Please Stop Killing Me — Let’s Talk About #BuryYourGays

So I found out something not very fun about a book I was planning on reading the other day. I had been planning on reading this book a week from the day I found out, an experience that would have been incredibly uncomfortable for me. And as a result, I have decided to talk! To…

Shoutout Sunday #5 — Readability, INT Readers, and Art vs. Author

Guys, I love my friends so much. And I know we're in a new year, but if you think I'm not going to continue to shout out all the awesome, discoursey (or not) posts my friends make, you are kidding yourself. Okay, real talk before we get started — someone please steal this meme idea from…

problems with diverse books: recognizing nuance and mixed rep

Okay, here's the issue: a lot of media with problematic elements also has elements that help minority groups. See, this isn't an isolated thing. I have quite literally seen ownvoices books get called out for being discriminatory towards those groups while the author was in that group. One example is Dreadnought by April Daniels. I saw…

books vs. blurbs

Okay, you all know at this point that I like discussions, and today I'd like to talk about a situation I've noticed lately where books get called out by people who have not read them. I've written about this before. BASIC RUNDOWN OF THE LENS I'M COMING AT THIS WITH. It's comforting to think that…

A Rant: On Deviation From the Norm

You know when you're reading a review of something by a friend and everything's going great, and then you find the phrase "I don't understand why she had to be a lesbian. It doesn't seem necessary to the plot." And you have this moment of remembering that systematic oppression exists and go back to your daily…

Why Books Get Called Out, and Why It Matters

So I have been noticing recently that books with diverse characters get called out more often than books without diverse characters. And I kind of want to. talk about it, I guess?? I have seen far more discourse about the problems with diverse books than about the problems with non-diverse books. But as rule, diverse…

Not Caring About Diversity Isn’t Edgy

There's a trend on goodreads that has started to tire me out. I am so sick of y'all coming on to goodreads and posting "Am I the only one who doesn't care about diversity? Am I the only one who isn't offended by x being homophobic?" See, here's the thing. You're not. Have you ever…

The Weaponization of ProblematicTM Representation

Okay, here's the thing - I'm kinda mixed on the current culture of book callouts. I've written about this before in some old and less good posts. Right now, as I think some of you might have noticed, there's some really messy things going down with regards to book twitter. Let's talk. The drama that inspired…

Open Discussion Is A Good Thing (Sometimes)

  Let's talk about being subjective. There's a book I really love called The Song of Achilles, which has been called out for having the bury-your-gays trope. As a gay person, I personally disagree with that assessment of the book on so many levels and it's one of my favorite books. But that doesn't mean…

On Romanticization vs. Portrayal

Today, I want to talk about how portraying something is not the same as romanticizing that thing. I think this is something we all know on some level, but somehow when we have community arguments, it seems to get dismissed a lot?? I think the thing that annoys me is there is a line between…

On Books Not Authentically Portraying Oppression

So. There's an idea going around on book twitter right now that I really vehemently disagree with, and I think it's time to make a discussion post!! I absolutely fucking hate the idea that "not exploring oppression" or "not exploring the character's identities", especially in fantasy, makes a book problematic or bad. I hate this…

How To Like Problematic Media

Okay, I wanted to make a post about what to do when a book you like gets called out. This post is not going to be about the politics around book callouts. (My opinion on those politics is super complex and might warrant another post sometime.) I won't deny that I've seen plenty of people in…

Book Chat: Tragedy Porn

I made a super long post about this earlier this year, but I felt this angle needed more development, so I'll be adding some content. And before I start, I'd like to mention Kiki's review of Half Lost by Sally Green, which despite the addition of spoilers, makes some really good points about this kind…

Book Chat: On Interacting with People You Disagree With

I have a ton of opinions and guess what? You are not required to agree with all of them! You are absolutely entitled to disagree on anything or debate with me. You are also entitled to tell me if I've said something unintentionally gross or inaccurate and ask me to change it, or link me to any other voices…

Book Chat: LGBT or just GGGGGGGGGGGG?

This isn't so much a post as a collection of thoughts and a discussion piece. I'd really love feedback and comments on this one, because I find this topic interesting to discuss. Let's get into it! There has been a good increase in amounts of lgbt books in literature recently. And a lot of those books have gotten…