Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion
2020 Challenge - Advanced
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03 - A book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement
Katy wrote: "I attempted to read Blindness by Jose Saramago a couple of years ago. I gave up on it, but I might give it another go. I like the idea about a biography of Helen Keller, though."Also try anything about Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher as she had vision issues as well.
Augustown, by kei miller would work here. this book also actually fits in several different spots of the regular challenge:
• #6: bildungsroman (possibly... this is the only one i am not 100% on);
• #21: august publishing month, for those with that birthday month;
• #32: author is a writer of colour;
• #33: current GR star rating is 4.28.
I realised I'm currently reading a book that fits this, A Time of War (Days of Blood and Fire) by Katharine Kerr fits, with a character who is blind. This is the 3rd book in the Westlands series, so the 7th book in the Deverry series all together, but I'm sure the rest of the series can be fit into other prompts too :P
Blind is a good YA book, the main character is blind. Follow My Leader is older and might be hard to find, but it’s one of my childhood favorites.
The Danger Box has a legally blind character.
My pick is Shades of Grey , a scifi where people's place in society is determined by their color perception. Kinda get the vibe it's like The Giver (also a good choice for this!) mixed with 1984!
I saw on listopia that Sing, Unburied, Sing can fit this prompt. Has anyone read this and can confirm if that’s true?
nicolle ☆ wrote: "My pick is Shades of Grey , a scifi where people's place in society is determined by their color perception. Kinda get the vibe it's like The Giver (also a good choice fo..."I wonder if I tried this. I wanted to very badly to like the Thursday Next series that I read 4 or 5 of them before realizing it just wasn't working for me. I started another novel of his and discarded it. I have put this on my Want to Read Shelf just in case I decide to try this again.
Blue Skies by Catherine Anderson is a romance featuring a blind heroine. Robert J. Sawyer’s WWW series is science fiction about a blind teenaged girl who can actually see and communicate with the internet. If you’re looking for OwnVoices, try Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout and Run by Codi Kepplinger. Opera singer Laurie Reubin wrote a memoir called Do You Dream In Color: Insights from a Girl Without Sight.
Mod
I haven't read those books so I don't understand how they are OwnVoices? Are these authors losing their sight?
I was going to go the easy route, since I have The Story of My Life by Helen Keller sitting on my shelves but it seems kind of daunting to me and I want to try and get at least 2 challenges done this year. Amazon just recommended to me The Girl Who Could See, which is YA/SciFi/Fantasy, and seems like it might be interesting. The MC seems to have a visual "enhancement" so I'm going with that. It was only $3 on kindle. Yea, I bought it....oops.
any avatar: the last airbender comic book with toph as a character.A Darker Shade of Magic if having only one eye (because you lost the other one) counts as vision impairment...
and if seeing ghosts is "vision enhancement", The Archived
I think I'm going for The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia...but I'm not sure if someone who has visions really counts.
Luna wrote: "A Darker Shade of Magic if having only one eye (because you lost the other one) counts as vision impairment...an..."
Having only one eye affects depth perception.
Anne wrote: "I saw on listopia that Sing, Unburied, Sing can fit this prompt. Has anyone read this and can confirm if that’s true?"I’ve not read Sing, Unburied, Sing but I want to read it so I really hope it fits. On the main GR page it mentions the characters seeing ghosts (their dead relatives), which I would say is a vision enhancement. I might read it quite early in the year, and use it for a different prompt if I don’t think it works here.
FYI for all y’all wanting to read Shades of Grey. It’s absolutely amazing BUT it ends with a bit of a cliffhanger and I think it’s been over a decade now and the sequel is still unwritten.
One of the main characters in Prodigal Summer is visually impaired. He has cataracts to the point where he can make out colors and shapes but that's it. It's not the main piece of his story but it is substantial and plays into some of the plot lines.
Anne wrote: "I saw on listopia that Sing, Unburied, Sing can fit this prompt. Has anyone read this and can confirm if that’s true?"I read this book recently. It would fit under the "visually enhanced" category for this prompt as the connection to eyes is more "other worldly" than blind. Some characters can see things that aren't there and it passes through multiple generations. I definitely think this would count.
Brother Jack in Invisible Man has a glass eye and his sight impairment is real and metaphorical in the book.
Christine wrote: "Would we count Bird Box for this? People throughout voluntarily shut out their sense of sight, and [spoilers removed]."Yes! I was coming to the discussion to see if anyone else thought Bird Box would work. I absolutely think it does.
I recommend The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan. It's not a light read; it's very long and metaphorical, but it's probably the best literary fantasy I've read. A major supporting character is blind.
Tanya Huff Vicky Nelson/Henry Fitzroy series
What about a book about a character with a vision impairment? I Want to read "Harry Potter Should Have Died".Would that fit?
I recently read The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri and it has a blind main character. It's a great book.
I will be reading Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok. The main character has supernatural visions in this one. I am assuming that would work.If someone is looking for another recommendation, I read a YA book with a main character who is blind a few years ago and I REALLY enjoyed it. It's called Not if I see you first and it's written by Eric Lindstrom.
This is interesting.. this is the only advanced prompt that isn't centered around the number '20' in some way. Anyway, I love this prompt! Did anyone else notice that?
Mod
20/20 vision is considered good, so that's the connection to 20 for this one.
I just looked up The Beekeeper of Aleppo on amazon kindle and it’s 2.99 today!“Deal of the day”. I’m good to go on this prompt!
Sorry if this was already mentioned before, I didn't read all the comments... But I guess the Lockwood & Co series would fit here too. In the books, children can see and/or hear ghosts. They lose the ability when they become adults.
One of my favorite books I read last year.
I HIGHLY recommend Pigs by Johanna Stoberock. It was my absolute favorite read of last year, and it fits the character-with-a-vision-impairment criteria.
Nadine, both Armentrout and Kepplinger are visually impaired.
Does seeing auras count or is it cheating?
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys has a blind character. But she's not a main character so just a heads up if that's what you're going for.
There is a blind character in Black House, the sequel to The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. If only I hadn't read it last year!
Mod
I had forgotten there was a blind character in this book! It is one of my favorite reads!
I'm thinking Middlegame might work for this prompt, since one of the main characters lacks depth perception and the other is colour blind...
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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John M. Hull (other topics)
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One of the other characters is blinded in Cress.
Cinder the character with the vision enhancements appears in all the books.