2017 #DiverseAThon TBR

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This month #DiverseAThon returns from January 22nd – 29th to bring the book community together in reading diverse literature. #DiverseAThon was first started by booktubers Joce @SquibblesReads, Christina Marie, Monica@shemightbemonica and Whitney @WhittyNovels in 2016 after a white booktuber had a meltdown over diversity and how it doesn’t matter. As they tend to. Anyway, it’s always awesome to see people striking back and I’m happy to see that #DiverseAThon has returned, hope it will for many years to come.

I’m almost always reading diverse lit, but the -thon part I need to get better at. At the moment I’m juggling a lot of books but that means I don’t finish many for quite some time. So, hopefully #DiverseAThon will help me with that. And I love making lists for these events. Here’s me trying to settle on a tbr, and though I hardly ever stick to my lists, I’ll do my very best! The best thing about this readathon is that there’s a timeframe and the goal to read diverse lit and that is it, no other requirement!

I’ve extremely optimistically put together a tbr of 5 books, reach for the stars and all that. I’ve also selected books that range from non-fiction to short stories to poetry, because I want to have option since I’m a total mood reader. And my focus is on Women of Color literature of course.

Deceit And Other Possibilities: Stories by Vanessa Hua 

In this powerful debut collection, Vanessa Hua gives voice to immigrant families navigating a new America. Tied to their ancestral and adopted homelands in ways unimaginable in generations past, these memorable characters straddle both worlds but belong to none. (GR)

White Nights, Black Paradise by Sikivu Hutchinson 

In 1978, Peoples Temple, a Black multiracial church once at the forefront of progressive San Francisco politics, self-destructed in a Guyana jungle settlement named after its leader, the Reverend Jim Jones. Fatally bonded by fear of racist annihilation, the community’s greatest symbol of crisis was the White Night; a rehearsal of revolutionary mass suicide that eventually led to the deaths of over 900 church members of all ages, genders and sexual orientations. (GR)

The Little Book of Big Visions. How to be an Artist and Revolutionize the World by Sandrine Micossé-Aikins & Sharon Dodua Otoo, eds. 

German theatres still have almost exclusively white ensembles and Afro-German visual artists continue to struggle for recognition free of labels like “African” or “migrant” – even in 2012. “The Little Book of Big Visions: How to be an Artist and Revolutionize the World,” edited by Sandrine Micossé-Aikins and Sharon Dodua Otoo, discusses the current situation of Black artists in Germany and presents their visions for equality in text and image form. (GR)

Floating. Brilliant. Gone by Franny Choi 

Beginning at loss and ending in reflective elation, Floating, Brilliant, Gone moves steadily through the many complicated textures of identity, anxiety, and absence. Using a language that is as volatile as the world it tries to occupy, these poems read like lucid dreams that jolt awake at the most unexpected moments. (GR)

A Return to Arms by Sheree L. Greer 

When Toya meets Folami and joins the activist collective RiseUP!, she thinks she’s found her life’s purpose. Folami’s sensuality and her passion for social justice leave Toya feeling that, at last, she’s met someone she can share all parts of her life with. But when a controversial police shooting blurs the lines between the personal and the political, Toya is forced to examine her identity, her passions, and her allegiances. (GR)

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Are you doing #DiverseAThon? What’s on your TBR?

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Keep up with DiverseAThon via the twitter account @DiverseAThon and follow the hashtag #DiverseAThon!