Reading List: If I Ruled the World by Amy DuBois Barnett
Plus a playlist of tunes inspired by the book.
before we jump into today’s post, here are some notes you may have missed:
Hi friends,
Growing up, I was a Vibe Vixen, Suede, and Honey stan.
I would read the magazines from cover to cover, highlight quotes from editor notes and different articles, and cut out photos to put on the cover of my clear binder. Remember when those binder collages were a thing?
For me, those magazines weren’t just entertainment. They were a blueprint. They taught me everything from hair and fashion to language. They also opened my eyes to my career goal: writing for a music magazine.
Amy DuBois Barnett was behind some of those pages. She was the editor-in-chief of Honey and Ebony, and made history as the first Black woman to helm a major mainstream magazine when she became EIC of Teen People. For me, Amy has been someone I have looked up to for years, so when I saw she was releasing her debut fiction novel, If I Ruled the World, out today, I knew I had to read it.
The book, which is also being adapted into a TV series for Hulu, is described as follows:
It’s 1999, and Nikki Rose is the only Black editor on staff at a prestigious fashion magazine she once thought would be her ticket to becoming a respected editor-in-chief. But after being told one too many times that “Black girls don’t sell magazines,” she quits to take over Sugar—a struggling hip-hop music and lifestyle magazine with untapped potential.
Thrown into an entirely new world of wealth, decadence, and debauchery, Nikki has just six months to save Sugar and her own dreams. As she pulls all-nighters and parties with New York City’s most influential bad boys, Nikki must prove she has what it takes to lead. But her most dangerous challenge is evading Alonzo Griffin, her very married, very powerful ex-lover and former boss, who’s determined to destroy both her and Sugar.
I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. It opened juicy, and that continued throughout the book.
What I loved:
Nikki isn’t perfect. She makes poor decisions—with men, with how she reads certain situations—but that’s what makes her someone you root for. You can tell she’s trying to improve her situation, no matter how many roadblocks she may encounter.
On her Substack, Amy shared that this book was twenty years in the making, which made me wonder, for one, how much of it speaks to her journey, and also made me think about how much of this story would be relatable to so many, no matter their profession.
The friendships that Nikki leaned on throughout the book was one of my favorite elements. When situations had her down, her girlfriends really saw her clearly and reminded her of who she was when the industry tried to reshape her. The friendship circle felt so vivid to me while reading that I could actually visualize/see them as I read.
Another heavy theme in the book was the microaggressions that sometimes exist when you’re the only black person in a space. Nikki was the only black woman working at her prestigious fashion magazine, and with that came statements like, “black women don’t sell magazines,” which I rolled my eyes at while reading, and also again while typing. Also, the idea that straightening her hair suddenly made her “prettier,” “less mousy,” and more capable of doing a good job. This also came with a promotion to save a sinking ship by bringing in “ethnic readership.” The audacity, truthfully.
Throughout the story, a heavy musical thread grounds you in the era. It’s 1999. While I wasn’t old enough to be in the club, which I’m still pretty sad about, the references Amy includes in the book really let you know the crowd Nikki was around and what was popular during that time. She mentions artists like Charli Baltimore, Lauryn Hill, Brandy, Monica, Tupac, Biggie, Xscape, and even Silkk the Shocker. And, as you’d imagine if you have read this newsletter before, I made notes on the songs mentioned, so I created a playlist.
The playlist, available on Spotify, includes some of the songs mentioned in the book, as well as other music from that year. And as we know, the 90’s had the best music videos, so I’m including a few of my favorites as well. I’m only going to do five because I can go on forever and ever.
Q-Tip’s leather poncho + the women moving their head all together used to be EVERYTHING to me. Also the woman’s denim cowboy hat. STYLING.
Before you go:
Purchase If I Ruled the World out today
Follow Amy’s Substack, where she documents her journey with the book
Read Natalie Guerrero’s interview with Amy, which was released earlier this week as part of her On The Shelf series.
Read Natalie’s debut novel, My Train Leaves at Three, which I am currently reading.
Putting If I Ruled the World on my list! It sounds so good!