Can we talk about how people are flipping shit because a writer suggested that people take a year off of reading books by straight, cisgendered white men?
At the end of the school year i put on my board a list of books that I think would be awesome for my students to read. Granted I teach freshmen, so i have to keep that in mind. But I try to be diverse in topics and protagonists and authors. I try to keep it light, no real stories about heavy depressing subjects: in 9th grade alone my kids read "The Bluest Eye," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "The Kite Runner." Basically they get a lot of death, racism, and rape in their lit.
I still find myself with a bit of a dearth of African-american and female voices on this list.
Suggestions to counter this?
the list in the past:
Fiction:
Good Omens
Anasi Boys
Hitchhiker's (that will ALWAYS be on my list)
Oscar Wao
A Confederacy of Dunces
Nonfiction:
Assassination Vacation
Freakonomics
Comics:
Ms. Marvel
Bravest Warriors
Captain Marvel
Sandman
The Watchmen
Octavia E. Butler is both black AND a lady. Samuel R. Delany is also black and the few of his books I've read were really feminist with strongly written female characters, also very dense with fantastic ideas. Kind of like a readable acid trip (I imagine).
+2
SheriResident FlufferMy Living RoomRegistered Userregular
For ladies of sci fi, I read my first Ursula K Le Guin a while ago and it was awesome
Can we talk about how people are flipping shit because a writer suggested that people take a year off of reading books by straight, cisgendered white men?
At the end of the school year i put on my board a list of books that I think would be awesome for my students to read. Granted I teach freshmen, so i have to keep that in mind. But I try to be diverse in topics and protagonists and authors. I try to keep it light, no real stories about heavy depressing subjects: in 9th grade alone my kids read "The Bluest Eye," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "The Kite Runner." Basically they get a lot of death, racism, and rape in their lit.
I still find myself with a bit of a dearth of African-american and female voices on this list.
Suggestions to counter this?
the list in the past:
Fiction:
Good Omens
Anasi Boys
Hitchhiker's (that will ALWAYS be on my list)
Oscar Wao
A Confederacy of Dunces
Nonfiction:
Assassination Vacation
Freakonomics
Comics:
Ms. Marvel
Bravest Warriors
Captain Marvel
Sandman
The Watchmen
Octavia E. Butler is both black AND a lady. Samuel R. Delany is also black and the few of his books I've read were really feminist with strongly written female characters, also very dense with fantastic ideas. Kind of like a readable acid trip (I imagine).
OH YEAH. See I totally forgot about Butler. I read Kindred in college. That is going on the list this year.
Quoththe RavenMiami, FL FOR REALRegistered Userregular
edited March 2015
Authors who are awesome and teens might enjoy instead of white dudes:
Patricia McKillip
Patricia Wrede
Robin McKinley (Deerskin is freaky though)
Pat Cadigan
Diana Wynne Jones
Nicola Griffith
Margaret Atwood
Anne McCaffrey (beware of creepy sex)
Tamora Pierce
Naomi Novik
E.L. Konigsburg
Gail Carson Levine
Jane Yolen
Diane Duane
Ellen Raskin
Mary Robinette Kowal
Authors who are slightly more trashy/serious/naughty but still fun:
Mur Lafferty
Lauren Beukes
Jaye Wells
Authors I have heard are good/fun but haven't read myself yet or only read short fiction:
Kameron Hurley
Amber Benson
Beth Cato
Cassandra Clarke
Nnedi Okorafor
Tananarive Due
Catherynne Valente
Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Aliette de Bodard
Alice Sheldon, aka James Tiptree Jr.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Moon
CJ Cherryh
Leigh Bardugo
Kristin Cashore
Melina Marchetta
Katherine Kerr
Ann Rinaldi
Karen Cushman
Isobelle Carmody
Noo Saro-Wiwa
NoViolet Bulawayo
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen)
Tana French
Hilary Mantel
Yoon Ha Lee
Banana Yoshimoto
Sloane Crosley
Marisha Pessl
Irene Nemirovsky
Ali Smith
Sarah Waters
Amy Bloom
Lynne Reid Banks
Not my cup of tea but many people like them so you probably will, too, because what the hell do I know:
Mercedes Lackey
Robin Hobb
Ursula LeGuin
Susanna Clarke
Susan Cooper
Non-fiction for when you get bored of fantasy realms:
Mary Roach
Sylvia Earle
Deborah Blum
Catharine Arnold
Can we talk about how people are flipping shit because a writer suggested that people take a year off of reading books by straight, cisgendered white men?
