repeatbeatpoet's reviews
146 reviews

Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Bildungsroman in the ends. Excellent balance of tone between the hard-edged realities of road life and the emotionality of the inner lives of the people, as deep as anyone else. It’s real-street-politik meets coming-of-age meets Kafka; the unflinching depiction of urban gang life mixing with the journey from boy 2 man, played against the absurdist background of North West London estate blocks  named for lauded Victorian writers while its inhabitants are forgotten by the world at large.

Loved it, not for the faint hearted, but this is how people be living outchea

The Little Book of Vegan Poems by Benjamin Zephaniah

funny hopeful informative lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Perfectly passable kid-friendly introductory poems about veganism, animal rights, human & non-human liberation. It's a lot of fun, and shows Benjamin Zephaniah's ability to keep it very simple. Big fun. 

The Psychosis of Whiteness: Surviving the Insanity of a Racist World by Kehinde Andrews

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Football's Black Pioneers by David Gleave

informative medium-paced

3.5

A decent-good primer on each of the first Black players for the 92 teams in the English Football League. It’s about 1-2 pages per player, all stories are written in straightforward language and are easy to read. Would’ve loved deeper dives on particular people, but this is meant to be a ‘wide and shallow’ surface level info book, not a deep dive into wider sporting racial politics/culture.

 

None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.5

Essential reading 

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Festac '77: 2nd World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture by Ben Verghese, Moses März, Andrea Meeson, Stacy Hardy, Graeme Arendse, Akin Adesokan, Ziphozenkosi Dayile, Terry Ayugi, Bongani Kona, Dominique Malaquais, Mamadou Diallo, Ntone Edjabe, Eva Munyiri, Duduetsang Lamola

informative medium-paced

5.0

Doing the Most with the Least by Momtaza Mehri

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History by Hakim Adi

challenging informative medium-paced

4.75

Top class, phenomenal detail in the history that really brings people of the past to life, especially the late 17th and 18th centuries. Adi is the first Black professor of History in the UK, teaching the first History of Africa & the African Diaspora masters course in the UK, and this book brings together that expertise and experience clearly and in a really engaging way. 

File next to: Peter Fryer, Kehinde Andrews, Marika Sherwood, Paul Gilroy, David Olusoga, and other writers centring on histories of African and Black people. 

Black Voices on Britain by Hakim Adi

adventurous informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

excellent collation of African & African-descended people writing on their experiences in Britain, going back to the mid 1700s. Features expected names in well-chosen excerpts (W.E.B DuBois on London in 1911 at a conference, Oludah Equiano etc), and many names initially unknown to me. 

Audiobook also read fantastically, bringing these voices and stories back to life.