Top Ten Tuesday (#100) (07/21/15) Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 

Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

When making this list, I realize I read a lot of the same type of book.  However, more often than not, when I branch off, I am rewarded.  Here are some of my favorite books that feature a main character or their love interest that are diverse in some way.  There are a ton of other books that have secondary characters that are a minority in some way, so I decided to just limit it to the main characters.  Here are my ten.

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

This book was so bizarre; but really well written.  It's so odd that it's hard to even focus on the fact that the main character is black.  But she is, even though I don't remember it being a huge focus on the book.

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Yes Cinder is an android, but I think she's also Asian.  I think only because they don't really go into what she looks like from what I remember.  The story takes place in New Beijing, so I'm pretty sure they are all Asian.  If nothing else, they are all Asian in my mind.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor comes from a very poor background, however it's Park's Korean mother who steals the show in this book. Park's ethnicity comes up quite a bit during the book, but I think it's really well done.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

For some reason this is the only book that features a gay character that made my list, although there were others that could have easily been on it.  I just loved how this book was written, and the one of Noah's scene with Brian gave me the most happy chills.  I just adore this book.

Monster (Monster #1) by Walter Dean Myers

If found this book to be pretty amazing.  It was just such a different world than I have ever experienced, but it was enlightening.  I highly recommend this book.

Biggest Flirts (Superlatives #1) by Jennifer Echols

This series actually has several different races.  In this book the main female character is Hispanic.  One of my favorite things is that the Echols doesn't really make a big deal about it, it's just a fact about Tia much like so many others.  In the third book, the main female character is black, and it's brought up a little more, but once again, it's not a big deal.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han

I love that Jenny Han wrote this series.  Laura Jean is such a fantastic character, and she seems like such a typical teenager.  I have loved reading about her Korean customs, and her and her sister's do to keep that part of who they are.

The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh

One of the few books I read with a Middle Eastern main character, and it is awesome.  I can't imagine this story being told any other way.

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

I have never been shy about my love of Jason Reynolds books.  One of the things that I loved about this book is that the characters seem so real.  I can't wait to read his next book.

Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry #1) by Simone Elkeles

This is a perfect romance with characters that are not only from different socioeconomic backgrounds, but also from different races. I don't read enough books that have primary characters that are Hispanic.

Teaser and Top Ten Tuesday (#30) (10/15/13)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Teardrop (Teardrop #1) by Lauren Kate

From pg. 45 of my ARC*

Her eyes bored into her daughter's.  She said in the gravest tone Eureka had ever heard: "Never, ever cry again."

*This is and ARC copy.  Page number and quotes may not be the same in the finished copy.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 

Top Ten Six Books I Was Forced to Read (either by teachers, friends, other bloggers, reviews)

I'm so sad.  This may be the first time I haven't been able to come up with 10 books for my list.  The problem is that I haven't been forced to read a book in a long time.  My reading is done completely on my own whims.  The other issue is that rarely have I enjoyed books that were forced on my by teachers or that I had to read for school.  Here is what I came up with:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

One of the few books that I read in school that I enjoyed.  I really disliked so many books that were required reading, because they were beat to death.  I liked this one. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K. Rowling

Nobody in my life reads like I do.  They also don't read what I read.  So many of the books that are recommended aren't my style,  this was the one book/series that was the exception.  My BFF, bugged me until I read it.  I loved it.

Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry #1) by Simone Elkeles

I belong to a Goodreads group where we assign a book for one another each month.  This was the best of the books that I was assigned.  I was so happy to get it off of my TBR pile. 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

I took a class on children's literature, and there were some great books I read for that, the ages covered were 0-14.  So most of the books didn't cover YA.  This was one of the few that did.  This book rocked my world.  I loved it.  It remains one of the best books I've ever read.

Monster (Monster #1) by Walter Dean Myers

I read this for the same class as Speak, and it was amazing.  I don't know if it gets the same kind of love as Speak, but it's a really, really good book. 

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 This is the only other book that I liked that was required reading while I was in school.  I did get annoyed by the end of the unit, but I am still left with some really fond memories of the book.





