"What say you, Mari? For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read great books and make extracts." -Jane Austen-ish. @Snark_Squad | @BookNetFest
Sep 30, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
After spending the last two weeks talking to employees about how they are holding up during pandemic work, petition for managers to stop commenting on employee's facial expressions, especially on Zoom.
If your concern, in this economy, with the world on fire, is that your employee put effort into maintaining a pleasant expression, you don't have your employee in mind. And you don't have productivity in mind, because with limited reserves ANYWAY, that energy could go to WORK.
Sep 29, 2020 • 29 tweets • 12 min read
I had to travel for work and now I have a three hour ride back home. I’m very tired and stressed so there is only one thing to do: Read Kissing the Coronavirus.
Obviously the real uncomfy thing here is the eroticizing and romanticizing of an, um, deadly virus which has claimed many lives. Page 1 goes “the virus is like a devastating penis, yeah that’s the ticket.” #kissingthecoronasnark
Sep 9, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I'm in the middle of a massive unhaul project so I've been thinking about consumerism in BookTube a heck of a lot lately. This is a topic that cycles around in the community and for good reason: how we acquire books is a big part of what we do.
bit.ly/3m7bzEU
As with most things we hot take on Twitter, there is so much nuance here and it's not as simple as "it's my money nobody judge me" or "buying books is awful how could you."
Sep 3, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
It's never that you aren't allowed to dislike books from non-white authors, but that as reviewers-- especially ones who, you know, care-- it's your responsibility to unpack the language you use to review and the biases you bring to a work.
Yes, you are allowed to not like work by non-white authors, but if everything you didn't like about it is everything that doesn't center you, like maybe sit with that for a moment.
Sep 2, 2020 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Every so often, as I work on @BookNetFest things, I just get really proud of @thoughtsontomes and myself. I'm always amazed that the wild idea I had while sitting on the floor of a hotel room, the idea Sam immediately said yes to, became this event.
@thoughtsontomes In my experience, the book community has a tendency to be better at co-opting ideas than supporting what already exists, especially if made by smaller or marginalized creators. I'm infinitely grateful to everyone who has supported @BookNetFest along the way.
Aug 6, 2020 • 25 tweets • 14 min read
"This is a cool scene in which he talks about how Bella’s sweet blood is making him want to murder her right here, in front of everyone. And had he known that her blood existed, he would’ve found her and murdered her *ages ago*."
#MidnightSun Chapter 1: snarksquad.com/2020/08/midnig…
"Edward starts focusing on how much he hates Bella for existing and being desirable to him, which helps take the edge off of wanting to kill her. Gotta love when your misogyny helps keep your murderous desires at bay, I guess."
When something happens in the book community, when someone messes up, we are generally quick to acknowledge that it's a conversation we should have, but then rarely get around to having said conversation.
Things in the book community, especially on Twitter, flare up quickly and then die down just as quickly. It bothers me that part of this is because of the way that these conversations are policed.
Jul 16, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
me looking at conversations about reading critically or enjoying reading as someone who genuinely enjoys reading critically: 👁👄👁
I’ve talked a lot about this false dichotomy between you either enjoy books or you are critical of them, like in this here applicable video you should totally watch:
Jul 16, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
LitJoy's apology does the same thing people do on here all the time: drown it out by redirecting attention to the tone of the conversation or method of communication. It's always I'm sorry I messed up, however stfu.
Nobody wants to talk about the racist things that keep happening when instead they can talk about where we should have this conversation, how we should have it, what if you had it privately, can you have it quietly, can you be nicer, can you make this at all more palatable to me?
Jul 16, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
"Can't I just enjoy something?" If all you have to enjoy in your life is one racist work of fiction, at least enjoy it quietly.
"I need to read and see for myself." OR you can listen to the Indigenous folk who are telling you it is not okay.
"Twilight was so formative for me." Uh-oh, maybe use this time to interrogate what it means that something so deeply problematic built any sort of foundation for you as a person.
