July Reading Resolutions…#OWNVOICES

July’s Reading Resolutions theme is more than a trending hashtag. #OWNVOICES is a broad description for stories of marginalized people, told by authors from those same groups. It’s not only about celebrating diversity in our communities, and our reading choices,  it’s also a way to gain new perspectives and appreciation for those who have been traditionally under-represented.

Our #OWNVOICES online catalog includes fiction and non-fiction written by authors of color, LGBTQ, immigrants, and those with disabilities. The books cut across genre, and include everything from contemporary rom-coms, to hilarious memoirs, science fiction, thrillers, and more. Read on for genre-based suggestions:

If you love romance, try You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria. After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez returns to New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy. A casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez, who is worried about his career after his last telenovela character was killed off. A disastrous first impression smothers the embers of whatever sexual heat they might have had, so Jasmine and Ashton agree to rehearse in private. Rehearsal leads to kissing, kissing leads to a behind-the-scenes romance worthy of a soap opera. Will the media spotlight on Jasmine destroy her new image and expose Ashton’s most closely guarded secret?

Horror fans won’t want to miss Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic.  After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Noemí is an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

A gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood is the sinister setting for Alyssa Cole’s best-selling thriller, When No One Is Watching. Sydney Green’s  beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block–her neighbor Theo. But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised. When does coincidence become conspiracy? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other–or themselves–long enough to find out before they, too, disappear?

Groundbreaking science fiction author Octavia Butler’s  work has proven to be chillingly accurate, and her dystopian “Parable” books depict climate change, political extremism, domestic terrorism and more. In The Parable of the Sower, (1993) in 2025, Lauren Olamina and her family live behind the walls of their defended enclave, where Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of others try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. When fire destroys their compound, Lauren is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.

Comedian Jessi Klein’s memoir You’ll Grow Out of It offers-through an incisive collection of real-life stories–a relentlessly funny yet poignant take on a variety of topics she has experienced along her strange journey to womanhood and beyond. These include her “transformation from Pippi Longstocking-esque tomboy to are-you-a-lesbian-or-what tom man, ” attempting to find watchable porn, and identifying the difference between being called “ma’am” and “miss” (“Miss sounds like you weigh ninety-nine pounds”).

Want more suggestions? Stop by the display in the Adult Services department, or ask a staff member for help. And don’t forget to  count your Reading Resolutions books toward Summer Reading!