Here are 82 books that Sitting Pretty fans have personally recommended if you like
Sitting Pretty.
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22 years ago, I called my local LGBTQ+ organization and asked if I could volunteer. I knew nothing about the LGBTQ+ communities but felt strongly about LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion. I ended up working at that agency for 15 years and learning a ton about how to be an effective ally, but in the beginning, I really could have used a good guidebook. I ended up writing a guidebook for LGBTQ+ allies. Now, I’m seeking guidebooks with actionable tips for allies to other communities. The books listed here are the best ones I’ve found so far. Be the change!
Honestly, I’ve been searching for a book like the one I wrote (i.e., a guidebook for allies to the LGBTQ+ communities) only around the issue of race, and I’ve been struggling to find one.
This book by Ijeoma Oluo came the closest for me. Although it’s less of a guidebook and more of a book of essays on race in America, Ijeoma Oluo does a great job of weaving in practical tips for allyship using a tone of kindness, forgiveness, and respect, which I really appreciate.
n So You Want to Talk About Race, editor-at-large of The Establishment Ijeoma Oluo offers a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word. Perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between people of color and white Americans struggling with race complexities, Oluo answers the questions readers don't dare ask, and explains the concepts that continue to elude everyday Americans.
Oluo is an exceptional writer with a rare ability to be straightforward, funny, and effective in her coverage of sensitive, hyper-charged…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
22 years ago, I called my local LGBTQ+ organization and asked if I could volunteer. I knew nothing about the LGBTQ+ communities but felt strongly about LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion. I ended up working at that agency for 15 years and learning a ton about how to be an effective ally, but in the beginning, I really could have used a good guidebook. I ended up writing a guidebook for LGBTQ+ allies. Now, I’m seeking guidebooks with actionable tips for allies to other communities. The books listed here are the best ones I’ve found so far. Be the change!
I don’t need to be convinced that a fair and inclusive workplace is a good thing. I already know that. What I want to read is a book that offers lots of actionable tips on how to do that. This book delivers.
Karen Catlin is a master at sharing easy everyday ally actions that help everyone feel safe and included in the workplace regardless of gender, race, ability, or sexual orientation.
The highly-acclaimed, practical guide for how to be an ally in the workplace, now in its 2nd edition.
Are you looking to build a workplace culture with a certain buzz about it? Where employees are thriving and engagement survey scores are through the roof? Where people from different backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientations and identities, ages, and abilities are hired and set up for success?
One secret to creating this kind of vibrant and supportive workplace is practicing active allyship. With the Better Allies® approach, it's something anyone can do.
Since originally publishing Better Allies in 2019, Karen Catlin has…
22 years ago, I called my local LGBTQ+ organization and asked if I could volunteer. I knew nothing about the LGBTQ+ communities but felt strongly about LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion. I ended up working at that agency for 15 years and learning a ton about how to be an effective ally, but in the beginning, I really could have used a good guidebook. I ended up writing a guidebook for LGBTQ+ allies. Now, I’m seeking guidebooks with actionable tips for allies to other communities. The books listed here are the best ones I’ve found so far. Be the change!
Humor just connects me to people. I love to laugh. Even though fatphobia is an incredibly serious topic, I must admit that Sofie Hagen’s sense of humor made this book an incredibly enjoyable read.
This book is bold, beautiful, and necessary. It is full of personal stories about the realities of life as a fat person and suggestions for allyship.
'Perfect, kind, hilarious and persuasive' Lena Dunham
'You need this book. Your mum needs this book. Your best friend needs this book. Everyone needs a dose of Happy Fat!' Julie Murphy
'I am a fat person and I love my body. I feel lucky to be able to say that - it has taken a lot of work and a lot of time. I want to tell you what I have learned and how I got here.'
In Happy Fat, comedian Sofie Hagen shares how she removed fatphobic influences from her daily life and found self-acceptance in a world where…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
22 years ago, I called my local LGBTQ+ organization and asked if I could volunteer. I knew nothing about the LGBTQ+ communities but felt strongly about LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion. I ended up working at that agency for 15 years and learning a ton about how to be an effective ally, but in the beginning, I really could have used a good guidebook. I ended up writing a guidebook for LGBTQ+ allies. Now, I’m seeking guidebooks with actionable tips for allies to other communities. The books listed here are the best ones I’ve found so far. Be the change!
