Scroll down for the Jan-July Picks and how they each fulfill prompts of the challenge!

If you’ve been following me for awhile (@thisstoryaintover on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok), then you may remember way back in 2021 when I started the Read in Colour Book Club. It had been my attempt (while working my 9-5 in publishing) to combat the overwhelming racism both within the publishing industry behind-the-scenes, but also in the books published, read, and spoken about by the popular masses and even on booktube, bookstagram, and later booktok. The book club had us reading 1 book each month, didn’t matter the genre, but they were all by authors of colour.

It’s been four years since then and a lot has changed. The way I talk about diversity in publishing & books has changed—I’m more direct and take less nonsense—and my career trajectory has changed. I left corporate publishing, and I was able to start my own indie publishing imprint, Boundless Press (under Bindery Books). We got to publish our first title, Dust Settles North by Deena ElGenaidi on September 30th, 2025.

And in the midst of all this change, I knew that the book club needed a change as well. I renamed it the “Boundless Book Club” to align better with my imprint and to keep it all under the same umbrella. I moved the book club to our community Discord for discussion, and in 2026, I’m introducing a new change—we will additionally be reading 1 nonfiction with each fiction book pick.

The book club will also help you fulfill the prompts of the Anti Brain Rot Reading Challenge that I announced earlier this month.

If you would like to join the club:

1. head to boundless.binderybooks.com

2. click “Join for Free” in the top right corner, click “sign in” with your preferred method, create an account

3. head to boundless.binderybooks.com/account — connect your discord account

4. navigate back to boundless.binderybooks.com — click the discord icon under my profile pic

5. You should now have access to all the channels in the discord to chat about the books in-depth :)

Book Club Picks for January-July

I have listed below each book, what prompt(s) they fulfill for the Anti Brain Rot Reading Challenge!

*If you purchase the books through the Bookshop links, I will earn affiliate income! I appreciate your support <3

JANUARY

FICTION: Capitalists Must Starve by Park Seolhyun, translated by Anton Hur | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills the Literary Fiction, Translated, and Not in America prompts

NONFICTION: Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills the History/Politics, and Not in America prompts

FEBRUARY

FICTION: The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills the Black author who is ALIVE, Science Fiction, and Historical Fiction prompts

NONFICTION: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills the History/Politics prompt

MARCH

FICTION: Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills Horror, Science Fiction, Literary Fiction prompts

NONFICTION: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills Nonfiction Science, and Politics prompts

APRIL

FICTION: The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills SWANA, Science Fiction, Literary Fiction prompts

NONFICTION: Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills SWANA, and Memoir/biography prompts

MAY

FICTION: Burn the Sea by Mona Tewari | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills Fantasy prompt

Reminder of the PREORDER CAMPAIGN. You can submit your receipts here to enter to win one of the prize bundles!!

NONFICTION: Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism by Harsha Walia | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills History/Politics prompt

JUNE

FICTION: The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills SWANA, LGBTQIAP+, and Fantasy prompt

NONFICTION: This Queer Arab Family: An Anthology by LGBTQ+ Arab Writers Edited by Elias Jahshan | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills SWANA, LGBTQIAP+, and Anthology prompt

JULY

FICTION: Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills Translated, Disability Rep, and Not in America prompts

NONFICTION: Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century Edited by Alice Wong | Goodreads | Storygraph | Bookshop

• Fulfills Anthology, and Disability Rep prompts

I will announced the August to December picks in a couple more months so not to fear! Can’t wait to read with you in 2026! :)