At the end of the school year i put on my board a list of books that I think would be awesome for my students to read. Granted I teach freshmen, so i have to keep that in mind. But I try to be diverse in topics and protagonists and authors. I try to keep it light, no real stories about heavy depressing subjects: in 9th grade alone my kids read "The Bluest Eye," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "The Kite Runner." Basically they get a lot of death, racism, and rape in their lit.
I still find myself with a bit of a dearth of African-american and female voices on this list.
Suggestions to counter this?
the list in the past:
Fiction:
Good Omens
Anasi Boys
Hitchhiker's (that will ALWAYS be on my list)
Oscar Wao
A Confederacy of Dunces
Nonfiction:
Assassination Vacation
Freakonomics
Comics:
Ms. Marvel
Bravest Warriors
Captain Marvel
Sandman
The Watchmen
Octavia E. Butler is both black AND a lady. Samuel R. Delany is also black and the few of his books I've read were really feminist with strongly written female characters, also very dense with fantastic ideas. Kind of like a readable acid trip (I imagine).
Delany is also gay.
I'd definitely recommend Lumberjanes for the comics list. Fun, funny, feminist, and queer, and just an all around great all ages comic.
If you want some more feminist/gender-diverse science fiction in your list, Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness would be a good place to start. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as well, though if you're trying to avoid heavy, depressing reads, maybe not so much.
Teju Cole, although his stuff is pretty heavy so maybe not. Lauren Beukes (Zoo City) - white author but her protagonists usually aren't (she's South African).
Seconding Ursula LeGuin (Left Hand of Darkness perhaps). If you do the EarthSea trilogy, its worth examining how almost no characters in there are white (and in fact are explicitly stated not to be), but they still apparently managed to totally whitewash the tv adaptation. Actually there's a lot of meta-text to explore in that series, with the way that LeGuin kept coming back to that world long afterwards and trying to 'fix' what she saw as problematic elements in her own writing.
Authors who are awesome and teens might enjoy instead of white dudes:
Patricia McKillip
Patricia Wrede
Robin McKinley
Pat Cadigan
Diana Wynne Jones
Nicola Griffith
Alice Sheldon, aka James Tiptree Jr.
Margaret Atwood
Anne McCaffrey
Authors who are slightly more trashy/serious/naughty but still fun:
Mur Lafferty
Lauren Beukes
Jaye Wells
Authors I have heard are good/fun but haven't read myself yet or only read short fiction:
Kameron Hurley
Mary Robinette Kowal
Amber Benson
Beth Cato
Cassandra Clarke
Nnedi Okorafor
Tananarive Due
Catherynne Valente
Seanan McGuire
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I would recommend seanen maguire for teens (her urban fantasy series with female protagonist is fun) and gail carriger has some neat fantasy/steampunk stuff that they might like as well!
So It Goes on
0
SheriResident FlufferMy Living RoomRegistered Userregular
Yeah my logic is "the white guys will be there next year"
I know this isn't really a feminist issue, but I thought it was an unusual instance of how victim blaming can even happen to a well-off white guy if the other guy is even richer, older and (by all metrics barring actual skin tone) whiter.
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley is one of the books I'm working through now. I can't say that I'm a fan so far.
Some SFF women of various degrees of weightiness, with the book of theirs that I'd recommend as the best starting place:
Julie Kagawa (The Immortal Rules)
Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice)
Carrie Vaugh (Kitty and the Midnight Hour)
Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)
Gail Carriger (Soulless)
Connie Willis (Blackout and All Clear)
Shadowhope on
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
I know this isn't really a feminist issue, but I thought it was an unusual instance of how victim blaming can even happen to a well-off white guy if the other guy is even richer, older and (by all metrics barring actual skin tone) whiter.
5 MILLION points from Whovian House for linking to the Daily Mail.
Can we talk about how people are flipping shit because a writer suggested that people take a year off of reading books by straight, cisgendered white men?
At the end of the school year i put on my board a list of books that I think would be awesome for my students to read. Granted I teach freshmen, so i have to keep that in mind. But I try to be diverse in topics and protagonists and authors. I try to keep it light, no real stories about heavy depressing subjects: in 9th grade alone my kids read "The Bluest Eye," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "The Kite Runner." Basically they get a lot of death, racism, and rape in their lit.
