Heather Allen

In which I realize I do not read diversely. It’s embarrassing to say the least.

Last week, Tqwana published her update on her Diverse Books Pledge. She had originally suggested we write the post together, but I had a very troubling realization, I had only read one book that qualified (in my mind) as diverse. My goal is 15 books (0ut of my 50 total for the year), which I thought was a respectable amount. I also mistakenly assumed I would gravitate toward the types of books that qualified as diverse. Not only is that false, but I’m mostly gravitating toward books by older white men–not even women!! I feel like I’ve betrayed myself.

My issue does not solely lie with the realization that I’m not trying hard enough to read diversely, it’s also the fact that my main form of getting book recommendations is through channels which are reserved…