Welcome to Litsy!

Overall really nice. Took me Forever to read because I had a Really Bad Week early on where my ankle was bad enough that I didn't particularly want to do anything, just stared into a wall. Anyway. Thomas summaries the role of black characters in fantastic (literal sense) media and illustrates it with examples from three properties (and fandoms.) Informative and inspiring. Under normal circumstances a quick read. strongly recommended for everyone.

I had to renew it :/ mainly because it was due today, and the quarantine time the book has to spend before being handled goes into your loan time, so I wasn't able to return it on time anyway.
still good, also iced coffee.

- I don't know why I'm taking forever to read this book, but I gotta finish by Saturday so. It's not long.

- I was thisclose to dropping a bagel sandwich on a library book but I saved it at the last moment.

- iced coffee!!

not sure why it's taking me such an eternity to read this, but today was sunny and I was able to grab a hand pie for lunch and eat outside.

I used to take better coffee photos. not sure what happened other than the coffee shop may have been more photogenic than my dining table?
Anyway guess whose ankle is doing WORSE after a steroid injection instead of better, and will probably have to have surgery again? at least hopefully this time it can be done before summer so I won't miss a third summer in a row.

sunny but cold reading l lunch. Tofurkey sandwich already eaten. I should have worn another sweater.

First library book in a year! they expanded contactless curbside pickup hours, which, to be fair, is only a few (physical) steps away from my normal library habits (order, pick up, check out); I haven't browsed libraries since I moved to the US. Dewey and I are not friends. Didn't get as much read in this as I was hoping to, I have a bit of a headache and light sensitivity and will switch over to podcasts.

“An emancipatory Black fantastic requires interrupting the dark fantastic cycle in order to create new paradigms.”
- Ebony Elizabeth Thomas // Hermione fanart by Sophia Canning 🧙🏽‍♀️

Another favorite from this year.
I hadn‘t read much literary theory since college. I couldn‘t resist this one through- Diverse perspectives in youth fantasy and SciFi? Yes please. Highly recommended for book nerds, middle and HS English teachers, writers, game designers, and any number of other creatives. The overview of monster theory was fascinating. It was eye opening to see the patterns of othering from folklore to modern texts. 👇

One more purchase for #blackpublishingpower. I‘m excited for this one!

One of my favourite podcasts, fansplaining, featured Ebony Elizabeth Thomas today and now I have a new TBR.

Beautifully written, vital work. The first chapter alone is an excellent and extensive collection of ideas and resources to think through literature, fantasy, imagination, white supremacy, and race.

A very thought-provoking examination of race in media and YA speculative fiction through the lens of the Dark Fantastic (spectacle, hesitation, violence, haunting, and emancipation). Thomas uses four key Black characters - Rue from The Hunger Games, Gwen from BBC‘s Merlin, Bonnie from CW‘s The Vampire Diaries, and Angelina Johnson from Harry Potter - to explore this cycle and how fanfiction/counter-storytelling are changing these characters.

This is some pretty heavy academic analysis. The first 2 chapters definitely the strongest. Big block quotes on almost every page if that kind of think scares you like me you may want to skip this one!

I really tried. I didn‘t publish this review on my blog because I don‘t want to discourage its distribution - I won‘t write a starred review on Goodreads either. The gist of it is that the author is clearly extremely well read on the subject, but provides absolutely no new information. Reads like a dissertation. It would be a pan except the topic of racial equality and equity within fantastic lit is too important to throw any contributions away.

I hit #24in48 relatively early last night and promptly turned around and fell asleep. Thanks to audiobooks, I already had my outfits picked for the week, healthy breakfasts made, and lunch and snacks packed! That‘s a #sundaywin in my book. This book is really great so far, but very scholarly and dense, so I think I may be chipping at it for a while.

Here‘s a #shelfie for you during what‘s my first full hour of #24in48 - settling in for the long haul!

I‘m starting out my #24in48 with the tagged book - I‘m so excited to read it. The byline is “race and the imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games.” I look forward to reading about Cho Chang, Rue, and everyone in between! At my local café, Ohmies ?