Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2017 Challenge prompts
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A book by a person of color
I am trying to decide on the best book for this category. I will confess that my reading life is not as diverse as it should be. I am looking forward to seeing suggestions from others. For now I have penciled in The Crossover.
Marta wrote: "Sara, if I had to chose one book for this, it would be The Color Purple. An incredible book."I almost read that for my Oprah book this year! I will add it to the list! Thank you :)
I'm on a crusade to get everyone everywhere to read Homegoing, which was recently released. It definitely fits for this category and it's AMAZING!
Katie wrote: "I'm on a crusade to get everyone everywhere to read Homegoing, which was recently released. It definitely fits for this category and it's AMAZING!"I read it last year and I agree, very important book - although I was a bit put off by too many voices, I get where she was going with it.
I also can highly recommend Kindred, Between the World and Me, and if you want something short and sci-fi with an ethnic twist, Binti is super delicious and different.
Americanah was the one that had the biggest impact on my worldview.
I am kind of on a mission to read more diverse book - about a year and a half ago I took a quiz and I had read zero books by non white people! Terrible! So last year I made a point of diversifying and there are some amazing books out there. I have learned so much and I can honestly say my worldview has been significantly altered.
Mod
Some of my favorite authors of color: Zen Cho, Nnedi Okorafor, Walter Mosley, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Arundhati Roy ... that's just a few ... there are so many. There's also Amy Tan (admittedly not really my style), Colson Whitehead, Sabaa Tahir, Marie Lu, Junot Díaz, N.K. Jemisin, Louise Erdrich, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, and on and on and on ... (I'm leaving so many great authors out!)
Nadine wrote: "I love this prompt, and there are SO MANY books I want to read that would fulfill it. I have no idea which book I'll eventually use to check this box. I've also got a personal goal to increase the ..."I loved Mindy's first book. And I actually really enjoyed Aziz's. A little more informative, a little less funny, but very interesting.
I have a copy of Land of Love and Drowning that I have been meaning to read. It fits nicely into this category.
Marta wrote: "Sara, if I had to chose one book for this, it would be The Color Purple. An incredible book."I've chosen that one as well and I am reserving Kindred because of the time travel for "set in two time periods"
Audible is currently giving away National Book Award winner Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison until the end of the year. As in free.I'm pretty excited to read Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality
I really enjoyed Born a Crime. I highly recommend it.
Tried to download the Audible deal but they've closed it. "We've reached the maximum number of rewards." Bummer.
Mod
Hmm that's an interesting definition of "until the end of the year" - don't they realize this upsets more people than it pleases??
(That said, I tried to read that book this year, and I had to stop, it just felt so sexist. The casual and random anecdote about a dad who "accidentally"
Terry McMillan was on The Daily Show and talked about trying to read more diversely. I liked her on the show, so I've penciled in her new book, I Almost Forgot About You.But if you haven't read The Color Purple or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I would highly recommend them.
Juanita wrote: "Tried to download the Audible deal but they've closed it. "We've reached the maximum number of rewards." Bummer."I got that message when I tried on my phone, but when I got home it worked on my laptop. Maybe it's just glitchy?
Thanks Nadine. I'll keep that in mind when I'm choosing when to listen.
I am going to read Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson for this one. I read Brown Girl Dreaming for the poetry prompt this year and love her writing.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
I am reading Frangipani. The author is a South Sea Islander.If you are after a classic maybe something by Alexandre Dumas. I only found out he is Haitian decent (his grandmother was a slave).
Tricia wrote: "If you are after a classic maybe something by Alexandre Dumas"Or Alexander Pushkin. His great-grandfather was from Africa and later a godson of Peter the Great (a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II is also his direct descendant).
(I feel that the term "person of color" is very American, or maybe Anglo-American. I don't think it's actually used in e.g. continental Europe, so it's a bit problematic for me.)
Mod
Yes, it's definitely an American term, and even here in the USA it seems some people aren't quite sure what it means! I think it's best translated as "someone who isn't white" and however you translate that will work. All of these categories are open to personal interpretation anyway.