So, I know I promised you a list of books that offer tips for allies, and this one isn’t that. But before you get annoyed with me, let me explain. I’ve worked in the field of LGBTQ+ inclusion and allyship for over 20 years, and I rarely read books on the topic that wow me anymore. This one did.
Kenji Yoshino is brilliant. He brings an entirely new perspective to civil rights and what being your true self at work actually means, whether you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, someone with a disability, a person living with chronic pain, or a straight, white, cisgender dude. Yoshino helped me understand that covering some part of ourselves that is different or considered less desirable by our society is a universal experience.
A lyrical memoir that identifies the pressure to conform as a hidden threat to our civil rights, drawing on the author's life as a gay Asian American man and his career as an acclaimed legal scholar.
“[Kenji] Yoshino offers his personal search for authenticity as an encouragement for everyone to think deeply about the ways in which all of us have covered our true selves. . . . We really do feel newly inspired.”—The New York Times Book Review
Everyone covers. To cover is to downplay a disfavored trait so as to blend into the mainstream. Because all of us…
Nearly 20 years ago, I awkwardly stumbled into a yoga class after a therapist informed me that I needed to do something about my anxiety issues (“Take your pick,” she said, “I’ll prescribe pills or you can try yoga.”) From the very first class, I was drawn not only to the physical practice, but to the sense that yoga could lead me deeper into my own heart and soul. I wrote a memoir about my journey—and about how yoga helped me later face and conquer breast cancer. I now teach yoga, and I love reading about how yoga changes lives—as it almost always does.
This memoir follows the healing (both physical and ultimately spiritual) journey of a 13-year-old Iowan boy who is seriously injured in a car accident in which his father and sister are killed. Paralyzed from the chest down, Sanford recounts the excruciating challenge of restoring his mind/body connection. Though confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life he digs deep to locate hope and inner strength and even eventually becomes a yoga teacher. (I attended his inspiring class when he visited near my home so I can attest to the fact that this is a true story!) This is an unforgettable memoir of fortitude, love, and resilience.
Matt Sanford's life and body were irrevocably changed at age 13 on a snowy lowa road. On that day, his family's car skidded off an overpass, killing Matt's father and sister and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair. His mother and brother escaped from the accident unharmed but were left to pick up the pieces of their decimated family. This pivotal event set Matt off on a lifelong journey, from his intensive care experiences at the Mayo Clinic to becoming a paralyzed yoga teacher and founder of a non-profit organization. Forced to explore what…
I suspect my passion for this topic was born when my doctor came into my C-section recovery room and uttered the words “chromosomal abnormality.” My daughter has Down syndrome, and full disclosure: I had zero interest in being a disability mom. Yet as I fell in love with this beautiful, funny, sassy girl, my whole worldview shifted. I am a far better person than I was when she entered my life. She has taught me the beauty and the blessing wrapped up in the things that first appear to be the most difficult.
Sometimes you hear about someone who’s experienced something truly terrible, and you think two things in quick succession: “Thank God that’s not me” and “How can anyone possibly recover from that?” Some people who find themselves contemplating the unthinkable—like, say, instant and permanent paralysis, as the main character of How to Walk Away—sink into bitterness, wallowing in their victimhood.
But some rise to meet the challenge and find richness and joy and a meaning to life that they didn’t even know they were missing.
That’s this book. It’s heartbreaking and inspiring and absolutely gorgeous.
Margaret Jacobsen is just about to step into the bright future she's worked for so hard and so long: a new dream job, a fiance she adores, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in a brief, tumultuous moment.
In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Maggie must confront the unthinkable. First there is her fiance, Chip, who wallows in self-pity while simultaneously expecting…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
Horror is my passion and most things I read and everything I write fits neatly into the genre. But I am also passionate about telling stories from a unique perspective, or if not entirely unique then at least one that is underused. My novella A Man in Winter is told from the perspective of an elderly chap with dementia for instance. I have also found that many people think books with child protagonists must be children’s books and it makes me sad to think of all the wonderful work is being missed out on, I hope that my list has convinced you to try one of the above books.
