#ArmchairBEA - Beyond the Borders - Diversity

THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014: BEYOND THE BORDERS

Beyond the Borders

It’s time to step outside your comfort zone, outside your borders, or outside of your own country or culture. Tell us about the books that transported you to a different world, taught you about a different culture, and/or helped you step into the shoes of someone different from you. What impacted you the most about this book? What books would you recommend to others who are ready or not ready to step over the line? In essence, let’s start the conversation about diversity and keep it going!

Talking about diversity in books is an incredible thing! Seeing that the publishers has this set up and ready to implement for 2015 is amazing, and one I cannot wait for!

Stepping out of my comfort zone in reading, I have read a couple of books that have taken place in other countries. One took place in Mexico and was about Spanish/Mexican history. I am not going to name the book because I only gave it a two-star review, and I don't want to focus on a book I gave a low rating to. The reason the rating was low was not because of the topic, but because of the writing of the book. The author felt she had a best seller, but the writing was aimed at the eighth grade reading level, it repeated and repeated things, a new character would be introduced, and the entire history of the family would be repeated again! The writing was awful, and did not contain much of the culture of Mexico, which is what she was after but didn't nail it.

The experience of being in another country, Mexico, and reading about a few of their customs was interesting. I wish she had expanded upon that topic more so, or I should say she should have included Mexico more into the story other than just escaping it because of the abuse that went on in her family. I wanted to learn more about the customs of that country.

So yes, I love reading stories about things in another country.

The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe was EXCELLENT in writing about Diversity! It took place in downtown China! That was magnificent! As for the book, I gave it a 3-star rating because I could not get that feeling of being able to relate to the character. She was soft, and I like my main characters to be strong, which is why I couldn't get that connection. By the end of the book, after the character experiences a lot of new things, I felt the character had grown, but I feel this book is a soft and slow book in the character development aspect of it. As for the customs of being in another country, it was AMAZING! I LOVED reading about the different Chinese customs. The Chinese New Year! I never knew of any country that celebrated it for two weeks long every year! Wow! So being in China for a while was incredible!

Diversity in reading IS extremely important, and after reading the article we were given HERE! I feel diversity in books will be INCREDIBLE! The opportunity to read about other cultures in books will broaden the availability of books to go where we have never gone before to epic proportions! I love that thought! 2015 promises to hold this true for us! I for one, cannot wait!

Laurie