 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 07/08/13

This weekly recap is hosted by Shelia of One Persons Journey Through a World of Books and the kidlit version is hosted by Jen from Teach Mentor Texts. Each week we recap what we’ve read and look at what’s coming up this week.

I did some serious reading this week.  Go me!

 

Finished Reading:

How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller

How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski 

Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Awaken (Abandon Trilogy #3) by Meg Cabot

Spartan Frost (Mythos Academy #4.5) by Jennifer Estep

Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry #1) by Simone Elkeles

 

Currently Reading:

Renegade (Ripper #2) by Amy Carol Reeves

 

What I'm Reading Next:

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

ALA Wrap Up

ALA Chicago!

So as my little tag on the side of my blog says, I attended ALA Annual in Chicago this year.  This is my second annual conference, and it was a bit different than Annual in Anaheim last year.  I have also attended two Mid-Winter conferences.  Overall, I think I prefer Mid-Winter to Annual, but all the conferences are great. 

The Good:

The Publishers. Of course.  They are always so wonderful, friendly and generous with the books they give away.  They are starting to recognize me, which is great.  This conference is the first since I started my blog, and even though I've attended all the conferences as a librarian, I had the extra bonus of letting them know about the blog.  I even made cards, so I hope they will remember me when I contact them in the future about author and book promotions, which is something I would love to do on the blog.  I want to give a special shout-out to Sourcebooks.  Although all the publishers were awesome, the gang at Sourcebooks just go above and beyond for me.  Every conference I look forward to seeing them, and every time they out-do themselves with their kindness and their generosity. 

The Authors.  I loved meeting so many of my favorite authors.  Some of whom I have loved forever.  I had a huge challenge in that I really had to be in session most of the time, but I had a few worker bees with me (my husband, his uncle, and his uncle's girlfriend).  They were able to walk the exhibit hall and stand in the lines while I was able to get my job done.  There were several authors that I was able to meet during breaks though.

Laurie Halse Anderson & Simone Elkeles

Children's Authors Mo Willems & Jon Klassen (with my DH)

The Books. This goes back to the publishers.  I loved seeing all the new books that are coming out.  I got a ton of ARCs and finished copies of books that I can't wait to read.  I had to have them shipped to me, and I've only gotten 2 of the 6 boxes that I had to mail back.  I forgot to take a picture of the books I've gotten so far, and I already integrated them into my book shelves, here are some of the titles that have arrived so far:

The Bad:

The Crowds. I don't know if it's because of the location of Chicago, or if more people are making an effort to go to ALA because they heard it was just as good as some of the other conferences, just less crowded, but it was crazy busy.  It was hard to walk in the aisles most of the time.  I hate crowds and it was the worst I've ever seen.  There were also lines everywhere because all the signings happen in the booths.  The people in line usually did a pretty good job of not blocking the aisles, but it was still bad.  Friday night was the worst.  You really couldn't walk.  It was very reminiscent of Bourbon St. during Mardi Gras.  Yuck.

The Theft.   It pains me to say this, but the somebody or somebodies were stealing books from the publishers left and right.  I was actually disgusted.  I talked to some of the publishers and they repeatedly said they had never had so many books stolen from them.  For all future attendees and those that may be intending to go to a future ALA conference, please keep in mind, the publishers are there to show off their upcoming products and popular titles.  If people keep stealing from them, they will no longer come.  Also keep in mind that this is a LIBRARY conference.  Any attendees who don't work at a library or for a library are there as guests.  Being there is a privilege and not a right.  If the publishers complain to the conference organizers about the amount of books that were flat out stolen from them, ALA will close itself off from guests.  I know bloggers enjoy the opportunity to talk to the publishers, but the conference is NOT for bloggers.  It's for librarians.  Good luck at getting in for a reasonable price if this kind of behavior continues.  The reason I'm targeting bloggers is because I would be really shocked if it was librarians.  Librarians deal with the theft of books on a regular basis, and I don't think any of them would do that to a publisher.  I'm not saying it's not possible, but ALA will surely block guests and bloggers from attending long before they block Librarians from attending.