I still find myself with a bit of a dearth of African-american and female voices on this list.
Suggestions to counter this?
the list in the past:
Fiction:
Good Omens
Anasi Boys
Hitchhiker's (that will ALWAYS be on my list)
Oscar Wao
A Confederacy of Dunces
Nonfiction:
Assassination Vacation
Freakonomics
Comics:
Ms. Marvel
Bravest Warriors
Captain Marvel
Sandman
The Watchmen
Octavia E. Butler is both black AND a lady. Samuel R. Delany is also black and the few of his books I've read were really feminist with strongly written female characters, also very dense with fantastic ideas. Kind of like a readable acid trip (I imagine).
Delany is also gay.
I'd definitely recommend Lumberjanes for the comics list. Fun, funny, feminist, and queer, and just an all around great all ages comic.
If you want some more feminist/gender-diverse science fiction in your list, Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness would be a good place to start. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as well, though if you're trying to avoid heavy, depressing reads, maybe not so much.
Sofi Oksanen is someone I've been interested in. I've already been reading up on Baltic history a bit, so it'll be great to see what she has to say on the matter. Buying an e-book right now.
Also, this is perhaps appropriate for this thread: Congratulations to Joanna Jedrzejczyk on capturing the women's 115 lbs UFC belt last night. A brutal goddamn display and a great sign of things to come from the women in the sport.
Fuck off and die.
0
FortyTwostrongest man in the world The Land of Pleasant Living Registered Userregular
Authors who are awesome and teens might enjoy instead of white dudes:
Patricia McKillip
Patricia Wrede
Robin McKinley
Pat Cadigan
Diana Wynne Jones
Nicola Griffith
Alice Sheldon, aka James Tiptree Jr.
Margaret Atwood
Anne McCaffrey
Authors who are slightly more trashy/serious/naughty but still fun:
Mur Lafferty
Lauren Beukes
Jaye Wells
Authors I have heard are good/fun but haven't read myself yet or only read short fiction:
Kameron Hurley
Mary Robinette Kowal
Amber Benson
Beth Cato
Cassandra Clarke
Nnedi Okorafor
Tananarive Due
Catherynne Valente
Seanan McGuire
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I would recommend seanen maguire for teens (her urban fantasy series with female protagonist is fun) and gail carriger has some neat fantasy/steampunk stuff that they might like as well!
The balance I am also trying to strike is getting not just stuff considered for YA audiences. Like I have put up Marquez and considered Zadie Smith - but that might be a little beyond them.
I have also tried to find things that are lighter, because GOD DAMN their reading list in high school is just the saddest darkest stuff.
I know this isn't really a feminist issue, but I thought it was an unusual instance of how victim blaming can even happen to a well-off white guy if the other guy is even richer, older and (by all metrics barring actual skin tone) whiter.
5 MILLION points from Whovian House for linking to the Daily Mail.
The House Cup is now far beyond your reach.
Man cut me some slack I've been doing homework all day.
Can we talk about how people are flipping shit because a writer suggested that people take a year off of reading books by straight, cisgendered white men?
At the end of the school year i put on my board a list of books that I think would be awesome for my students to read. Granted I teach freshmen, so i have to keep that in mind. But I try to be diverse in topics and protagonists and authors. I try to keep it light, no real stories about heavy depressing subjects: in 9th grade alone my kids read "The Bluest Eye," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and "The Kite Runner." Basically they get a lot of death, racism, and rape in their lit.
I still find myself with a bit of a dearth of African-american and female voices on this list.
Suggestions to counter this?
the list in the past:
Fiction:
Good Omens
Anasi Boys
Hitchhiker's (that will ALWAYS be on my list)
Oscar Wao
A Confederacy of Dunces
Nonfiction:
Assassination Vacation
Freakonomics
Comics:
Ms. Marvel
Bravest Warriors
Captain Marvel
Sandman
The Watchmen
Octavia E. Butler is both black AND a lady. Samuel R. Delany is also black and the few of his books I've read were really feminist with strongly written female characters, also very dense with fantastic ideas. Kind of like a readable acid trip (I imagine).
Delany is also gay.
