woman in the mirror

When you pick up a book, do you see yourself reflected in its pages?  Colleen Mondor over at Chasing Ray has been asking YA authors to consider questions like this; if you haven’t been following the What a Girl Wants series, do check it out.  Over at Black-eyed Susan’s, the conversation has shifted from confession and complaint to concrete action: DO THIS NOW!  Commit to joining Susan’s campaign to get more bloggers reading and reviewing books that feature diverse characters.  Have you ever stopped to consider just how diverse your reading habits are?  I mostly read books by women, so I have to make a conscious effort to include more male authors in my TBR pile.  I almost exclusively review books by authors of color b/c I know just how marginalized we are in the publishing world (and the writing is amazing!).  Plus, I owe a great debt to many amazing bloggers who took a chance and reviewed my self-published novel.  You don’t have to be an expert on race relations to read about people who are outside your race.  Think of it as an adventure, a journey, an education, a pleasure…be a self-conscious reader until the end of August and put some summer color on your blog!