Reading Diversity - Divers thoughts

Back in 2008, the particular corner of the interwebs that I inhabited exploded.  It exploded over issues of diversity in television and fandom, and that was when 50books_poc started.  And ever since then, I've been far more aware of what I'm reading, and the authorship of what I'm reading.  And as horrible as 50books_poc eventually became, it's been incredibly important to the way that I read.

So.

Here I sit at the end of 2012, noticing how UN-diverse my reading has actually been.  Despite my supposed attempts at diverse reading, when I finally get around to posting my relevant statistics, you'll see that I didn't really succeed.

In 2013 I want things to be different.  I want to make sure that my reading is diverse, isn't just meant to be so.  I never have much of an issue making sure I read female authors over male: as far back as I can remember I've read more women than men.  But reading even close to equal numbers of non/other-than-white authors to white authors, and something around 20% queer authors to straight is something I'd like to be able to say I'd done at the end of this year.  I don't know that I'll manage it (although between my Rainbow Reads challenge, plus intentionally choosing at least a couple of queer authors for the other challenges, I should be okay for 20% for the year if not more) but I want to try.

Review link: Bulletproof Faith by Candace Chellew-Hodge

My review of Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians by Candace Chellew-Hodge is up over at my discernment blog.

Review: Port Arthur: A Story of Strength and Courage

Port Arthur: A Story of Strength and Courage by Margaret Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This is a remarkable book.

I know I visited Port Arthur in 1992, and I think I also went there in 1994. Both of these visits were prior to 1996, when the events of this book take place. I remember coming home from a driving lesson with my father on the 28th of April 1996 to find my mother crying, telling us about what had happened.

Margaret Scott is an icon of Australian television, comedy, and literature. When my mother saw this book, she said "I think Margaret Scott was my lecturer in Children's Literature." As someone who watched Margaret Scott on Good News Week, that was an amazing revelation - I am so incredibly JEALOUS of my mother!

But anyway: this book is written by a legend, about an event that will forever be part of my memory - and she does it so very well. As a local to the peninsula, she writes about the community surrounding Port Arthur in a way that only a local could. She writes about the events of that terrible day with an urgency and effect that grabbed at me, so many years afterwards. She gave me a vision of how horrible it must have been: that day, and then in the times thereafter.

What I found particularly interesting to contemplate was Scott's comments on the ways in which history has always been artificialised at Port Arthur, and the ways in which some people wanted to either sweep the events of April 28, 1996 under the carpet, or equally artificialise them. It was a way of thinking about history, memorials, and how we mark and remark upon events that I think will really sit with me in the weeks and months to come.

It's another Australian book that I'm grateful to have read - glad to have read - and that I know I will think back to in the future.





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Review: Above All, Honor by Radclyffe

Above All, Honor by Radclyffe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Maybe it's something about books with "Honor" in the title (see also the series by David Weber that I'm slowly working my way through) but having found the first three books in this series and read through them at a clip in the past few days, I'll certainly be buying the rest, and the Justice Series, and probably the First Responders series as well. I'll have to ration the buying out as rewards, but I definitely want to read more of these.

Review: Bareback

Bareback by D. Jackson Leigh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'm reviewing this because Cheyenne Blue asked me for a review, and the thing is, she's entirely right: it's a pony book plus a lesbian romance. And I really do want to read more of Leigh's work. Because in a way it's basically like reading Bill/Clarissa, or Rita Mae Brown Sister Jane books the way I wish they were. And I think that's the thing with this: this book was Sister Jane the way I wish those books were, and for that, I love and adore it.



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Review: A Life of Unlearning – a journey to find the truth’

A Life of Unlearning – a journey to find the truth’ by Anthony Venn-Brown

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Writing this review a long time (about a month) after I finished reading the actual book, although on the other hand, I'm also writing this review after a week at the UCA Assembly, where we discussed various issues relating to what ended up being called "same-gender relationships/marriage". I kind of don't want to discuss the ins and outs of that debate in this review, but I will say this: I really am glad that I've finally read Venn-Brown's book.

I remember when this book was first released. Venn-Brown's situation had garnered a little press, the book got a hell of a lot more. It was a thing - naturally: a clergy-person from a conservative Christian group not only coming out, but coming RIGHT out. But reading this book in light of the UCA Assembly coming up, that kind of wasn't what I was focusing on.

