For many people, October marks the dawn of Autumn, that cosy rustic season synonymous with vibrant sepia colours, knitwear, pumpkin hot chocolates and the delightfully terrifying holiday that is Halloween. But did you know that October is also Black History Month in the U.K.?
The Bi-ble is a collection of essays written by an extremely diverse cast of bi/pan and queer individuals...their experiences all reflect a larger issue of having one's sexual identity diminished, marginalised or written off as just a stepping stone to being gay and therefore not valid.
Most avid readers and bloggers within the book community will know the internal conflict of book buying bans well. It is a resolution to abstain from buying new books for any specified period of time.
Despite my former misgivings though, romance can be as enjoyable and accessible a genre or story arc that would appeal to all genders, men, women, non-binary etc.
As it would turn out, not all books of this genre are gargantuan-sized political or historical verbiage, with cryptic equations and analyses and graphs.
In light of this pride celebration and given the fact that my reading habits could use a bit more inclusivity, I put together a modest TBR that is focused on reading books featuring disabled queer characters, especially in main or prominent roles.
July might be drawing to a close but I still wanted to highlight the importance of this month. July is the anniversary month of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is also Disability Pride month and it's the month that I almost reached my Goodreads goal
Partway through the month, I decided to switch gears and focus on reading books with more black and LGBTQX+ representation, as I realize that this is still a very niche part of fiction and literature that I myself have been neglecting.
This awareness has...led many within the book community to actively seek out books written by mainly black but also person-of-colour authors. It has sparked a much needed conversation regarding the representation of black authors/black main characters in fiction but also across a wide range of literature.
The Secret She Kept possesses a compelling sense of urgency that from the very beginning kept my focus invested in the story throughout and also added an alluring layer of mystery.
