The Bookish Diversity Link List 2026

  

Your resource for all things bookish diversity is here!

Welcome to the 11th Bookish Diversity Link List, 2026 - my 10th year running the list!

OK, so the '25 list wasn't as complete as I'd like it to be.

...But lord knows, the list was made for butterfly-wings style positivity, and that's how it will continue!

(Also, it helps if people actually submit links - saves me some time!)

It takes a lot of positivity to counter negativity - and the world has plenty of negativity right now, so here I am, once again, holding up a little sign marked 'hope,' and I hope (lol) that you like it 😊

Nerd Church - Christmas Hurts, This Year

 

Warning: grief, death, serious illness, mental health issues, general trauma

I've always loved Christmas.

But Christmas? It hasn't treated me so well. Especially the whole lead-up-to part of Christmas.

In 2023, my father had brain surgery a few days before Christmas - that was stressful (he's OK now, mostly.)

My grandfather died not long before Christmas in 2018.

Eleven years ago, my other grandparents died at Christmas within four days of each other. We had a double funeral. 

...That still wasn't the worst Christmas of my life.

Poetry: Today Hurts

 

This poem was originally published in the The Brain Is A Noodle publication on Medium, in response to the prompt 'coping by producing' from the lovely Lucy Dan

Today Hurts

‘Now don’t drown in your tears, babe
Push your head towards the air’
— The Editors, Push Your Head Towards The Air.

Image by Lucija Rasonja from Pixabay

Nerd Church - Shout Out To Those With Mental Health Problems In This Clusterf**k Timeline!

 

Sh**'s messed up.

...Like, it's been messed up for a while, I know. But our current level of 'historical' is feeling more like 'biblical' (in terms of scale, rather than religion,) every day.

It's one thing on top of another on top of another. 

I came across a blogpost I wrote in 2018 where I was like 'the world is bad at the moment,' ...and I genuinely can't remember what I was talking about. That was 2 years before 2020, and none of us really know what normal is any more.

Maybe, five to ten years from now, I'll look back and think, 'what was I complaining about in 2025?' but I really hope not.

Against that backdrop then, I, like many people, have mental health problems. And have for 10+ years at this point.

And it's f**king tough.

So to all of those with mental health problems, or anyone struggling, right now - this is a shout out to you.

Nerd Church - Fighting the Pointlessness

 

Warning: brief reference to feeling suicidal, discussions of pointlessness, grief, mental health, existentential dread, and all the things that make up the general sh**ty state of the world.

Things have been tough for me, lately.

When you lose someone you love... it's damned hard.

Everything feels pointless - if that can happen to them, then what is the point of anything?

What's the point of writing a blogpost? What's the point of writing anything?

And since my purpose in this life is to read and to write... if I can't find the point of that, then what's the point of me?

(...I'm actually an optimist, if you can believe that. I just have mental health issues, and have been through some tough sh**.)

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: My Brain Is Unpredictable, Right Now

 

[Warning: this post discusses mental health problems and grief]

Look, I've been through some stuff lately, and it's definitely affected me.

My mental health has not been good for the last 10+ years, and now, after losing my mother in February... my head has given me a whole bunch of Very Bad Days lately.

I can't bring myself to go into details, but... it was hell. As a family, we've been through absolute hell since October 2024.

Schedule/Blogging Update

 

[Content Warning: brief references to death, cancer, grief, and mental health issues.]

For those who don't know, my mother passed away from cancer in February.

Things were pretty awful, generally, at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

The Bookish Diversity Link List 2025

 

Your resource for all things bookish diversity is back! (...Finally.)

Welcome to the 10th Bookish Diversity Link List, 2025.

Due to personal reasons, this year's list is the first since 2016 (the very first list - started in August) to not go up in January.

But I was determined, given the dumpster-fire state of the world, to carry on with the list this year.

So here we are, a little late, a little metaphorically battered and bruised, but still fighting to promote diversity in books. Because it takes a lot of positivity to counter negativity - and the world has plenty of negativity right now.

Life/Blogging Update (...Again)

 

Cards on the table time: I have no idea when I'll be able to get back to my regular blog series.

I'm hoping to put out the odd post here and there, but I honestly can't guarantee anything for the foreseeable future.

My mother is dying.

My mental health is terrible.

I don't know if/when I'll be able to put the time and effort in that I want to.

This is not me giving up blogging - I don't think that's ever going to happen at this point. 

This is me saying that things are going to be sporadic around Dora Reads, my Medium account, and my socials, for a long time to come, so apologies for not being great at the whole social interaction thing for a while.

Life/Blogging Update + Updated Blogging Schedule

 

OK, so... life continues to be tough AF for yours truly.

So while I fully intended to bring my regular series (Comics Wrap-Up, Friday Fics Fix, Nerd Church,) back in January, for my own mental health and ability to use my free time for such luxurious things as sleeping and eating, that's not going to happen.

