Saturday, August 23, 2014

A More Diverse Universe 2014



If I am being completely honest, one of the reasons I am creeping back into the blogging world is because I knew I REAAAALLLY wanted to participate in A More Diverse Universe 2014 this year. So it's time to sign up!

What is this, you ask?

For those who have not heard about #Diversiverse before, it's a very simple challenge.  For those of you who have participated in the past, it's even easier this year.  The criteria are as follows:
  • Read and review one book
  • Written by a person of color
  • During the last two weeks of September (September 14th - 27th) 


 Yep, that's it! ONE book. That's it. You might ask, why in the world is one book written by a person of color that important? Here's what Aarti, the originator of the challenge, has to say:



"I know your TBR list is huge.  I know your commitments are many.  I know that there are so many things on which you must take a stand, and it can be exhausting to make reading a political activity.  But this is so important to me, and I really think it should be important to you, too.  None of us lives in a monochromatic world, and yet the fact that terrifying hate crimes still occur makes it clear that we do not fully understand or trust each other.  And maybe part of the reason is because the media we consume does not accurately reflect the diversity of our society.  And books are such a massive part of the media we consume that we should demand and fight for those that do represent minorities and those that do present the world from a different perspective than the one we are used to.  So please - participate.  You may just discover a character or an author or a setting or a story that will completely change your life."



And she's right. The beauty of reading is that is can open up worlds for us that we would never have experienced - introduce us to perspectives that we would never know on our own. I think this is important, and I'm so excited to participate this year.

What am I going to read? Here are a few authors I'm considering -

N.K. Jemisin - The Hundred Thousand Kingoms
Nnedi Okorafor - Who Fears Death
Heidi Durrow - The Girl Who Fell From The Sky
Abraham Verghese - Cutting for Stone
Neil DeGrasse Tyson - Space Chronicles


Am I going to get through all of these in two weeks? Nope. But they are a great place to start. Join me! You can sign up here. Let's diversify our reading lists together!



5 comments:

Vasilly said...

The Diverse Universe event is a great reason to start blogging again! :-) Happy reading.

Jenny @ Reading the End said...

Hurrah! This is going to be such an excellent event!

Literary Feline said...

Cutting for Stone would be perfect for me if I knew I could finish it by then. I've been listening to the audio version of the book since the beginning of the year and am not even half way through . . .

Great choices though and I look forward to seeing what you do decide to read.

Unknown said...

Aienay wohi rehtay hien chehray badal jatay hien. ZEENAT AMAN
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Aarti said...

I am commenting here WAY too late, but HOORAY! I feel so thrilled that you are back for this event. And so many good books! I read Raj several years ago and it feels very epic in scope and is so bittersweet with the ending of the Raj (though I think that was probably good for most Indians in general). Whatever you read, can't wait to see it!