Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion
2016 Read Harder Challenge
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Task 16: Read the First Book in a Series By a Person of Color
I am going with Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler which I just got at my library book sale in November...
I agree and also wish Bookriot wasn't so US centric and was more aware of the world outise the US. I notice it in some of their articles on the web site.
Pauline wrote: "We're doing this challenge as a family again next year. I would love to hear ideas for this category (as well as any others) for a 14 and 12 year old. Any ideas?"Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (middle grade)
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (YA)
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (middle grade)
I'm going to read The Kite Runner for this challenge, so then I can read A Thousand Splendid Suns for the book set in the Middle East. I own both books, and they've been on my TBR list for too long, so figured I could finally read both!
Kate wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "I am going to read 
or 
."I'm torn between The Fifth Season and Sorcerer to the Crown! (Who are we ki..."
I'm just going to read both as well. I can't decide and they are both in my wheelhouse. One can't read too many books, right?
I'm in for Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. Also have her book Dawn on my SF/F TBR list and will read it too if I have time this year.
Someone asked about books that are appropriate for middle school/teens, and Marie Lu's novels would cover this task! She wrote the YA series Legend. I haven't read her, but I am planning to read The Young Elites (the first in her new trilogy) for this task.
Kristin wrote: "Ultra wrote: "I do sometimes wish Book Riot weren't so US centric, "person of color" is not a term we use in the UK and is slightly problematic terminology for us."Minority author? What term do y..."
I'm not sure there is an equivalent term in common usage; we're still saying things like 'ethnic minority', which isn't quite the same thing and isn't even accurate in a lot of places. In this context, we'd probably just say 'not white'.
The term 'person of colour' isn't problematic in itself, it's more that we don't use it here; for example, I had to google the term because I wasn't sure if was literally 'anyone not white' or something more specific; I've only ever seen it used in context on US sites so I was worried I'd missed some nuance, but apparently not.
Elle wrote: "I'm in for Wild Seed by Octavia Butler. Also have her book Dawn on my SF/F TBR list and will read it too if I have time this year."Wild Seed is my favorite Octavia Butler novel.
Karen wrote: "Pauline wrote: "We're doing this challenge as a family again next year. I would love to hear ideas for this category (as well as any others) for a 14 and 12 year old. Any ideas?"[book:Akata Witch..."
Shadowshaper is not part of series, but it is an excellent YA novel.
Kristin wrote: "Jo wrote: "Kristin wrote: "Ultra wrote: "I do sometimes wish Book Riot weren't so US centric, "person of color" is not a term we use in the UK and is slightly problematic terminology for us."Mino..."
Oh I didn't mean to imply that it's not an issue, there's a huge problem with that in the UK - if anything it's getting worse now the Tories are in. I'm happy the category is here; just agreeing with Ultra that the term 'person of colour' is US-centric.
I'm reading Devil in a Blue Dress for this task...I've never read any Walter Mosley but he's been recommended to me.
Zemkat wrote: "I'm going to read Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman!"Thank you for reminding me that this was on my TBR list :D on the BookRiot list it goes
Deera wrote: Shadowshaper is not part of series, but it is an excellent YA novel. You're totally right -- and I didn't even realize it until you pointed it out. I want it to be part of a series so badly that I think I convinced myself it was.
Trudie wrote: "I thought I might go with Things Fall Apart, since it has been on my shelf for some time."I didn't know that was in a series, great idea I'm going to read 'Things fall apart'' too!
Pauline wrote: "We're doing this challenge as a family again next year. I would love to hear ideas for this category (as well as any others) for a 14 and 12 year old. Any ideas?"I cannot second One Crazy Summer enough. I would also check out The Great Greene Heist, which is a lot of fun.
Also, as far as other categories go, I am doing YA for the horror category because I'm a big wimp and will either read Christopher Pike, Lois Duncan, or R L Stine.
What kind of books do your kids like to read?
Again I have a couple of choices: What's Left of Me, Noughts & Crosses, The Girl from the Well or The Wrath and the Dawn
I am going to read "Wild Seed" by Octavia Butler.
I'm definitely reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. I read her in a couple of classes in university and loved her!
Poppy wrote: "If you like mysteries/noir, I recommend Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins #1) by Walter Mosley. Unfortunately, I can't use it because I've already read it."Thanks, Poppy, for the suggestion. This book will be my choice for "Read the first book in a series by a person of color".
Thanks Mona, that's very interesting.
