Hear Me Out – Equal Opportunity Reader

[Last Year In Books] What I Read in 2022, and How I’m Reading in 2023

A full bookshelf, mostly titles in foreign languages and by Black authors.

Finally, I’m getting around to making a post about my last year in reading, and what I hope to read in 2023. 2022 was a bear of a year for me, fellow readers. It was also a banner year, in many ways. I’ve alluded to my personal struggles on Instagram and also in this readingContinue reading “[Last Year In Books] What I Read in 2022, and How I’m Reading in 2023”

[HEAR ME OUT] The New Interview With The Vampire Is Better Than The Original

Um, wow. I finally got a little time to watch the first three episodes of the new television adaptation of Anne Rice’s classic monster novel Interview With the Vampire and so far, it’s excellent. I’m a crabby, critical person and I give the episodes I’ve seen so far 10 out of 10, no question. ThisContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] The New Interview With The Vampire Is Better Than The Original”

[HEAR ME OUT] Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Is a Holiday Miracle

A tablet displaying the cover of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is held up by a Black woman's hand--my hand-- in front of a glittery Christmas tree in closeup.

Merry Christmas!!! So this is not the Christmas post I had originally intended. I had this whole thoughtful post/review about Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol planned out for today. I was going to tell you about how I re-read it every year at Christmastime, and how I have large chunks of it basically memorized asContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Is a Holiday Miracle”

[Hear Me Out] What Do I Mean When I Talk About Reading Diverse Books As A Diverse Reader?

4 smiling people--Asian man, Latina or Indigenous woman, Black woman and Black, mixed or Arab man--stand in a row, wearing colorful shirts that spell out the word TEAM

I get asked a lot of questions about this blog/book portal. No, wait–I don’t get asked a lot of questions. What I actually do is field a lot of random assumptions about what Equal Opportunity Reader is, who I am, what I think, and what my political stances may or may not be. I don’tContinue reading “[Hear Me Out] What Do I Mean When I Talk About Reading Diverse Books As A Diverse Reader?”

[HEAR ME OUT] I Am What Is And What Could Be: A Quick Thought On Why I Write What I Write and Read What I Read

Octavia Butler herself, signing a hardcover copy of a book

The following post is an edited version of a rant on the Equal Opportunity Facebook. Follow it for lots of bookish news updates and rants. “Fourteen years ago, during my first year of college, I sat in a creative writing class and listened as my teacher, an elderly man, told another student not to useContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] I Am What Is And What Could Be: A Quick Thought On Why I Write What I Write and Read What I Read”

[HEAR ME OUT] Eric Jerome Dickey, in Memoriam

It was a shock to wake up this morning and discover that best-selling author Eric Jerome Dickey has passed away at the relatively young age of 59. I read a lot of Dickey in my 20s, and the news really rocked me–he was a Black cultural institution of sorts, and his work had a hugeContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] Eric Jerome Dickey, in Memoriam”

[HEAR ME OUT] These Blues Ain’t New: Why I’m Not Busy Posting Big Black Booklists or Anti-Racist Manifestos

Look. We’re all on the internet right now, so let’s not pretend I need to explain the current atmosphere to you. George Floyd was murdered by a police officer on May 25th and sparked a brushfire that soon roared into a full on inferno, sparking protests and demonstrations across not only the USA but theContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] These Blues Ain’t New: Why I’m Not Busy Posting Big Black Booklists or Anti-Racist Manifestos”

[HEAR ME OUT] A Thought On Injustice and Lost Voices…

(This post is an edited Facebook post. Follow EQR on FB blah blah etc.) If you haven’t gathered from the About Me page or some of my posts, I’m a Black American, living abroad. This blog is about books, not me, so I don’t talk about my own experiences often. My day job and lifeContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] A Thought On Injustice and Lost Voices…”

[HEAR ME OUT] It’s Aight: A long thought about what Legacy of Orisha means for Black spec-fic readers and writers…

Back in 2019, long before COVID-19 roamed the earth and drove us all inside brandishing cans of Lysol, the bookish internet was abuzz with news of Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Virtue and Vengeance. I couldn’t check social media without seeing 50-11 posts anticipating the book and after putting a poll up on the Equal OpportunityContinue reading “[HEAR ME OUT] It’s Aight: A long thought about what Legacy of Orisha means for Black spec-fic readers and writers…”