I have to go out of my way to notice the gender or color of an author, unless they’re already a household name. I haven’t read the back flap of the dust jacket in years, because I don’t care where the author lives or how many kids he/she has. The cover usually has “author of X, Y, and Z” so if you like the book, you…

Fantastic piece. I agree so much. Also, I’d like to add that “I’m only reading book that are not white, cis, male blah, blah, blah,” schtick gives the false belief that white, cis, straight males write one way and everyone else writes a different way. Or at least in a way where everything they write will be about…

I’m brave as fuck.

I read about five books a week. And to be honest, I do not look up info on the author unless the book especially strikes me and I want to read more by the same. I seldom even look at the author’s name, unless I am searching alphabetically on an actual shelf in the library. I read dozens of book review sites every…

If people really want to help out all those underrepresented authors, maybe their resolution should be to buy a motherfucking book or two this year instead of bragging on the internet about how well read they are.

HA as if anyone can do anything, especially something as sanctimonious as “not reading books by white men” without telling absolutely everyone about it. What’s the point if nobody knows? What will you tell me to do next? NOT Instragram every meal?

Way way back in the past, I would ride my saber-toothed tiger to a place called Walden Books and I would go to the section for whichever genre I was looking for and then I would look at the covers and read the titles. If they caught my eye I would read the back cover and, if I liked that, I would buy the book. These…

Oh, right — the endangered male reader:

C.S. Friedman's IN CONQUEST BORN was one of my favorite books for many years and I didn't even know she was a she until twenty years after it was released. Looking at my list of books on Kindle, 20% of them were written by women. Of the ones written by men, I couldn't tell you how many of them are not white or what…

Here's my problem with the whole thing. I don't read books and support authors with the intent of making the market fair or trying to diversify the NYT bestsellers list. I read books that I think I will enjoy reading and if a book doesn't look like something that I would enjoy reading then I won't read it and I…

That's what's so great about the whole idea of "privilege": if you're a member of the designated "privileged group" you've got that wonderful invisible knapsack full of goodies permanently stapled to your back, and it can never, ever, ever fall off, regardless of the actual shape of your life.

Can we, please, have a recommendation thread? Because I don't mind reading authors of a different background but I like certain genres more than others.

Sounds like some typical tumblr/Twitter nonsense. I will admit, most of the books I have read over the years have been written by white people, certainly more than half of which were written by men and I have no idea as to the sexual orientation of almost any of them (and don't see how it matters unless the author is…

As someone who generally doesn't read very often, I stay away from those terrible white men all the time. Except when I'm reading Sherlock Holmes. Or anything Hemingway. Or like 900,000 other classic works that helped to shape modern culture.

Sorry, but I don't consider personal apsects of the author at all when making my reading choices. I read what I find interesting; if a straight white male writes it, so be it. If someone with a different set of real life characteristics writes it, so be it.

Without telling people what to do, I'll agree that it's good for readers to break out of their comfort zones and to try reading other perspectives and that means reading writers other than your usual. So, if your usual writers are white guys, try something else. Though, if your usual authors are white women, you…

So, which white male authors should I boycott?

I'm so damned tired of reading about this crap, but it seems to be following me from site to site. Why is it on Gizmodo? Why was it linked on io9? No more cultures, genders, races, please. No more culture wars or endless bun fights over "diversity." Maybe people are talking about this issue elsewhere, but there's no…

Seems like a stunt.