Direct Democracy
Intimate Direct Democracy
Kadalie, Modibo

Book cover for Solitary
Solitary
Woodfox, Albert

Book cover for God Help the Child
God Help the Child
Morrison, Toni

Book cover for Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
Roberts, Dorothy E.

Book cover for Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism
Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism
Noble, Safiya Umoja

Book cover for Friday Black
Friday Black
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame

Book cover for The Death of Vivek Oji
The Death of Vivek Oji
Emezi, Akwaeke

Book cover for God Help the Child
God Help the Child
Morrison, Toni

Book cover for Anarchism and the Black Revolution
Anarchism and the Black Revolution
Ervin, Lorenzo Kom̀boa

Book cover for Home is Not a Country
Home is Not a Country
Elhillo, Safia

Book cover for The Sobbing School
The Sobbing School
Bennett, Joshua

Book cover for Children of Blood and Bone
Children of Blood and Bone
Adeyemi, Tomi

Book cover for Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom
Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom
Purnell, Derecka

Book cover for Live From Death Row
Live From Death Row
Abu-Jamal, Mumia

Book cover for The Spook Who Sat by the Door: A Novel
The Spook Who Sat by the Door: A Novel
Greenlee, Sam

Book cover for As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice
As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice
Gilio-Whitaker, Dina

Book cover for Bloodchild and Other Stories
Bloodchild and Other Stories
Butler, Octavia E.

Book cover for My Sister, the Serial Killer
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Braithwaite, Oyinkan

Book cover for The Skin I'm In
The Skin I'm In
Flake, Sharon G.

Book cover for Heavy: An American Memoir
Heavy: An American Memoir
Laymon, Kiese

Laymon explores his early life as an overprotected and overachieving son of an accomplished university professor mother: his own academic prowess, his addictions to food, anorexia, and gambling, his self-image as a Black man, and where he fits in with his extended Southern family. Most touchingly, Laymon tells how he endeavored to be as perfect as his single mother wanted, wanted so that he would be safe.

Heavy was a best book of 2018 by the National Public Radio, New York Times, Publishers WeeklyWashington Post, and Entertainment Weekly. The book was awarded The Los Angeles Times - Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose for 2018, and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction for 2019


Book cover for The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
X, Malcolm

Book cover for Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
Perry, Imani

Book cover for Homegoing
Homegoing
Gyasi, Yaa

Book cover for The Hip Hop Wars
The Hip Hop Wars
Rose, Tricia

Book cover for A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
Abdurraqib, Hanif

Book cover for Monster
Monster
Myers, Walter Dean

Book cover for This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed
This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed
Cobb, Charles E., Jr.

Book cover for How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective

Book cover for The Three Mothers
The Three Mothers
Tubbs, Anna Malaika

Book cover for Here I Stand
Here I Stand
Robeson, Paul

Book cover for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Hoose, Phillip M.

Book cover for No Name in the Street
No Name in the Street
Baldwin, James

Book cover for I Can't Date Jesus
I Can't Date Jesus
Arceneaux, Michael

Book cover for Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
Morrison, Toni

Book cover for The Vanishing Half
The Vanishing Half
Bennett, Brit

Book cover for Are Prisons Obsolete?
Are Prisons Obsolete?
Davis, Angela Y.

Book cover for Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex

Book cover for Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop
Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop
P. Ramsey, Guthrie

Book cover for Assata: An Autobiography
Assata: An Autobiography
Shakur. Assata

Book cover for Mean
Mean
Gurba, Myriam

Book cover for War Against All Puerto Ricans
War Against All Puerto Ricans
Denis, Nelson A.

Book cover for As Black as Resistance
As Black as Resistance
Samudzi, Zoé, Anderson, William C.

Book cover for Love with Accountability
Love with Accountability
Simmons, Aishah Shahidah

Book cover for Magical Negro: Poems
Magical Negro: Poems
Parker, Morgan

Book cover for Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Lorde, Audre

Book cover for Die Nigger Die!: A Political Autobiography of Jamil Abdullah al-Amin
Die Nigger Die!: A Political Autobiography of Jamil Abdullah al-Amin
Brown (Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin), H. Rap

Book cover for Sabrina & Corina: Stories
Sabrina & Corina: Stories
Fajardo-Anstine, Kali

Book cover for The Wretched of the Earth: Frantz Fanon
The Wretched of the Earth: Frantz Fanon
Fanon, Frantz

Book cover for Persepolis
Persepolis
Satrapi, Marjane

Book cover for Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower
Butler, Octavia E.

Book cover for Memory of Fire
Memory of Fire
Galeano, Eduardo

Book cover for Faces in the Crowd
Faces in the Crowd
Luiselli, Valeria

Book cover for Don't Call Us Dead: Poems
Don't Call Us Dead: Poems
Smith, Danez

Book cover for The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
Twitty, Michael

Book cover for Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Freire, Paulo

Book cover for We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays
Irby, Samantha


 

 

 

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