Armchair BEA 2015 - Day 1: Introductions & Library Love

I wasn’t sure I was going to participate in Armchair BEA this year, but what can it hurt, right? Since I’ve participated in the past, you can read my introduction posts from 2012, 2013, and 2014. I won’t be repeating the same questions I always answer.

Introduction

1. What book are you currently reading? Ok so this is a total cheat questions since I have a “Currently Reading” widget on my left sidebar, but I’m reading Ruin & Rising (The Grisha, # 3) by Leigh Bardugo & Prodigy (Legend, # 2) by Marie Lu.
2. What book are you most looking forward to reading this summer The Heart of Betrayal (Remnant Chronicles, # 2) by Mary E Pearson. I loved her unique choices in The Kiss of Deception and I am so ready to see what she decides to do with book 2.
3. What is your theme song? Well not the theme song of my life or anything, but Somewhere Only We Know by Keane is where my blog title came from.
4. What does diversity mean to you? So for those who might not know, this year’s theme for Armchair BEA is diversity. And this is why I almost didn’t participate this year. Now don’t go jumping to conclusions. I’m not discriminating here. As a matter of fact, it’s quite the opposite. I don’t determine which books I want to read based on the race, gender, age, etc of an author. I might decide not to read a particular author based off their actions, but this is rare. Who wrote the book isn’t as important to me as what the book’s about.

   But diversity in books doesn’t just have to do with the author. It has to do with content, characters, subject matter, genres, and probably many other things I can’t even think about right now. I do read a variety of genres. I mostly read young adult and new adult books, but I occasionally will read adult books. I read fantasy, romance, science fiction (as long as there’s not too much science), dystopian, post-apocalyptic, contemporary, occasionally historical fiction and mystery/thriller. While there is a lot of variety within those genres, there’s also a lot of repetitiveness as well. Here’s a shocker for you (though not really if you’re a regular reader of my blog), but I also read non-fiction. I read self-help and religious books. I read motivational books—essentially things that I feel like will help me be a better person and a better Christian.

   But here’s where things get tricky. I read for fun—even the non-fiction books I choose to read. I read what I’m interested in. I don’t enjoy time travel books usually, so I rarely read those. If I do decide to give one a try then it has to be because something else about the book pulled me in. I don’t enjoy books that are heavily based in science. While I do enjoy the “what if” aspects of science fiction, I don’t enjoy science in general and when things get technical and descriptive in this area, I run for the hills.

   Typically readers put themselves in the main narrator or main character’s shoes. They consciously or subconsciously imagine that the events of the book are happening to them. They put themselves into the character. Does the character behave the way that they would? Does the character think the way that they do? Do they agree with the character’s decisions? Do they feel the same things that the character feels? Personally I’ve found that this is a little harder to do when the character is vastly different from myself. I occasionally read books narrated by and about male main characters. I’ve read books where the main character was a different race from me. I won’t say that this is something I necessarily seek out, but I’m not turned off from a book because of it either.

   As a white, married, Christian female, I personally do not read LGBT. I don’t seek it out—as a matter of fact, I avoid it—and I don’t see that ever changing. No amount of culture change, book recommendations, or even persecution of any kind is going to change my desire not to read that genre. Being told that I need to explore diversity isn’t going to change that. This isn’t about discrimination or hate or any of that jazz. It’s about reading what I want to read when I want to read it.

Now on to the next topic...

Library Love

Um, I’ve been inside my local library maybe twice. The selection for young adult books was so small that I didn’t see hardly anything to interest me. Not much was available that was already on my TBR list. I live in a small town so the library is really small as well. It’s kind of sad actually. That being said, I also didn’t spend any time talking to the librarian. Whoops.

But here’s the thing, I’m from Generation Y. I don’t like talking to people if I can find what I need on my own. I don’t like going to a physical location if I can find what I need on the internet. So…that being said, I do utilize Overdrive/Camilla.Net e-library. I’m so thankful that my library is set up for this service. So kudos small town library for that!

What do you guys think? Do you read books based on diversity? Do you use your local library that much? Let me know!