catbitesback

they/them. my tbr is my personality. talk to me about books!! my discord is pema007. no one is free until we're all free

4745 points

0% overlap

My Taste

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

Reading...

Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

28%

catbitesback commented on catbitesback's update

catbitesback TBR'd a book

The Other A in LGBTQIA+: An Introduction to the Aromantic Community, in Our Own Words

Aurea Aurea

Do you ever feel alienated by the way society presents love? Maybe you find the idea of romantic relationships off-putting, or maybe it's just 'not your thing'. Sound familiar? Aromanticism is a spectrum of identities where people have little to no interest in romance, or only feel attraction under certain circumstances.This essential book weaves together insights and perspectives from aromantic people across the world, sharing their stories of self-discovery and community. Chapters explore how aromanticism interacts with mental health, dealing with stigma or dismissive attitudes, intersection with different cultural expectations, and more.Whether you're new to an aromantic identity, have been part of the community for years, or just want to know more, this book will help you understand what aromanticism is and what it means for you.

catbitesback commented on a post

catbitesback

Looking for Aromantic nonfic

Hi! I'm not sure if this is the right place for this (if it isn't, please let me know!) but I was wondering if anyone knew of any good nonfiction books that used an intersectional approach to aromantic identity? I have a lot of aro friends I'd like to support and I'd love to be able to dismantle socialital expectations of romance!

catbitesback TBR'd a book

The Other A in LGBTQIA+: An Introduction to the Aromantic Community, in Our Own Words

Aurea Aurea

catbitesback made progress on...

Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

28%

catbitesback made progress on...

Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

16%

Post from the Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion forum

catbitesback

Thoughts from 8% (page 22) Chapter 2: Settler Colonialism

[quoting Mahmoon Mamdani:] "all defining institutions of settler colonialism as practiced in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries were developed in North America. The US tribal homeland was the prototype not only for the South African reserve but also the Nazi concentration camp."

The way the fiscal-mititary state of the US grew and made its profits from having private property, the extent of which that was made marketable at a newly extreme rate, and people, enslaved people, and along with this quote on settler colonialism, is disgusting.

I'm having a hard time grasping how (white) people, (especially white people who claime to know history), have the audacity to say that what happen in US history wasn't particularly bad.

People who want to justify the status quo will say whatever lies they want to, I guess.

catbitesback made progress on...

Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

catbitesback commented on a post

catbitesback

hello from a scaredy-cat

hii!! This quest is so cool and I've been staring at it with huge eyes since the moment i joined pagebound!! The only issue is... I am easily scared and frustratingly get sleep paralysis at night if I'm too stressed by the day (ridiculous, I know!)

Are any of these books... less scary?

For reference, I read They Bloom at Night and didn't find it particularly scary at all (I loved it with my whole self though.) I did watch Sinners a few weeks ago and that was definitely very scary, but within my scare limits, if that makes any sense.

If anyone is willing to point me in the direction of any of these books that feel about in between the scariness levels of reading They Bloom at Night and watching Sinners, (or books on this quest that are less scary than the others) I would be so so grateful forever and ever!!!!! I want this badge and the worldly horrors so bad!!!

Post from the Horrors from Beyond forum

catbitesback

hello from a scaredy-cat

Are any of these books... less scary?

catbitesback commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

Noshelfdiscipline

Edited

New Quests 😬

All my timeline is flooded with people joining the new quests and I am here for it LETS GOOOOO 🙌

Whats everyone's new fave? Since spying that badge I feel werewolves are my new passion 🐺😍

160

catbitesback TBR'd a book

Burning Like Her Own Planet

Vandana Khanna

Against the backdrop of iconic, ancient Hindu texts, Burning Like Her Own Planet reimagines the lives of Hindu goddesses through a contemporary, feminist lens. Told in a series of persona poems and dramatic monologues, the book reinvents these myths into essential stories of love, betrayal, and faith. In these poems, the goddesses question their predetermined fates and examine what it means to be human and divine. They speak in the voices of girls, wives, and mothers, all trying to carve a space for themselves in a world ruled by jealous gods and capricious luck. Overcoming a string of challenges, these goddesses discover their own agency, and the power that comes from telling their own stories. At the heart of the book are the goddesses Sita and Parvati―women who are cast in the role of the “perfect” wife, the “perfect” mother. Here, the goddesses describe their own transformations from naïve, untried women into powerful forces claiming their autonomy. Each in her own way challenges the traditional notions of what it means to be a woman, illuminating the connections between the personal and the universal, the devout and the earthly. The poems highlight the tension between obligation and freedom, examining the consequences for those who try and change the narrative. Whether blessed or cursed, these women, these girl-goddesses, forge their own place within the pages of ancient texts, writing the bitter and the sweet of own lives as they undergo the trials of becoming holy.

