Diversity Reading

For the last couple years I've had a personal reading resolution to expand my horizons beyond white US writers.* Typically I have to make an effort which is FINE. I mean the goal is to get to the point where I don't have to make such an effort, it just happens but hey, till then, I'll try to make a conscious effort.

Because I also track my stats each month,

Still trying for that high-five

when I do get books that fit the resolution criteria I try to spread the reading of them out. Basically, I don't trust that I'm going to read more than 1 resolution book in a given month, so if I get a couple books by say POC authors, I better not read them all this month or else next month my resolution reads will be pathetic.

As I mentioned, I recently went on a book buying binge. I added a couple more books, including Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng and was just approved for Don't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson. So I was thinking out of my newest acquisitions, what should I read next? Right now I'm reading Second Hand Souls by Christopher Moore, which meets zero of the criteria so I wanted to make sure whatever I read next will count towards my goals. And then I realized something: every book I recently acquired does.

Almost all of the latest books, China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan, Tales of Burning Love by Louise Erdrich, and the two I listed above are all by POC authors. The only other recent addition is The Cuckoo's Calling, which while not a POC author technically does count since the author isn't from the US.

Obviously this doesn't mean I'm done focusing on my resolution reads or that I can stop making a conscious effort about what I'm picking up. But it does mean that I'm moving in the right direction.

*Those are the primary criteria, though there's also books that are translation (which is along the same lines, focusing on diversification) and books published before 2000 (which really just seems like something that should be easy and I fail at it constantly. I also make less of an effort to hit it but really, shouldn't be this hard).

Diversify Your Reading

Jenny over at Reading the End pulled together this list as part of a diversity in reading tag dealy with the following rules

The Diverse Books Tag is a bit like a scavenger hunt. I will task you to find a book that fits a specific criteria and you will have to show us a book you have read or want to read.
If you can’t think of a book that fits the specific category, then I encourage you to go look for one. A quick Google search will provide you with many books that will fit the bill. (Also, Goodreads lists are your friends.) Find one you are genuinely interested in reading and move on to the next category.
Everyone can do this tag, even people who don’t own or haven’t read any books that fit the descriptions below. So there’s no excuse! The purpose of the tag is to promote the kinds of books that may not get a lot of attention in the book blogging community.

So with that, let's take a look at some books that we should all check out to expand our horizons, shall we?

Find a book with a lesbian character
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Does it work if the work is nonfiction? And also a graphic novel? I assume so. Bechdel's memoir about coming to terms both with her  father's suicide and her own sexuality. But let's include The Hours by Michael Cunningham for good measure, which features 3 ladies in 3 different periods that are either possibly or most definitely gay.

Find a book with a Muslim protagonist
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson about a hacker in an unnamed country in the middle east. Deals with technology and religion and is a thriller and so good.

Find a book set in Latin America
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago is an autobiography about Santiago growing up first in rural Puerto Rico and later outside of San Juan before moving to Brooklyn.

Find a book about a person with a disability
Jenny said mental disorders count, so I'm going with Agorafabulous! by Sara Benincasa, which is a hilarious memoir about Benincasa's lift including her struggles with agoraphobia. Along those lines is Jenny Lawson's Furiously Happy which deals with her various struggles with mental illness and also hilarious

Find a science fiction or fantasy book with a POC protagonist
Octavia Butler's got you covered. Lilith's Brood/Xenogenisis trilogy. Or how about her  Patternmaster/Seed to Harvest series (though I haven't finished it)

Find a book set in (or about) any country in Africa
I am woefully ignorant when it comes to this selection (with the exception of ones like The Stranger and Heart of Darkness which feel like the wrong choice for this) so I checked Goodreads and came up with these books that are on my radar as ones I would LIKE to read, so let's go with Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

Find a book by an Aboriginal or Native American
Tracks by Louise Erdrich is a pre-blog book I read, so I don't remember a huge amount about it other than I enjoyed it but it was intense.

Find a book set in South Asia (Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc.)
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai comes to mind. Another memoir/bio where she paints a picture of her life in her beloved home before being shot and winning all the awards.

Find a book with a biracial protagonist
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell with titular park being white and Korean. I have tried finding books with China Rican characters, but thus far no dice. Tom's people are not well represented. (His response: "there are dozens of us!")

Find a book starring a transgender character or about transgender issues
This was another I had trouble coming up with on my own but THAT'S OK because the internet told me I should check out the book Supervillainz by Alice E. Goranson about "transgender superheroes struggling to make rent" while making "enemies to a pack of Capitalist superheroes".  Sounds like good times, no?

So everyone should do this and then we can get diversified in our reading and all will be awesome.