Volume 3, Resources 23: A Few Words on Allyship, 2022 Books as Gifts, How Long to Read, & Secret Cooking Techniques
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends. It’s a resource week but before I get to that fun stuff, I gotta say that the rampant antisemitism might be my current breaking point. I started looking for some solid resources to share with y’all but every way I searched I was just bombarded with articles and social media posts about hate. So I don’t have any links to share but with holidays happening and coming up I will tell you the one thing you can do:
Don’t let shit slide.
Antisemitic jokes. Racist jokes. Transphobia. Homophobia. Misogyny. Any hate. Don’t you fucking dare let it slide. Call it out. Make a scene. Ruin dinner. Ruin every fucking holiday. Quit prioritizing comfort and niceness over the safety of those you are proclaiming to be an “ally” to. Because you know what? When you let it slide, it’s actually not nice. It’s cowardice. It’s being complicit.
Honestly, that’s most of what every bit of allyship advice boils down to: Do something. Say something. Don’t stay silent. And don’t be shitty.
Let’s get to some resources!
Resource #1: Recommended Books as Gifts
Normally I do a whole thing about the small Black-owned, Asian-owned, queer-owned shops I have been a fan of this year but I do not have the spell slots for that. Instead, here are some books that came out this year that I recommend as gifts. As always, links are affiliate links and you can shop directly through my Bookshop link.
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): Deliciously messy and intense romance with two bisexual main characters that is also a fascinating examination of grief.
White Women: Everything You Already Know about Your Own Racism and How to Do Better by Regina Jackson & Saira Rao (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): An absolute explosion of a book with things that white women “allies” need to hear and many of us wish we felt safe enough to say.
Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): I’m definitely going to go into more detail about this book in a future newsletter issue but it is by the founder of the Nap Ministry who believes that we will not achieve liberation by being burned out.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by Kc Davis (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): I actually wrote about this book in a July issue of this newsletter that you can read here. I am obsessed.
Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice Wong (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): Phenomenal memoir by a self-described disabled oracle.
Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): Possibly my favorite fiction I’ve read this year. Holy shit. This is for those of us who loved Harry Potter but threw it in the trash because 1) the author is a TERF and 2) we eventually learned they aren’t actually that good and are full of various kinds of hate. HMRC is definitely a book for adults, though.
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): This is tied with the above book for the best fiction I read this year and it is completely different. Satire about grad school, specifically an East Asian Studies Department that is almost completely white professors and students. This book was a mess and I loved it.
Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland (Bookshop | Amazon | Libro): Historical fantasy about Black Americans who work the “mystical arts.” It’s an examination of race and power and it’s an incredibly fun read.
Resource #2: How Long to Read
How Long to Read is a site that will help you estimate how long it will take you to read a book. It’s based on the average reading speed which is 300 words per minute (WPM) but it has a free test you can take to determine your own reading speed. You can also hook it up to your Goodreads account to see how much time you’ve spent reading.
Resource #3: Secret Cooking Techniques
Kateasaur on Reddit asked, “What is your secret technique you've never seen in cookbook or online.” There are 1.1k comments and there are some absolute gems!
Bonus Thing: Should Most Self-Help Books Be Pamphlets?
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything for the Book Riot site and I recently took the assignment for this article where I try to answer the question, “Should Most Self-Help Books Be Pamphlets?” As a person who writes self-help (hi!) it was tricky to navigate but I’m pleased with how the piece turned out.
That’s it for this week! You can shop any books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481. If you are a subscriber and would like for me to send you some happy mail, feel free to give me your address.
If you enjoy this newsletter, here are ways to show your support for my writing and resource curation:
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
You can find our podcast, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.
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If you enjoy this newsletter, here are ways to show your support for my writing and resource curation (other than spreading the word, of course!):