December 28, 2020 – Cathy's Reading Bonanza

I came across this challenge on habitica.com and as I want and need to mix up my reading, I think this could be an excellent prompt to do so next year!

https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2020/12/11/reading-writers-of-color-2021/

For an explanation and the general rules please go to the actual webpage of challenge hosted by Lonely Cryptid Media.

I‘ve not done so badly towards the end of this year with BIPOC authors, but over the whole year my average was probably horrific. The vast majority of authors will have been white, male US Americans. Sigh. That definitely needs to change. Which won‘t be easy, as I still have a ton of books on my TBR pile that will have that same demographic. And I don‘t want to buy a lot of new books. Right. Not sure yet, how I will accomplish this. We‘ll see. I have some books in mind already, but I don‘t want to plan ahead too much.

Anyway, here is more on the prompt for January:

Books by Women of Color to Read for #ReadPOC2021

I am not going to repeat the 10 books suggested by Lonely Cryptid Media, please go there to have a look! What do I have on my pile? Yesterday I actually started reading this book:

The Gilded Ones (Deathless, #1)
by Namina Forna

This is an ARC I received from Netgalley. It‘s YA, which is not really my genre. But I really liked the cover artwork and some of my fellow Goodreads buddies where so enthusiastic about this novel, that I requested it. And voilá! As mentioned, I started it already and there is a slim chance that I will finish it before January, otherwise I might cheat a little and use this as my January entry.

However, if I find the time and motivation, I also have this on my TBR pile:

The Black Parade (The Black Parade, #1)
by Kyoko M.

Angels and demons are not my thing and I am generally a bit tired of UF, but Ilona Andrews recommended this and it‘s for free on kindle… I think I might have gotten this, because it looked like the cover of a graphic novel to me, but it‘s another YA novel. And the reviews of my reading buddies are not stellar. So I‘m a bit dubious about this one.

Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1)
by Fonda Lee

In this epic saga of magic and kungfu, four siblings battle rival clans for honor and power in an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.

* World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, winner
* Aurora Award for Best Novel, winner
* Nebula Award for Best Novel, nominee
* Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, finalist

Bloodchild
by Octavia E. Butler

This one is a short story, but it‘s high time that I read something by Ms. Butler…

Bloodchild is Octavia E. Butler’s shattering meditation on symbiosis, love, power and tough choices. It won the Hugo, Locus, Nebula and Science Fiction Chronicle awards and is widely regarded as one of her greatest works.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21265321-bloodchild

Measure of Days
by Sophy Layzell

This is another one of my overdue Netgalleys. I will definitely read it next year (well, that‘s the plan, anyway), not sure if I‘ll manage January. I can‘t quite say what this is exactly. Post-apocalyptic YA horror adventure? Reviews so far seem to be in the okay-ish region.

So, that gives me some options for January. Have you read any of these? Do you have any recommendations?