This book is so good and I first heard of it after watching the @kuangrf incendiary speech at the Hugo Awards. In the speech, she calls out the sexism and the racism that exists within the SFF publishing community. I was immediately smitten. ⠀
⠀
After seeing that there are so many bookstagrammers here that love this book I knew it was a slim chance to none I wouldn’t get pulled in. This book is fantastic. RF Kuang wanted to write a fantasy book that would be like a retelling of 20th century China. Rin, the MC, is based on Mao Zedong. It’s a part of history many know nothing about and it deserves to known and spread widely. (Source: @bookriot ) Definitely read that interview if you have a chance. ⠀
⠀
This tale pulls no punches and I doubt it’s going to have a happy ending but in war is there such a thing? There is no black and white, only grey. ⠀
⠀
I hope you pick up this book friends and family. But just note that she did write this based upon the true events of the Second Sino-Japanese War. And as stated above, nothing in this novel has been sanitized. RF Kuang gives respect to history and lays bare all of the hideous truth. I admire her so much and can’t wait else to see what else she has in store. ⠀
⠀
Special thanks to @nerdtasticnoms and @sirenareader for giving me those content warnings as well. It helped me mentally prepare and I’m reader that really appreciates content warnings. ⠀
⠀
CW: descriptive details of war and death, PTSD, sexual violence, grief, addiction. ⠀
#thepoppywar #sff #fantasybookstagram #fantasybooks #ilovebooks #ilovereading #knowhistory #bookstagram #read #alwaysreading #lovebooks #bookaholic #bookaddict

Here are my #library book hold pick ups today. Lunch couldn’t come fast enough for me to get these!! A lot of them I’ve been waiting on for awhile. So I’m so happy they are here. Libraries are so magical and I am BEYOND lucky to live in city that allows for drive thru services and has a huge selection. The LA public library’s app is so easy to use and navigate that it makes it so much easier to get a book. I’m also really lucky I live incredibly close to a pick up location. Also all of these books I found bc of bookstagram. Thank you so much to all for putting these on my radar. #lovelibraries #bookstagram #ilovebooks #ilovelibraries #alwaysreading #bookstagrammer #felixeverafter #kacencallender#welovemglit #memorialdrive #thecoldestwinterever #natashatrethewey #sistahsouljah

Octavia Butler is easily a writing icon and a titan in the science fiction community. I’ve had the privilege of reading books by her in the past and “Kindred” did not disappoint. If you teach high school history or literature put this in your curriculum please. ⠀
⠀
Dana is a modern Black woman living in the 1970s when suddenly she is ripped from the fabric of her reality and taken to the past of the antebellum South. She is dropped into a plantation and must find ways to survive as she is obviously never safe. She is drawn back and forth through that time to her own time in a science fiction genre bender that is sure to horrify you and force you to grapple with our ancestral history. ⠀
⠀
Octavia Butler is probably one of my all time favs. Thank you so much to @thereadingchemist for hosting a buddy read for this one. I am learning so much from others and have a whole new appreciation for this book. There is so much richness in this text and so much to unpack in the relationships and more. One point @brisbookish made was that she saw parallels to how Dana reacted to her situation in the South to how Black women are still forced to react now when faced with racism. Just do what you can to survive. That point was so powerful to me. Although slavery does not exist (although arguably it still does, ex. prisons) the legacy of racism remains the same. This is my first buddy read but it definitely won’t be my last!!!!! Thanks again @thereadingchemist bookstagram #buddyread #ilovebooks #sciencefiction #speculativefiction #historicalfiction #octaviabutler #kindred #bookstagrammer #readwomen #readmorewomen #readblackauthors #teachbetterbooks #diversifythecurriculum

I just finished listening to “George” by Alex Gino. Thank you to the creators of #transstacks and the #bookstagrammers who participated for making me aware of this middle grade novel about a young transgender girl. This book will definitely be a welcome addition to my classroom library. Alex Gino writes the story with tenderness and care. I especially loved that this story was all about Melissa, not the bullies. Though there were some, they did not take center and her narrative of self discovery in no way revolved around them. Alex Gino wanted to write this book bc they saw a lack of transgender characters in MG lit. This is of course just one little girls story and I hope publishers take note so we can get more stories like this from more diverse perspectives in the future. There is still a lot of work and advocating to be done as this was one of the most challenged books of 2018 but seeing the trend of YA getting more and more diverse I can only hope they start to see that middle grade kids are starving for these narratives too. I’m glad a story like this is on the shelves, but I want more, we all do.

@scholasticinc #welovemglit #ownvoicesbooks #middlegradebooks #diversifyyourbookshelf #readdiversely #readlgtbqia #ownvoices #middlegradefiction #middlegradeliterature #middlegradelit

This book came onto my radar because I listened to Nicole Chung on NPR a few years back. This is her memoir of growing up as a transracial adoptee and her search for her birth family as she grows her own. Her birth parents are Korean and her adoptive family is white. I am not a transracial adoptee so I can’t speak to that experience, but I did grow up in a “colorblind” house where discussions of race were absent.

Nicole Chung’s book is a superb memoir and one I enjoyed reading immensely. It is an excellent exploration around what it is to be family and how people develop their own racial identity over time.

I did not truly begin to explore who I was racially until I was much older, heck I am still doing that work. And it’s complicated because race was never discussed in my house, which I now see to be the reason for so much of my confusion. Growing up with a Filipina mother and a Texan-Puerto Rican father you would think we would talk about it here and there, but I can honestly say it never came up and that’s probably because my parents were confused about their identities as well. My mother from colonized island with its own host of questions, my father with his feet in two worlds as well. As I grow older I can see that now and no longer feel the resentment I once did.

One of my greatest takeaways from this book is that you must discuss these issues and so many others openly with children. Of course it will be uncomfortable but not speaking about anything is so much worse. Throughout her memoir all I could keep repeating to myself is that no matter what I will always try to be as honest and open with my child as I possibly can even if it makes me uncomfortable. Honesty and the truth are so hard sometimes, but they can also open the pathway to such deep love and respect that the bond becomes unbreakable. Thank you again Nicole Chung, this will stay with me forever. Go read this. It will move you.

#bookstagram #booklover #bookstagrammer #readdiversely #readdiversebooks #allyoucaneverknow #nicolechung #memoirs #readmemoirs #bookreview #ilovebooks #readmorebooks #readmorewomen #readersofinstagram #ilovereading