“It feels good, doesn’t it? To steal something back.”

bookclublr:

Post by Will

TW: Transphobic, Homophobic, and Misogynistic slurs

I’ll admit, I’m not very far into The Book Thief. I’m actually kind of kicking myself for picking such a long book for a club I had intended to be low time commitment. But I just happened to read the back for the first time. I seldom read the back of a book right away, it’s a habit I picked up in sixth grade reading class. I also usually take the dust jacket off a hardcover when I read. But this time I put the jacket back on, backwards. As I was fixing it, I happened to read the back.

“How does it feel, anyway?”

“How does what feel?”

“When you take one of those books?”

At that moment, she chose to keep still. If he wanted an answer, he’d have to come back, and he did. “Well?” he asked, but again, it was the boy who replied, before Liesel could even open her mouth. “It feels good, doesn’t it? To steal something back.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about reclaiming slurs lately. “Bitch” “Queer” Both these are words I used to have a strong gut reaction against. “Queer” in particular. My father used it to talk about “those people” and how wrong and lesser they were. I always thought unfair, even when I myself was pretty trans*- and homophobic. It seemed demeaning to separate someone out for being different. It seemed like it must feel very much like what the bullies at school did to me. I didn’t know why I was Other, I just knew that I was. And I was ashamed. When I started figuring out why I was Other, that “Queer” applied to me, the “he-she” like some of the kids in my class called me applied to me, I was not ashamed. I finally knew why I was Other, that it wasn’t something I’d done, and that I didn’t deserve the torture. But I still didn’t like the word “queer”. I do now. Partly because things have gotten more complicated (I’m polyamorous panromantic asexual and gender-fluid) and just saying I’m queer is easier. But it’s more than that.

I don’t know what Liesel thinks, but the boy is right. It feels good to steal something back. Slurs are more than words. They’re instruments to steal someone’s dignity. When you reclaim a slur that’s been used against you, you’re stealing your dignity back. When I say I’m queer, I’m not just saying that my gender changes and I like girls. I’m saying that this is who I am, and if you have a problem with it, it’s your problem, not mine. It feels good to steal something back.

yourmomgivesgoodheadcanon asked: Yes I would like to join your book club,

AWESOME! Join the group blog by clicking here, that’s where we’ll be making all our initial posts.

bookclublr:

Post by: Will

• Anyone interested in joining our bookclub should click here to join the group blog.
• We’ll be using this blog to make our initial posts, so that we can all see the notes.
• Responses should be made by reblogging to your own blog.
• Put your name and a link to your blog at the top of each post so we know who wrote it.
• Posts should be tagged with the book title and author title so people can find our club if they’re tracking the tag.
• Try to make at least one post in the first two weeks of the month so we can discuss. 
• You can make as many posts as you want.

Our first book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Please reblog this post so people can see it.

Preliminary Member List

bookclublr:

Here are the people who are in the club so far:

Will (me) | astheplanetswiftlytilts (primary: maggietenobar)

Sarah | ijustwanttobeperceivedthewayiam

Damini | loveisnotamaybethingxo

Ash | faithliketeeth

And one vague maybe:

Lauren | queenofeden

If any of you will be making responses from a different URL (for instance, I’ll be making responses from my book blog, not my main one), let me know and I’ll list that URL on the official list page.

If anyone else sees this post and wonders what’s going on, click here. We still need one more member to meet the minimum of five I originally set, though personally I think we could make a go of it with four if we have to if that’s alright with the rest of you.

I’ll be posting a ~rules list soon. That sounds scary, but it’s basically how tagging and such will work.

I’ve sent a join link to the three definites, so make sure you click that.

Let’s start a Tumblr book club!

Hello Tumblr! Do like to read? Do you like to talk about things in silly amounts of detail without worrying about a grade? Then you should join this currently unnamed book club!

We’ll be reading one book a month, focusing mainly on YA and shorter adult novels, so as not to make it too overwhelming. I’ll be picking the first few books so people have enough notice, but after that we’ll be open to suggestions. One rule: ABSOLUTELY NO HERMAN MELVILLE. He’s a fine writer, but we’ve all got blogs to run, so let’s not go overboard. If we get a lot of suggestions, I’ll set up a survey and we’ll vote.

We’ll be sharing a group tumblr and making all our initial posts there. That way we can all see the reblog notifications and keep up with the discussion.

At the start of the month, make at least one post about the book. It can be anything: in-depth analysis of tone or just your thoughts on the book. If you want to make multiple posts, great! But please space them a few days apart, especially in the beginning. The goal is to generate discussion, and we don’t want all the posts getting lumped together and lost. Queue/schedule a post if you need to. JUST MAKE SURE YOU POST TO THE GROUP BLOG FIRST. Put your URL at the beginning or end so we know who wrote it. Then you can reblog it to your own blog if you want. Discussion reblogs should be done on your own blog, not the group blog.

If you can’t do a month, don’t worry about it. Just remember that the group only works if people participate, so don’t do it every month. ;) If you can’t finish a book in time for the first of the month, that’s cool too. Just post when you can. But if you can read the book, POST!

I think we should have at least five people to make this work. If I don’t get enough interest, I’ll leave it up to those who are in to decide if we continue or not. If you’re not sure, you can always try it and cut out later if you need to, or you can wait a bit and join later. This club is designed to be flexible!

In January we’ll be discussing The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In February we’ll be discussing A Separate Peace by John Knowles

March is up for suggestions/vote

I hope you’ll consider joining! 

If you’re interested, send an ask to astheplanetswiftlytilts

Signal boosting would be appreciated!

(Also name suggestions. We NEED a name!)

jenesaispourquoi asked: BRILLIANT TITLE! fwiw, i also have a book blog (books-to-the-ceiling), though it is likewise on hiatus atm.

Oooh I see you have The Invention of Hugo Cabret on there! That’s the only fiction book I’ve read just for fun this year, and I loved it. It actually made me cry a bit, because I used to be a visual effects major, so I have a lot of love for Georges Méliès.

Free PDFs by native authors!

this-is-not-native:

So while combing through the interwebs for .pdf books on unrelated subjects, I happened upon zinelibrary.info- an anarchist collective dedicated to the free distribution of radical literature. They have a lot of titles by authors mentioned in this post, as well as many others covering relevant topics. Here are a few that I think may be of interest:

• Custer Died for Your Sins- An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria, Jr.
• God Is Red: A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria, Jr.
• Acts of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader
• From a Native Son: Selected Essays on Indigenism 1985-1995 by Ward Churchill
• Since Predator Came: Notes from the Struggle for American Indian Liberation by Ward Churchill
• Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Colonization by Ward Churchill
• Perversions of Justice: Indigenous Peoples and Angloamerican Law by Ward Churchill
• The Bloody Wake of Alcatraz- Political Repression of the American Indian Movement During the 1970’s by Ward Chruchill
• The Case of Leonard Peltier by Arthur J. Miller and Pio Celestino (zine)
• 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance (zine)
• Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Appreciation? (zine) 
• Not an Indian Tradition: The Sexual Colonization of Native Peoples by Andrea Smith (article)
• Headdress (a small zine on native appropriation)
• Colonization and Decolonization: A Manual for Indigenous Liberation in the 21st Century (zine)

Of course, there’s an entire “indigenous” section of the site (not limited to North America!) as well as a section on race. Happy reading! Time to check some books off my reading list!

-Kirby

(via bringinglexiback)