catbitesback joined a quest

Poetic Stories 🕊️🪶📜

🏆 // 447 joined

Not Joined

From wine-dark seas to sun-filled cities, these stories explore complex experiences, mythologies, and emotions through narrative poetry and epic verse.

catbitesback commented on catbitesback's review of An Unkindness of Ghosts

catbitesback

May 16, 2026

4.0

Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 3.5

🚀

🌌

🥼

This was a good book! I have some minor complaints about the prose, the stakes felt uneven and the setting confused me in parts where I felt it wasn't entirely fleshed out, but overall I had a good time!!

catbitesback commented on catbitesback's review of The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)

catbitesback

May 18, 2026

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.0

🐇

🏕️

👶

this tasted like red wine and bitter cheese. four stars.

catbitesback started reading...

Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Debunks the pervasive and self-congratulatory myth that our country is proudly founded by and for immigrants, and urges readers to embrace a more complex and honest history of the United States Whether in political debates or discussions about immigration around the kitchen table, many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, will say proudly that we are a nation of immigrants. In this bold new book, historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz asserts this ideology is harmful and dishonest because it serves to mask and diminish the US’s history of settler colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and structural inequality, all of which we still grapple with today. She explains that the idea that we are living in a land of opportunity—founded and built by immigrants—was a convenient response by the ruling class and its brain trust to the 1960s demands for decolonialization, justice, reparations, and social equality. Moreover, Dunbar-Ortiz charges that this feel good—but inaccurate—story promotes a benign narrative of progress, obscuring that the country was founded in violence as a settler state, and imperialist since its inception. While some of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, others are descendants of white settlers who arrived as colonizers to displace those who were here since time immemorial, and still others are descendants of those who were kidnapped and forced here against their will. This paradigm shifting new book from the highly acclaimed author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States charges that we need to stop believing and perpetuating this simplistic and a historical idea and embrace the real (and often horrific) history of the United States.

catbitesback wrote a review...

catbitesback

May 18, 2026

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 4.0

🐇

🏕️

👶

this tasted like red wine and bitter cheese. four stars.

catbitesback finished a book

The Empress of Salt and Fortune (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1)

Nghi Vo

A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully. Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for. At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

catbitesback commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

celinewyp

Tips for the clueless non-mood reader

tl;dr My reading plans fell through because I missed the archive date for the eARC I wanted to read through NetGalley (boo me pls). I have more solid plans for June (aka only queer books) and I know I won’t be able to chase the sparkly for the spring readalong.

As a non-mood reader who is in no particular mood to read anything… what do I do? Any tips welcome! But please don’t suggest I read something completely new that isn’t already on my shelves. I really am too full up on books I might not have time to ever get to OTL

Thank you in advance because I’m absolutely lost and bored and understimulated rn.

catbitesback TBR'd a book

A Black Queer History of the United States (ReVisioning History)

C. Riley Snorton

The first-ever Black history to center queer voices, this landmark study traces the lives of LGBTQ+ Black Americans from slavery to present dayGender and sexual expression have always been part of the Black freedom struggleIn this latest book in Beacon’s award-winning ReVisioning History series, Professors C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost unearth the often overlooked history of the Black queer community in the United States.Arguing that both gender and sexual expression have been an intimate and intricate part of Black freedom struggle, Snorton and Bost present historical contributions of Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming Americans from slavery to the present day to highlight how the fight against racial injustice has always been linked to that of sexual and gender justice.Interweaving stories of queer and trans figures such Private William Cathay/Cathay Williams, born female but enlisted in the Army as a man in the mid-1860sJosephine Baker, internationally known dancer and entertainer of the early 20th century who was also openly bisexualBayard Rustin, prominent Civil Rights activist whose well known homosexuality was viewed as a potential threat to the movementAmanda Milan, a black trans woman whose murder in 2000 unified the trans people of color community,this book includes a deep dive into the marginalization, unjust criminalization, and government legislation of Black queer and trans existence. It also shows how Black Americans have played an integral role in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, countering narratives that have predominantly focused on white Americans.Through storytelling and other narratives, Snorton and Bost show how the Black queer community has always existed, regardless of the attempts to stamp it out, and how those in it continue to fight for their rightful place in the world.

catbitesback commented on a post

Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation

pugs4thugs

Thoughts from 89% (page 239)

Using “rest in power” for Oscar Wilde just pissed me off immensely. That is a phrase created by and reserved for Black people, and I would’ve hoped that an author as seemingly well-read and well-versed as Lewis would know better. It might seem like a small thing to anyone reading this forum post, but it’s not. I suppose this is in line with the general whiteness of this book. And while the whiteness is called out it’s never analyzed or dissected. Probably because that would threaten the author’s own position. I can’t say I’m surprised. But I’m still disappointed.

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