Boozhoo Books | Indigenous Books Recommended By The Boo...

Indigenous Books Recommended By The Boozhoo Books Community

In our reading community Discord, I asked members to share their favorite Indigenous reads of 2024. You can check out the synopsis by clicking on the books below. If you run into me out in the wild in 2024, be prepared to answer this question on camera!

Here are some of the recommendations from the community:

Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger
Recommended by reader Jazz
"I loved so much about this book. The storytelling was fantastic. I loved all the characters."

A Vicious Game by Melissa Blair
Recommended by reader Rhys
'This series is one full of twists and turns. The third in the series throws you in for LOOP after LOOP. They keep smacking you in the face until you finish the book and then you're desperate for the fourth."

There There by Tommy Orange
Recommended by reader ryn
"I loved how you follow 12 people whose lives all intersected and came to a head at the pow wow. The storytelling was beyond compare and Tommy Orange really knows how to craft a beautiful sentence."

Stolen by Ann Helén Laestadius
Recommended by reader DonutDog
"FANTASTIC. AMAZING. PERFECT murder mystery about a reindeer."

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Recommended by reader bookedaroundtheworld
"Great characterization and imagery. Had the perfect amount of creepiness."

Calling For a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah
Recommended by reader: BookishBlue
"This novel had a unique structure, learning about Ever from those around him before finally getting his perspective. Despite a lot of tragedy along the way, this one ended with a hopeful future."

Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
Recommended by reader: Tracy
"This is a detailed, slow burning post-apocalyptic thriller with the eerie realism of human nature."

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
Recommended by reader: Ilona
"It was so funny and had a lot of heart. It was nice having Oklahoma represented in a way that wasn't tied to how awful it can be instead of showing the joy that can be found here."

Never Whistle At Night edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr
Recommended by reader: MythicalReadsReviewer
"Even though horror isn't my usual genre, I absolutely loved it. It was hard to believe that there were so many stories that were that good, but I'd be hard pressed to name another anthology that had such range while still holding mostly bangers."

I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Recommended by reader MichelleMyBelle
"I loved the way this book played with the genre. It was so nostalgic of teenage slasher movies."

Disintegrate/dissociate by Arielle Twist
Recommended by reader: geekydorken
"A stunning poetry collection that dives into grief, trauma and identity in a captivating way."

Reading Indigenous voices on identity

Reading Indigenous voices on identity is a great way to understand history that has been suppressed, to correct false narratives and to counter erasure. Here are some books by Indigenous authors, both fiction and non-fiction, that center on Indigenous identity to add to your TBR.

Non Fiction

  1. The Indian Card: Who Gets To Be Native In America by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz
    A groundbreaking and deeply personal exploration of Tribal enrollment, and what it means to be Native American in the United States.

  2. Truth Telling: Seven Conversations About Indigenous Life in Canada by Michelle Good
    A provocative collection of essays exploring the historical and contemporary Indigenous experience in Canada.

  3. Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha LaPointe
    Drawing on a rich family archive as well as the anthropological work of her late great-grandmother, Sasha LaPointe explores themes ranging from indigenous identity and stereotypes to cultural displacement and environmental degradation to understand what our experiences teach us about the power of community, commitment, and conscientious honesty.

  4. Making Love With The Land: Essays by Joshua Whitehead
    A moving and deeply personal excavation of Indigenous beauty and passion in a suffering world.

  5. Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec
    The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us.

Fiction

  1. There There by Tommy Orange
    A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

  2. A Girl Called Echo by Katerina Vermette
    Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother.

  3. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
    Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession.

  4. Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowell
    Powerful stories of "Métis futurism" that envision a world without violence, capitalism, and colonization.

  5. Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley
    Perry Firekeeper-Birch realizes she may have to take matters into her own hands in order to reclaim her inheritance.