Blackout Buddy Read // plus some links and resources

“It is essential to resist depiction of history as the work of heroic individuals in order for people today to recognize their potential agency as a part of an ever-expanding community of struggle.” – Angela Davis, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle

Shae from Books With Shae is hosting the Blackout Buddy Read from June 5 to June 19.

Here’s the announcement video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdGEa9-k5-k]

continue to…

Find a protest near you

George Floyd Protests | https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=9.101946528762182%2C-54.8487811&z=2&mid=1W3fsF5-Mz3_KaBgVt2pU8BDY5GkawUN_

https://mashable.com/2017/02/01/how-to-find-protests-online-trump/

There are so many protests happening everywhere – please be safe with stricter policing and the curfews. There are useful tips for if you’re going out to protest in the links below.

Donate, sign petitions, contact your representatives, and *learn more

Ways You Can Help | https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

A Guide to Anti-Racist Resources | #blacklivesmatter #sayhisname | https://noxthereader.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-guide-to-anti-racist-resources.html

REPARATIONS FOR SLAVERY NOW | https://action.aclu.org/send-message/reparations-slavery-now

#blacklivesmatter Google doc | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0KC83vYfVQ-2freQveH43PWxuab2uWDEGolzrNoIks/edit#heading=h.hirmbwvxxz7o

Also, check how many and what type of policies your city has enacted in response to current events, and hold them accountable. Resistbot makes it even easier for you to identify and compose messages to your representatives when you need to contact them.

Support Black creators (now and always):

Black Bookish Content Creators | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13uR1EwNQPXPLLU8XYOsdvw4KQvPE_0joUlKiseCMFFM/edit#gid=487582326

Black Booktubers Playlist | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4ZxMnCvGn4&list=PLz1aECHUN0DR2-8otiw5OzcpVK3W-lcIZ

Please read about the recently revised Anti-terrorism bill in the Philippines and the Lumad

In this Carrd, compiled are the links you can check out to know more about current issues, like the Terror Bill, BLM movement, and save Lumad schools movement. | https://knowmore.carrd.co/

The actual bill if you would like to read it for yourself | http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/first_18/CR00340.pdf

Share info + please Talk (and keep talking) with family, friends, and the miscellaneous people in your life.

* This isn’t specifically about BLM, but I think it is relevant. The documentary Requiem for the American Dream is available for free on Youtube, and it’s only an hour long (or 30 min if you double speed it!!). It’s about how the wealthy have limited democracy in the USA since its conception and ways they continue to do so.

I’d really love to hear your thoughts on it if you watch it or have watched it!

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Thanks for reading this 🙂! Will you be participating in Blackout Buddy Read? Have you read the two books already? Or seen Requiem for the American Dream?

How are you doing right now?

Also, I’ve missed sO MAnY blog posts. If you want, you can leave the link of a recent blog posts you really like, and my scattered birdbrain will read it 🐦.

Please continue to listen and act in any way you can – take care!

Book Review: Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay // my most anticipated read of 2020

Title: Patron Saints of Nothing

Author: Randy Ribay

Published: September 10, 2019

Pages: 432

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Book Depository / Goodreads

Growing up, I was reluctantly proud of being half-filipino.

Even though I was also half-Indian, my mom was undoubtedly more successful than my dad at ensuring that my siblings and I were connected to her homeland and Filipino culture (sorry, dude ✌️). We used Filipino honorifics like “Ate” and “Kuya” in our household, regularly went to fiestas and novenas organized by family in the area, and visited the Philippines every two or three summers.

3 Movies To Watch This May // rapid fire recommendations for asian and pacific islander heritage month

I am in no capacity a movie buff.

Truly, the only reason I can’t count the number of movies I’ve watched this month on one hand is because the number is zero 😅. But, I’m not letting that stop me from recommending a meager number of three movies that you should watch before May ends!

(They’re perfect for celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 😏!)

Book Blogs You Should Follow // blogs i love (part one/infinite)

This post has been a long time a-coming.

I’ve been meaning to start a series on here to highlight blogs I love on my long and growing list, so here she finally is, folks. Hopefully this will be a monthly feature because I’m pretty 💩 about doing tags and need another way to appreciate you all.

leslie knope’s approval, the highest honor?

Here is an incomplete list of book blogs that never fail to entertain me, make me think, or bring a smile to my face. Some I’ve been following for years, others I found recently, and while I mercilessly comment on a handful of them 🥰, I remain a timid, silent follower of the rest lol 🙈:

Do You Follow The Hype Train? // my opinion on reading hyped books

Are you a passenger on the hype train?

Train metaphors ✌️😅.

i watched this gif too many times than i’d like to admit.

Every month, Rukky from Eternity Books shares weekly bookish discussion topics for her awesome Let’s Talk Bookish feature. I always look forward to the discussions and am finally participating in today’s: The Hype Train! Rukky provided some great guide questions, so I’ll keep this intro short 💃:

Check out Rukky’s blog and the discussion topics! Her posts are always so fun and thoughtful!

Mini Audiobook Reviews: Sadie by Courtney Summers and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson // a YA mysteries agni kai

Two YA mysteries in a fight for their honor, but only one can come out alive…

sorry, this really isn’t that serious 😅. anyways,

I found myself in the mood for some ~ mystery ~ last week and settled on listening to Sadie by Courtney Summers and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Instead of reviewing them in two separate posts, I thought I’d just do it in one ✨. Both books were popular YA mysteries, and while their plots and formats had similarities, other elements like their subject matters weren’t as comparable 💃:

(But… if we were really talking agni kai… which book, if any, do you personally prefer 😅?)

Book Review: Members Only by Sameer Pandya // a racist joke and belonging in a divided world (my first ARC review!)

Title: Members Only

Author: Sameer Pandya

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Expected Publication: May 12, 2020

Pages: 338

Genre: Fiction

Amazon / Goodreads

Dr. Raj Bhat seemed like the last man who should be accused of being any type of racist, including the “reverse” type.

An anthropology professor and first generation Indian American, Raj had committed his life to understanding humans and educating students about people’s differences and similarities, all the while troubled by feelings that he was a perpetual foreigner in the eyes of many.

When an African American couple interviewed to join the elitist, all-white tennis club Raj was a member of, a place where his insecurities felt glaringly pronounced, Raj delighted at the prospect of it becoming the more diverse environment he craved. In an honest attempt to connect to the pair over their shared “otherness”, Raj made an ill-fated, racist joke. A few days later, another incident had Raj denounced by his students for spreading “anti-Western bias”.

During the ensuing week from hell, Raj desperately attempted to make sense of his fragile world as it splintered from polarized racial discussions and the inner and outer forces of self-preservation.