Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Wednesday, and it is time for the next post in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews. If you’d like to participate in the challenge, you can find the topics for 2025 here, and if you’d like to read other people’s responses to this week’s topic, you can find them here.

4 Things I Wish More Books Talked About

Climate Change
I am a complete worrywart when it comes to climate change. Every year, we see new records set for the hottest summers—and I’ve noticed that certain plants and flowers are growing earlier than they should.

I know there are many documentaries and things for people to learn about the effects of a warming climate—but not everyone watches documentaries or wants to learn about such things. If the information is presented in an easily digestible way, then at least people may be more willing to consider the consequences: for example, if the world of a fantasy novel is experiencing a warming climate, a reader may be exposed to the effects of such a thing and be able to see the complications in a real-world way.

Eating Disorders (particularly in men)
This one is close to my heart. As many of you know, I struggle a lot with anorexia (though I’m getting better all the time). It took me a long time to seek help because I didn’t even consider men could get anorexia, and I was embarrassed (illogical reasoning, I know). The only books or movies I’ve consumed about the subject have been about women and young girls struggling with it. I knew next to nothing about it. I didn’t know, for example, that osteoporosis can be a side effect of chronic malnutrition (that was an unwelcome surprise). So, it would be nice to read stories showing that anyone can be affected by this dreadful illness and what the warning signs are.

Supportive Coming Out Stories
Although they definitely do exist, it’s rare to find a story involving queer characters who aren’t immediately rejected and abandoned by their families and communities when they ‘come out’. While it’s true that homophobia (and all the phobias and isms) is still rife in the world, it is getting better and more and more people are coming out to families like mine.

I was terrified of my family ‘finding out’. I come from a Catholic family, and I was convinced I’d be kicked out and disowned. My family never gave me any indication that this would be the case. But queer people have this innate fear built into us by society that tells us to hide, repress and bury any indication that we might be different.

When I told my parents amid a blazing row and quite by accident… they cried. But their tears weren’t because they had suddenly stopped loving me or because I had told them something they were against—they cried because they were dismayed that I’d not felt safe enough to let them know earlier. My dad hugged me as he cried, sobbing, as he told me that he was very sorry I’d had to hide a part of myself away, that I’d carried it with me and that I had hated myself for most of my life up to that point. It was really lovely. We need more stories like this so that people living in fear or self-hatred know that the world isn’t all doom and dismay (at least in terms of coming out—regarding absolutely everything else… 🫠).

The Future of Earth’s Animals
There are lots of books dealing with the potential longevity and expansion (if we’re lucky) of the human race—but I’ve not read many (or any I can think of right now) dealing with what happens to the rest of the animals once we’ve wrecked Earth and left it for pastures new. There are real-world attempts to collect and save animal and plant DNA in case of catastrophic destruction of the planet. But I think it would be interesting to read what people think about the subject. As I said above, I feel anxious about Earth and its future; I have one of those brains that catastrophizes everything (usually at bedtime), and I often wonder about the animals. I dunno. I just think it’s interesting.

Well, this was post 17! I’m excited to read about the subjects you’d like to see more of in books!

Thank you, as ever, for stopping by and reading today’s post.

Until next time,

George

© 2025 GLT

Categories: life, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

Tags: animals, Anorexia, challenge, climate, coming out, Wednesday, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge