Returning to a theme on which I've been harping for a long time, The Guardian has reported that, over the course of a decade, less than 2% of authors and illustrators for children's fiction were people of colour. According to a report by BookTrust, 2017 was the least diverse year for children's fiction since 2009, … Continue reading Monday Musing: Addressing The Lack Of Diversity In Children’s Fiction
One of the most prevalent challenges facing society today is undoubtedly loneliness. The news abounds with headlines showing that loneliness among almost all generations is on the increase. Although counterintuitive at first sight - we might expect that both the internet at large and social media in particular offer us plentiful opportunities for connection - … Continue reading Bibliotherapy For Loneliness: Fiction Recommendations For Tough Times
"Angel's Laundromat is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fourth Street. Shabby shops and junkyards, secondhand stores with army cots, boxes of one-socks, 1940 edition of Good Hygiene. Grain stores and motels for lovers and old women with hennaed hair who do their laundry at Angel's. Teenage Chicana brides go to Angel's. Towels, pink shortie nighties, bikini underpants … Continue reading Review: A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Now that spring has finally arrived in the US Midwest, I'm spending a good amount of time outside - allergies be damned. It's an incredible time of year. Unlike the autumn, spring is a transitional season replete with possibilities, beginnings, and a sort of contented restlessness that I've grown to love. "Nostalgia in reverse, the … Continue reading Monday Musing: Nature And Literature Are Perfect Partners
When I'm not reading or writing about reading, I'm usually to be found scouring the internet for free resources so that I can learn more about reading. Breezing past the fact that I somehow still got a person to marry me, I refuse to accept that this isn't exactly how it was intended that I … Continue reading The 5 Best TED Talks About Books and Reading
At the start of the year, I wrote about the different ways to formulate 'better' reading goals, with particular attention to your own needs and wants. So much of how we read is reflective of whatever we're experiencing in life. I know that over the course of my 30 years on this planet, both the types … Continue reading Monday Musing: Demanding Diversity in Literature
I make no secret of how much I depend on radio. Since moving to the US, in particular, my favourite BBC radio programmes are on regular rotation as I try to stay as connected as possible to my home. While many of them are on my schedule for nostalgia's sake, I'm also continually impressed by … Continue reading Monday Musing: Reading Through Radio
"Throughout Bosnia, libraries, archives, museums and cultural institutions have been targeted for destruction, in an attempt to eliminate the material evidence - books, documents and works of art - that could remind future generations that people of different ethnic and religious traditions once shared a common heritage in Bosnia." (Andras Riedlmayer) In 1992, Bosnia's National … Continue reading When Books Burn: Libraries, Looting, And The Destruction Of Culture In Conflict
One of the perils of writing about books online is the inevitable pull (and general expectation) toward some degree of social media engagement. I've been writing on The Book Habit on-and-off since 2013 and have found that, over time, I've become more active in various parts of the book-loving community. Being able to communicate with other bibliophiles … Continue reading Monday Musing: Does Social Media Change The Way That You Read?
"What a world it is, Cora thought, that makes a living prison into your only haven. Was she out of bondage or in its web: how to describe the status of a runaway? Freedom was a thing that shifted as you looked at it, the way a forest is dense with trees up close but … Continue reading Review: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Book Habit 