Dom wrote: "Ultra wrote: "I do sometimes wish Book Riot weren't so US centric, "person of color" is not a term we use in the UK and is slightly problematic terminology for us."What alternative would you sugg..."
There's a whole category out there - POC - I was surprised. I don't think it is restricted to US Authors or US lists. Strange, I agree.
So far, Things Fall Apart. There must be some more good reads out there that are not formulaic.
I've already it, but Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz is the first in his Cairo Trilogy which I enjoyed when I read it.
Ultra wrote: "I do sometimes wish Book Riot weren't so US centric, "person of color" is not a term we use in the UK and is slightly problematic terminology for us."There's not really a great option in American usage right now. The term "minority" has fallen out of favor, partly because many parts of the country now have larger non-white populations than white populations, and partly because it can be seen as demeaning or offensive. I often use the phrase "people from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups" in my work, but that's kind of a mouthful for a reading challenge list. "People of color" was probably chosen by BookRiot as the term which is most inclusive and respectful. Interesting that the phrase is not used in other English-speaking countries.
I'm enjoying reading everyone's suggestions for this category!
Ultra wrote: "I do sometimes wish Book Riot weren't so US centric, "person of color" is not a term we use in the UK and is slightly problematic terminology for us."Indeed! Same issue with me. I'm half American but only lived there as a child, have spent most of my life in Europe so I'm never 100% sure if when the US says "person of color", does that mean non-White/Caucasian? Or specifically Black? If the first it opens it up to Latin American and Asian authors as well...
I'm going to read The Legend by Marie Lu. Cannot think of anything else.
Akilah wrote: "Pauline wrote: "We're doing this challenge as a family again next year. I would love to hear ideas for this category (as well as any others) for a 14 and 12 year old. Any ideas?"I cannot second [..."
When I told my husband that there is a Horror category, his response was "Can you read a Goosebumps book?"
He knows I can't handle anything scarier than that, but to be honest, even those bothered me!
After some internet searching, I discovered Imaro by Charles Saunders, possibly the first Sword and Sorcery genre novel by a person of color.
I live in the western US and here, PoC means anyone who isn't white/Caucasian (which is the majority of the world's population).
Teresa wrote: "I live in the western US and here, PoC means anyone who isn't white/Caucasian (which is the majority of the world's population)."Thanks for the input Teresa! I just feel odd including Latin Americans in that category... as a Spaniard I don't "see" a difference... Even within Latin America there is such a diversity of physiognomies, it seems odd to me to use physical descriptions to categorize people.
Cristina wrote: "Teresa wrote: "I live in the western US and here, PoC means anyone who isn't white/Caucasian (which is the majority of the world's population)."Thanks for the input Teresa! I just feel odd includ..."
I was surprised there was no category for a book set in or author from Latin America.
I just feel odd including Latin Americans in that category... as a Spaniard I don't "see" a difference... Even within Latin America there is such a diversity of physiognomies, it seems odd to me to use physical descriptions to categorize people. The term "people of color" does come specifically from the context of the United States, and has been used primarily to describe nonwhite people within a majority white country. (So it would typically refer to Latina/o Americans, rather than the citizens of Latin American countries.) I agree with you that it seems a bit strange when extrapolated to other countries, particularly a place like Japan where almost the whole population would be "people of color."
It's possible that Book Riot intended this category to be for nonwhite American writers, but BR is usually quite inclusive so I'm guessing their intention was broader than that. In the U.S., people of color would definitely include Latina/o, Asian, Native American and Pacific Islander writers as well as African American... it's an umbrella term.
Will there be Goodreads bookshelves for the 2016 tasks? That would be really helpful for this category because it seems like there are places to find books by people of color, and places to find books in series, but not really places to find both!
ChezJulie wrote: "I just feel odd including Latin Americans in that category... as a Spaniard I don't "see" a difference... Even within Latin America there is such a diversity of physiognomies, it seems odd to me to..."Thanks ChezJulie! I was considering the most recent Isabel Allende novel...
What's this about Goodreads bookshelves for 2016? How does that work?
I was considering the most recent Isabel Allende novel...What's this about Goodreads bookshelves for 2016? How does that work?
Oh, I've read good reviews of that! The Japanese Lover.
For the Goodreads bookshelves, if you go to the upper right of this page and click on Bookshelf, you'll be taken to a page that has books on it that were added individually by members of this group. When you scroll down the page, you'll see that on the left hand side there is a category for each task from the 2015 challenge. I am hoping that this will be updated to include each task from the 2016 challenge, so that we can start putting in what we're going to read to help each other find titles.
