Sooo many of these are books I've never even heard of which is super interesting! But unhauls are always so therapeutic! I loooved the found family aspects in The Thief Lord and also really enjoyed the movie too! Been years since I read/watched though! "A memoir of good food and bad boyfriends" WOW did I write that??
Also Alexandre Dumas is pronounced with a hard "S", and I really recommend his literature - its so interesting reading classic literature from someone who was mixed raced in France but which doesn't overtly tackle the subject of racism.
Kindred by Octavia Butler would my recommendation if you want to read more diverse authors. She was a pioneer for diversity and females in her field for sure.
I feel like a book unhaul is a good idea. Too many booktubers are obsessed with having hundreds of books that they definitely haven't read for the sake of owning loads of books, when really they should be taking some time to think who they are supporting and what message they are sending when buying books predominantly written by middle class white people. That being said there's nothing wrong with reading those books. That being said I like the direction that most booktubers have gone in the last few months - I've been exposed to far more LGBTQ+ and BAME literature which I wouldn't have thought of looking for otherwise.
Mindless consumption is never a good thing, for sure. While I've never picked up a book that I wasn't interested in, I've definitely not done my due diligence when researching authors that aren't big in the public eye. And you're right, there's nothing wrong with reading what's popular or picking up something random without knowing much about it once in a while. But if we subscribe to the idea that our shelves are an extension of who we are, we have to be mindful of what ends up there. Thank you for your thoughtful comments!
