Reading Responsibly
How to consume books ethically in 2026
Dear Reader,
Maybe you haven’t noticed, if your inbox, like mine, is overflowing with more great newsletters than you have time to read, but it’s been a while since I last wrote to you. There are a few reasons for this, but honestly the biggest one is that it’s just been hard to find the mental energy or motivation to write things like this newsletter given what’s been going on in the US.
A foreign leader has been kidnapped, children taken off the streets and held in prison, citizens executed on the streets in broad daylight, and the president of our country posted an unbelievably racist video about our former president and first lady on his social media–and those are just some of the things that have happened in the last 36 days. It feels hard to justify taking the time to write anything normal. My husband keeps reminding me that creating art of any kind is innately a form of resistance against fascism, and with his encouragement I’ve continued to work on my current novel in progress–but it’s hard. And any extras like this have mostly fallen by the wayside.
But still, I know that books and writing are deeply important and relevant to what’s going on. I’m not the first to point out that a lot of the events in the news right now feel like they could have come right off the pages of some of the fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian books that many of us have read. We need to keep reading and writing, but we need to do so consciously. We, as a community of book lovers, need to make choices that resist authoritarianism–or at least don’t help it gain more ground. So here are my suggestions for concrete, actionable choices you can make with your reading life to do just that.
Reading Ethically in Dystopian Times 101
Dos:
Use the library. This recommendation probably isn’t a surprise coming from me, but please don’t brush it off. Libraries are a truly radical institution in our current times. They provide books and resources to anyone who needs them for FREE and without discrimination. These resources can be life changing at the best of times, but are especially important for people who are experiencing additional hardship right now. Using your library can help justify funding increases that they need to provide these resources for those who need them, and it also strengthens your community. Besides, every book you check out from the library is ~$25 less in the pocket of billionaires who are profiting from what’s happening and/or funding groups like ICE.
Share books with friends and family. Like using the library, loaning and borrowing books has the advantage of depriving organizations that are funding ICE of your book money. An arguably more important benefit is that swapping books strengthens your community. Stronger communities are more resilient, and swapping books could be the first step in forming or deepening connections that will allow you and those around you to call on each other for help with bigger problems when you need it. If you want to use this to expand your community instead of just deepening the one you already have, you could suggest to friends that you start a book-swap community, and have everyone invite anyone they think might be interested. That way you can expand the circle beyond just people you already know well.
Buy books secondhand. Again, we want to keep our dollars away from organizations that are funding ICE and playing along with the authoritarian takeover. Besides that, buying books secondhand is good for the environment and means fewer books will end up pulped or in landfills. Plus, maybe you’ll find a book with some really cool annotations that will make you see the story completely differently and you’ll fall in love with the previous owner and go on a long quest to find them and live happily ever after. I can’t promise it will happen, but I can promise buying a new hardcover from a big box store will not lead to this outcome. Try Better World Books, Thrift Books, or your local thrift shop or used book store.
Read diversely. This is always important, but never more than right now. Books can be windows into lives and experiences that are different from our own. Not only is reading about experiences and cultures that you’re not familiar with interesting and exciting, it can help you better understand your Neighbors and prepare you to be there for them when they need help and support.
Elevate underrepresented voices and stories of resistance. As readers, we depend a lot on the suggestions of people in our worlds to choose what to read. Whether you know it or not, there are people around you who are looking to you to help them make these choices. Whether it’s on your bookstagram, or in your group chat, or when you’re making small talk at a function, you can use your power of readers’ advisory to suggest books that will help the people in your life to build community, better understand their neighbors, and build tools and knowledge to help them resist. I’m sure you know how transformative a book can be. Let’s share books with each other that will transform the people around us into communities of protection, solidarity, and resistance.
Don’ts:
Don’t buy books from Amazon, Target, or Walmart. These three companies have been funding ICE and/or assisting ICE with raids on their premises. I’m not saying you have to stop buying books from these stores forever, but please consider not giving them any of your book money for the immediate future. You can also write to these stores or call them and tell them why you aren’t buying their books–from what I’ve seen Target execs are well aware of the revenue they’ve lost from this issue and might be willing to make some meaningful changes. If you’re not sure where to buy books instead of these three stores, try Bookshop.org (supports indie bookstores), Better World Books, Thrift Books, or your local indie bookstore. Cancel your prime membership. You can wait the extra two days it will take to have things shipped to you–trust me, I live in Nowhereville with basically no stores. If I can get things I need without Amazon, so can you.
Don’t use Goodreads. If you don’t know, I’m sorry to give you the bad news but Goodreads is owned by Amazon. Yes, that’s really disappointing. No, the fact that it’s convenient and you’re familiar with it doesn’t mean it’s worth continuing to use. You can switch to The StoryGraph, which not only makes really cool graphs of the books you read, but is also a black-owned, woman-owned business. It’s also super easy to import your reading history from Goodreads to StoryGraph, so don’t even worry about that.
Don’t use Audible or Kindle Unlimited. These are both–yep, you’ve got it–Amazon. And Amazon is funding ICE. Not only that, they’re currently working with Flock Safety to give law enforcement access to Ring doorbell camera footage without warrants. I hope I don’t need to tell you how uncool that is. Ditch Audible and KU and switch to Libby, which is not only FREE and a way to support your library, but will also allow you to access more audiobooks per month than Audible ever did. Again, I’m not saying you have to boycott these services forever (although like…you could!) but canceling your membership right now means your money won’t be funding ICE kidnappings (and killings) and will also send the message that you don’t approve of what’s going on. Plus, you’ll save a little extra money, so win-win, right?
Don’t support authors who don’t align with your values. Don’t buy their books (or if you must, secondhand only) and don’t promote them on your social media, StoryGraph (cuz we’re not using Goodreads, right?) or other review sites. There are a lot of great books out there written by people who are outraged by what’s going on and want to help. Let’s focus on their books right now.
There you have it! Please take a moment to think about whether you can adopt some or all of these suggestions in your life right now. And if you need a little encouragement, just think about your favorite fantasy protagonist and ask yourself if they would boycott Amazon under the circumstances. They would, right?
Let me know if you have other suggestions for steps the book community can take to resist and build community! I’d love to hear your ideas and compile more resources for readers in the coming months.
All my love from the library,
Ally