I found Venn-Brown's dismissal of mainline (to borrow a term from the US Christian bloggers) denominations hurtful (as a member of one and adherant of another, technically), although I entirely understand that's where he comes from. (Doesn't make it less annoying, to be honest.) I found his lack of knowledge of mainline denominations throughout the book infuriating, but again, that's because of his subject position and mine. Which are significantly different.

I could have done with a trigger warning in the early stages of this book (damn specific triggers) and I know that doesn't form part of the standard marketing etc: I really do find it difficult. I acknowledge the honesty of Venn-Brown's writing, as much as it hurt me in myriad ways. I appreciate the perspective of a gay male, and particularly a gay male Christian who is willing to write about these things. I still think, however, that the "letter to all denominations" at the end shows an ignorance of the position of the Uniting Church, which although it is far from where I believe we ought to be as a church, is still far beyond where Venn-Brown seems to think any church is at all.

It was a valuable read, and I'm glad to have finally finished it.



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Review: Bitin' Back

Bitin' Back by Vivienne Cleven

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Vivienne Cleven is a triple threat for this years challenges. She's an indigenous Queer Australian woman, which means that I can count her book against three challenges. Plus, she's an awesome writer.

I did find "Bitin' Back" a bit difficult to get through. I raced through the first fifty pages, captured by the dialogue and the life and the in-your-face-ness, but then I got bogged down by the difference between Mavis' attitude towards Nevil's presumed homosexuality and my own attitude. It wasn't until I began reading Marie Munkara's Every Secret Thing that I found the way to read Mavis Dooley. I think it's because I personalise things so very much; I kept internalising Mavis' issues and placing her opinions on myself. There was something in Munkara's book that reminded me to read Mavis as her own person without imposing her ideas on me.

I needed that distance from Nevil and Trevor and Mavis in order to be able to read this. The language, the art of writing in this book is absolutely first class. The topic was too close and that's what caused the issues in reading it, but the book itself is amazingly awesome, and I'm so very, very glad that I found my way through.



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Queer Australian Women Writers

As readers can see from my sidebar, I have a few different challenges that I've set myself this year.  One is to read books by Australian Women, another by queer (LGBT) writers, and a third for books by writers who are not white.  If I read a book by a queer Australian woman who isn't white, I get to count it for all three challenges.

So, I'm trying to compile a list of authors who tick the AWW box and at least one other.  I'd love to hear more suggestions, as well as corrections if I've mis-identified anyone.

Queer Australian other-than-white women writers
1.  Vivien Cleven

Queer white Australian women writers

1. Lindy Cameron
2. Rachel Cook
3. Sophie Cunningham
4. Portia de Rossi
5. Kelly Gardiner
6. Fiona McGregor
7. Clare McNab
8. Sue-Ann Post
9. Sarah Walker

(So far I haven't managed to find any Lindy Cameron or Clare McNab available from local libraries.  Must keep working on that.)

So, intrepid readers of this blog: any additions?

Review: Hotspur

Hotspur by Rita Mae Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I loved this.

It's not the first in this series, but I totally fell in love with the whole thing: the crazy-privileged fox-hunters, the certainty within the text that American fox-hunting is very different from English fox-hunting, getting all the thoughts of the animals... All of a sudden it's not so odd that Rita Mae Brown credits her cat with co-authoring her mysteries.

It harked back to one of the guilty pleasures of my late teens - Francine Pascal's "Caitlin" series. I don't think Francine Pascal actually wrote them, as she often had ghostwriters, like other ridiculously prolific authors of the time. In any event, the Caitlin books were about a ridiculously rich Virginia heiress who adored horses. I don't recall there being any fox-hunting involved (although there may have been) but I loved them, for all their ridiculousness.

I loved this book for the same reason: the horses, the bizarre Englishness of this patch of the USA that I have had little to do with, and the fabulousness of Sister Jane.

Ah, Sister Jane. It seems a pity that she is so straight, and so very widowed. This is a series written by one of the great queer writers, and certainly in this book the queerness of Ralph Assumptio is very matter of fact and generally accepted by all the other characters. But Sister Jane could have been an awesome, AWESOME dyke heroine, but she's not. And I'm sad about that.

