Friday, May 02, 2014

Diverse Books, They Do Exist

I had a conversation with someone a while back who wanted to know where I found out what to read.  And for me, I've felt so hooked into to certain segments of the book community, that I have so many things that I'm wanting or planning to read, and it grows exponentially, that it's hard to come up with a starting point.  (I imagine this is why some people just go to the bestseller list.)  And yes, if you are lucky enough to have an indie bookstore or even a big box book store near you, that helps to, assuming they carry the genres you are into.  And libraries are still staffed with book like people. 
But the internet has little corners and blogs for all types and shapes of book people.  Some of them focus particularly on a genre, or age category.  Some of them on diverse books. You find ones you like, with people who like the kind of stuff you do, but who maybe push you to new authors and places.  This is not going to be a comprehensive list.  But here are some places:

YA:
Guys Lit Wire -  Focuses on books that appeal to teen boys
DiversifYA - Focusing on YA books providing diversity of main characters based on race, culture, religion, sexuality, disability, illness, and more.
Diversity in YA - Provides info on new books that are diverse (as far as race, culture, disability and more) as well as data.  (You know how I love books data.)
Forever Young Adult - Books and other things of interest to adult like people who like fiction about teens.  I'm a member of the local book club.

NA:
NA Alley - New Adult books.


Romance:
Dear Author - Romance (including YA) and book news.
Smart Bitches - Romance books and other reader news. 
The Misadventures of Wendy the Superlibrarian - Romance and other reader news. 

Also:
Hawaii Book Blog - Literature about Hawaii
Interracial and Multicultural Books - As the title suggests, books with interracial and/or multicultural main characters and themes.

And, author blogs, reader group blogs, things come and go in the land of social media.  Some blogs I loved have come and gone, but they usually led me to something else before they  gave up the ghost, so you try things and someday you too can have a TBR and PTR (planning to read) pile bigger than a year.