BookOwl

      5/5 stars   *Spoiler alert!*   Our History Has Always Been Contraband is an interdisciplinary collection of contemporary and historical essays, edited by Colin Kaepernick, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. Its aim is to defend the importance of studying and including the Black experience in curricula all over the United States and world, in response to a series of book and curricula bans that brand Black studies as radical and racist (looking at you Florida though it’s not alone in this by any means).   “To talk about the importance of teaching Black History… we must be honest about ourselves and talk about values; values shape what one thinks is important to preserve. The history of Black people throughout the African diaspora has been riddled with stereotypes, myths, and miseducation… Marcus Garvey … who rallied for Black people to move back to Africa, had a mindset that Black Americans were going back to the Motherland to civilize...

    5/5 stars    *Spoiler alert!* “In creating this miscellany, our goal is for you to find at least ten new-to-you and irresistible books by authors of backgrounds different from your own...that you'll read in the next year...The idea is to keep seeking out and reading diverse stories.”   Challenge accepted! (I ended up adding 23 books from Bibliophiles, if anyone was curious, although I may come back and add more during a re-read.)    “It is our small offering to the world, sparked by social injustices and racial reckonings, and inspired by many years of reading diversely and realizing what magic can happen when people leave their comfort zones.”   Pretty much all of the books recommended in this gorgeously illustrated volume center the stories of marginalized groups, like women, BIPOC, and those in the LGBTQAI community. A fair number of them I had read, which had me pointing to the book covers in miniature like I was in a bookstore each time ...

    4/5 stars   *Spoiler alert!*   “This book is a genderspu n retelling of a Chinese classic novel Water Margin , in which antiheroic bandits rise up agains t a tyrannical government on behalf of the people. I’v e reimagined it as a melding of epic fantasy and wuxia, an action-packed battle against patriarchy that’ s rife with indecorous women and fantastical sword fights.”   Okay, S.L. Huang, I’m sold! The Water Outlaws is quite the action-packed and poignant romp through the Empire of Song during a rebellion. Although it started off a bit slow, I recognized the love and care S.L. Huang was putting into the worldbuilding and unique magic system.   One of my favorite characters of the whole novel was Lin Chong, who was introduced in the beginning as an unassuming, yet no-nonsense master arms instructor of the Imperial Guard. One of a few high-ranked women, who has largely kept her head down as she’s ascended the Imperial Guard hierarchy . ...