Task 16: Read the First Book in a Series By a Person of Color

[Julia]

I've just begun The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin.

[Samantha]

I read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin and loved it. It's been my favorite book of the year so far. I was never a huge fantasy fan, mostly because it's such a male-dominated genre. I enjoy the genre but I typically can't connect on a personal level. This book completely changed my perspective! I guess that's the purpose of this reading challenge!

[Cheri]

Sam wrote: "I read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin and loved it. It's been my favorite book of the year so far. I was never a huge fantasy fan, mostly because it's such a male-dominated genre...."

Speculative fiction has come a long, long way. There are many excellent woman writers out there!

[Tami]

I wonder if Blue Highways would count. William Least Heat-Moon has native ancestry.

[Mel]

Sam wrote: "I read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin and loved it. It's been my favorite book of the year so far. I was never a huge fantasy fan, mostly because it's such a male-dominated genre...."

That's so awesome! I bought it for my boyfriend as part of his xmas present(and because I want to read it too haha). He wasn't that enthusiastic because I told him it was fantasy (he's not a big fantasy fan) He just finished it, loved it and said he needs to read the next book IMMEDIATELY (sadly not out yet).

I can't wait to read it now, I'm not a big fantasy reader either but he mentioned it was a different than the what I always imagine the genre to be (magic, princesses, dragons, elves etc)

[Bonnie G.]

Tami wrote: "I wonder if Blue Highways would count. William Least Heat-Moon has native ancestry."

Is this part of a series? I have the book sitting in my room waiting to be read, but know very little about it.

[Martha]

Bonnie wrote: "Tami wrote: "I wonder if Blue Highways would count. William Least Heat-Moon has native ancestry."

Is this part of a series? I have the book sitting in my room waiting to be read, but ..."

Link calls it first in his travel series. I loved Blue Highways when I read it many years ago. I thought there was a fourth in the series where William Least Heat-Moon repeats the road trip he took in Blue Highways.

EDIT: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Not a repeated trip, but a similar one where he travels back roads through small towns. Funny thing is that I have all the books and had forgotten I owned them.

[Bonnie G.]

Martha wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Tami wrote: "I wonder if Blue Highways would count. William Least Heat-Moon has native ancestry."

Is this part of a series? I have the book sitting in my room waiting t..."
I need to check these out. Thanks!

[Megan]

Blue Highways is an excellent book, but I dont believe it is the first in a series.

[Carol]

Megan wrote: "Blue Highways is an excellent book, but I dont believe it is the first in a series."

GoodReads identifies it as "(Travel Trilogy #1)".

[Travis]

I read Crazy Rich Asian by Kevin Kwan, a very silly book which I enjoyed enormously -- it was just like a big, custard filled chocolate eclair. Plus the author is from Singapore so it fits in both the "people of person of color (non-Caucasian) and southeast Asian.

[Chessa]

I read The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin and, wow! I loved it. My brain is still reeling. Very much looking forward to the next installment!

[Carol]

Travis wrote: "I read Crazy Rich Asian by Kevin Kwan, a very silly book which I enjoyed enormously -- it was just like a big, custard filled chocolate eclair. Plus the author is from Singapore so it fits in both ..."

wasn't Crazy Rich Asians such a blast? I felt guilty enjoying it so much, but the footnotes allowed part of my brain to characterize it as "educational".

[Anna]

Travis wrote: "I read Crazy Rich Asian by Kevin Kwan, a very silly book which I enjoyed enormously -- it was just like a big, custard filled chocolate eclair. Plus the author is from Singapore so it fits in both ..."

The second book, China Rich Girlfriend, is just as delicious -- though slightly more so for me, since I lived in Hong Kong for seven years.

[Travis]

Carol wrote: "Travis wrote: "I read Crazy Rich Asian by Kevin Kwan, a very silly book which I enjoyed enormously -- it was just like a big, custard filled chocolate eclair. Plus the author is from Singapore so i..."

I felt the same way. Hokey plots, over the top characters, but I just loved every minute of it, and China Rich Girlfriend too. Maybe what I loved most was how none of these people suffered from angst!

