Top 5 Tuesday — on Wednesday! This is a weekly meme created by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm, and now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.
This week’s topic:
Top 5 books set in the present
Contemporary really isn’t my thing. Compared to the other genres, I read it the least. I guess I just prefer to either get stuck in the past or in some fantastical land than having to deal with the present. But somehow I managed to come up with books for this theme.
Virtually Yours by Jeremy Holt, illus. by Elizabeth Beals
It’s a standalone contemporary-romance graphic novel about a guy and girl who connect on a dating app called Virtually Yours.
The Journey by Francesca Sanna (illus.)
It’s a children’s picture book about the refugee crisis. It focuses on a family, a mother and her two children, trying to migrate to a new land because their country is ravaged by war.
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
A thriller about a young Black woman to whom weird shit starts happening when another Black girl is hired to work at her job — popular publishing company that has a majority-white staff.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
A mystery that touches on the opioid crisis. It’s about a cop in Philadelphia named Michaela, a.k.a. Mickey, searching for her sister, who sometimes works as a prostitute to support her addiction.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
A book of nine short stories about Black women exploring their sexuality and coming to terms with who they are despite their often-religious upbringing. The stories mostly strike me as contemporary.
Zezee with Books 
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything contemporary. It’s such a rare category for me to explore! 😮
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Lol birds of a feather, I guess. All the bloggers I follow close tend not to do much contemporary.
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Yup, me too. I don’t often read contemporary stories, unless they happen to be horror, sci-fi, or more rarely fantasy-based. I’m not sure if I could come up with five off the top of my head, would likely have to do some research. Glad you came up with some. 🙂
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I had to research to get these. Good thing I indicate the genre of my read books in Goodreads.
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I found this one quite tricky too. Although I had posted it, I though of several more books that I could have included. I’m now trying to think of books set in the future that don’t involve distant galaxies!
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Lol I think I’ll have a hard time with the future one too.
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I haven’t read any of them but all your selections sound interesting! I need to check them out!
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Hope they go well for you if you do.
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I’ve read The Other Black Girl (with reservations!) and I have … Church Ladies coming to me from a friend. I have just read Kamila Shamsie’s Best of Friends, which is half set in the 80s and half contemporary!
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Hope they go well for you.
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