I had to include at least one King book, I’m a big fan of King and this is one of his lesser-known books.
I love this book because it’s a good and interesting story that hooked me from the first chapter and kept me till the end.
But also, I am passionate about good representation (particularly disability representation) in the horror genre, I’m writing my PhD thesis on it. King is a mixed bag when it comes to good and bad representation but he does a good job in this one. Marty is a 10-year-old paraplegic boy who suspects a werewolf is in his town.
The story revolves around Marty hunting and defeating the beast. It’s a high stakes, exciting, and utterly plausible (if you suspend belief for the werewolf lol).
The classic masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King—illustrated by the legendary artist Bernie Wrightson!
Terror began in January—by the light of the full moon...
The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf’s fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker’s Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure. When the full moon…
As a former Division 1 basketball player at Marquette University and current ecommerce executive, I’m always looking for new sources of inspiration. Please enjoy my list and send me any comments on what you find inspiring!
David had a spinal aneurysm at the age of 15, and his dreams of sports, college, and his future seemed to be halted. Yet, through faith and determination, his life took on a whole new journey full of awesome experiences, people, and lessons. Similar to Goggin’s book, this story opens up your mind as to what’s possible, what matters, and why we live.
2018 Winner of the Midwest Book Awards in the category Inspiration
David's journey from the playgrounds of Milwaukee to Cameron indoor stadium and beyond, is captivating and provides a framework to find a new perspective and to build a life filled with passion and purpose. Getting Undressed is inspiring and proof that you can win in life, regardless of the circumstances.
-Mike Krzyzewski, Head Coach, Men s Basketball, Duke University
At the age of 15, high school sophomore and basketball player David Cooks experienced a spinal aneurism, leaving him a T-6 paraplegic. Refusing to let the wheelchair determine the man,…
There have always been disabled people shaping my worldview and understanding, however, I am an expert only about my own disabilities. Disabled storytellers, including Helen Keller, sometimes utilize tactical silence to scream… I value that! However, barriers confronting the disabled require broad and sometimes loud collective action from many people in many communities and not just a marginalized few. Disability activism is a complex, tactical fight over time for self-determination that touches all of us at some point. COVID, world events, and experiencing some barriers disabled and marginalized groups face all the time have compelled me to share a few of my favorite reads related to disability and inclusion.
As a student at San Francisco State University, I took Paul Longmore’s HIST 490 “Disability in America” course and it quite simply changed how I interpret United States history. The autobiographical title essay in Why I Burned My Book presents foundational logic for understanding legal and cultural barriers impacting the disabled, and how capitalism impacts minority groups. Nobody speaks better on disability than the disabled. Longmore creates a model built upon the work of earlier disability scholars-activist in presenting “Catch-22” paradigms in oppressive laws related to race and gender impacting minority groups. When I read Longmore’s ideas, I can again look into his insightful eyes flashing sparks of humor, defiance, anger, and joy. My book about Helen Keller simply would not exist without Longmore’s passionate investment in students.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I'm writer, educator, disability advocate, and mother of a teenage son with multiple disabilities. Since my son’s diagnosis with autism at age three, I've been on a quest to not only understand the way that his unique brain works, but also to advocate for a more just and equitable world for people with disabilities and their families. When researching my book The Little Gate-Crasher, I discovered how much my great-grandmother was a powerful advocate for her son Mace who was born with a form of dwarfism. Our society has evolved in the last one hundred years in terms of inclusion and accessibility—and yet, people with disabilities and their loved ones are often isolated.
Written with clear down-to-earth language, disability advocate Emily Ladau had written a guide that could revolutionize the way that people think about disability and how to interact with people who have disabilities. Because our society has kept people with disabilities separate for so long, this kind of book is essential in leading us towards inclusion.
An approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people, with actionable steps for what to say and do (and what not to do) and how you can help make the world a more inclusive place
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, Booklist • “A candid, accessible cheat sheet for anyone who wants to thoughtfully join the conversation . . . Emily makes the intimidating approachable and the complicated clear.”—Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary, Resilient, Disabled Body
People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, an estimated 15 percent…
