2024 to Infinity Blackout Reading Challenge

 Hello my loves

It's that time again, this challenge is back for another round.  

I had this same challenge for myself last year and I started off 2019 with 255 books on this list. By the end of 2019 I had read 15 books from here and will be starting 2020 with 240 on this list. 

For 2021 the list started with: 248. Yep it went up because a few more books came in that I wanted on the list.In 2021 I read 9 books from the list. In  2022 I completed 14 books from the list, leaving me with 225 on the list.  Unfortunately, my reading took a beating in 2023 and I barely read any books beyond my comfort authors and honestly just Nalini Singh's two series.  

There are a few more I should add but this list is daunting enough without them on here.  

I can't wait to demolish more than I did last year. My goal this year is a minimum 30 books read from this list.  Here is a breakdown of all the books on the shelves.

To Start on the Paranormal/SciFi Shelf:

1. Reaper's Novice Cecilia Robert
2. Lagoon Nnedi Okorafor
3. Shadow Walker LA Banks
4. Chaos Nalo Hopkinson
5. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor  
6. My Soul to Keep by Tatanrue Drive
7. Sister Mine Nalo Hopkinson  
8. Love is the Drug Alaya Dawn Johnson 
9. The New Moon's Arms Nalo Hopkinson
10. Seed to Harvest Octavia Butler
11. Fledgling by Octavia Butler 

The Second Cube across is the Classic Black Author Shelf ( the mostly female shelf of authors everyone black or not should read)

1. Zadie Smith The Autograph Man

Alice Walker's

1. The Temple of My Familiar
2. Possessing the Secret of Joy

Toni Morrison's 

1. Beloved
2. Jazz
3. Sula
4. The Bluest Eye
5. God Help The Child
6. Tar Baby

Jamaica Kincaid's:

1. Mr. Potter
2. Lucy
3. Annie John
4. See Now Then

Maya Angelou's 

1. Letter to My Daughter
2. The Heart of A Woman
3. Mom & Me & Mom

Walter Dean Myers

1. What They Found, Love on 145th Street
2. On a Clear Day 

Linda H Hollies

1. Taking Back My Yesterday's ( was on the Lemonade Syllabus)

The next cube is the same as before Classic authors of Color:

W.E.B. Du Bois's Darkwater

Langston Hughes's Not Without Laughter

Zadie Smith:

1. On Beauty
2. White Teeth

Alice Walker's

1. By The Light of My Father's Smile
2. The Way Forward Is With a Broken Heart

Zora Neale Hurston's 

1. Seraph of the Suwanee
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God
3. Tell My Horse
4. Dust Track's On The Road

1. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel
2. The Salteater's by Toni Cade Bambara 
3. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4. The Wedding by Dorothy West 
5. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

Then there is a tabletop book called Delta Jewels by Alysia Burton Steele.

The last cube on the first level houses most of my young adult books:

Nia Stephen's

• Boy Shopping
• Like This and Like That

1. The Rock and The River by Kekla Magoon
2. Push by Sapphire
3. He Said She Said by Kwame Alexander
4. Rumor Central "Eye Candy" Reshonda Tate Billingsley

L Divine

1. Drama High The Fight 
2. So, So Hood
3. The Meltdown

1. Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis
2. Call Me by My Name by John Ed Bradley
3. Dark Sons by Nikki Grimes
4. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
5. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
6. Until We Meet Again by Anne Schraff
7. The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963

Jacqueline Woodson

1. Brown Girl Dreaming

1. The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera
2. Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
3. Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah
4. Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
5. Dear Martin by Nic Stone
6. Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Okay, now we are down to the second row: which is romance, historical romance and Christian romance.

