Hardcovers

My eReader is actually not within arm's reach today. For Pride month, for Queer Black Liberation month, for Juneteenth, I looked to my stack of hardcover/physical books that had been slowly growing for the past six months. I was either gifted them or found in the myriad of used book stores I haunt.

Out of all of them, only one I have read before– and I plan on rereading it. But before I delve back into Janet Mock's Redefining Realness, there were a few books that long begged to be read.

I started off with It's Soulful and It's Survival, which has Brooke Shaffner interview a couple of my favorite drag artists.

Next: Annette Gordon-Reed's On Juneteenth, a book I saved for this month. It went into the history of Texas– where that holiday originated– and how racism of the past still has an impact on our present.

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, a book I snatched up immediately and finished within hours. I have heard of Austin Channing Brown and couldn't wait to read it.

The next book in the queue was Between the World and Me, which Brown did mention in her own work– and that was fortuitous, since I can read them back-to-back and compare/contrast. (And add my underlined notes, to accompany the highlighter the previous reader left behind.)

And today I'm starting bell hooks' All About Love. This one was a gift from an activist tabling at a local event. I've yet to see them again.

Last in the stack is Get Empowered: A Practical Guide to Thrive, Heal, and Embrace Your Confidence in a Sexist World. A long title, but I had to get the point across. A copy was sent to me after completing a self-defense class (you can see the notes over in this entry), and, well. We all know why this is relevant these days.

So it has been a fun time reading books awkwardly! It's strange having to worry about lighting or balancing food with your book again. But since these aren't doorstoppers, my wrists have been fine.