I'd definitely recommend Lumberjanes for the comics list. Fun, funny, feminist, and queer, and just an all around great all ages comic.
If you want some more feminist/gender-diverse science fiction in your list, Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness would be a good place to start. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as well, though if you're trying to avoid heavy, depressing reads, maybe not so much.
The comics list is probably going to grow this year as so much is coming out now it has really re-invigorated my comic lust.
Though I think I would get in trouble for recommending Sex Criminals.
Sex Criminals is one of those that I read and go "OK. It's good. I recognize the qualities within this that make it good. People who like this do so for good reasons. But nope, not doing anything for me personally, sorry."
Other authors to add to the list of women writing SFF: Jo Walton, Mira Grant, N. K. Jemisin, Naomi Novik, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Catherynne M. Valente. I haven't read anything by Valente yet - Palimspest is on my list. The others I like, but I'm not wild about. But LMB co-holds the record for most Hugos, so that might be a defect in my taste more than anything else.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
I know this isn't really a feminist issue, but I thought it was an unusual instance of how victim blaming can even happen to a well-off white guy if the other guy is even richer, older and (by all metrics barring actual skin tone) whiter.
5 MILLION points from Whovian House for linking to the Daily Mail.
The House Cup is now far beyond your reach.
Man cut me some slack I've been doing homework all day.
You see that M there instead of a B?
There's your slack, like half an alphabet of it.
+1
FortyTwostrongest man in the world The Land of Pleasant Living Registered Userregular
Doing some research I really need to check out Minister Faust.
I've been wanting to bring up Steven Universe again for a while.
First episode this week revealed a same-sex love involving one of the main characters, and it was handled really well.
And that article doesn't even cover what happened on Thursday, during the two-parter.
tagging this because it has big late-season spoilers, be warned
Garnet was revealed (more like confirmed) to be a fusion between two gems, Ruby and Sapphire, both of whom are roughly Steven sized, and both are madly in love with each other.
They demonstrate this, and the power of that relationship, in the most amazing way possible.
I'm just gonna drop this here because nothing I say can possible do this clip justice.
I've been wanting to bring up Steven Universe again for a while.
First episode this week revealed a same-sex love involving one of the main characters, and it was handled really well.
And that article doesn't even cover what happened on Thursday, during the two-parter.
tagging this because it has big late-season spoilers, be warned
Garnet was revealed (more like confirmed) to be a fusion between two gems, Ruby and Sapphire, both of whom are roughly Steven sized, and both are madly in love with each other.
They demonstrate this, and the power of that relationship, in the most amazing way possible.
I'm just gonna drop this here because nothing I say can possible do this clip justice.
Posts
Nobody faults you for your tiny arms, smof
on account of they are afraid you will devour them.
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
Octavia E. Butler is both black AND a lady. Samuel R. Delany is also black and the few of his books I've read were really feminist with strongly written female characters, also very dense with fantastic ideas. Kind of like a readable acid trip (I imagine).
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
OH YEAH. See I totally forgot about Butler. I read Kindred in college. That is going on the list this year.
Fortytwo's blog about fatherhood, life, and everything.
Patricia McKillip
Patricia Wrede
Robin McKinley (Deerskin is freaky though)
Pat Cadigan
Diana Wynne Jones
Nicola Griffith
Margaret Atwood
Anne McCaffrey (beware of creepy sex)
Tamora Pierce
Naomi Novik
E.L. Konigsburg
Gail Carson Levine
Jane Yolen
Diane Duane
Ellen Raskin
Mary Robinette Kowal
Authors who are slightly more trashy/serious/naughty but still fun:
Mur Lafferty
Lauren Beukes
Jaye Wells
Authors I have heard are good/fun but haven't read myself yet or only read short fiction:
Kameron Hurley
Amber Benson
Beth Cato
Cassandra Clarke
Nnedi Okorafor
Tananarive Due
Catherynne Valente
Seanan McGuire (aka Mira Grant)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Aliette de Bodard
Alice Sheldon, aka James Tiptree Jr.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Moon
CJ Cherryh
Leigh Bardugo
Kristin Cashore
Melina Marchetta
Katherine Kerr
Ann Rinaldi
Karen Cushman
Isobelle Carmody
Noo Saro-Wiwa
NoViolet Bulawayo
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen)
Tana French
Hilary Mantel
Yoon Ha Lee
Banana Yoshimoto
Sloane Crosley
Marisha Pessl
Irene Nemirovsky
Ali Smith
Sarah Waters
Amy Bloom
Lynne Reid Banks
Not my cup of tea but many people like them so you probably will, too, because what the hell do I know:
Mercedes Lackey
Robin Hobb
Ursula LeGuin
Susanna Clarke
Susan Cooper
Non-fiction for when you get bored of fantasy realms:
Mary Roach
Sylvia Earle
Deborah Blum
Catharine Arnold
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
Delany is also gay.
