A couple of weeks ago, my local state government decided that from June 1st, that libraries could open again (Hurray!) to let people pick up reserved books. Since I had moved house, I quickly signed up online to my new local library and made a bunch of reservations for books I’ve been wanting to get my hands on for ages. Generally, these were books I’d been recommended from BookTube, close friends, Goodreads or just sequels to books I’d previously read.
Truth be told, I wasn’t intending to specifically reserve library books with certain authors and representations ~ I was just reserving books I was genuinely interested in because I don’t have the capacity to buy books I’m simply interested in anymore. My last buy was probably the Asian-authored book Starfish by Akemi Dawn-Bowman on my kindle because it was only $3 and @bookswithchloe spoke so highly of it on her vlog. You would’ve seen this title on my June TBR post as well.
Anyway ~ flash forward to when the Black Lives Matter movement surged online again, I struggled a lot because I can’t afford to donate or to support BIPOC authors by buying their books. I’ve been trying to spend my time on either pushing the strong messages online as much as I can and basically anxiously wait for my library reservations to become available to pick up. A couple of the books on my reservations were by BIPOC authors and I’ve been super excited to read them, but also excited to keep the movement’s momentum going in the blogosphere with reviews & publicity to marginalised BIPOC authors.
It’s always been really hard knowing BIPOC individuals suffer from discrimination and even harder to watch as they fight against racist idiots online. When I checked my library dashboard this morning, I saw that I had a few reservations available to pick up (it’s like Christmas time honestly).
To try and do better, I thought I’d write this blog post that shares the BIPOC authored books I reserved, as well as the LGBTQ+ and Asian authored books I reserved too.
I actually had no idea that June was PRIDE month, a pretty silly mistake on my part – although to me, it makes more sense that readers should be encouraged to read LGBTQ+, Asian and BIPOC authored books all year round so it’s almost a little irrelevant to me in that sense.
Onto my Library Reservations:
AVAILABLE TO PICK UP
Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
I have been eyeing this book for ages because of the wonderful reviews online on Goodreads and BookTube. I don’t even need to know what it’s about because I’ve been craving a cute romance novel and I can’t wait to pick this up. It’s even more meaningful because it apparently has great BIPOC AND disability representation.
Sea of Strangers by Lang Leav
It has been a little while since I read some poetry so I thought I’d pick this one up. I have been noticing the popularity of Lang Leav in bookstores and in the Goodreads poetry sections so I’m really looking forward to giving this new Asian author’s work a go! I hope I find some favourite poems within.
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
This is the only book that isn’t by a POC author and I don’t think has any LGBTQ+ main or side characters (?) but is available to pick up ~ is nevertheless another library reservation I’m keen to read. I’ve been seeing this book around online for ages now and I’ve seriously been feeling like contemporaries and romance books (as the first reservation suggests) so I hope I can find a cute story and a well-written relationship in this book.
PENDING RESERVATIONS
So these are the reservations I am still waiting on because someone is reading them right or they are being ordered by the library. Which brings me to the point that if you can’t afford to buy a lot of books, you can support authors by requesting and reserving books at the library. If the library sees a high demand, they will buy more copies for their readers! It’s a great way to support authors and can bring more readers to attention if there are a lot of copies in a library to pick up.
The Weight of The Stars by K. Ancrum
This is a book that my friend and fellow blogger Solomon (The Bookish King) rated 5 STARS on his Instagram story. This is usually pretty big because I guess I really trust Sol’s opinion of books. Since reserving this book at my library, I’ve also seen dozens of people recommending this title on Twitter for its LGBTQ+ and BIPOC author and representation. Not to mention that it’s freaking Sci-fi and that’s what hooked me in from Sol’s rating in the first place. Really excited to pick this one up soon!
Heartstopper Volume 3 by Alice Oseman
I have previously read the first and second volume of Heartstopper, so naturally, I’ve been super excited to read the next instalment. The art style and the cute storyline of Nick and Charlie are almost irresistible and I just wouldn’t mind if my heart melted a little bit more next month by finally reading this gorgeous book.
The Avant-Gardes Volume 1 by Carly Usdin
While I was browsing for more graphic novels to pick up at the library (my main source for graphic novels btw), I saw this one was recommended. After searching it up, I saw a few of my Goodreads friends rated this title 4 to 5 stars and that it had an f/f romance, something I rarely see even in LGBT/Queer rep in books so I’m very excited to see what this is about ~ it looks like sports are involved.
6 books isn’t a whole lot but I already have so many on my physical TBR, I try not to get too ahead of myself. With my postgrad uni studies and work, plus my current obsession with Lucifer ~ I kinda have to pace myself a little bit.
Have you been reserving and borrowing books from your local library? What have you picked up recently?
