Meredith’s Comments (group member since May 11, 2014)

Meredith’s comments from the The Diverse Shelf group.

You will not be disappointed! It is an amazing book!!

African Writers by Country

New Database of Caribbean Literature

Lesbian Historical Novels

Asian and Asian American Fiction by Authors of South Asian Descent

South American Literature

10 Asian Pacific American YA Authors to Know

Mental Illness History Reading

100 Books by Black Women Everyone Must Read

2014 Publications by Authors of Color

14 Must-Read Works of Chicano Literature

7 American Indian Women Novelists You Have to Read

A Reading List for National Coming Out Day

I like keeping a list somewhere so I can see percentages of my total read later.

I have a bunch of lists saved of books/authors from specific countries, ethnicities, etc... Would it be useful for anyone if I posted the links here?

Esparanza Rising totally blew me away, and I just finished Kira-Kira, which was equally excellent (and also dealt a bit with labor union issues).

I forgot it was still May and started Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, meaning to just listen to a tiny bit, as it's my kitchen book. Now I'm over halfway through and GEEZ it's amazing.

I'm only just watching the show for the first time, after years of going "I should watch that..." and then not. In series 5 now though. The books are read by Chris Barrie, who plays Rimmer, and so much fun.

I've got a few going myself now. I'm nearly done with Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, and have been slacking on reading an early reviewer I was sent, The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames. I was a good ways through Kira-Kira until my mp3 player vanished, and I've got a few poetry books going where I read a poem or two every night.

Hi, Kaye, Lindsy, and Virginia!

Also nice to see another soccer fan!

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan


Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani


The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida

If anyone wants a bigger challenge, or community geared toward that, the Reading Globally group on LibraryThing is great. They focus on different regions each quarter of the year. It's also a great place to get recommendations.

I try to read one book set in or about a non-English speaking country every month.

Games Without Rules: The Often Interrupted History of Afghanistan, January 9
1941: The Year That Keeps Returning, February 23
Brother, I'm Dying, March 21
All Our Names, April 29
The Wedding Song, April 23
Cloud of Sparrows, April 9
Alice's Piano, May 7

Yeah, I didn't have many strong feelings about language until recently. It seems like 'disabled' is sometimes treated like a slur that mustn't be used and that's not right. It's so hard since disability includes SOO many different problems and issues and outlooks. The gulf between chronic pain issues and autism and being born without a limb is pretty huge, just in terms of how we view disability plus disease vs just another line in the spectrum of humanity...

Found a YA book I'd like to nominate! Accidents of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson.

For a second adult nomination I'd like to suggest the memoir, Mean Little Deaf Queer by Terry Galloway.

They're both available as audiobooks and ebooks as well as paper.

I've never heard of LibraryThing, I just checked it out and I think that could be a big help in keeping up with the books i'm cu..."

I love it. I think the average age is probably a bit older than Goodreads. Plus I really like having my collection cataloged there where I can add my own tags. I've grown really attached to the community there. Plus at Christmas there's Santa Thing, a secret santa book exchange you can sign up for.

Hello! I'm Meredith, I'm 29, I'm disabled and bisexual. Currently living in my home state, West Virginia. When I could still work I ran the local, indepedent bookstore with my sister.

I'm not able to get out much so I spend most of my time reading. I read a bit of most genres though I'm happier with non-fiction, generally. I actually use LibraryThing way more than Goodreads, in terms of communities and keeping a catalog of books I own. I love my paper book collection, even though mostly I need to use audiobooks.

I'm a crafter, mostly embroidery and knitting. I design and sell my own cross-stitch patterns. I do a fair bit of cooking as well.

Soccer is a great passion and lately I spend a lot of time explaining the game to my niece and nephew, to prepare them for the upcoming World Cup.

Diverse books are important to me because the world is diverse but we don't all live in diverse communities, because disability is not life-ending or an aberration, because representation is important for everyone.

Is this meant to be a fiction only group? It would be nice to have at least one of the books this month be written by a disabled person as well as be about a disabled character. I'm having a hard time finding specific lists to pull titles from though.

I'm disabled myself and I'd like to give a reminder that person-first language is equally hated and loved in the disabled community. Well, actually I think it's slightly more hated than loved, at least among young people (and especially those with purely physical disabilities). It can feel like it's used to go "Oh hey, don't forget they're people, I know it's super easy to do that since they're broken and all." Lisa Egan put it this way:

"The main argument in favor of the phrase “person with a disability” is that it’s “person first.” Whaaaat? No one has ever told me that I should describe myself as a “person with gayness” or a “person with womanliness.” I’m gay and I’m a woman — no need to qualify that I’m a person too."

So far I've found Call Me Ahab: A Short Story Collection, a book of short stories, though there's a memoir and a book of poetry+essays that I'd rather nominate if non-fiction is okay (admittedly I mostly read non-fiction).