Foolscap!

This weekend I went to my favorite SF/book convention, Foolscap. It's run by some old time fan who have read just about everything, and it's traditionally been mostly about books and ideas. For the past few years it's run as an Open Programming convention, which means that when on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon people get together with panel ideas, and then pick the ones that seem most interesting.

So I got to hear everyone's recent favorites (Hugo Nomination Ideas) and we got to argue over old classics (Throw It Against the Wall -- which old classics don't hold up) and I got to play book games and I died in a radio play (twice!) and I hung out with my brother and generally had a good time. People I like to talk to should come next year -- it's on Superbowl weekend, and it's near my house.

I bought some books, although I'm not reading them until April. For realzies. I'm still rocking the Triple Dog Dare, long may it reign.

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit.

This week I finished only three books:




* Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmund Rostond (Hooker translation). I grabbed this off my shelves to complete a Book Bingo I'm doing with my elementary book club. I think I'll try to get my older son to read it; he thinks he has a big nose.

* The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo. I reread this for my elementary book club. I like it, but I amused myself at the book club by challenging the kids to defend it along as many axis as I could. Is it creepy to fall in love at first sight? Was the princess unfair to rats? Was Despereaux's banishment justified?

* Parallax, Alan W. Hirshfeld. Another square for my Book Bingo. I asked my brother-in-law for a recommendation for my Recommended By Teacher square. This is a fun description of the centuries long search to measure the parallax of stars, one that doesn't shy away from explaining the math but also doesn't force me to do it myself. I liked the quick biographies of the many players along the way, and I appreciate that Hirshfeld notices the contributions of the women whose names often didn't appear on the papers the men submitted.

* Books I started this week. Most books tend last for weeks on my lists, because I have this habit of reading dozens of things at once. But occasionally I keep focus for several days on end.

I got the librarians to help me find a book with the car on the cover so I could complete my bingo card:



Number One Sam, Greg Pizzoli. A simple book about competition and compassion that makes its point but doesn't hammer it too hard.

The Yellow Cab, Marcus Pfeister. Although I was leery due to my hatred of Rainbow Fish, this book seduced me with its beautiful colors and bold pictures. The message didn't make me spit up in my mouth, so instead I can imagine sharing this with kids.

A Book, Mordicai Gerstein. I love meta picture books. Lucky for me, my kids did as well, so I could gratify us all. I loved how the girl wanders through different books and finds her family in the appropriate ones.

I started but didn't finish only two books. That seems responsible:


Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown. I thought I needed this for my book bingo, but then I realized I had read a different sports book earlier. I want to read this anyway, but I won't stay up all night to finish.

Lemonade Mouth, Michael Peter Hughes. Sadly, I didn't finish this before the library wanted it back. I guess I'll have to get it again before I forget the first half. It takes place in Rhode Island, so I need it.

Bookmarks moved in eight books:



Republic, Lindsay Buroker. Fun burglary with the president's wife.

Hild, Nicola Griffith. My next audio book in the Library Quest; I choose it because I have a paper copy on my TBR stack. I move the bookmark along to track my progress.

Time and Again, Jack Finney. He's back in the past.

Mortal Heart, Robin LaFevers. Another Cybils Finalist. She meets up with a pack of bad boys, who all appear to have died.

Imperfect Sword, Jack Campbell. The invasion is in trouble, because it's A TRAP. Also, the spy has been shot.

Time and Again, Nora Roberts. Is it weird if two brothers marry two sisters? It seems strange to me.

A Stranger's Gift, Anna Schmidt. I'm am not at all convinced he's a good match for her. He seems to need a lot more maturity to catch up to her.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Stiefvater. Somehow I'm starting to really care for these kids. I'm worried about them.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.



Rob Roy, Walter Scott.
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George.
Awakening to the Sacred, Lama Surya Das.
Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris.
Emerald Atlas, John Stephens.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca.

