So I’m not going to bother defining what beautiful prose means to me because that requires a level of introspection that I lack today. But I’d like to briefly mention a tangential topic that has stuck with me for a while. #RomBkLove https://twitter.com/anacoqui/status/1263769042273345537

A few months ago, Ruby Lang (author of today’s #RomBkLove) asked who is allowed to write beautiful prose/sentences. There was a reply and someone said that marginalized communities are recognized for beautiful writing in pain/food descriptions, but not always for other things.

And there was a QT/more discussion that I can’t track down, but I read everything and stayed quiet bc I didn’t have anything to add to the conversation. I also stayed quiet bc they were right & it made me uncomfortable bc I didn’t want to examine my opinions/practices. #RomBkLove

I am very guilty of praising food descriptions as beautiful. And I mean, constantly. If a book (esp one written by AOC and featuring non-western cuisine) has any food content, “beautiful food descriptons” will be part of my bullet points of why I love the book so much. #RomBkLove

And it’s not like I was *wrong.* The food is beautiful! But the uncomfortable truth is if AOC are writing beautiful food sentences, then they’re writing beautiful non-food sentences, too. It’s not like their writing stopped being beautiful. And I never praised that. #RomBkLove

For me, East/South/Southeast Asian cuisine is beautiful because it’s what I mostly eat and not always represented in literature. So I get excited when I see it and overcompensate with the praise at the expense of everything else the author is writing beautifully. #RomBkLove

Anyway, I haven’t discovered new genius insights about this topic. It’s a twitter convo that stayed with me, and I try to be mindful with reviews. I still praise the food, but I try to praise other beautiful writing, too. Balance is good. #RomBkLove

I haven’t participated in #RomBkLove much, but I wanted to tweet after scrolling this morning. Like it benefited me, it would be helpful if everyone examined *whose* writing they deem beautiful. And if pain/food factor for authors of color. It’s uncomfortable but necessary. Fin.