Booklists – Equal Opportunity Reader

[Last While In Books] Short Fiction, Actually

Black and white photograph of a tiny light skinned boy with short dark hair standing between the open pages of a thick book.

Read time: 3 minutes Fellow readers! I had a short story published this week over at Strange Horizons. It’s called Palimpsest, and it’s a look at the silences that cause strain in close relationships and the hidden injustice of women not being deeply known by their own families. There’s also some climate change, (poorly understood)Continue reading “[Last While In Books] Short Fiction, Actually”

[BOOKLIST] Complex Love; A Booklist of Diverse and Intersectional Romance Novels

Six hands, all belonging to different people, are placed on a pink background to form a heart shape.

Every year, Valentine’s Day rolls around, and every year, we all have to endure lists of monolithic romance novels about very boring people. Aside from the usual “hot blonde meets borderline emotionally abusive hockey player/CEO/pop star/cowboy/hometown hero” lists, there are also lists of Black romance, Asian romance, Latin romance, queer romance and all sorts ofContinue reading “[BOOKLIST] Complex Love; A Booklist of Diverse and Intersectional Romance Novels”

Last Year In Books: Words I Adored In 2023

A collage of the 5 books I adored this year

(Purchase these and other books I read this year here.) 2024 is only fourteen days away. In a total departure from the near-panic of previous years, I think I’m totally ready for it. I do hear that there’s this thing called Christmas sometime in between now and the new year that I’m not at allContinue reading “Last Year In Books: Words I Adored In 2023”

[READING CHALLENGE] Holiday Chill Time

(There’s no booklist this time, but if you want to check out the Bookshop click here!) I don’t know about you, fellow readers, but this year has been a BEAST. I’ll probably do a retrospective of everything later but you know what I, and probably a lot of you, need right now? REST. When DecemberContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Holiday Chill Time”

[READING CHALLENGE] Read Some Diverse Poetry

(Click here to skip straight to the booklist.) Y’all, I know it’s late, but the month I’ve had, with all its glorious ups and downs? Bear with me. Anyway, all whining and crowing aside(more about that crowing coming later) November is a great time to read poetry. The year is almost over, our brains areContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Read Some Diverse Poetry”

[READING CHALLENGE] Diversity is Scary!

(Click here to jump[scare] straight to the booklist.) Welcome to October, fellow readers. With Halloween coming up, I think it’s a good time for spooky diverse reads. For much of modern horror history, difference often was the horror. Now, diverse writers are turning those tropes on their heads and giving us nuanced takes on fearContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Diversity is Scary!”

[READING CHALLENGE] Read Some Real American History

(If you’re just here for the booklist, click HERE. Thanks! ) So I’ve been back in the US for a year now. There’s a lot going on here at the moment, and a lot of America’s current problems are directly related to history. This isn’t a surprise to any thinking person. Our current hot buttonContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Read Some Real American History”

[READING CHALLENGE] Kill Your #TBR!

Holy crap, how it is already August? I moved back to America ELEVEN MONTHS AGO and I honestly have no idea what’s going on here, still. What I do know is that I’ve amassed and imported an astonishing number of books that I intend to read. I haven’t made a big deal of it, butContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Kill Your #TBR!”

[Reading Challenge] Arab-American Heritage Month

Did y’all know that April is Arab-American Heritage Month? I definitely didn’t. Apparently, it was only made official last year, although it’s been celebrated since 2017. One of my favorite things about curating this bookish space on the internet is that I get to learn things and illuminate my blind spots publicly, sharing what IContinue reading “[Reading Challenge] Arab-American Heritage Month”

[READING CHALLENGE] Read All The Women

whew This is extremely late. Things have been busy offline for me lately, but instead of boring you with that, let’s just jump into a reading challenge for what remains of this month. March brings spring, flowers, and a month-long celebration of women’s history for us to read through. There’s a lot I want toContinue reading “[READING CHALLENGE] Read All The Women”