We want to start by sharing some glimmers and gratitude:
1,205 people have joined us on StoryGraph
425 people have subscribed to our newsletter
192 people have joined our Discord channel
Thank yall for being part of our #TheDiverseBaseline community (:
Brittany’s Bookmarks
For every white or cream book stack photo with the hashtag #BookStackForFormula, @kieranjanebooks & other matching donors, -such as @dan.devours.words- will donate to The Gaza Formula Fund & the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund @thepcrfTo participate & amplify this much needed message & initiative for Palestine:-Take a photo of & share a white or cream stack on your page (make sure it’s public or you can probably dm the below two creators with a screenshot of your post-Tag @kieranjanebooks and @dan.devours.words-Note the hashtag #BookStackForFormulaLast but not least, a reminder to reach out to your reps to stop this devastation, & in general, to do what you can within your current capacity to advocate for Gaza & Palestine. 💔Image description: a stack of mostly nonfiction white books on a table at @booksincstores
Moments with Margherita
A few gentle reminders
What is the August prompt?
There is no *set* August prompt this year. This challenge is fully up to you :) You can choose whichever book you want for each month, as long as it fits one of the ~90 prompts we’ve listed and is written by a racialized author.
What does “racialized” mean?
We included a definition of this:
Where are the prompts listed?
Storygraph challenge
Bookish Millennials Book Club
Brittany is hosting a StoryGraph readalong & virtual book club for the following:
This book could fit the following prompts (as far as I can gather from the synopsis, as I haven’t read it yet):
Indigenous/First Nations Author
Horror
Thriller
Dark fiction
Genre-bending
Content to note from Storygraph: Murder, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, Grief, Racism, Homophobia, Animal death
To purchase using Brittany’s affiliate links, you can do so here:
August: Real Americans by Rachel Khong
This book could fit the following prompts (as far as I can gather from the synopsis, as I haven’t read it yet):
Literary fiction
Asian Diaspora author
Historical Fiction
Southeast Asian author
East Asian author
Content to note from Storygraph: Graphic: Racism, Rape, Violence; Moderate: Suicide, Infertility, Sexual assault; Minor: Alcohol, Miscarriage, Sexual content
To purchase using Brittany’s affiliate links, you can do so here:
SUNDAY 10-AUG: Join our synchronous virtual book club!
Brittany is hosting her third synchronous virtual book club on SUNDAY, AUGUST 10TH AT 2PM Pacific Time.
Review Spotlight
We are sharing a few reviews each month and we thank you for sharing your reviews on socials.
Remember to use #TheDiverseBaseline when posting your reviews, and/or tagging us (only if you want to/feel comfortable doing so), so we can find & spotlight them here.
If you click the below photos, they are hyperlinked to take you to their social media pages :)
Templates and Stickers
In the carrd, you will find links to Canva templates for your Instagram feed and Instagram stories, as well as some fun stickers you can use in your posts.
If you have any templates that you have made and would like us to spread the word about, please email us with links to your templates and we will share in the Discord and the next newsletter!
Co-host’s Recommendations
We now both have official recommendation lists, as well as general lists of books we’ve read for the challenge, on libro.fm and bookshop.org. If you would like highly recommended books from us, check out our links and support local/indie bookstores in the process (if it’s an accessible option for you).
About the creators
Brittany is a reader from the San Francisco Bay Area. She can be found on here. She also hosts the SF Bay Area chapter of Cassie’s Walking Club on Strava.
Margherita is a reader and indie author from Italy. Xe can be found on instagram, tiktok and substack. Xyr website with links to xyr books, author services, and more is linked here.