2016 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 7 out of 82. Mortal Heart is still on my e-reader.
2. Reading My Library: Still listening to Hild and reading God Help the Child.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 9/50.  The author of Parallax teaches in Massachusetts. Currently reading an Oregon, Florida, and Virginia books.
4. TBR Triple Dog Dare. My totals are 19 library books, 5 personal library, 3 e-book.
5. Full House Challenge: 22/25. I'm zooming! I need to figure out what counts as "book club worthy."
6. Library Challenge: I'm at 24 already -- Young Adult. This is not counting picture books because I usual read those in the library.
7. Diversity Challenge 2016: Kidlit: 2/12. Adult lit: 4/12. I think those are the low-hanging fruit. This month is Location diversity -- I read in 5 continents, 10 countries, and some outer space locations.
8. Shelf Love Challenge 2016: The opposite of the Library challenge -- can I read the books on my shelves? So far I've read 5.

Sad Lootless Library

This is the weekend of Foolscap, my favorite literary convention. It's a time to talk about books (mostly science fiction and fantasy books, but anything is possible), buy books, trade books, and also have fun. It will be a good time to restore my soul, because that Triple Dog Dare is really hurting.

I got nothing from the library today. A few days ago I picked up a book for a book club I help run at the elementary school, and I managed to read a few picture books, but no holds came in and I have all the books for the rest of this month's book clubs. Sniff.

Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo. For my Thursday elementary book club. Actually, this wasn't on the hold shelf, as a new local library had it without me even asking.

I've currently got 42 things out from the library, including ebooks, books for me, and books for the kids. That's the same as last week, but I hope it will trend downward as the hold avalanche slows.

I'll go look at the  Library Loot which is at The Captive Reader this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. 

I'm continuing my Library Quest.  I'm still in the Large Print Fiction section, so everything feels thick and important.

I'm reading Toni Morrison's God Help the Children, although so far there's been a lot of whining about a lost boyfriend, which I find tedious. There are hints of many other interesting things (job, family, childhood events) so I hope the attention turns or I get hooked by whatever Morrison is doing.

I'm still listening to Hild by Nicola Griffith.

Shelf Love Challenge 2016

Second Run Reviews is hosting the Shelf Love Challenge 2016. This challenge is all about reading what you've got. Read what you've bought, received, found on the street or in a Magic Book Box, or which spontaneously appeared in your TBR bookcases. (What, it happens!)

The rules are:

1. Read what you started the year with
2. Control your acquisitions
3. Library books don't count for this challenge

My goal for this challenge is to watch and see how I'm doing -- if I'm reading books from my shelves and whether I'm acquiring books faster than I read them. I'm also hoping that just being aware of this will encourage me to read more from my shelves.

I'm hoping to reach level 3 -- "a warm friendly hug."

I made it! I'm working on Level 5 "my books are my bff" now! 8/26

And now onto Level 6! (10/24)

1-10 books: shake hands with your shelves

1. Prisoner, Lia Silver
2. Waiting For the Party, Ann Thwaite 1/20/16
3. Mercenary Instinct, Ruby Lionsdrake 1/30/16 (e-book)
4. Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand (Hooker) 2/1/16
5. Parallax, Alan Hirshfeld 2/4/16
6. A Stranger's Gift, Anna Schmidt 2/16/16 (e-book)
7. Cupcakes Trinkets and Other Deadly Magic, Meghan Ciana Doidge 2/25/16 (e-book)
8. Rob Roy, Walter Scott 2/27/16
9. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 3/1/16
10. Republic, Lindsay Buroker 3/23/16 (e-book)

11-20 books: pat your shelves on the back

1. Hild, Nicola Griffith 4/13/16
2. Anna of Byzantium, Tracy Barrett 4/23/16
3. Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen PreJean 4/23/16
4. Child of the Ghosts, Jonathan Moeller 4/22/16 (e-book)
5. Havoc, Ann Aguirre 4/28/16
6. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal 5/21/16 (e-book)
7. Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris 5/28/16
8. Awakening to the Sacred, Lama Surya Das 6/14/16
9. Five Thousand Years of Slavery, Marjorie Gann & Janet Willen
10. Lock In, John Scalzi 6/26/16