Yeah, for example there is an ethnic Romani minority in Finland ("Gypsies") but calling them "people of colour" would probably be considered insulting. Though they have lived here for centuries, they often look different. (Darker but still white? I don't know, they are from India, which would then make them "people of colour", I guess. And they also call ethnic Finns "whites". But in USA Finnish immigrants themselves were racially discriminated against for being "Asian" and in 1908 there was even a trial where they were "accused" of being Mongols and not native Europeans, and as non-whites not eligible to become naturalized US citizens. According to that definition, though, the Romani, as speakers of an Indo-European language, would then be considered more "white" than ethnic Finns. Too confusing... :D )
Tricia wrote: "I am reading Frangipani. The author is a South Sea Islander.If you are after a classic maybe something by Alexandre Dumas. I only found out he is Haitian decent (his ..."
Have you read The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo? I'm going through it now, and it's a really great read!
I recommend Michelle West's work. And you could do Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction for either this or the multiple authors prompt!
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vorghese was excellent, and I also highly recommend anything by Khalid Hosseini. My favorite is And the Mountains Echoed, but all are great!
I'm going to read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This challenge is helping me get through my to read, so much fun!
I find it very strange to divide writers by color. Why would you do this? I will simply read someone of another nationality -with color irrelevant.
Athol-mary wrote: "I find it very strange to divide writers by color. Why would you do this? I will simply read someone of another nationality -with color irrelevant."I think the intent is to encourage us to be more intentional in reading a diverse group of authors. You are free to interpret it the way that makes most sense to you. Reading a book written by someone of a different nationality than you is still in the spirit of the challenge.
I have some really, really great options for this category. I've got the omnibus edition of N. K. Jemison's Inheritance trilogy, Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood trilogy - Dawn, Adulthood Rights, and Imago - as well as Fledgling (which I think I may use for a different prompt, anyway), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah... GAH. How to pick?
Mod
you'll just have to read them ALLLLLL!!!! :-)
I've read Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson in 2016 and keep recommending them since, not because they "written by a person of color", but because they are too good to pass up!
I agree!! Brown Girl Dreaming was SO good I want to read Another Brooklyn by the same author.I'd like to read Purple Hibiscus too. I heard part of it on BBC RAdio's book of the week and it sounded very good.
Tytti wrote: "Yeah, for example there is an ethnic Romani minority in Finland ("Gypsies") but calling them "people of colour" would probably be considered insulting. Though they have lived here for centuries, th..."Yes, it's confusing! Maybe every country has its own definition for "people of color". In France we only use this expression for black people. (And it's pretty old-fashioned.) When I first saw in the 2017 reading lists that some people intended to read books by Asian authors for this prompt, I even had the feeling that they were "cheating"! ;-)
I usually think black for this. But, generally, anyone that isn't white counts. Asians were called yellow here in the states, Hispanics are brown.
And it also gets confusing when you consider that in the US, federal data collection considers Middle Eastern ethnicities "white," and then "white" is divided into "Hispanic" and "non-Hispanic." So is a Hispanic white person a POC? Oh, and then there's the "one-drop rule." Ugh.
I'm all for diversity, but digging into all the definitions is crazy-making.
Going with Kidred - sounds interesting!
This is my starting book for the challenege. I'm really excited because this is the first time I have ever particiapted in a reading challenge.
If you like YA -I'd recommend Nicola Yoon - her books, Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star also include maincharacters of colour.
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I read a sample on my Kindle of Bread Givers and promptly nixed it. Then a friend from the Bronx recommended Brown Girl, Brownstones so I'm going to go with that.
The Sellout by Paul Beatty. Though its not for everybody.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great read for this category
I started with this by reading Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. i don't read many memoirs/ biographical books, so that was branching or for me. Someone already mentioned Americanah, which is the best book I've read in the last few years.
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Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Tahereh Mafi (other topics)Tahereh Mafi (other topics)
Héctor Tobar (other topics)
Marcus Samuelsson (other topics)
Victor LaValle (other topics)
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I like this prompt (and many others) because it will work for any genre. I read a lot of nonfiction and this will work for that. I read a lot of memoirs and this will work for that. I read a lot of Jhumpa Lahiri and this prompt will accommodate that. Do you see what I'm getting at here?
And another prompt on our wish list. Go us!