Jul 16, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
If you are like me, you maybe don't know what Brody is talking about and the way that this community continues to fail Native booktubers, reviewers and readers. That is part of the problem. These concerns are silenced and those who voice them don't have a safe forum.
If you want to learn more, I encourage you to look into LitJoy Crate's inclusion of a "dream catcher" in a box this year and their abysmal response when called out for appropriation.
Jun 30, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I want to talk about something I see in a lot of reviews about Acevedo's work: that her endings are too neat and unbelievable for the stories she creates. I invite you to think about how that might be more microagression than review.
If you only want to read BIPOC and Latinx stories when they are stories of pain and you actively dock stars because they have the audacity to have a happy ending, that's a you problem not a book problem.
Jun 29, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I thought I had all my The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes feelings out but I DON'T. I keep thinking about the privilege of delivering a story in which the driving question seems to be "what does the oppressor think and feel?"
Ballad gives us a story in which we watch as a white character's wealth and power are threatened, as if that's some sort of a-ha! origin story for an oppressor.
Jun 6, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
It's been super heartbreaking to hear (not for the first time) all these stories of BIPOC authors being told no one will read their stories or having those stories undervalued. So, readers and reviewers, let's talk.
I don't want to put too much of the onus on us. Truth is, we cannot read the books that no one publishes. However, this is part of what I mean when I say that media matters and what we read, support, and promote MATTERS.
Jun 4, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
It's great that a lot of BookTube is stepping up in support of Black Lives Matter and that we are in turn taking a closer look at our community and the publishing industry.
I really, really want to hear about what is going to happen the next time POC say a book is racist.
It's been weird in my booktube spaces the last few days to see people tweeting (and getting congratulations for) their anti-racist Tweets-- the same people who ignored, talked over, blocked, gaslit, insulted or otherwise mistreated POC for saying a book was racist.
Jun 1, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I watched a now-private video from a white booktuber that came under the guise of taking a pro-BLM stance, but was really about expressing how uncomfortable this is all making her. Dearest of my book-loving friends...
There is certainly a ton of information right now (in general, but also specifically on Book Twitter) about how we take a stance, what it means to be an ally, speaking up vs staying silent, what that means, and how to do it.
Jun 1, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
If you look at everything that is happening and all you can come up with is "but looting is bad," I'm not interested in engaging in that basic, shallow, low hanging fruit conversation with you.
There are complex systems of racism to dismantle, Karen.
May 29, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I've been seeing tweets about BookTube and racism and racist BookTubers. The majority of experiences and interactions I've had over my 5 years in the community have been positive, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking we are perfect.
I was on a BookTube panel once (the only black person on that panel) and one of the other panelists called me a colored person. Someone recently wore a confederate flag shirt in a video and it barely made a ripple.
May 21, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I'm on page 3 of rereading The Selection and my editing brain is not going to enjoy this one bit. I can already complain about so much, but they are all writing details. BUT all these nitpicks together make this a poor reading experience already.
"I looked over at my mother. For a Five, she was a little on the heavy side, which was odd. She wasn't a glutton, and it's not like we had anything to overeat anyway."
GOD MOM, WHY ARE YOU FAT, WE'RE POOR. -- America Singer, a peach.
May 5, 2020 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
in addition to all the other feelings I've been having over the last couple of days, I keep thinking about this idea of fostering community in regards to the largest BookTube channels, biggest platforms, loudest voices and pro-Twilight sentiment.
In general terms, I think it's always been tricky for the book review community to navigate the place between "this is a hobby" and "I have a platform" and that certainly only gets trickier as people grow, and grow quickly.
May 4, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
We can talk about the impact Twilight had on the industry without demanding that those who are speaking out against it respect it. Do you get how responding "but you have to respect it" to "it's racist and misogynistic" is a PROBLEM?
I truly do not have to respect it.
I'm happy you got to write your book, but the fact that that opportunity came on the back of a white woman's work that is racist and misogynistic is not surprising, nor is it really something to celebrate.
