Diversity in Reading Meme

[eleanoreader]

1. Name the last book by a female author that you’ve read.

2. Name the last book by an African or African-American author that you’ve read.

3. Name one from a Latino/a author.

4. How about one from an Asian country or Asian-American?

5. What about a GLBT writer?

6. Why not name an Israeli/Arab/Turk/Persian writer, if you’re feeling lucky?

7. Any other authors from a social subsect or ethnic minority (in literature) that you’ve read lately?

8. Do you strive for diversity in your own reading? Or do you not worry about it? Why or why not?



[coming back to answer this one myself later]

Comments

[brumeux77]

1. I've just finished Lammas Night, which was edited by Josepha Sherman and based on an idea by Mercedes Lackey; and before that I read a couple of the Sword and Sorceress anthologies edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley--but I don't know if those count. Before that it would be something by Lois McMaster Bujold, but I don't remember which, I reread so many of hers.

2 - 7 I haven't a clue. How would you know? 3 and 4 you might guess from the name but that's awfully close to stereotyping. You might as well ask about the last book by a Catholic writer.

8. I don't worry about it. I'm not interested in someone's background, I'm interested in whether they can tell a good story.

[trialia]

1. The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters. Before that, Diane Duane's A Wizard of Mars.

2 - 7 I haven't a clue. How would you know? 3 and 4 you might guess from the name but that's awfully close to stereotyping. ...

8. I don't worry about it. I'm not interested in someone's background, I'm interested in whether they can tell a good story.

All of this, though I do know the last LGBT writer whose work I read was Lauren Maddison, as I love her mysteries. Frankly, I don't pay much attention to the authors of what I read or their backgrounds, only to the content of the books, and I read what I find interests me most.

[lucky397]

1. Name the last book by a female author that you’ve read.
Fragments of Isabella - Isabella Leitner

2. Name the last book by an African or African-American author that you’ve read.
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe.

3. Name one from a Latino/a author.
Reread the House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros

4. How about one from an Asian country or Asian-American?
ummmm off the top of my head Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan

5. What about a GLBT writer?
none that I am aware of

6. Why not name an Israeli/Arab/Turk/Persian writer, if you’re feeling lucky?
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Kahlid Hosseieni

7. Any other authors from a social subsect or ethnic minority (in literature) that you’ve read lately?
I read quite a bit of holocaust memoirs and the last one I read is the same as the number 1 ... currently reading Defying Hitler by Sebastian Haffner

8. Do you strive for diversity in your own reading? Or do you not worry about it? Why or why not? I don't really think about it. I just roam around the stacks at the library and bookstore and puck whatever intrests me mostly its going to be historical romances and history book with some sci-fi and mysteries thrown into the mix but I really don't seek out books with diversity of authors in mind.

[wishfulclicking]

1) The last one I finished was the last entry in the Kate Atkinson Case Histories series.

2) Hmm...To Be Young, Gifted, and Black by Lorraine Hansberry'

3) The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

4) The Kite Runner

5) Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

6) Amoz Oz

7)Very recently have I made an honest effort to have diversity in my reading. For a long time I said it didn't matter and I just wanted a good story, and that's just not true for me anymore. The story is still my first priority but I love reading stories set in different cultures and from people from different places. It has definitely enriched my reading.

[fireshowers]

1. name the last book by a female author that you’ve read.
lady audley's secret, mary alexander braddon.


2. name the last book by an african or african-american author that you’ve read.
the problem with terms like "african" is that my answer would be youth, j. m. coetzee. coetzee is most definitely african.


3. name one from a latino/a author.
the gospel according to jesus christ, jose saramago (who is portuguese really, so now we'll have to define "latino/a". a person from south america? or a person whose mother tongue is a latinate language?).


4. how about one from an asian country or asian-american?
intimacy, hanif kureishi (who is, now, asian-british. i'm really not trying to do this intentionally. *sigh*)


5. what about a glbt writer?
kari, amruta patil.


6. why not name an israeli/arab/turk/persian writer, if you’re feeling lucky?
my name is red, orhan pamuk.


7. any other authors from a social subsect or ethnic minority (in literature) that you’ve read lately?
i'm trying to read partition-related literature and historical literature in english (or english translation) from india, but since i'm from india myself, that won't be considered a subsect or a minority, i suspect. :)


8. do you strive for diversity in your own reading? or do you not worry about it? why or why not?
yes. sometimes it's because eventually there are only a few story patterns that get repeated over humanity, but different cultures tell them differently. a lot of my knowledge about real life, geography and other communities is derived from my reading of fiction. it's immensely more pleasurable and often immensely more accurate that way.