Widening the Scope Pt. 2: One of the best posts to come out of Tumblr

So, people may have noticed I've started using Tumblr again. It comes and goes ;) I wrote this post because I saw something on Tumblr a couple of months ago that I didn't simply want to disappear as so many things in Tumblr do.

Already this month, I've written about strength as it relates to characters who are male and female. Now I want to pay attention to a different kind of diversity and, dare I say it, one that is closer to my own heart.

When I was a teenage bisexual girl, I found that there were a lot of books that related my experiences with guys, but none that would give those strange and outlandish feelings I had for girls any credence. Oh, there was Sarah Waters and the book that the BBC mini-series brought out into the spotlight, Tipping the Velvet.

(Also Fingersmith and, to a lesser extent, The Night Watch.)

That was... kinda it. More commonly, there were starting to be books that would feature a side character, or best friend of the main character, who was gay. I think that Holly Black's Ironside was the first book I read where the gay side character featured in a romantic relationship of his own. 

It's not a fun feeling when you pick up a book only to find that the characters that should be there for you to identify with, at least in some books, simply aren't there. 

Polyamory is the other minority that just doesn't get a lot of play in books though, I will freely add, that it has gotten better already since two years ago when I wrote this post.

I mean... people are actually talking about it now. O.o 

Which brings me to the Tumblr post that inspired this babbling:

Hi Sarah, I really appreciated your response on asexual representation and was curious about your thoughts on the lack of poly representation in YA lit. (read more)

What follows is a well considered question asking to the cultural attitudes that may still too much influence what can and can't be published in YA literature. 

What Sarah Rees Brennan did was reply with her own carefully considered responses, even going so far as to post, 

Here is a non-comprehensive but awesome list of YA books with LGBTQ and poly characters I found! http://goforitgenevieve.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/long-post-about-lgbtq-and-poly-too-ya-fiction-is-long/ (Linking to this one rather than the one at gayya.org because it has a few indicators of favourite books and content, but gayya.org is fantastic and amazing and everyone should read it!) ... So these are my (imperfect!) thoughts, summed up with I think it can be done, has been done, and I truly hope it will be done more.

Which even I didn't know about, so I'm more than happy to share about it here.

As if that wasn't all amazing enough, Melissa Marr weighed in with her own opinion:

"I’m always happy when folks comment on the poly resolutions in my Wicked Lovely books.  Yes, Radiant Shadows has a poly resolution.  So, too, does Darkest Mercy.  Sometimes the answer (in both life & fiction) is that what looks like a “love triangle” is actually NOT. Sometimes a person can have a healthy, happy relationship with two other people." (read more)

When people pull me up and ask me why I read so much YA fic, why I think it's so important: this. This is the answer to all those questions.

July 2013 reading list

So I'm having a lovely time around here, working out what it's like to work as a full time admin from home while still working out how everything's supposed to look. My writing has taken a little bit of a pause of late, but that's just allowing my beta readers to catch up on a little bit of the backlog.

I've been watching a lot of Boston Legal.

I also had my first bout of depression since leaving the 'Real Life Job', which was a bit scary. I'd somehow thought that maybe my depression was being caused by going to a job I didn't like and by ceasing to go to that job, I would be magically CURED! Sad truth is, although the Real Life Job may have exacerbated the extent to which I was feeling sad, sad and depression is just something I have to look after now and again. That in itself is entirely too depressing a thought to linger on.

So! When I haven't been in the middle of all of that, I've been reading.

Here is my monthly dose of new books:

Heartless.

3/5 - An okay read, not as good as others in the series.
I remember in March, the first book that I listed was Black Heart by Holly Black. I remember it because it was the last one of its series and, as excited as I was to start reading it, I was also dreading it because it would prove to be the end of a series I had very much enjoyed. Well, there is still one more book after this in Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, but only one.

The Night Circus.

4/5 - Imaginative and different.
I know almost nothing about this book except that the writing is said to be evocative and I haven't seen a single bad thing said or written by anyone whose advice I lean to in these matters. Onwards to finding a new author I'm sure I'll love!

The Elementals.

4/5 - Not the best book by her, but enjoyable just the same.
'I stood alone by the large window, looking out at the town below.'
This is the first new book by Francesca Lia Block that I have read for years and I am so excited by it! There's been a lot of talk about the new genre of New Adult writing going around. I think this might be the first book I'd place in that category since I started posting here. It seems, while I have not been paying attention, Francesca's visibility as a writer has gone up and up to the point where all her books are on hold or borrowed out at my local library. I'm so proud!

Something Rotten.

3/5 - This one dragged. I wanted to like it more than I did.
As I started reading the back of this book, I can't believe I've left it so long between reading the previous Jasper Fforde book and this one. It's a book whose narrative circles around Hamlet and Shakespeare! Be still my beating... I don't talk about Shakespeare enough on here. I barely even mentioned him when I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. I really should do more of it.

Gentlemen and Players.

5/5 - Amazing, simply amazing. The best book by her I've read yet!
Joanne Harris. Need I say more? I'm sure I'm in for a treat, actually. With both the lyrical writing expected from The Night Circus and from Joanne Harris, the only thing I feel I'd need to add to this would be another book from Sarah Waters, but I don't think I have any more of hers that I haven't recently read. :/

~~

As ever, for updates on how I'm going with all these books, follow me on Goodreads.com:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6878229.Nicole_D_Fergusson

May 2013 Reading List

Okay, okay, I have learned my lesson from too many books in last month's list.

This month will be different!

Well of Shades.

4/5 - Fun and full world.
I had a hard time figuring out which book of Juliet Marillier's I was going to read this month, since I picked up both this and Son of Shadows in an op shop last month. I know I certainly don't have time for two Juliet Marillier novels in a month! And this one has such a whimsical cover. How could I not read it? This one won out also because, well, because the end of last book left me feeling so bereft for the main character of this book. And so I have to see him happy. And, for that, I have to read the book.

Hexed.

4/5 - Enjoyable, but not as fast paced as the first one.
After the amazing success with reading and loving Kevin's first book Hounded, I can't even believe it's taken me a month to get to the next book in the series, I estimate this will take me about two days to read cover to cover.

Fire with Fire.

DNF - There's one in every month.
Another book that has been picked up because of my love and need for more books following my reading list of March 2013. No idea if this will be as good as I thought Promiscuities was, but I'm about to find out!

The Little Stranger.

4/5 - I surprised myself with how much I liked this since it was set in the war.
I realised it had been too long since I read a new Sarah Waters novel. Plus, this was another part of my recent op shop grab. There's really not much to it than that.

Bone Crossed.

5/5 - Love, love, love Patricia's urban fantasy and this was no exception.
This book was originally meant to be Cry Wolf; another series in the same world as her Mercy Thompson books but with different characters. Unfortunately, I do not yet have this book, and the only copy listed in my library ended up being a lost copy. And so, I have my heart set on Patricia Briggs this month, so I guess I'll have to finish Bone Crossed this month. *staples hand to forehead* Oh, woe.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

3/5 - Sadly, this just wasn't as good as the movie.
This was a last minute add on for me, and is directly contributing to a piece of writing that I am hoping to progress on this coming month. Also, it looks as funny as hell. If it's anything like the movie of it, I'm sure I'll be in for a couple of laughs.

--

Only five books this month. I can do it :D For anyone interested in following my pursuits, feel free to follow me on Goodreads.com: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6878229.Nicole_D_Fergusson