Armchair Book Expo Day 3:
Diversity & Dining With Authors
Delving Into Diversity: Book Expo sparked quite the controversy a couple years ago regarding diversity in books and authors. Where are we now? OR, let’s take a different direction and explore the diversity of the format of a book. Do we judge a book by its cover and/or content (e.g.,, audio, digital, graphic, etc.)? Or, combine the two topics and discuss diversity found in alternative content (e.g., representation in graphic novels). Get creative and maybe even controversial!
Diversity in books is very important for me. I think it makes reading even more of an adventure if you open yourselves to different formats and contents.
Diversity in format:
Personally I am always in the process of reading (at least) 1 book in print + 1 digital + listening to 1 audiobook. And occasionally reading a graphic novel – I have not tried yet graphic novels in digital format though.
Print or digital? I have tons of print books on my shelves to read, plus the ones I check out at my library. And some I receive from publishers.
And I like having digital copies to read, for instance to take with me when I go somewhere. Or when I know I will have only a few minutes available – it’s easier to follow where I am at on a screen. I also have a lot of ebooks on my TBR, so I’m trying to go through them as well, and Netgalley and Edeweiss have always great offers I can’t refuse…
And audiobooks is a must for me: I grab it as soon as I do something around the house: dusting, washing the dishes (get rid of your dishwasher, you will have great time washing and listening to books!), ironing, gardening, and painting when I have time for art.
With that only, I manage to listen to 1 to 2 books every month.
I just can’t sit and listen. If I sit, then I grab a print/digital book.
Diversity in content:
I try to read many genres, though there are some I have to stay away from, as I can be very sensitive to what I read. So for my health of mind, I’ll stay away from a few genres.
Right now for me, diversity means also being more attentive and open to foreign literature, and not just French! And it looks like finally American presses are also opening up in that field. It’s about time!
I thought I was doing quite well in that perspective, when last Sunday I got a good humble reminder that I still had ways to go…
A friend of mine shared the book she was reading. It had received the Russian Booker prize. Well, I didn’t even know there was a Russian Booker Prize! I love Russia, and I have recently read a few books translated from the Russian, but when I went to look at that award, I discovered to my horror that I didn’t know ANY of all the authors who won that award along the years!
Dining With the Authors: Every year at Book Expo, children and adult authors are featured during breakfast. Who would you dream of enjoying a meal with? Would it be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or simply coffee? What would your meal be? What would you discuss?
I answered on Instagram – I think you need to be on Instagram to see.
If you are not on Instagram, who do you think I chose??
I would probably don’t get answers, lol, but I would ask him questions about the sources of his incredible imagination.
HOW IMPORTANT IS DIVERSITY
IN BOOKS FOR YOU?
Words And Peace 
I have a goal to read more books from other countries, but I have not gotten very far. I have many sitting on my shelves already, so I just need to stop procastinating and pick them up!
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let me know which one you are going to pick first, I’m curious
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I posted a list here: https://emeraldcitybookreview.com/2016/12/reading-all-around-the-world.html
I have already read Bronze and Sunflower (China), and also Sophie Someone except I decided that did not really count for Belgium. Probably next I would like to read The Gilded Chalet because of our trip to Switzerland, but other than that it’s hard to say what I will pick up next. It will be at whim I think.
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thanks, great list! Alas, I only know the one for Spain. I tried to leave a comment there, but I guess you close comments for old posts, to avoid spam. So in case you have not seen my list when I did the 52 countries challenge, it’s here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2012/01/04/around-the-world-in-52-books/. There is one for Switzerland, just set there though, not by a Swiss author (#32)
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U.S. publishers, though, have a really bad habit of Americanizing the books they import — even ones written in English. I would prefer to have more access to the books in their original form.
Armchair Book Expo: May Inclusive Reading Report.
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well, if you can read in Japanese and Russian, good for you, and of course it’s much better in the original language. I can read in 3 languages, but that’s nothing compare to all the amazing fiction coming from other countries. Actually, I have not noticed the phenomenon you describe for books translated from the French. I know things have happened for books by Murakami, for instance lots of pages of 1Q84 were not translated, but this was not specific to the US, also in French as well.
Where did you notice that – apart from the difference of book cover? do you have some examples? what other languages do you read?
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If you’re a fan of Marvel, I would highly recommend trying out Marvel Unlimited to try out digital comics. They offer 30 days free quite frequently.
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thanks! actually, I can get all the books I want for free at my library, I can also download them through 3 databases: overdrive, hoopla, and OnceClickDigital ;-).
You can even check out ereaders packed with books in the genre you like, and they do have some with graphic novels. So I should try it one day, just to see how the experience changes for graphic novels in digital form
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What a lovely post. Thank you for sharing.
Gabriella
Gabriella M Reads
My Armchair BEA post.
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thanks for stopping by, Gabriella
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I seem to focus on diversity in dimensions of space and time, that is, geographical setting of story, country of origin of book and author (including language of composition), historical period of story, date of composition. Beyond that, there are so many personal dimensions of diversity that characterize authors and their intended audiences, I know I have only scratched the surface!
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yes, we can only have a glimpse of it all. By the way, did you read The World Between Two Covers? If not, this is another must for you: https://wordsandpeace.com/2017/01/23/book-review-the-world-between-two-covers/
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I always try and vary my reading and read diverse books when I can. I need to get better with my audiobook listening I have to remember when cleaning I can listen to books.
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and it makes cleaning fun, no longer a chore!
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