21-30 books: give your shelves a warm friendly hug

1. All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown, Sidney Taylor 6/26/16
2. Starry River of the Sky, Grace Lin 6/29/16
3. Castle in the Air, Diana Wynne Jones 6/30/16
4. Midnight Blue, Pauline Fisk 7/2/16
5. Mystic and Rider, Sharon Shinn 7/7/16
6. Bronze Gods, A.A. Aguirre 7/11/16
7. Whisper of Magic, Patricia Rice 7/26/16 (e-book)
8. The Thirteenth Unicorn, W. Newman 7/26/16 (e-book)
9. Cruel Miracles, Orson Scott Card 7/31/16
10. Find Me, Rosie O'Donnell 8/1/16

31-40 books: regular date night with your shelves

1. 101 Famous Poems, ed. Roy Cook 8/4/16
2. The Ordeal of Change, Eric Hoffer 8/5/16
3. Coraline, Neil Gaiman 8/6/16
4. I Could Do Anything...  Barbara Shere 8/11/16
5. One False Note, Gordon Korman 8/12/16
6. Galactic Derelict, Andre Norton 8/22/16
7. Moonshiner's Son, Carolyn Reeder 8/26/16
8. Firewing, Kenneth Oppel 8/27/16
9. World of Ptavvs, Larry Niven 8/27/16
10. Touching My Father's Soul, Jamling Tenzing Norgay 8/30/16

41-50 books: my shelves are now my bff

1. Flowers of Adonis, Rosemary Sutcliff 9/12/16
2. Flag in Exile, David Weber 9/20/16 (reread)
3. Child of Fire, Harry Connolly 9/27/16 (reread)
4. Blood Bound, Patricia Briggs 9/28/16 (reread)
5. Game of Cages, Harry Connolly 9/29/16 (reread)
6. Little Plum, Rumer Godden 10/7/16
7. Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, Robin McKinley & Peter Dickinson (10/16/16)
8. Under the Same Stars, Dean Hughes 10/16/16
9. Iron Kissed, Patricia Briggs 10/21/16 (reread)
10. Bone Crossed, Patricia Briggs 10/22/16 (reread)

51+ books: my shelves and I are going steady

1. Here Lies the Librarian, Richard Peck 10/24/16
2. But Can the Phoenix Sing?, Christa Laird 10/27/16
3. Comrade Don Camillo, Giovannanino Guareschi 10/26/16
4. Dragonsinger, Anne McCaffrey 10/27/16
5. Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny 10/29/16
6. The Ruins of Karzelek, Ruby Lionsdrake 11/2/16
7. Out of the Cold, Norah McClintock 11/4/16
8. Jinian Star-Eye, Sheri Tepper 11/6/16
9. The Assassin's Salvation, Ruby Lionsdrake (Lindsay Buroker) 11/13/16 
10. 
    

Control Acquisitions:
This part will probably be harder. I'll make a list of the books I've bought or otherwise acquired this year, separated by the ones I've read and the ones added to my TBR bookcases:

Bought/Acquired and Read:

1. Fire Touched, Patricia Briggs
2. The Secret Soldier, Ann McGovern. I'll probably donate this to an elementary school.
3. Tell the Wind and Fire, Sarah Rees Brennan 4/19/16
4. Blake: Huts of America, Martin Delaney 5/18/16 
5. Breakout, Ann Aguirre 5/30/16
6. Spilling Clarence, Anne Ursu 6/9/16
7. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Lois McMaster Bujold 6/28/16
8. The Time Traders, Andre Norton 7/8/16
9. Penric and the Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold 7/26/16
10. Star Nomad, Lindsay Buroker
11. Castaway Planet, Ryk E. Spoor  6/5/16
12. Friendly Gables, Hilda Van Stockum 7/30/16
13. Uncovering You: Contract, Scarlett Edwards 8/17/16
14. White Night, Jim Dresden 8/21/16.
15. Sweep in Peace, Ilona Andrews
16. In the Black, Sheryl Nantus 9/2/16
17. Three on the Run, Nina Bawden 9/4/16
18. Project Elfhome, Wen Spencer 9/17/16,  9/18/16
19. Bet Me, Jennifer Cruisie 10/11/16, 10/12/16
20. Day Shift, Charlaine Harris 5/30/16,  10/28/16
21. The War the Saved My Life, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 6/5/16, 10/28/16
22. Penric's Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold 11/6/16, 11/6/16
23. I Go By Sea, I Go By Land, P.L. Travers 9/28/16, 11/10/16
24. Bearly Cooking, Moxie North 11/16/16

