#reading pride

Taleb laid out the concept of the antilibrary in his best-selling bookThe Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. He starts with a discussion of the prolific author and scholar Umberto Eco, whose personal library housed a staggering 30,000 books.

When Eco hosted visitors, many would marvel at the size of his library and assumed it represented the host’s knowledge — which, make no mistake, was expansive. But a few savvy visitors realized the truth: Eco’s library wasn’t voluminous because he had read so much; it was voluminous because he desired to read so much more.

My friends, be proud of your antilibrary.

And for those who are curious, the referenced "tsundoku" is 積読, which is a mashup of the word for "to pile up" (as in how dust does on the blade of a disused fan, or snow on a mountainside) and 読 (book). Maybe from 読書 which is a fancy way of saying "to read" (and then dropping the second kanji)?

Day 24: Queer book you wish you read when you were younger

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan.

It was between this and Magnus Chase. Both would have been adored by pre-teen and teen me. It’s a great coming of age and very silly while bringing up some good social issues that should be discussed. As well as a lot of silent gay pinning and bi rep.

30 days of #readingpride. Recommend your favorite Queer books during the month of June. Please participate and spread the word if you’d like.

30 Days of Queer Reads

A prompt list for Pride Month by queer author @gailcarriger

I gave up posting these daily because reasons, but have my full list of LGBT book recs. And if you’re looking for a list of LGBT Sci-Fi/Fantasy books where being queer is a sidenote to the plot, this has many things for you.

(My definition of “LGBT book” got a little fast and loose a couple times, but if a character isn’t explicitly cis or straight then you can pry the headcanon from my cold dead hands.)

Seems that people in the UK know how to protest, and they know how to boycott things properly.

The branch has been open eight days, and the shopping centre has already decided it is not going to renew the lease past the six month period. And the only reason it is letting it run that long is because of the concern over the jobs and so forth over the people who took jobs there. 

I have to say I am pretty damn proud of my country. Of the fact the shopping centre is not letting the lease go on past the minimum period, but - at the same time - is not just taking unilateral action and is dealing with the closure in a sensible manner.

And - on a related note - that Reading Pride (the group who are primarily behind the protests) are also not contesting the six month period for much the same reasons.

A victory for common sense over bigotry, and for common sense over zealotry.

Day 20: Favorite queer book series

Whyborne & Griffin by Jordan L Hawk

I’ve been following this series since it first came out in 2012 and have loved the character growth and found family, as well as the Lovecraftian weirdness that is the town of Widdershins. Also, loved seeing Hawk’s writing improve with each installment over the past 8 years! So much love for this one, such a good eerie comfort read.

30 days of #readingpride. Recommend your favorite Queer books during the month of June. Please participate and spread the word if you’d like.

Day 14: Book that made you cry.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

This made me cry twice! 

Lovely writing style, and the plot was intriguing. I went into it not knowing it was LGBT+ and kept shipping the guys thinking I’d be crushed.

 I loved Mori and Thaniel and the relationship that blooms between them. It did have it’s flaws though. The only female character (not counting their daughter) was an anti-feminist and racist and her PoV was hard to get through. I think going into it knowing she was the villain might of made it easier, but honestly I was disappointed that she was the only female character. The author must have gotten some reviews about that because she fixes it in book two.

Still it’s one of my favorites and I think about it a lot.

30 days of #readingpride. Recommend your favorite Queer books during the month of June. Please participate and spread the word if you’d like.