[Britta]

I read Octavia Butler's scifi novel Dawn for this challenge & it was so good that I continued with the series: Adulthood Rites and Imago. If you've never read Octavia Butler: please do!!

[Cheri]

Britta wrote: "I read Octavia Butler's scifi novel Dawn for this challenge & it was so good that I continued with the series: Adulthood Rites and Imago. If you've never rea..."
I love this series. It was how I discovered Octavia Butler.

[Britta]

Cheri wrote: "Britta wrote: "I read Octavia Butler's scifi novel Dawn for this challenge & it was so good that I continued with the series: Adulthood Rites and Imago. If y..."

Cheri wrote: "Britta wrote: "I read Octavia Butler's scifi novel Dawn for this challenge & it was so good that I continued with the series: Adulthood Rites and Imago. If y..."

Yes, me, too! And I will definitely read more of her work, Kindred next,maybe.

[Mary Sue]

Goodreads lists Beloved as Book #1 in The Toni Morrison Trilogy, so that was my choice for this task. I have read other Toni Morrison novels and loved them, so I was looking forward to this one, but for me, it was just OK.

[Diana]

Does anyone know if An Ember in the Ashes would count? I don't really know how to "check" that someone is a person of color if it isn't obvious.

[Katy]

Diana - Sabaa Tahir is of South Asian descent, so I'd say that makes her a person of color. (Info from here: http://www.diversifya.com/diversifya/...)

[Diana]

Katy wrote: "Diana - Sabaa Tahir is of South Asian descent, so I'd say that makes her a person of color. (Info from here: http://www.diversifya.com/diversifya/...)"

Thanks!

[Mel]

Cheri wrote: "Britta wrote: "I read Octavia Butler's scifi novel Dawn for this challenge & it was so good that I continued with the series: Adulthood Rites and Imago. If y..."

Me too! I read the series twice last year. I'm trying to decide my next OEB book now.

[Mel]

Britta wrote: "Cheri wrote: "Britta wrote: "I read Octavia Butler's scifi novel Dawn for this challenge & it was so good that I continued with the series: Adulthood Rites and [book:Imag..."

I discovered her through Xenogenesis/Lilith's Brood too, and I totally fell in love. If you like comics/graphic novels, Kindred is being made into a graphic novel to be released in 2017 :)

[Julia]

Mel, I didn't know that about Kindred, which I am rereading right now-- and loving it. She's one of my favorite authors.

[Mel]

Julia wrote: "Mel, I didn't know that about Kindred, which I am rereading right now-- and loving it. She's one of my favorite authors."

Glad to share some news with you then. I actually started following your reviews after seeing this thread because of your OEB love :)

[Leslie (updates on SG)]

Like many people have done, I was going to apply Octavia Butler's Dawn to this task. I still plan to read the novel, but I just finished a graphic novel that also works: Aya by Marguerite Abouet. This award-winning comic tells a tale of an African country that is not torn by war or famine.

[Julia]

I just picked up The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. I am excited to read this.

[Luella]

So I had a question. I just read the Color Purple and wonder if it counts as in this thread it was mentioned the author considers this book the first in a series and it is sold as a collection on amazon.

[Mel]

Leslie Ann wrote: "Like many people have done, I was going to apply Octavia Butler's Dawn to this task. I still plan to read the novel, but I just finished a graphic novel that also works: [book: Aya|30..."

I'm almost finished reading it now, and I'm really enjoying it.

[Lianne]

I just got Daughter of Gods and Shadows from the library (I'd had it on hold for a while, but paused). I started reading, and realized just how influenced by African myth it was, so I checked and found that it's book one of a trilogy, and the author is black. Works for me!

[Teresa]

I read Dawn (Exogenisis/Lilith's Brood) by Octavia Butler in one day, it's that good. I went straight into the second book.

[Britta]

Teresa wrote: "I read Dawn (Exogenisis/Lilith's Brood) by Octavia Butler in one day, it's that good. I went straight into the second book."

I ended up reading the whole series, fantastic!

[Haley]

I am reading A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee for this.