I'm tentatively aiming to bring them back in February, but honestly the way my life is right now, we all could have been hit by a meteor by then.

Still, I'll keep you updated when I can!

Look after yourselves, and remember to shelter from meteors... somehow.

Friday Fics Fix - And Now He's An Armadillo

 

'I still think we should try Khonshu, Marc. He’ll be here before long anyway, so…

Nope. He is not having the bird fix this. He will… sort it out. Somehow. Like a big boy.'

This is such a random story. 

- It made me smile, and I think we all could do with some more of that at the moment.

Friday Fics Fix - We Got It All

 

'The people who know the Winter Soldier is rogue and hunting won’t exactly be shouting it from the rooftops, because telling people your pet murder machine has gone a little bit rabid on you is just the slightest bit bad for morale.'

 

I'm cheating, this week.

I have rec'd this fic before - way back, in the ancient internet age of 2018 (and also in a few rec lists since then.)

Friday Fics Fix - Challenging My Golden Fic Rule...

 

Warning: this post discusses mental health problems

'Ed is happy, Stede is happy, the crew is happy. Izzy stands on the sidelines with rope in his hands, watching them all mingle and play. No one seems to notice the shadows under his eyes, how they grow darker, how the purple bruise-like colour seems permanently inked onto his skin these days.'

 

 

Every so often, a fic comes along which challenges my golden rule of fanfic-rec'ing.

And the golden rule is, of course: If it's well-written, I must rec.

Friday Fics Fix - Almost Like Adults, But With More Insults

 

'“I'm sorry I made you feel like a burden,” Allison admitted.

 

“Wow, two apologies in one day! You're definitely breaking a Hargreeves record.”'

 

We are talking The Umbrella Academy (TUA)!

Because the series has now finished - for better or worse (...a lot of people think the ending falls into the 'worse' category, but moving on...)

And that, of course, means that I need to read a whole bunch of TUA fanfiction to fill the umbrella-shaped (...Klaus-shaped) void. (But not the Void, lol.)

Month(s) In Review(s) - June + July 2024

 

Warning: discussions of Depression and pet loss

...OK, doing this as a two-monthly thing is becoming an unintentional habit 😅

The only excuse that I have is that sometimes Depression messes my memory up - and the fact that I entirely (and I mean, entirely,) forgot to write a post for June coincides with some pretty sh**ty mental health days over the past two months.

So, yeah. I'm blaming Depression. And I don't feel bad about that, because it blames me for stuff all the time 😅

Friday Fics Fix - Spider-Man and the Winter Soldier (...And Some Nuance)

 

'However, Peter has been called a lot of awful names in the last week for jumping to conclusions – how was he supposed to know that that one mugging was actually Shakespeare in the Park?'

 

This is a quirky and sweet Spider-Man meets Winter Soldier fic.

(MCU - Marvel movies etc., in case you somehow didn't get the clue from 'Spider-Man.')

At first I did wonder whether I'd even enjoy it, but it definitely grew on me.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Write Through

 

Warning: this post discusses Depression

I have not had a good week, mental-health-wise.

I had some very bad Depression days, and was generally not very good, mentally.

The thing is that when my mental health is poor, I really struggle to write. 

Anything. Like, coherent sentences are a problem.

Let alone the *Writing* I really need (I explained the difference between writing and *Writing* here, if you're interested.)

Friday Fics Fix - Cyberpunk Stucky

 

'“Okay, get up, the both of you.” He took out his phone, typed Shuri’s address in, and sent it to Steve’s number. “You’re going to get blood all over the upholstery. And then I’ll have to set fire to it, and then to you for making me sacrifice my good sofa.”'

I love it when fanfic authors have the determination, the dedication, the goddamn verve to write full-length novels.

When those full-length novels are so freaking good - so well thought out, so fleshed out in terms of world-building, so passionate and compelling, that you would legit. buy this as an original novel?

OH MY GOD!!!

Nerd Church - Random Audiobook Ramblings

 

...a post brought to you by my boredom with walking, and my doctor's insistence that, if I go walkies, it'll help with my mental health. (I'm not buying it - it's never helped before, but I'll try anything.)

When there's been no rain for a couple of days in a row, it's not so bad 'cos I can go to the woods, but otherwise said woods are like a very slippery mudslide. 

So if it's been raining within 48-72 hours, then I have to walk around streets and shops and sh** so I don't trip, fall, and end up in the river/bang my head on a tree/anger one of The Fair Folk by falling into them or summat. 

*Sigh* The woods are my natural habitat, dammit!

Friday Fics Fix - Because I Am Trash

 

'"No, Sam, you're on vacation. Phone it in, let someone else do it."

"Bucky, it's an hour. We can go check it out, then stop at mine and get my stuff and be at the airport by five, half five at the latest. We've got time."'

Narrator: it did not take an hour.

...OK, so this is a The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) fic because I am trash and have run out of effs to give. 😘