It was my birthday this week. I've been working a lot this week so didn't get a chance to do this when it was relevant. But it's always relevant and I don't think it's too late.

I would like to ask this community for a birthday present. Will you read a book by a black author in whatever your favorite genre is? Then next time you start a new book, make it one by a black author. Read a book with a black main character. Borrow it from your library. Buy it. I don't care. But don't put it in the TBR to languish. Actually read it. I have so many lists to help you choose one. If you need recommendations, I have plenty. Tell me what you like and I will find you something.

If you choose to participate, let me know what book you picked! And if you've read one recently, especially if you're not due to start a new book for a while (series readers, I see you), recommend a book by your favorite black author in the comments! Put it in the recommendations of a similar book by a white author! Check the book recommendations for the books by white authors you're currently reading and look for black authors. If you don't see them there, add them! Upvote them! Or at the very least, don't downvote them? (I came across this again when I was adding recommendations on A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. Whomever downvoted This Poison Heart, I hope you stub your toe.)

I dream of a day when books by black authors get the same respect and attention that books by white authors do. I dream of a day when reading isn't segregated anymore. I dream of a future different from the trajectory we're currently on. That's the birthday gift I'm giving myself.

Let's dream of that together.

i'm reading the penguin classics edition with a preface by lucasta miller and an introduction by pauline nestor. i just finished the preface, part of the introduction (the biographical information, stopping at the part where the plot of the book is discussed), and charlotte brontë's biographical note and preface. and wow am i enthralled by the lives of the brontë sisters. i only half-read charlotte's jane eyre in college (i need to give it a proper read one of these days), i haven't read either of anne's novels, and this is my first time reading emily's sole novel, so i'm largely unfamiliar with the three of them, but their distinct personalities are so interesting. i'm fascinated by charlotte's representation (misrepresentation, according to miller) of her sisters and their works in her biographical note and preface, issued after both of their deaths to reveal their identities. it's clear she had great love for them, but with the distinctly older-sister assumption that she knew best. (i say this as an older sister who, funnily enough, has a younger sister named emily.)

it's tempting to skip introductions and prefaces, but i always find them really rewarding, especially for classic works. ...although many of them assume familiarity with the text, so spoilers can abound. miller's introduction warns that it "makes the detail of the plot explicit," but that unfortunately didn't stop me from encountering (what i assume to be) a major spoiler when glancing over the genealogical table of characters. i'm hoping - and kind of assuming, honestly - that this won't actually ruin my enjoyment of the book much. based on the descriptions in the preface and introduction, i'm looking forward to a wild ride.

i'm reading the penguin classics edition with a preface by lucasta miller and an introduction by pauline nestor. i just finished the preface, part of the introduction (the biographical information, stopping at the part where the plot of the book is discussed), and charlotte brontë's biographical note and preface. and wow am i enthralled by the lives of the brontë sisters. i only half-read charlotte's jane eyre in college (i need to give it a proper read one of these days), i haven't read either of anne's novels, and this is my first time reading emily's sole novel, so i'm largely unfamiliar with the three of them, but their distinct personalities are so interesting. i'm fascinated by charlotte's representation (misrepresentation, according to miller) of her sisters and their works in her biographical note and preface, issued after both of their deaths to reveal their identities. it's clear she had great love for them, but with the distinctly older-sister assumption that she knew best. (i say this as an older sister who, funnily enough, has a younger sister named emily.)

it's tempting to skip introductions and prefaces, but i always find them really rewarding, especially for classic works. ...although many of them assume familiarity with the text, so spoilers can abound. miller's introduction warns that it "makes the detail of the plot explicit," but that unfortunately didn't stop me from encountering (what i assume to be) a major spoiler when glancing over the genealogical table of characters. i'm hoping - and kind of assuming, honestly - that this won't actually ruin my enjoyment of the book much. based on the descriptions in the preface and introduction, i'm looking forward to a wild ride.