Great selection all of intersectional feminist stories from 2016/17. Feels very current and right on. Stories from the US and UK from women of colour, queer women, fat women, trans women, working class women, all talking about their lives, punk and social justice and what the term ‘nasty women’ means to them. Listened on audiobook and loved it so much.

Reading this just made me want to read all of the books whose excerpts were included. It’s beautiful and powerful writing but, having read Beloved in full, I think it doesn’t contain the power of a full story.

Read this for a work book club where we’re reading several books on race (coincidental timing with the prominence of the BLM movement right now), so will be interested in hearing the perspectives from others on how the contents of this book made them feel about race. Especially the essay Making America White Again, which was written so recently.

It was a pure coincidence that this book finally became available to borrow just as the BLM protests were starting to kick off in the UK. Building on what I’ve learned about this country through ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race’ and ‘Natives’, ‘Brit(ish)’ looks much longer and harder at the British role in the slave trade, the importance of unlocking your personal identity and how education, politics, media and economics doesn’t work for people of colour in the UK today. A pertinent book for the moment.

3.5 stars.

This book was incredibly interesting, but such a slog to read! It’s academic writing, so difficult to penetrate at times. I wouldn’t recommend this as the first or second book someone reads about racism or white privilege for that reason. Also, the title is a little misleading - the bulk of the writing addresses systemic racism in an educational context, hopping between the UK and US, and then briefly touches on the labour market at the end. It doesn’t examine wider society and it doesn’t look at the root cases of racism, but starts from a point of just acknowledging that it exists.

As someone who works in the Department for Education, I found it essential reading from a professional standpoint. I want everyone I work with to read this, especially policy teams. I don’t think there is a full understanding of how our policies impact on perpetuating racism in wider society. Yes, much of the time we’re carrying out the will of elected politicians so can’t shape the whole directions of policy, but I wonder if we can be more savvy about the way we implement policies to make them fairer for all.

The most wonderful book I’ve read in quite some time. A delightful assortment of characters used to explore what it is to be black and female in the UK today. Stories of gender, identity, racism, social mobility, queerness, abuse, family, class and opportunity, all told in beautiful prose slipping into poetry. Such an important book, perfect for its time. A huge shame it didn’t win the Booker on its own last year and get the solo spotlight that it so thoroughly deserves.