Here in theU.S., November is Native American Heritage Month! I’m surprised that I haven’t compiled a list for the occasion yet, but to be fair, November tends to be a busy month for me. But now that I’m a few days away from break, I figured I would use that time to make this list.
Despite the wonderful boost in diversity in YA and adult literature in the past decade or so, I’ve seen very little of that diversity focused on Indigenous characters and stories. It could be just me, from an outsider perspective, but diversity means boosting all voices—not just the few that you can think of off the top of your head when you think of the word “diversity.” And as an American, I know full well that we are and always have been living on stolen land, so it’s important to read outside of what our history books teach us. So I’ve compiled some of my favorite books by Native American, Indigenous, and First Nations authors for the occasion.
Let’s begin, shall we?
THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S BOOKS FOR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think of them? What are your favorite books by Indigenous authors? Let me know in the comments!
Today’s song:
That’s it for this recommendations post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I was in the mood for a book tag today, so I thought I’d try this one out. I found it over at Birdie’s Book Nook (who you should absolutely follow if you don’t already!). I haven’t been able to find who originally created the tag, so if you know, let me know and I’ll link to their blog.
This one looks like a lot of fun…let’s begin, shall we?
🔠A TO Z BOOK TAG🔠
A – Author you have read the most books from
I haven’t picked up a Warriorsbook since middle school, but given the sheer volume of books in this series (aren’t there…there’s probably 40 or 50 books now, right? I stopped at the 5th series 💀), I’d say that Erin Hunter is the author that I’ve read the most books from. These books were my childhood…
B – Best sequel ever
the emotional damage that Aurora Burninginflicted on me remains unparalleled…
C – Currently reading
I’m a little over halfway through Follow Your Arrowright now! I’m not super invested in the romance, but the bisexual rep is great.
D – Drink of choice
Definitely tea—hot cinnamon spice is my favorite!
E – E-reader or physical book?
As much as I love my Kindle, physical books always win. Can’t beat the feeling of having a physical book in your hand—plus, a Kindle can’t give you that book smell…
F – Fictional character you would’ve dated in high school
Auri and Kal from Aurora Risingare my ultimate bisexual panic, so I probably would’ve gone for either of them…
G – Glad you gave this book a chance
I don’t usually read historical fiction as often, but The Reckless Kindwas an unexpected 5-star read!
H – Hidden gem
The Wide Starlightended up being my first 5-star read of the year! It doesn’t get nearly as much praise as it should, it’s a stunning book!
I – Important moment in your reading life
Reading and subsequently falling in love with The Search for WondLain 5th grade. I’d liked sci-fi books before, but I give that trilogy credit for being my gateway into sci-fi literature. Haven’t turned my back since.
J – Just finished
I finished The Final Strifeyesterday! Definitely a long haul, but the worldbuilding was great.
K – Kind of book you won’t read
I don’t usually do horror, and I’m also not a huge fan of the kind of romance books with airbrushed, shirtless/scantily clad people on the covers. Again, no shade to the people that enjoy the aforementioned books, but they’re just not my thing.
Aurora’s End WRECKED me…I think I re-read it two or three times before I could pick anything else up…
N – Number of bookshelves you own
Three—two for most of my books, and a smaller one for all my graphic novels and trade paperbacks.
O – One book you’ve read multiple times
I re-readThe Kingdom of Backa few weeks back, and I loved it just as much as I did the first time!
P – Preferred place to read
Either the couch, my bed (at night), and when it’s warm enough, outside in the hammock.
Q – Quote that inspires you
For the sake of brevity, I’ll just link it here, but Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” speech never fails to be an inspiration to me. Go read it. You won’t regret it.
R – Reading regrets
Spending any money—even just $4.99—on Off Balance. What an awful excuse for a sequel.
S – Series you’ve started and need to finish
I really enjoyed Surviving the City, I don’t know why I haven’t picked up From the Roots Up!
U – …I just looked through several iterations of this tag, and it looks like U got skipped somewhere down the line?
moving on…
V – Very excited about this release
I need to pick up Godslayerssoon—I think it just came out last month!
W – Worst bookish habit
I read relatively fast, and sometimes it comes back to bite me…I’ve learned to read my school books a little slower, at least.
X – X marks the spot. Pick the 27th book from your top left shelf.
Turns out it’s Nyxia! It’s been years since I’ve read this one, but I remember enjoying it.
Y – Your latest purchase
I bought Adaptationand a few other books on my Kindle for my trip to California in June. This one was my least favorite of the books I bought, but it was still decent. I finished it on the plane ride back.
Z – Z snatcher: book that kept you up way too late
nothin’ like staying up way too late reading The Darkness Outside Usand having a minor existential crisis, am I right
+ anyone else who wants to participate! If you see this tag and want to do it, I’d love to see your answers! If I tagged you and you’ve already done it, then my bad.
Today’s song:
this album was pretty hit or miss for me, but I like this one—feels like their old stuff!
That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
Time for another Top 5 Saturday! This was originally started by Devouring Books, and it sounded like such a fun post to take part in. Today’s topic is #OwnVoices books!
Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
I’m so grateful that I got an eARC of this amazing book! It comes out a month from today (what are the odds?), and I’m so excited for you all to read it!
Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you and your loved ones well.
You know what one of the strangest feelings (for me) is? Sometimes, I’ll watch a certain movie so many times that I’ll only be able to see a certain actor as the role in said movie, and then I’ll see them in something else, and it’s either impossible to make the connection or it just weirds you out for a bit. Sorry, that was kind of long winded and weirdly-worded, but I’m not sure how to put it into words. But anyway, I watched Alien (1979) on Friday night, and let me tell you, seeing John Hurt after having only seen him in the Hellboy movies (when he was far older than he was in Alien) was weirdly bizarre. I’d just permanently imagined him as Professor Bruttenholm, so…
Also, the John Hurt Professor Bruttenholm will always be the superior Professor. The reboot was way too out of character.
[ahem] Now, back to our scheduled program…
Overall, I’ve had quite a nice week. I’ve gotten a lot of reading done after said library haul, and though there were a few disappointments, I enjoyed everything that I read. Camp NaNoWriMo has been going smoothly as well; I surpassed my goal of 5,000 words for my short story, and updated it to 7,500 so I could get to the end of July. It’s one of those instances where I wish I could just give my past self a little reassurance–the first few days, I panicked a bit that my short story was too short for the word count limit. And now, here we are…
Other than that, I’ve made lots of progress with my puzzle, watched Alien, listened to a bit too much Josh Cohen, and started watching Cursed. I enjoyed the book, and I’m about three episodes into the show. The trailer looked like it could go either way, and so far, I’d say it’s pretty good. Once I finish it, I’ll try and put together a review. We’ll see.
The Bookish Mutant 