Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.
June 9th: Reading Along with Monthly Themes
(Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)
Prompts: With Pride Month in June, Black History Month in February, Women’s History Month in March, and so many more, themes related to race, identity and social justice hold a lot of significance for many communities. There are often reading challenges set around these themes as well. Do you ever read along with monthly themes? How do you think this helps with diversifying reading? And what about the rest of the year?
I don’t particularly go out of my way to read specific books during specific months for things like Pride, Black History Month, and so on. I do try and read diverse books year round, though to be honest now it doesn’t really require a whole lot of effort on my part – I like reading diversely, I like books with LGBTQIA+ characters or written by margenalised authors and my reading quite naturally reflects that.
That said, I do try and read to particular themes for Divination Hollow, as though, again, we highlight diverse books year round, we host special events for Women in Horror Month and Pride in Horror Month, and we try to pay attention to other significant months throughout the year. Though it can be a little tricky, as (for example) Black History Month is October in the UK, while LGBT History Month is February here, while it’s the reverse in the States (though Pride is, of course, still June for both).
I think these months are great to highlight books and encourage others to read more diversely, and it’s great to see the various reading events and lists that go around, but I really hope people don’t just read queer books in June or books by Black authors in February and so on. The goal – to me, anyway – with diverse reading is to do it year round, and when you start by diversifying your shelves it becomes something that’s easier and easier to do.
I do think it’s important to try and make your reading intersectional, too. We see it regularly surrounding these event months – lists of queer or female authors contain white queer or female authors, or “Best Horror Books by Women” (as an example) contain white, cis het women with maybe one or two queer or trans authors, etc. That to me is as bad as seeing book recommendations or lists with just cis het white men on them. I think it’s incredibly important to read as many varied and different perspectives as possible, especially outside your own experience, and authors who are margenalised in multiple ways are often the ones who need the most boosting.
So yes, sometimes I read along with monthly themes, largely to get reviews up for those months – especially on DHR – but mostly, I read and review diverse books year round, and love that I’m able to do so with plenty of ARCs and my own purchased books to choose from.
Unwrapping Words 