Monday Night Inspiration: Bookish Wish List

I haven’t done a Monday Night Inspiration post for a while, but thought I should resurrect it! There’s only today and next Monday left in November, but I’m hoping to carry on being more consistent with blogging next month too.

I’m doing something fairly easy this evening as it’s late in the UK – and if people are looking for more recommendations from me for books to buy for friends and family, I have plenty of ideas! The only difference with this list is that I haven’t read most of them, so I’m just going to say why I put the books on the list and link to more detail on Story Graph.

The only problem is that my wish list is huge! Despite how terrible Amazon is in general, I make good use of their wish-list function and have a few different categories and genre lists of books and other things.

I find a lot of recommendations from following people on Instagram or from YouTube book channels, from Twitter (and now hopefully Mastodon), and from places like Book Riot. I already have some of these books on my shelves (and will indicate which ones), but most of them are books I’d like to read.

Non-fiction

1. What I Want to Talk About: How Autistic Interests Shape a Life by Pete Wharmby. I followed the author on Twitter and he’s been advocating and sharing information about being autistic for a long time. He’s written a book about autistic special interests and his own life experiences.
2. Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke. Tarana Burke had worked on the Me Too movement long before it was taken up by everyone else on social media. Her work supporting and creating community, and empowering Black and brown girls, gave birth to a movement that sent ripples into the halls of power, and still has far reaching effects for women and girls worldwide.
3. Laziness Does Not Exist: A Defense of the Exhausted, Exploited, and Overworked by Dr Devon Price. This is a book about liberating ourselves from the pressure to be productive in all areas of our lives and how productivity does not define our worth. Dr Devon Price is a social psychologist who wrote Unmasking Autism which I’m reading at the moment and this was their first book.
4. Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong. I already have this on my bookshelf but wanted to share it here. Alice Wong is a disabled activist and writer who edited the anthology Disability Visibility. This is her memoir – a collection of essays, conversations, photos, and commissioned art by other disabled artists.
5. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. This is a beautiful book about mapping feelings and how we express them, and how they are connected, and how we can connect to each other. It seems like an invaluable tool for understanding people and ourselves better, and the illustrations and tools inside look beautiful too.

Romance Fiction

1. Crumbs by Danie Stirling. This is the book form of a witchy romance Webtoon I’ve been reading on the app. It’s charming and the art is beautiful and whimsical. It follows the story of Ray, a young woman with powers and dreams, and Laurie, an aspiring musician with dreams of his own, who works at the cafe Ray frequents (where special treats and teas are served).
2. Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade. This is the third book in her series, after Spoiler Alert and All The Feels, which I enjoyed so much for different reasons. This one looks good too, it’s basically a slow burn romance behind the scenes of a TV show (the three books are based on TV fandom!).
3. Infamous by Lex Croucher. A regency LGBTQ+ friends to lovers romance, with an aspiring writer. I enjoyed reading Reputation by Lex Croucher and this is definitely on my wish-list!
4. Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley Jones. A bisexual festive rom-com set in a snowy landscape, with own-voices disability representation.

Science Fiction and Fantasy

1. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson. Witches, magic, a secret government department and apocalyptic chaos! An exciting start to a new series.
2. They Don’t Make Plus Size Spacesuits by Ali Thompson. A collection of short sci-fi stories centring a fat perspective. This has been on my list for a while, and I follow Ali on Twitter too. I’m hoping to get round to reading it next year, if not sooner!
3. The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. Set in the 1800s, a story about witches and suffragettes, and history re-imagined with a touch of extra magic. I already have this waiting to be read!
4. Eternally Yours, edited by Patrice Caldwell. An anthology of paranormal romance – I loved the previous anthology Caldwell edited, A Phoenix First Must Burn, and trust her to bring together brilliant and diverse tales of the paranormal.

Poetry

1. Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire. I’ve been a fan of Shire’s work since I read some of it on Pinterest of all places many years ago, and bought her first pamphlet Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth a few years ago. Her latest has been years in the making and so I’m very excited to read it – it’s waiting for me in a pile!
2. 100 Queer Poems, edited by Andrew McMillan and Mary Jean Chan. This a collection of poems from established and new poets. I watch Jen Campbell’s YouTube channel and she recommended this and has a poem in it too. There’s an incredible variety in this collection.
3. Magnolia by Nina Mingya Powles. I’ve read Nina’s book, Tiny Moons, and loved her writing, so her other books are also on my wish list. Magnolia explores memories, myths, a mixed-race girlhood, nature, food, and language.
4. Honorifics by Cynthia Miller. This looks like an incredible poetry collection, another recommendation from Jen Campbell. It seems wide-ranging, exploring family and Malaysian/Chinese ancestry and culture, through poems about jellyfish, stars, Greek gods, and space shuttles.

This took me longer than expected but I hope these look interesting! I’ve already got enough reading and books to get through without buying more, but we all know book lovers tend to justify their purchases somehow…

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