Bought/Acquired and Unread:

1. Captive Prince trilogy
2. Discount Armageddon
3. Legend of Eli Monpress, Rachel Aaron. My prize for March Madness! (1/3)
4. Windswept, Adam Rakunas
5. Tortall and Other Lands, Tamora Pierce 6/5/16 (hey, I've read this before!)
6. The Hairdresser of Harare, Tendai Huchu 6/14/16
7. The Shiksa Goddess, Wendy Wasserstein 6/20/16
8. Dark Angel & Lord Carew's Bride Mary Balogh 7/7/16 (read half - 9/12/16)
9. Night of the Jaguar, Merline Lovelace 7/7/16
10. Strands of Sorrow, John Ringo 7/25/16
11. Book Smugglers 8/28/16
12. Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemison 8/28/16
13. Someplace to Be Flying, Charles de Lint 9/25/16
14. Doctor Doolitte's Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting 9/30/16 (read before)
15. Mary Poppins in the Park, P.L. Tavers 9/30/16 (read before)
16. Mary Poppins Opens the Door, P.L. Travers 9/30/16 (read before)
17. The Launching Years, Laura Kastner & Jennifer Wyatt 9/30/16
18. Whose Body, Dorothy Sayers 9/30/16 (read before)
19. Cheerfulness Breaks In, Angela Thirkell 9/30/16
20. Herland, Charlotte Gilman 9/30/16
21. One Good Dragon Deserves Another, Rachel Aaron 10/12 (for my son)
22. No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished, Rachel Aaron 10/12 (at son's urging)

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Last week I finished a big stack of books, and felt all accomplished and everything. Of course, since my habit is to read dozens of books at once, the law of averages means that some weeks a lot of them end.

Other weeks, a lot of them begin, apparently. I recklessly checked out many books last month, aware of the slow doom of the Triple Dog Dare approaching, and now is the time the due dates start looming. So this week I started a lot of books, which is the first step towards finishing them.

I'm still rocking the Triple Dog Dare, though, so all is not lost. and I added a Diversity Challenge, which I'm hoping I don't have to adjust my reading much to meet. It may turn out that I read from a small pool, in which case it will encourage me to try some bigger waves.

The Book Date is collecting the roundups of what everyone is reading and talking about this week. I'll also look in with Teach Mentor Texts which does the same thing for kidlit.

This week I finished five books:




Between Planets, Robert Heinlein. The Full Cast Audio made this easy listening, and the contrast between what looked like future tech in the 1950's and what we have today kept us amused. The lack of cell phones or internet or Moore's Law were the most egregious, as well as an understanding of what species girl humans belong to (hint, they are human). But these would be good to listen to on long car rides.

Kat, Incorrigible, Stephanie Burgis. This was a LibraryThing Secret Santa pick for me, except the English title was different so they thought it wasn't available. My library is awesome, so I get to read it anyway. I wish the sisters in the family were kinder to each other; it bothers me to read about contempt in a family, even where they retain basic loyalty to each other. I'm spoiled by the consideration my sons show to each other, which I possibly helped foster. I know my siblings and I were rotten to each other as kids and we are tight as adults, but I still prefer compassion.

Mercenary Instinct, Ruby Lionsdrake. Lindsay Buroker tried to hide from me by using a Kindle-only pseudonym, but I cannot be defeated so easily. This is a science fiction pseudonym that has the same style of witty dialogue, fast action, decent sexytimes, and energetic protagonists.

* Canadian Summer, Hilda van Stockum. This author is an childhood favorite of mine who I recently discovered wrote other books without even telling me! So my awesome library sent me this 1948 story about a large Catholic family spending the summer in the Canadian mountains.

Libriomancer, Jim Hines. I reread this along with my Tuesday book club. Maybe it will inspire me to read the third book, especially as the fourth just came out.

* Books I started this week. Most books tend last for weeks on my lists, because I have this habit of reading dozens of things at once. But occasionally I keep focus for several days on end.

Since I was late to the library, I didn't get a chance to read any picture books. Phooey.

