Let’s Talk Bookish: Diversity in Reading

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.

This is such a great topic, and one I feel very passionate about – I could probably talk on this for a lot longer than I will here, but for today I’ll make every effort to limit myself!

Let’s Talk Bookish June 21st
Do You Prioritize Diversity in Your Reading?
(Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Diversity and diversity in reading are often huge topics of conversation. Do you actively seek out diverse books? What kind of representation do you look for? Do you feel that diverse books are often spotlighted, or that it takes more of an effort to find diverse books? What recommendations do you have?

Let me start by saying that once you start making an effort towards reading diversely, once you start making your shelves more diverse, it becomes easier – I can’t quiet explain it, but it very quickly becomes something you don’t really have to think about, and it just happens. So I used to actively seek out diverse books, and though I still read diversely, I find I don’t have to ‘actively’ seek it out as much now – I just naturally gravitate towards more diverse books!

For what representation I look for – I really like sapphic books, and get especially excited for books that feature bi and lesbian characters, but almost anything under the queer umbrella might catch my interest. I’m white, but I also try and look out for books by BIPOC writers. And something I’ve been thrilled to see an increase of recently is in fantasy, where books are taking inspiration from cultures that aren’t Medieval Europe. I’ve long believed books offer an excellent route into understanding the experiences of others, so I try and make sure I read books of all genres from writers who are different from myself.

I think it takes an effort to find them. There are diverse books that get spotlighted, which is great, but often it’s the same sort of books, or books that fit into specific areas – there’s nothing wrong with these books and the spotlights are often well deserved, but I think it means there are also a lot that get overlooked! As a general example, there might be a list of “Diverse Fantasy” that contains one Asian inspired book, one African inspired book, and so on. Or on LGBT+ lists you might see the same names for certain genres, and I think we need to be careful to include a diverse range there, too, so it’s not just ‘big’ or ‘well known’ cis white authors being spotlighted, but a range of different authors. I think it takes an effort to find books that, for whatever reason, don’t get as much marketing as others – there’s definitely issues within publishing about expecting margenalised authors to dig into their own trauma, and while these books are incredibly important and should be celebrated, authors should also feel like they can write about joy or other types of pain or other aspects of life rather than focusing purely on racism or transphobia or other forms of bigotry.

As for recommendations, well, there really are so many incredible, diverse books out there and it’s very hard to narrow it down, but I’ll highlight just a small number of the ones I’ve read recently – for horror, I loved I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me, and adored Bury Your Gays. In non-fiction, Emily Garside wrote the excellent Gay Aliens and Queer Folk: How Russell T Davies Changed TV. For romance, Say You’ll Be My Jaan was a wonderfully brilliant, funny novel. And jumping over to fantasy, I really can’t get enough of Elizabeth Lim, and her Six Crimson Cranes was a wonderful read. Again, these are just recent reads, but I loved every single one and think they’re all worth picking up.