It's not going to keep me from reading every other book in this series that I can get my hands on. Because this is total mind candy. And as I said, I loved it.



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Review: "Closets are for Clothes"

Closets are for Clothes: A History of Queer Australia by Rachel Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Black Dog Books is a fundamentally fabulous Australian publisher. Like Kudos for television, I can pretty much assume that if Black Dog is publishing a book, it's worth reading.

"Closets are for Clothes" was great. It's non-fiction at the middle-grades to young adult level, and a really well-done overview of queer history in Australia. There wasn't anything in it that particularly surprised me, but then again, I've done History of Sexualities and always been interested in this area. But as a basic intro to Australian Queer History I would *definitely* recommend this one.

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2012 Reading Goals

In 2011 I completed 77 books.  When given the option today by Goodreads to set a goal for 2012, I opted for 80.  I would note that I started 2011 with a goal of 50 books, and upped it periodically as it became clear that it would be possible.  I suppose my 'goal goal' would be 100, but that's two books a week on average, and even counting picture books (which I do count: nb further post on this topic would be a good idea) that's a challenge.  But I'll keep it in mind.

As I have done for the past few years, I'll be counting how many books I'm reading by authors who are not white: the premise being that these writers bring a distinct and different voice that may be missed if a reader is not conscious of who they are reading.  I hope to reach a goal of 50 this year.  I've come close in previous years, I'm hoping this time to succeed.

I'll also be following a quite similar challenge, the Queerlit50.  This challenge is to read books by authors who identify as being other than 'straight'.

Then there is the Australian Women Writers challenge, previously discussed.  I've given myself a goal of 40 for this challenge.

Lest you be doing the maths and be about to point out that I'm already looking at 140 books, it is important to note that books can count for more than one challenge.  For example, the first book I've read this year, Poppy at Summerhill by Gabrielle Wang, counts for both the Australian Women Writers challenge and 50books_poc.

Finally, having managed in the last few months of 2011 to read down my "Currently Reading" list to something approaching sensible, I'd like to do the same to my "On Hiatus" shelf, currently sitting at 45 books.

So those are my plans.  I've set up a list in the sidebar where you can see what I'm up to in these various challenges at any point in time - so long as I've kept it up to date, of course.

Happy 2012!

Reading Challenges

Australian Women Writers

As readers may have noticed, my initial reaction to the Australian Women Writers challenge's "top level" challenge being 10 books was flat incredulity.

There are reasons for this.  The main one being that my previous exposure to reading challenges has been through communities on LiveJournal such as "50books_poc" - a challenge to read books by authors of non-white origin - and the sister community "queerlit50" (books by authors who are not straight), where reading 50 books in a year is the aim, and is met by a lot of people.

Secondly, by the end of this year I will have read more than 75 books (actually, just added my 75th to Goodreads this evening), and that doesn't include those I didn't note on Goodreads (there's at least a couple).  Which means even if 50 books had been directed at a particular challenge focus, I've read enough books to do said challenge plus some to spare.

Thirdly, when I first heard of the challenge, I started a bookshelf on Goodreads for the challenge.  I didn't add any books - all I did was go through what was already in my shelves written by Australian women, that were not marked as read.  I had fifty within 15 minutes.

As an example, of the 75 books I've complete this year, I just did a count and 21 of those, just under a third, were by Australian women.  Now, I'll admit that 16 of those 21 (or over two thirds) are by one woman, Stephanie Laurens.  I know, I know.  But it's escapist reading, okay?

All of that said, I think my goal for the AWWChallenge for 2012 will be 40.  My total goal for the year is going to start at 75, and a side goal is going to be clearing out my On Hiatus shelf.  (This will be interesting, as there are currently 45 books "On Hiatus", only a few of which are by female Australian writers.)  Finally, as I still want to complete 50books_poc and Queerlit50 within a calendar year, clearly Queer Australian female authors of non-white backgrounds get top billing.  And now I'm trying to think of some...  suggestions, please?

___

A sidenote: I'm no longer a member of 50books_poc, however I continue to set myself the challenge to a) read 50 books by authors who are not white within a calendar year and, more broadly b) continue to be aware of the breadth of life experience among the authors I read.