I started new eight books. That seems like a lot, doesn't it?:



Imperfect Sword, Jack Campbell. This has a very annoying pregnancy subplot that is not quite enough to get me to drop this series. I do get the feeling that author Campbell thinks of women as fundamentally different from men on almost every level. Legally equal, but alien.

Emerald Atlas, John Stephens. A "dipping" book for me, so I won't finish it for months, but proof that I am planning to read all the books on the kidlit shelf of my TBR bookcase. Cases.

Time and Again, Nora Roberts. A book I got by accident from the library (see other Time and Again book I am reading for a book club) but that looks fun for a few hours.

God Help the Child, Toni Morrison. Next Library Quest Book.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Stiefvater. Third but not last in a YA series.

A Stranger's Gift, Anna Schmidt. I have no idea how this book appeared on my Kindle app, but there it is.

A Family of Readers, Roger Sutton & Martha V. Parravano. A book about reading children's books -- it was probably written explicitly for me.

Radiance, Catherynne Valente. This is last month's Sword and Laser, so Time and Again was month before last. Luckily I've read this months book already, so I'll catch up by not rereading.

Bookmarks moved in six books:



Republic, Lindsay Buroker. I like the introduction of new characters, especially the mother/daughter pair.

Under a Graveyard Sky, John Ringo. The US Navy shows up. Commodore Wolf is not overly impressed.

Crux, Ramaz Naam. I need to pay more attention; I think I just met a new character, but maybe I just forgot him from the last book?

Hild, Nicola Griffith. My next audio book in the Library Quest; I choose it because I have a paper copy on my TBR stack. I move the bookmark along to track my progress.

Time and Again, Jack Finney. This was the Sword and Laser pick for last month. Or maybe the month before that. It's a bit of a slow read, but at least the time traveling has begun.

Mortal Heart, Robin LaFevers. Another Cybils Finalist. I wouldn't want to be cloistered either.

The next few books I'm not really reading, just dipping into between the books I'm trying to finish so that I can pretend that I'm going to read the books on my bookcases.



Rob Roy, Walter Scott. Rob Roy escaped! Our hero sees his ex-girlfriend. Well, friend who is a girl.
A Traitor To Memory, Elizabeth George. The inert musician ponders.
Awakening to the Sacred, Lama Surya Das.
Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris.
Emerald Atlas, John Stephens. This has joined the list of slow books.
Reading and Learning To Read, Jo Vacca. Words games for beginning readers.

2016 Challenge Progress:

1. Cybils 2015: 7 out of 82. Mortal Heart is on my e-reader.
2. Reading My Library: I'm finished the audio of Between Planets and went back to Hild. and I started the audio of Between Planets as well. Started God Help the Child by Morrison so I'm well into the M's.
3. Where Am I Reading?: 8/50.  Currently reading an Oregon, Florida, and Virginia books.
4. TBR Triple Dog Dare. My totals are 19 library books, 3 personal library, 3 e-book.
5. Full House Challenge: 20/25. I'm zooming! I need to figure out what counts as "book club worthy."
6. Library Challenge: I'm at 23 already -- Young Adult. This is not counting picture books because I usual read those in the library.
7. Diversity Challenge 2016: Kidlit: 2/12. Adult lit: 4/12. I think those are the low-hanging fruit. This month is Location diversity -- I read in 5 continents, 10 countries, and some outer space locations.

Library Loot

I wanted to start the Cybils finalist list promptly, because I like to finish it by the autumn and because it's fun to read as many books as I can before they announce the winners. But it appears that either they are picking more popular titles or other people are also using it for their reading list. Humph! So there were long wait lines for holds on several of the books.

And they all took about four weeks to come through, so now instead of scrambling to find any Cybils to read, I have a bag full. Oops.

The hold shelf gave me:


Libriomancer, Jim Hines. For my Tuesday book club. Actually, this wasn't on the hold shelf, as my library had it without me even asking.

100 Best Books For Children, Anita Silvey. I put this on my hold list back in October. I love books about books.

Bride's Story 6, Kaoru Mori. Still enjoying these.

Dragon's Beware, Jorge Aguirre. A Children's graphic Cybils finalist. Also our next family book club pick.

Every Last Word, Tamara Ireland Stone. A YA fiction Cybils finalist.

