Aims’s Comments (group member since Sep 21, 2016)

Aims’s comments from the Keep It Diverse group.

I'd love to read Fourth World by Lyssa Chiavari!

The theme for April is ace and aro spectrum. With the recent conversations happening around ace and aro erasure in mainstream media, the moderators thought it would be a good idea to dedicate this month to reading books with explicitly stated representation.

Please go ahead and suggest some books (you might be able to use this post as a reference), and the moderators will choose the top 4 suggestions and conduct a poll.

As always, an Own Voices book is not a requirement, but it's always preferred. :)

I'd love to read Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee, or An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao. :)

Hello, everyone! Our October Book of the Month is The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig. We're very excited to start reading it, and thank you all for suggesting and voting.

Our theme for November is HISTORICAL & #OWNVOICES. Suggest anything historical (whether it's fiction or non-fiction) down below, and we'll open up a poll on October 10th where you can vote. Please try and suggest #ownvoices only. :)

Note: if a book you wanted to recommend has already been recommended, please feel free to suggest it again! That's how we see what book has the most suggestions!

Thank you all for all the wonderful suggestions! We rounded up the top 4 suggestions we got on Goodreads and Twitter and compiled a poll on Twitter. Please vote to decide what our first bookclub read will be in October. :)

https://twitter.com/keepitdiverse_/st...

I'd really love to read More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera, or something spooky like the Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco. :3

The Meaning of Diversity
The big one. We recognize that diversity can meet different things for people, and so we try to encompass the vast variety of diversity in what we read. Mainly, our reads will include content involving people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, disabilities, and neurodiversity. Please let us know if you believe our list is incomplete. We are always willing to be educated about sensitive matters. <3

Our picks will be centered around diverse content, but we recognize the need to uplift and promote diverse authors who write non-diversely too. Which is why we have reached a consensus, of sorts. Our picks will have diverse content, but we will spotlight diverse authors writing non-diversely on our social media platforms, and will try to ensure that their books are getting buzz too.

How the Group Works
Every month, we will be reading at least one diverse book. We will open up a new suggestions thread for each month where all of you can recommend what you would like to read in the upcoming month. For example, there is a 'Suggestions' discussion topic under the 'October 2016' category- there, you can suggest potential reads for the month of October.

After we have gathered a good number of suggestions, we will take the top 4 or 5 suggestions (decided by how many people have suggested), and open up a poll where you can vote for what you would like to ultimately read. Once the book has been decided, we will open up a few discussion topics for a range of chapters (say, one for chapters 1-5, chapters 6 - 12, etc) and you can discuss the book in those without the risk of spoilers.

At the end of each month, we will host a Twitter chat where we can all discuss the book without worrying about spoiling anyone!

Rules
We're very excited to be starting this bookclub, and we assure you that this is a safe zone. To maintain this, we've set some basic guidelines:

+ Harassment will not be tolerated, in any shape or form. If we see someone being harassed, we will take immediate action. I repeat: this is a safe zone where people are free to express how they feel about sensitive issues, but bullying and purposely hurtful remarks will not be tolerated.

+ Please do not post spoilers where they should not be. At the end of each month, after everybody has read the assigned book, we will have a comprehensive discussion. Please be mindful and don't ruin the book for anyone who may be in the middle of reading it.

+ Since this bookclub's mission is to promote diverse books, we would love if all the conversations could be centered around books that contain some form of diversity.

+ We also want to emphasize that not all representation is good representation, which is why it is important that we read and promote titles that are not viewed as problematic. Since that is a little more difficult to do with new releases, we will refrain from reading very newly released titles until we know more about whether they are viewed as problematic or not.

More
If you have any questions, further suggestions, or just want to get to know the mods a little bit better, feel free to message us on Goodreads. You can also find us on:

Twitter: @keepitdiverse_
Instagram: keepitdiverse

Make sure you're following us on Twitter! That's where we'll be posting about our chats and any general updates! :)

Hello, everyone! Leave all your suggestions for what we should read in October! We are open to many genres, so please don't feel like you're limited to recommending only YA. :)

We would love for our first book to be an #OwnVoices novel, so suggestions pertaining to that will be much-appreciated.

Hello, everyone! <3 Welcome to the group! I'm very excited to be part of this initiative, and I hope we can do something together to advance the movement to have more diversity in literature!

My name is Aimal. I'm 20, and I live in New York City, but was born and raised in Pakistan until the age of 17. I read a vast variety of genres, but my reading taste mostly revolves around YA fantasy. I love me a dark thriller, and anti-heroes are my weakness!