Real Book

Last month, I sadly missed out on my book club's book of the month. It finally got here from the library last week after being on hold since the beginning of the year so it must be a popular one! This week my book club is diving into A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, which has been made into a TV series. I haven't yet read it and am excited to try it since I've heard many good things... although that sometimes backfires on you!

I know I've suggested joining our book club before, but I would like to highly recommend it again! The Page Turners on Facebook is run by my favorite booktuber, Chelsea Palmer, and we vote on the book, read it and discuss it super casually, and share what we're reading otherwise.

What are you reading this week? Any book club picks? If you've read the book I'm reading, how did you like it? Tell me in the chat! 

While this book is timely for Black History Month, it's one that should be on the bookshelf of every white home in America to be read at any time of year. Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness tackles white supremacy in a way that kids can understand, and it demonstrates how we're all raised in a culture of racism, even programmed into it, without our consent.

We all make racist decisions even without meaning to, and when we say, "But I'm not racist" and deflect onto "other" racists--the ones who openly wear Klan hats or hurl slurs at the president's rallies, we're actually making the problem worse.

This books helps us acknowledge inherent racism in our system, lives and collective conscious as white Americans, and it offers the premise that we can still be white without signing onto whiteness. Author Anastasia Higgenbotham also maintains that our hearts HAVE to break to do this important work, even when it comes to our kids. Black kids have to live with this blatant reality daily and nothing's going to change until we really address this in our everyday lives.

Have you read Not My Idea? What did you think? 

The other day I was reading about how Keanu Reeves wasn't a great student because of his dyslexia, but he became a bibliophile later in life. It made me think of all the kids I knew growing up who didn't like to read not because they didn't want to, but because they struggled, and it broke my heart. My own husband is one of them, and today he still doesn't enjoy reading himself, but he likes to listen to me read to him.

I know there are lots of celebrities known to be big readers. Amber Heard was known to read on the set of Aquaman, and Emma Watson leads her own book club at Goodreads. Naturally most writers are big readers, too.

Who is your favorite celebrity bibliophile? Who do you know who unexpectedly reads a lot?

This post about bookstore cafes is really inspiring. It's not about a cafe found in your bookstore, but an actual cafe that gives you a book to read based on what you want to read in that moment. Alongside your beverages and snacks, the barista also gives you a book when you describe what kind of book you want to read.

This sounds like a magical place and a job for maybe a pair--a librarian and a barista (now it sounds like the set-up for a rom-com)--but what I want to know is if this type of place actually exists! I do know of a coffee shop that has books available to read, and they do recommend them to patrons, but I've never heard of a service quite like this. 

How about you? Have you heard of a place like this? Tell us where to find the magic!