Alicia’s Comments (group member since Dec 25, 2019)

Alicia’s comments from the Around the Year in 52 Books group.

Currently Reading
The Year of the Witching: ebook

Up Next
Animal Farm
Chosen Ones
Romanov
Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies about Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be
Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals

Completed
Faithful Place: audiobook
11/22/63: ebook
Memoirs of a Geisha: audiobook

Daily Tracking
Saturday, 9/12: 8.75 hours of Faithful Place via audiobook and a very clean house to go with it!
Sunday, 9/13: 1 hour to complete Faithful Place and 161 pages of 11/22/63
Monday, 9/14: 2 hours of Memoirs of a Geisha and 209 pages of 11/22/63
Tuesday, 9/15: 1 hour of Memoirs of a Geisha and 370 pages to finish out 11/22/63
Wednesday, 9/16: lots of audiobook today with 7.5 hours of Memoirs of a Geisha and excited to finally start The Year of the Witching with 36 pages
Thursday, 9/17: finished Memoirs of a Geisha with 7.75 hrs of the audiobook and got through pages of The Year of the Witching
Friday, 9/18:
Saturday, 9/19:
Sunday, 9/20:

Total Pages: 840 Pages
Total Hours: 28 Hours

Raffle Entries/Jeopardy
1000 - This character interfaces with the justice system, which had a profound impact on Wilde's life: Faithful Place
1000 - Author has written more than 15 books: 11/22/63

Good luck Capulets!!

Love this prompt too! Also if you like various folklore stories, I highly recommend the podcast Myths and Legends.

Ack there are already so many great choices! I’m excited for how this poll is going to shape up.

I’ll second reread a book with a different perspective.

That makes sense! I've already started planning but know I'm going to need to readjust when Popsugar comes out. Maybe I like planning so much I like to do it multiple times lol

But aren’t there going to be a fair amount of prompts we can’t do anything with till November, at least at this rate. We still have 23 prompts (I think that’s right) to fill.

I really don't know if we should suggest the prompt again or that it's worth building out a listopia.

I don't think the results are going to change, as people have expressed that, for various reasons, they aren't interested in the prompt (whether it's seen before, lack of access to books, not interested in prompts like this, doesn't match their reading tastes, etc).

We've given book examples in the past without success. I'm afraid suggesting it a third time will be like pushing it down people's throat and create weird feelings in the group.

dalex wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I have to admit, I'm really disappointed that non-binary/trans/+ prompt didn't make it in.

I agree that the wording can be changed to be more inclusive to the intent, but I think it..."

I would argue it's not important what race an author is either, but the importance of expanding the types of authors we read and bringing attention to minority authors (especially the new focus on black authors) is widely accepted. I think the same goes for the TQIA+ community, and having their own voices be part of regular reading and promotion. Underrepresented authors are less likely to get the recognition and publishing benefits that straight white authors do.

I always think of this quote when discussing under-represented groups for authors (race, gender, sexuality, nationality, etc)

"If straight people read as many queer stories as queer people have been forced to read straight stories, the world would be a very different place" - Michael Earp

Robin P wrote: "I agree with supporting underrepresented areas but I would appreciate suggestions of what to read for the non-binary/trans/+ prompt. I have read some books that would fit it, such as [book:This Is ..."

We posted examples in both threads.

Poll 8: Message 32 I gave some example links: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Poll 12: Emily posted links that were in the Message 2 and I posted some others in Message 41: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Congratulations Becky on the baby and the challenge!

I'm also in Oakland, and haven't heard of the 57 Bus. I just added it to my TBR!

I have to admit, I'm really disappointed that non-binary/trans/+ prompt didn't make it in.

I agree that the wording can be changed to be more inclusive to the intent, but I think it's generally clear to most of the people voting.

It seems like people just don't like it enough or don't think it's an important area to expand reading for, which is just sad to me.

I found for the best sellers section, you have to swipe left to get it to move. But there are only about 6 best-sellers to choose from.

I also must not be putting in the right things. I tried bestsellers, country and race and only found one book I had ever heard of, and that was only still choosing white as the race.

1. What is your estimated reading speed (slow, medium, fast)? Medium
2. How many books do you usually finish in a week? 2-3 but would go for 5 or 6 during a readathon
3. Which time zone do you live in? Pacific Standard Time (PST)
4. Can you commit to checking in with your team frequently during the read-a-thon? Yup
5. Are you interested in being a team leader for your group? (i.e. keeping track of team totals, needed tasks, updating spreadsheet, etc.) No

Hey Annie, definitely open to word changes. I actually didn’t run it by the Wild Discussion, but we had discussed it a bit in the voting the first time I submitted.

My intent with the prompt was to push ourselves to read LGBTQIA+ books that don’t focus on only lesbian, gay and bi characters/authors. I focused a lot on non-binary and trans reading this year and discovered a lot of great authors, so used that as my base and the + was added to encompass the queer, intersex, and asexual.

I think it would be confusing to many to just have it say “TQIA+ authors or characters” as I think it lacks context and may lead to confusion, since most are used to the LGB in front. But do you think there is another good way to encompass the different genders and sexualities present there, without necessarily spelling it all out? Or would that be the most inclusive method?

I agree that I like the Goodreads option because we're such an awesome Goodreads group and all Goodreads members choose the prompts. It just feels like a perfect full circle, and there are a lot of options.

I'm curious to see how this round goes. It seems like there isn't one prompt that is exciting the group (although I know now everyone that votes posts).

In past years, has there ever been a round where no prompt made the top?

Thank you Emily for suggesting non-binary/trans/+.

Here are some other lists specifically focusing on asexual and intersex:

Asexual
https://bookriot.com/asexual-books/
Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...
YA: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.bustle.com/p/asexual-read...

Intersex
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
https://www.autostraddle.com/intersex...

I’m certainly not an expert in the subject, but doesn’t Neurodiversity focus more on neurological developmental disorders and/or disabilities, such as Autism, Tourette’s, mental disabilities.

Versus mental health focuses more on depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder. More of a focus on emotional and psychological well being.

Thanks Kat!

Amy, I also prefer the mental health route. I think it's still clear but puts it in more of a positive light and can encompass self-help books as well.

Meghan, I think if the prompt is phrased as "Support Local - An author from your area (town, state, country) and/or a book purchased from a local bookstore" it's combining two separate prompts. I can purchase a book from my local bookstore that is from an author in Japan and set in Japan, but I live in California.

I would prefer "region" because there is only one book about my hometown (and it's terrible), but CA and USA are too broad. Where if I could do West, I could read a western, a book about Indigenous people, or an author from NV, AZ, NM. I would downvote purchasing from a local bookstore, because I think it excludes a large portion of members that may read exclusively ebooks. I have a friend that probably hasn't picked up a physical book in years. I don't know what he would do lol.

Maybe it is because I read a lot of fantasy, historical fiction and sci-fi/dystopian, so these genres always seem to be intersecting with others. I’d say a significant portion of my TBR is cross-genre.

It'll probably be the free space that I leave till the end when I have a book I really want to read but have filled up the other categories.