SUNDAY CHAT ELEVEN - It's Hot!

SUNDAY CHAT
 ELEVEN

IT'S HOT

Hello, lovely Library Lions and beautiful Book Dragons! It's hot here in Upstate New York. It's been in the mid 90°s (35°C) and humid, and I have no idea how hot it is here in the apartment because our thermostat thermometer stops at 88° and it's been pegged out there for the last three days. The wiring in our apartment is too old to handle an air conditioner. I had to mute the notifications from the Facebook group for the Potterhead Running Club because too many of them were whining about having to stay inside with their AC because it was too hot outside to be in their backyard pools. Oh the humanity! What an inconvenience for them. Too many people in the South also think it doesn't get above low 80°s in the North. We get up into the 100°s at least twice a year and high 90°s are normal well into September. And yes, here in the Northeast it's humid, too.

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It's supposed to start cooling down, so I hope to get caught up with blog hopping (the heat has really aggravated my EDS) and maybe get some Instagram photos taken. I now have the entire Discworld Witches story arc in beautiful Gollancz hardcovers, and I received an exciting surprise physical ARC from a big publisher. I also have two new guitars to show off!

I am still doing my I AM LISTENING reading. I added a personal challenge for the blog of one Nonfiction anti-racism book a month for the next year reaching into 2021, and in keeping with my annual July Summer in the City reading theme, and also fulfilling my A Year of Classics I have found some wonderful #OwnVoices classic Fiction stories about the Harlem Renaissance. In fact, I have become addicted to them and am looking for more!
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This being said... I have seen some things on social media I feel the need to touch on. Firstly, after the first two or three weeks of the Black Lives Matter and Blackout 2020 push for reading anti-racism books and books by Black authors, the supportive book blogging atmosphere seems to have significantly died down. A lot of people were spotlighting books and buying books, but I have seen relatively few people talking about reading them. Some read one book and felt that was the end of their responsibility. Let's inspire each other to start reading and/or keep reading these books!
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I have also seen bloggers shaming others for not reading Nonfiction anti-racism books and this doesn't help, either. If someone is reading more Fiction #OwnVoices stories by PIOC authors, that's fabulous, too! I also encourage trying a Nonfiction even if it takes a year or more to read it, or even if you don't end up finishing it. People don't need to be browbeaten about the form of intake as long as there is positive intake of information. Learning about Black cultures, history, and racial injustice via a fictional story might have more impact on many readers than Nonfiction. There are also great lists out there of films and documentaries.

My son says he is finally ready to have a new cat, and we are going to start kitten proofing the apartment! Above is the kitten I wanted last year when Baz told me he wasn't ready for another yet. No worries though the kitten got a terrific home with one of his litter mates adopted along with him!

BLACK VOICES MATTER