Another UK person here and "person of color" is a term I've never used. Children I've worked with have been classed as being from BME communities. This was a while ago, not sure what the used term is at the moment. I have heard "person of color" being used in US and to be honest I thought it related to black authors, as I thought those from the Latino community were classed as such, as were Native Americans etc. I find this an interesting discussion. I'm interested in reading something that is literary fiction so I'd be interested in suggestions on this thread. I have the recent Isabel Allende as well but is this the first book in a series? And how are people defining series? Is it up to the reader? I'd say a series were books which all connected but I'm open to reading books by the same author...
I haven't read the Cairo Palace Walk books yet but do recommend the Kite Runner etc. They were brilliant books. If I don't go towards Middle Eastern authors I might go for a Japanese author as I've not read any Japanese books for a while (I have read a lot of Murakami so that won't work, not thathe really has written a series of books in the traditional sense)
Ellie wrote: "Another UK person here and "person of color" is a term I've never used. Children I've worked with have been classed as being from BME communities. This was a while ago, not sure what the used term ..."Ellie, it's not the first in a series (The Japanese Lover), it's standalone. I had forgotten about that criteria!!! If you like Isabel Allende and want to read one of hers for this category then I can recommend "City of Beasts", takes place in the Amazon, a young man and his grandmother (who works for National Geographic) off looking for El Dorado. It's wonderful! First of a trilogy, followed by The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon and the Forest of Pigmies (not 100% sure of the translation, I've read them in Spanish)
ChezJulie wrote: "I was considering the most recent Isabel Allende novel...What's this about Goodreads bookshelves for 2016? How does that work?
Oh, I've read good reviews of that! The Japanese Lover.
For the Go..."
Thanks for the info on the shelves Julie! :) (Goodreads is definitely missing a "like" button for comments)
I'm not sure Isabel Allende can be considered a "person of color". She is from Chile, and she is white.
'The Agency' series by Asian Canadian author Y S Lee would be great for this category (and for the historical one). It takes place in Victorian London, main character is a woman of Irish/Chinese descent, suspenseful with some romance elements...
Kristin wrote: "Pia wrote: "I'm not sure Isabel Allende can be considered a "person of color". She is from Chile, and she is white."Yes, in the U.S., she would be considered a person of color. I know, it is conf..."
I noticed that NYPL included a book by Mario Vargas LLosa for this category. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/12/15/r...
Pia wrote: "I'm not sure Isabel Allende can be considered a "person of color". She is from Chile, and she is white."An autosomal DNA study from 2014 found out Chile to be 44.34% (± 3.9%) Native American, 51.85% (± 5.44%) European and 3.81% (± 0.45%) African .... pure whites in Chile account for less than 5% of the population- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chileans
I wouldn't consider Allende White.
ChezJulie wrote: "Kristin wrote: "Pia wrote: "I'm not sure Isabel Allende can be considered a "person of color". She is from Chile, and she is white."Yes, in the U.S., she would be considered a person of color. I ..."
Llosa is from Peru so if they consider him a person of colour than so should Allende
SibylM wrote: "I'm going with 
"This looks so good! I put it on my list.
I just googled Isobel Allende and Mario Llosa, there is no way I as a British person would describe either of them as "person of colour".
Ultra wrote: "I just googled Isobel Allende and Mario Llosa, there is no way I as a British person would describe either of them as "person of colour"."I do wonder whether some of this is to do with how different the British and US populations are. I guess there are slightly different emphases placed on minority communities / ethnic groups. In the UK I guess, as well as white people, there are black, Asian (Muslim, Hindu, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Chinese etc), Traveller communities and the Latin community kind of blend in because Spanish and Portguese people are seen as part of our European community. My family history is part Irish catholic so maybe that makes me a part-person of colour because I'm not a fully ethnic British person?
It's difficult to write about this without feeling I'm stirring up some racial debate and start sounding like a Tory banging on about immigrants and how they are taking all our books etc...
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Akata Witch (other topics)Spring Snow (other topics)
This Earth of Mankind (other topics)
March: Book One (other topics)
Through the Eyes of the Eagle (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Yukio Mishima (other topics)Kevin Kwan (other topics)
Octavia E. Butler (other topics)
N.K. Jemisin (other topics)
Tananarive Due (other topics)
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I'm going with Beverly Jenkins's Destiny's Embrace.