1. Angela Benson's A Family Wedding 
2. Sister Sister Eric Jerome Dickey
3. Mine At Last by Celeste O Norfleet
4. Racing Hearts by Michelle Monkou
5. Island For Two by Beverly Jenkins & Elaine Overton
6. Sultry Nights by Donna Hill
7. Private Lessons by Donna Hill
8. A Good Dose of Please by Zuri Day
9. Endless Summer Nights by Donna Hill, Grace Octavia & Delaney Diamond
10. Sweet St. Louis Omar Tyree
11. Single Mom Omar Tyree
12. A Do Right Man Omar Tyree
13. Just Say No! Omar Tyree
14. Midnight & The Meaning of Love Sister Souljah
15. At Last by Lisa Riley

Next Cube is also Romance:

Michele Grant's

1. Crush Anthology
2. Any Man I Want

Francis Ray's 

1. Like the First Time
2. And Mistress Makes Three
3. Any Rich Man Will Do
4. Twice the Temptation
5. If You were my man
6. Somebody's Knocking On My Door
7. I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
8. When Morning Comes

1. Lutisha Lovely's The Perfect Affair 
2. Jasmine Guillory's The Proposal UNHAULED
3. Taiye Selasi's Ghana Must Go (not a romance but other shelves are full)
4. Lucinda Roy's The Hotel Alleluia (same reason as above)

Along with two biographies because that shelf is full. 

• Taraji P Henson Around The Way Girl 

Next is the BJ squared shelf: 

Beverly Jenkins

1. Rhythms of Love Anthology

Brenda Jackson

1. Ties That Bind
2. Let's Get It On Anthology
3. A Silken Thread
4. No More Playas

The Best Man Anthology

The Next Cube is Rochelle Alers & Kimberla Lawson Roby's Shelf: 

Kimberla Lawson Roby:

1. Too Much of a Good Thing
2. The Best Kept Secret
3. Love & Lies
4. The Ultimate Betrayal 
5. A Taste of Reality
6. Best Friends Forever
7. One in a Million
8. The Perfect Marriage
9. Sin of a Woman 
10. The Reverend's Wife

Rochelle Alers

1. Sweet Persuasions
2. After Hours
3. Private Passions
4. Angel's Landing
5. Just Before Dawn
6. Sweet Southern Nights 
7. Haven Creek
8. Here I Am
9. Eternal Vows
10. Harvest Moon

The next four cubes are social situations, and a few romances, but mostly non-fiction books. 

1. Shonda Rhimes Year of Yes
2. Motherhood & Feminism by Amber Kinser PhD
3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (re-Read from College) 
4. Sister Gumbo by Ursula Inga Kindred & Mirranda Guerin Williams
5. Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie
6. Caught in the Mix by Candice Dow
7. The Returned by Jason Mott
8. Loose Lips by Teresa McClaine Watson
9. What We Did for Love by Teresa McClaine Watson
10. The Seven Year Scratch by Teresa McClaine Watson
11. Who Asked You by Terry McMillian
12. The Interruption of Everything by Terry McMillian
13. Mary Monroe's God Don't Like Ugly
14. Mary Monroe's Gonna Lay Down My Burdens
15. Black Mutiny by William A Owens
16. Shifting by Charles Jones & Kumea Shorter-Gooden PhD
17. All the Joy You Can Stand by Debrena Jackson Gandy
18. Afeni Shakur by Jasmine Guy
19. Souls Revealed by Dawn Marie Daniels
20. Ain't I A Woman by Illona Linthwaite
21. Blessed Health by Melody T McCloud MD
22. Discovering Wes Moore by Wes Moore
23. Mo' Beta Blues by Questlove
24. Better Than Alright by Ledisi with Essence
25. The Fishermen by Chigozie Obigma

Next Cube:

1. Cameo by Tanille
2. Lil' Mama's Rules by Sheneska Jackson
3. Off the Chain by Candice Dow
4. Sarah's Palm by Florence Ladd
5. Snapped by Tracy Brown
6. No Girl Needs a Husband Seven Days A Week by Nina Foxx
7. Trouble Loves Company by Angie Daniels
8. Until I Saw Your Smile J.J. Murray
9. Too Much of a Good Thing by J. J. Murray
10. I'll Be Your Everything by J.J. Murray
11. Can't Get Enough of Your Love by J.J. Murray
12. Bingo's Run by James A Levine
13. We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo
14. Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillan
15. Waiting To Exhale by Terry McMillan
16. A Day Late And A Dollar Short by Terry McMillan
17. Mama by Terry McMillan
18. The Color of Love by Sandra Kitt
19. Butterscotch Blues by Margaret Johnson-Hodge
20. Platinum Promises by Zuri Day
21. Diamond Dreams by Zuri Day
22. Designed for Passion by Francine Craft
23. Two Grooms and a Wedding by Adrienne Byrd
24. The Color Line by Lizette G Carter
25. Betrayal of Trust Leslie Esdaile Banks
26. Insert Groom Here by K.M. Jackson
27. Romiette & Julio by Sharon M Draper  

Next Cube:  (almost there just one more to go)

1. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
2. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
3. Black Pain by Terrie M Williams
4. Of Water and Spirit by Malidona Patrice Some 
5. Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry
6. The Good Negress by A.J. Verdelle
7. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moore
8. Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
9. Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?? by Kathleen Collins
10. Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
11. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
12. Sugar Cage by Connie May Fowler
13. The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore
14. Empire by Robert Ham
15. The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts by Baba Ifa Karade
16. I Wish I Had a Red Dress by Pearl Cleage
17. What Looks Like Crazy by Pearl Cleage
18. What You Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
19. Brothers and Sisters by Bebe Moore Campbell
20. Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
21. Big Girls Don't Cry by Connie Briscoe
22. The Blackbirds by Eric Jerome Dickey

And The Final Cube contains the following:

1. Black Majority by Peter H Wood
2. Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons by Ann Rinaldi
3. The Legs are the Last To Go by Diahann Carroll
4. Everybody's Got Something by Robin Roberts
5. Colonize This! Women of Color on today's feminism
6. Whoopi's Big Book of Relationships If Someone Says "You Complete Me " RUN!!
7. Prince of Darkness by Shane White
8. On The Shoulders of Giants by Kareem Abdul-Jabber
9. Black Wall Street by Hannibal B Johnson
10. Black Man in a White Coat by Damon Tweedy MD
11. I'll Never Write My Memoirs Grace Jones
12. Life Is Your Best Medicine Tieraona Low Dog MD
13. The Hairstons Henry Wiencek
14. From My People Daryl Cumbar Dance
15. Every Body Yoga by Jessmyn Stanley
16. The Ebony Exodus Project Candace R.M. Gorham LPC
17. Let Freedom Ring by Kitty Kelley
18. The Calling of Katie Maganya Margaret McCord
19. Ebony & Ivy Craig Steven Wilder
20. Not On Our Watch on Cheadle & John Prenderoast
21. What Happened Miss Simone?? Alan light
22. Keeping Hope Alive Dr. Hawa Abdi
23. At The Dark End of The Street Danielle L McGuire
24. Jambalaya Luisah Teish
25. Sacred Pampering Principles Debrena Jackson Gandy
26. A Hope In the Unseen Ron Suskind
27. Welcome to my Breakdown Benilde Little

And that folks is everything on the BlackOut Book Shelves at the moment.  I do have a few books coming in this year and ones from last year that I haven't added on because they fit other challenges better.  With the goal being 30 books (as a minimum more is better) that's 3 books per month to complete the challenge by the end of the year.  I'll be doing Quarterly Check-Ins to let you know how it's going.  

Total Books: 225

Welp that's going to be an interesting challenge this year for sure. I do have some serious variety though so I'll be good!!!

Have you read any of these?? Are any on your TBR Pile?? Hit me up on any of my social media links and we can totally do a read along to get them read!! 

As always Happy Reading my loves