Give Me Wings, Kathy Lowinger. A YA nonfiction Cybils finalist.

I Will always Write Back, Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda w/ Liz Welch. A YA nonfiction Cybils finalist.

Most Dangerous, Steve Sheinkin. A YA nonfiction Cybils finalist.

I also got an ebook:

Mortal Heart, LaFevers. The next Cybils book. Well, not the next, because other people are in line ahead of me for that, but the next one that was available instantly. I got this on Monday, before the deluge on Thursday.

I've currently got 42 things out from the library, including ebooks, books for me, and books for the kids. That's the same as last week, but I hope it will trend downward as the hold avalanche slows.

I'll go sign in to Library Loot which is at The Captive Reader this week to see what everyone else is getting.  Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. 

I'm continuing my Library Quest.  I'm still in the Large Print Fiction section, so everything feels thick and important.

The Miracle at Speedy Motors, Alexander McCall Smith.  I like the small, personal stakes for these books, much the way I like the Aunt Dimity books, only with kinder protagonists.  Because our lives are made of such small matters, and these lives matter. I like how the characters are decent, although some are kinder than others; all see it worthwhile to get along. Sometimes it's easier to hope that other change instead of exerting yourself, but the basic goal is the same.

Between Planets, Robert Heinlein: Full Cast Audio. I rushed through and finished this because the boys were enjoying the 1950's version of Future Science (information encoded on thin microwires -- a whole book the size of a ring!) and I wanted to clear the library decks a bit. I'll definitely consider the other Full Cast Audio versions of these books for future road trips.

I'm still listening to Hild by Nicola Griffith, which is a deeper story on many levels. The pace of a audio bugs me more with these, because I can't go faster if I'm anxious to find out what happens.

Diversity Challenge 2016

As part of reading more mindfully, I want to read books outside my usual path. Also, I want to look for books that I've been ignoring because of barriers I don't even see, extra walls that marginalized authors have to climb over, because of their color, gender, nationality, or whatever. So I'm looking for more diverse books.

I found two Diversity Challenges (well, they are linked, one is kidlit and one is adult) so I'll try them both. For some reason the buttons don't seem to like my blog, so I found some open source icons to give me some color.

The Unconventional Librarian's 2015 Diversity Reading Challenge has 12 books:

2016 Diversity Reading Challenge Checklist (Kidlit):

1. A book written by or about a person of Hispanic Origin. Becoming Naomi Leon, Pam Munoz Ryan 3/1/16
2. A book in which a character suffers from mental illness: Every Last Word, Tamara Ireland Stone 2/19/16
3. A book written by or about someone with Spectrum Disorder The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida 7/10/16
4. A book with an African American young woman as a main character (think Jacqueline Woodson, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker): Everything Everything, Nicola Yoon 3/1/16
5. A book containing an Asian main character. The Truth Commission, Susan Juby 1/8/16
6. A book with an illustrator of color (think Kadir Nelson):  Twin Spica 5, Kou Yaginuma 2/26/16
7. A book with a LGBT main character. Bayard Rustin: Invisible Activist, Jacqueline Houtman 3/4/16
8. A graphic novel (Raina Telgemeier or Jennifer Holm). A Bride's Story 6, Kaoru Mori 2/21/16
9. A book with a Muslim girl on the cover (I Am Malala, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Persepolis): A Bride's Story 5, Kaoru Mori 1/21/16
10. A book written by or for African American young men (Richard Wright, Walter Dean Myers, Ta-Nehisi Coates):The Spies of Mississippi, Rick Bowers 3/12/16
11. A book in which the author, main character, or strong secondary character has a physical disability.  Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo 2/3/16
12. The Diary of Anne Frank or Night by Elie Wiesel. (Since I've read both of these already, I'll substitute any Holocaust book).  Courage and Defiance, Deborah Hopkinson 3/31/16.  Symphony for the City of the Dead, M.T. Anderson 4/12/16 also almost qualifies, although it has Russian atrocities followed by the starving of Leningrad.  Both are not the standard Holocaust book I was thinking of, but both show aspects of the horrible consequences of the ideologies of WWII. Paper Hearts, Meg Wiviott 6/20/16 is set among the horrors of Auschwitz and qualifies perfectly.

