#17. A Book By A Person Of Color

[[deleted user]]

Please list the book you intend to read or recommendations for this category.

[[deleted user]]

I hope to listen to the audio version of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.

[Therese]

Last week I finished Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith by Gabrielle Douglas since I had seen the movie and of course had watched her capture gold in the London 2012 Olympic Games. I wish someone else had written her story, because while she is an amazing gymnast, to say the least, the writing left much to be desired.

[Cate (The Professional Fangirl)]

I plan to read a book by a Filipino author like Rin Chupeco. Or I might go ahead and read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

[Teresa]

I plan on reading The Rooftops of Tehran, although probably half of my total selections would count for this category.

[Cate (The Professional Fangirl)]

^ Same. I have a lot of Japanese authors on my roster.

[Amy]

What exactly do we mean by a person "of color"? Does this indicate a certain heritage? People with darker than white skin? A person with skin a different color than our own?

[Anastasia]

People of color in the US refers to, generally speaking, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, as well as Middle Eastern, Pacific Islanders, mixed race people, etc. Not white people. You'd certainly be right in saying race isn't a biological fact but rather a social construct, but it's a social construct which carries a lot of weight in the US, and authors of color do not receive as much press, as many awards, or as much readership as white authors, even when their books are better. If you don't regularly read POC, this is a great chance to read perspectives that might be new, unfamiliar, and exciting for you. I recently read and really enjoyed Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. Another book I loved was Roxanne Gay's An Untamed State. Also, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng was great! Another fabulous book was The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar.

[Mackey]

Amy wrote: "What exactly do we mean by a person "of color"? Does this indicate a certain heritage? People with darker than white skin? A person with skin a different color than our own?"

THANK YOU! I hate this category and the assumptions it makes!

[Jan]

The Man in the Basement is the first book I have read by Walter Mosley. The summary lead me to believe more ideas and values would be covered. Unfortunately, these were less frequent than descriptions about private behaviors I don't care to read about it. The history of free blacks was interesting. Actually, I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ernie Hudson, who did a superb job.

[Elyse]

I chose The Mothers for this one. I chose The Color Purple for BookRiot's Read Harder Challenge of the same nature but am using that for a different task for BWB. And am using The Mothers for BookRiot's "Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color."

[Stina]

Lisa Ann ✿ wrote: "I hope to listen to the audio version of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah."

I zipped through this last week. He did a really good job with it.

[Nanik]

Is a japanesse author or another Asians count as a person of "color"? If yes then, I plan to read Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

[Elyse]

Nanik wrote: "Is a japanesse author or another Asians count as a person of "color"? If yes then, I plan to read Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami"

I believe Asians are considered people of color. This was brought up in another challenge as well.

[Fernanda]

I'm going to read "mom & me & mom" by Maya Angelou.

[[deleted user]]

Stina wrote: " Lisa Ann ✿ wrote: "I hope to listen to the audio version of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah."

I zipped through this last week. He did a really good job with it."

So glad you liked it! :-) I plan to listen to it later this month or in March. Something to look forward to.

[Mandie]

I'm thinking about March: Book One, Born a Crime, or I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban for this one.

[Therese]

Mandie wrote: "I'm thinking about March: Book One, Born a Crime, or I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban for th..."

I have read I Am Malala and highly recommend it. She is a young girl who is wise beyond her years. Excellent read.

[Brittany]

I went eith Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi.

[Teresa]

I read The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor. It's the prequel to Who Fears Death. It was good, not great. My life would be just fine if I hadn't read the prequel.

[[deleted user]]

Every year I make a conscious effort for at least half the books I read to be by POC. Just one seems kind of measly, and I find that if I don't intentionally add books by POC then my "read" list is very, very white. That said, some I have enjoyed so far this year are Half of a Yellow Sun and John Lewis' graphic novel trilogy March. I'm listening right now to Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehasi Coates and it's beautifully written. A couple more on the list are The Refugees, The Wangs vs. the World, and Rich People Problems.