By Jay Flood
Of the many benefits reading contributes to your quality of life, empathy arguably ranks as most important. Reading books allows you to experience the world through the eyes of others who are different. Reading about people with lives completely different from yours teaches empathy. However, if you only read books about people like you, you’ll only have empathy for people like you. You limit your understanding of the world and the people around you if you base your worldview solely on your own experiences. Intentionally diversifying your bookshelf will open your eyes to the diverse world you live in and increase your capacity for empathy. With that in mind, are your Falcon Four ways to intentionally diversify your bookshelf.
1. Who’s on your shelf?
The authors of the books you read have an impact on the way you view the world. Only reading books written by white men will offer vastly different perspectives than books written by Black women. The way authors write characters can create or reinforce harmful stereotypes. For example, a lot of books written by men only write two types of women characters: the villain and the caregiver- whether that be mother, wife, or love interest. Regardless of which type of character the woman is, you can almost guarantee that she’ll be sexualized, have no personality, and have no purpose in the story other than their relation to the male main character. The Bechdel Test was created to highlight this face. In order to pass this test, there needs to be two female characters who have a conversation that has nothing to do with the male characters. Not many books written by men pass this test.
White people also tend to only write about white characters. On the off-chance there’s a character who isn’t white, they’re typically a side character, like the best friend, or they’re subjected to stereotypes. Reading books written by authors of color will allow you to view the world from their perspective, as a lot of authors will write the stories they wish they had growing up that they know white people will never write. White authors write stories without questioning the identities of their characters. Their characters will be white and straight, and if it’s a man writing a book, his main character will be a man. But, their characters being white, straight, and men wasn’t even a question. In fact, most of the time they’re not even described as such, we’re just supposed to know because in our society, unless otherwise stated, the characters are white, cisgender, straight, able-bodied, and have a traditional nuclear family.
In our society, those traits tend to be the “default” and anything different is “othered.” White, straight, able-bodied, men have never had to beg for representation for being white, straight, able-bodied or men. They don’t have to go out of their way to find books with people who are like them. However, that is not the case for marginalized communities. So, when white people write about white people, it’s a result of white normativity. When black people write about black characters, it’s also because of white normativity, but it’s different. When diverse authors write diverse characters, it’s because their voices were silenced and their stories weren’t told. Reading books written by diverse authors allows you to hear those voices and learn their stories.
Look at your bookshelf and compare the amount of books written by men to the amount written by women. How many authors are part of the LGBTQ+ community? How many authors are from outside the United States? How many authors are white versus authors who aren’t? If you notice a variety on your bookshelf, great! However, if you’re noticing you only have white authors or male authors on your shelf, it might be time to try and switch it up. In order to be intentional about the authors you’re reading from, find books in genres you like. If science fiction is your favorite genre, do some research on science fiction books written by authors who are different from you. If one sounds interesting to you, read it! You shouldn’t just be picking random books because the author is a woman, but when buying books and deciding what to read, being aware of the authors is one way to diversify your bookshelf.
2. Where are you getting your recommendations?
Booktube, bookstagram, booktok, Goodreads, library, or wherever you’re getting your recommendations from, who is recommending them? Are they all white? Are they all straight? Are they all men? Following bookish content creators who are women, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), part of the LGBTQ+ community, or from other countries will open the door to so many books you never would have heard about before. If you want to add more LGBTQ+ books to your shelf, follow queer bookish content creators. If you want to add more BIPOC books to your shelf, follow bookish content creators who are BIPOC. Intentionally following people who are different than you will increase your chances of being recommended books about people who are different than you.
3. Whose stories are you reading?
Think about the protagonists in the books you’ve recently read. Were they white, straight, and men? Were there diverse characters in the books you read, and if so, were they background characters with no personality or were they important? Have you ever read a book where the main character who’s telling the story is not white, straight, or a man? Have you ever read a book where more than one character was from a marginalized community including the main character? Reading books from the perspective of someone in a marginalized community exposes you to a world you’ve never experienced. Getting to walk in someone else’s footsteps, even if fictional, will show you how others experience the world. Go to the library and ask the librarian for books in your favorite genre that have diverse main characters. Try to find books where there’s more than one diverse character, including the main character.
4. Research!
The best way to internationally diversify your bookshelf is to do your own research. There are so many lists online that provide books written by diverse authors, books about diverse characters, and books inspired by diverse cultures. If you want to read a fantasy book written by Black authors, all you have to do is look it up on Google. Google is your best friend if you want to find a diverse book in a specific genre. You don’t need to step out of your genre comfort-zone in order to read diverse books. There are plenty of diverse books in every genre if you know where to look! There are also many book clubs that focus on reading diverse books that you can join. Most bookstores and libraries will have lists of diverse books and would recommend some if you ask. Researching is one of the easiest ways to diversify your bookshelf because there are so many compiled lists online.
Parents read to children to expose them to the world outside their own. Reading about the outside world and other people’s experiences prepares them for interactions with people different than them. Learning about other people’s struggles and experiences creates empathy for others as well. Learning about different family structures, religions, races, cultures, ethnicities, and identities normalizes those differences. Reading as an adult accomplishes the same thing. By reading, we expose ourselves to the world around us.
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