It also counts for the historical fiction before 1900 task (it's set in 1850s London), and the author from Southeast Asia task (Lee was born in Singapore)!

[Shannon]

I read Tonight & Forever and an so glad I did! Most of the suggestions I read for this category seemed to fall into science fiction or romance - neither a genre I have much draw to. I decided to give this one a go. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will explore more romance and probably more by this author. This challenge is succeeding with me opening many new doors! Loving it.

[Lianne]

Question for people: Would a book count if it was the first book of a trilogy, but the rest of the trilogy was never published? It was a planned series, but it looks like it didn't sell well enough for the publisher to pick up the other books.

[Patty]

Allie wrote: "I have never read anything by Octavia E. Butler before, so I think I might try one of her series."


SHE IS AWESOME!!! She was my favorite living author until she passed away a decade ago. Start with DAWN!

[Jessica]

I'm very excited to be reading An Ember in the Ashes for this task - it seems to have gotten rave reviews!

[Nadine in NY]

I read Sorcerer to the Crown earlier this year and I absolutely LOVED it!! So I'm using that for this prompt. I highly recommend this book to anyone who thinks it might be interesting. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out!!!

[Kiwie]

Just finished The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin, which I mostly really enjoyed.

Older's Shadowshaper is becoming a series so I guess that counts too now, even if there aren't any more books yet. I read that early this year and thought it was a fun YA novel that could really do with some more words, so yay.

[Stina]

Lianne wrote: "Question for people: Would a book count if it was the first book of a trilogy, but the rest of the trilogy was never published? It was a planned series, but it looks like it didn't sell well enough..."

Well, I'm counting Elysium even though the rest of the trilogy hasn't been published yet. I'm hoping that's a "yet," as this was a brilliant debut novel.

[Rachiel]

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I found a book by a Hispanic woman author, and wanted to know if it counted for this challenge.

[Danielle]

Rachiel wrote: "I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I found a book by a Hispanic woman author, and wanted to know if it counted for this challenge."

Yup! It has kinda been universally agreed in this thread that a "person of color" means non-white!

[Nadine in NY]

Rachiel wrote: "I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I found a book by a Hispanic woman author, and wanted to know if it counted for this challenge."

Yes! ... so long as it's the first book in a series.

[Katie]

I plan on reading Dawn for this challenge. Octavia Butler will be a new author for me, and I am pumped that this challenge is getting me to spread my wings a bit within science fiction.

[Nadine in NY]

Katie wrote: "I plan on reading Dawn for this challenge. Octavia Butler will be a new author for me, and I am pumped that this challenge is getting me to spread my wings a bit within science fiction."

I read Dawn last year! It was my first sci-fi book by Butler (I read Kindred last year too, but that didn't really feel sci-fi, even though it involved time travel). I was a little disappointed in it, it didn't really "grab" me and felt kind of dated, so I didn't read the next in the series, but I plan to read Parable of the Sower (not sure when! eventually ! hopefully this year) to try another series by her. I look forward to seeing what you think!

[Julia]

Nadine,

Kindred is a stand-alone novel. Dawn is the first in a series of three novels, as is Parable of the Sower from a series of two novels and Wild Seed is the first of four. Fledgling is a stand alone novel, though she intended to write more about this character. She also wrote some short stories Bloodchild and Other Stories and some more have been found recently: Unexpected Stories.

[Nadine in NY]

Yes I realize that, since I did read Kindred I do know it is a stand alone, I was not linking it to Dawn, other than being by the same author. As I pointed out, Kindred is a much different book, not super "sci fi." Since I was not impressed by Dawn I chose not to read the rest of that series but I'm thinking of trying Parable, the first book in another series, "to try another series by her."

[Sarah]

Nadine wrote: "Katie wrote: "I plan on reading Dawn for this challenge. Octavia Butler will be a new author for me, and I am pumped that this challenge is getting me to spread my wings a bit within s..."

I wasn't a fan of Parable, and I was hoping Dawn would be better! I'll still probably give it a shot, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who isn't instantly in love with Octavia E. Butler!

[Evyjo]

I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation of a dark mystery series or horror? Something to make me think/sleep with one eye open. Thanks!