I'd definitely recommend Lumberjanes for the comics list. Fun, funny, feminist, and queer, and just an all around great all ages comic.
If you want some more feminist/gender-diverse science fiction in your list, Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness would be a good place to start. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as well, though if you're trying to avoid heavy, depressing reads, maybe not so much.
this might be of interest as well: http://thedarkfantastic.blogspot.ca/
Unfortunately, I got hell of books to read by white guys. Eh, Herman Hesse ain't going away.
Seconding Ursula LeGuin (Left Hand of Darkness perhaps). If you do the EarthSea trilogy, its worth examining how almost no characters in there are white (and in fact are explicitly stated not to be), but they still apparently managed to totally whitewash the tv adaptation. Actually there's a lot of meta-text to explore in that series, with the way that LeGuin kept coming back to that world long afterwards and trying to 'fix' what she saw as problematic elements in her own writing.
I would recommend seanen maguire for teens (her urban fantasy series with female protagonist is fun) and gail carriger has some neat fantasy/steampunk stuff that they might like as well!
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
I know this isn't really a feminist issue, but I thought it was an unusual instance of how victim blaming can even happen to a well-off white guy if the other guy is even richer, older and (by all metrics barring actual skin tone) whiter.
Some SFF women of various degrees of weightiness, with the book of theirs that I'd recommend as the best starting place:
Julie Kagawa (The Immortal Rules)
Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice)
Carrie Vaugh (Kitty and the Midnight Hour)
Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)
Gail Carriger (Soulless)
Connie Willis (Blackout and All Clear)
5 MILLION points from Whovian House for linking to the Daily Mail.
The House Cup is now far beyond your reach.
I do like how they picked photos of Clarkson that are particularly red-faced and aggressive. Not that that's difficult.
Yeah Lumberjanes FTW.
The comics list is probably going to grow this year as so much is coming out now it has really re-invigorated my comic lust.
Though I think I would get in trouble for recommending Sex Criminals.
Fortytwo's blog about fatherhood, life, and everything.
Still not cool to yell at people and swear at them.
Also, this is perhaps appropriate for this thread: Congratulations to Joanna Jedrzejczyk on capturing the women's 115 lbs UFC belt last night. A brutal goddamn display and a great sign of things to come from the women in the sport.
The balance I am also trying to strike is getting not just stuff considered for YA audiences. Like I have put up Marquez and considered Zadie Smith - but that might be a little beyond them.
I have also tried to find things that are lighter, because GOD DAMN their reading list in high school is just the saddest darkest stuff.
Fortytwo's blog about fatherhood, life, and everything.
I've got a bunch of authors in the back of my brain but I'll have to go rummage through my bookshelves to remember their names.
Man cut me some slack I've been doing homework all day.
Thoughts?
Fortytwo's blog about fatherhood, life, and everything.
As well as the Raine Benares series by Lisa Shearin
Sex Criminals is one of those that I read and go "OK. It's good. I recognize the qualities within this that make it good. People who like this do so for good reasons. But nope, not doing anything for me personally, sorry."
Other authors to add to the list of women writing SFF: Jo Walton, Mira Grant, N. K. Jemisin, Naomi Novik, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Catherynne M. Valente. I haven't read anything by Valente yet - Palimspest is on my list. The others I like, but I'm not wild about. But LMB co-holds the record for most Hugos, so that might be a defect in my taste more than anything else.
You see that M there instead of a B?
There's your slack, like half an alphabet of it.
Slightly absurdist sci-fi you say?
Fortytwo's blog about fatherhood, life, and everything.
Ah Steven Universe
I love this show,
Holy shit that was great
I've said it a lot, but I am never prepared for how real shit gets on that show.
I want to know where this draft was going
To a beautiful graveyard, by an insane asylum, with a slightly odd boss.