12/12

There's a twitter #ReadDiverseLit and chats at on 4th Thursdays at 9pm

The adult partner is From Left to Write 2016 Diversity Reading Challenge and her twelve steps are:

2016 Diversity Reading Challenge Checklist (Adults):

1. Contemporary book with a person of color on the cover (set in present day)  The Year of Living Dangerously, C.J. Koch 5/5/16; Crux, Namez Raam 6/2/16
2. Historical fiction about marginalized group (due to race, ethnicity, gender, mental ability, physical ability): The Book Thief, Markus Zusak  3/1/16
3. Graphic novel featuring protagonists of color: Skim, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki 6/4/16, Saga Vol 1, Brian Vaughan 8/5/16
4. Book written by or about someone with spectrum disorder: The Reason I Jump, Naoki Higashida 7/10/16
5. Romance novel with main character of color: Prisoner, Lia Silver 1/18/16. 
6. Book of poetry by LGBT writer
7. Science fiction or fantasy with female main character of color (Republic? large cast though) Fire Touched, Patricia Briggs 4/1/16
8. Memoir or biography by or about a diverse author, March, Book Two, John Lewis 8/11/16
9. Book with a main character who is mixed race, The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemison, 4/23/16
10. Novel with an LGBT main character: An Apprentice to Elves, Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear 1/19/16
11. Book in which character suffers from mental illness Laura's Wolf, Lia Silver 1/8/16
12. Book in which a main character has a physical disability: Dick Francis's Refusal, Felix Francis 1/10/16; Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand (Hooker) 2/1/16

 11/12. I wouldn't mind getting another #9, since my current book was set on a non-Earth planet.

I also want to concentrate each month on a different type of diversity, where I track what my reading is about that month.  If I'm really on the ball, I'll update the image down here for this:

1. January: Location: US, Canada, Chile, Japan, U.K. (England and Ireland), Norse, Indonesia, Gabon, Iran, Botswana, Outer Space
2. February: Race: European-American, European, African American, African, Asian, Hispanic, biracial (African-American/Asian), American Indian.
3. March: Gender: Main Character (half points for doubles): Female: 10, Male 9; Authors: Female 10, Male 9; (I'm guessing based on picture and/or name, unless stated in author's notes, so it will be hard to know any non-binary identities here)
4. April: Sexuality: Main Character: Straight: 20, Gay/Lesbian: 0. Bi: 1. Author (this I won't usually know, so these numbers will be smaller. If they mention a spouse I can guess, but that still won't catch a lot of orientations): Straight: 4. Gay/Lesbian: 1. 
5. May: Class (economic): Lower Class: 7, Middle Class: 9, Upper Class: 9. I won't even try to gauge authors this month.
6. June: Mental Health: Typical: 24 (main character), Autism spectrum or equivalent: 0 (main character), 1 (relevant side character), Mental Disorder: 4 (main character), 5 (side character).
7. July: Physical shape (able/disability): Normal: 32 (main character), Other -- specify: 0 (main character),  1 quadriplegic, 1 Deaf (side characters), 1 (Ancillary stub), 1 (burn victim), 2 (crutches), 2 (amputee)
8. August: Religion: characters: Evangelical Christian: 2, Roman Catholic: 3, generic Protestant: 13, Jewish: 2,  Super Pagan: 4, None: 16; author: 1 Mormon, generic Protestant: 1, Bhuddist: 1
9. September: Integration (race): Single Culture: 9, Single Culture with Visitors: 5, Majority With Minority Population: 5, Minority in Majority Culture: 2, Mixed Cultures: 5, I Just Didn't Notice: 6
10. Native Americans: Present: 5;  Present and identified by tribe: 3. (I'm counting Hawaiians here.)
11. Family Type: Hetero couple/no kids: 2, Married hetero family, blended kids: 7, Gay couple no kids: 2, Gang of Friends: 4, Married hetero family with kids: 5, Divorced parents with kids: 1, Single Adults Romancing (hetero): 4, Polygyny: 1
12. (forgot to switch until mid-December): Age: Protagonist: Under 11: 1, Middle aged: 2, Teen: 1