Vlog: #DiverseAThon January 2017

Last week was the second round of the #DiverseAThon, one of my favorite readathons I've participated in! This last week was tough. The American political climate right now is insane and I discuss in this vlog how it really impacted my reading throughout the week. I was off to a really wonderful start at the beginning of the week but as things got crazier and crazier throughout the week in the US, it became harder and harder for me to read. It was really nice to be around people who care about one another, though, and care about fighting the good fight. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the vlog and if you participated in #DiverseAThon I hope you had a wonderful reading week! :)

#DiverseAThon Round 2 TBR!

It's finally time for the second round of the #DiverseAThon! This is a great readathon that promotes diverse voices and stories which is something I'm all about getting behind! I am very excited for each one of my picks for this round. I tried really hard to choose books that represent a variety of topics and I managed to pick titles that involve race, gender, sexuality, religion, and mental health. I am very happy that I will be learning from these many areas and focusing on diverse voices throughout the week! Here's what I've picked:

Japanese by Spring by Ishmael Reed

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Buffering: Untold Stories of a Life Fully Loaded by Hannah Hart

If you'd like to hear more about these books and my thought process behind each pick, make sure you watch my TBR video below. I hope you all will consider joining me and the many amazing participants of this readathon over the next week and challenge yourself to learn from the many diverse voices that we have in this world. Happy reading!

Vlog: #DiverseAThon + Tackle Your TBR Week 1

Last week was the first week of the Tackle Your TBR readathon as well as the #DiverseAThon! I managed to read 3 full books and a good chunk of a fourth. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the #DiverseAThon, pushing myself to read diversely, learning about the perspectives of other identities, and learning from the other people participating in the chat! I've reflected so much on my own privilege and identity, the challenges others face solely based on their various identities, and felt myself thinking and growing in different ways which is one of my favorite experiences as a person. This vlog is loooooong but I had so much to say that I didn't want to cut and could have added in much more! I hope #DiverseAThon will come around again soon because I had an incredible time. I hope you enjoy this vlog! <3

Tackle Your TBR Week 1 & #DiverseAThon Daily Progress Updates

You all know the drill by now! Here is my blog post where I will keep my daily progress updates for the #DiverseAThon and Week 1 of the Tackle Your TBR readathon, which are happening simultaneously. Check out my TBR posts for both the Tackle Your TBR readathon and the #DiverseAThon (TBR subject to change) to see what I will be reading this week! As usual, I will be keeping this post pinned to the top of my Twitter page so you can easily find your way back to it throughout the week. I will also be vlogging throughout these readathons so you will be seeing my experience and my thoughts on each book as I read them. I hope you all have a fabulous week and if you are participating in either of these readathons that you have so much fun!

Monday, September 12th

Books read today: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Pages read today: 206

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: None

Tuesday, September 13th

Books read today: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (102 pages) & Mr. Smith Goes to Prison (41 pages)

Pages read today: 143

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: 1 - Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Wednesday, September 14th

Books read today: Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith

Pages read today: 27

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: None

Thursday, September 15th

Books read today: Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith (142 pages) & Slumdog Millionaire (audio) by Vikas Swarup (1:24:14)

Pages read today: 142

Time listened today: 1:42:14

Books completed today: None

Friday, September 16th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (1:43:48), Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith, & Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (10 pages)

Pages read today: 50

Time listened today: 1:43:38

Books completed today: 1 - Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith

Saturday, September 17th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (1:05:48) & Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (110 pages)

Pages read today: 110

Time listened today: 1:05:48

Books completed today: None

Sunday, September 18th

Books read today: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Pages read today: 352

Time listened today: 0:00:00

Books completed today: 1 - American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Monday, September 19th

Books read today: Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (0:51:08) & Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Pages read today: 253

Time listened today: 0:51:08

Books completed today: None

Total pages read: 1,317

Total time listened: 5:04:58

Total books completed: 3

Diversity Matters | #DiverseAThon TBR

This video was super impromptu (note the shower hair!) but yesterday I watched a really awful video of this BookTuber who spoke out against diversity in literature and that is something I just can't sit by and stay silent about. (I won't link to the video, but as of writing this it is still live so you can easily look it up if you want to listen to 22 minutes of ignorance.) As someone who considers themselves to be an educator, it is wrong for me to stay silent when someone is being racist or sexist or homophobic or xenophobic or transphobic or spouting ANY KIND of prejudice rhetoric against groups that are oppressed in our society. These things directly impact the students I care so much about and so many of my colleagues and friends as well. I can't consider myself a educator or friend to these people in my life if I don't take a stand against what this BookTuber and so many like this person are still saying in the year 2016.

I wasn't aware of this video or this readathon before posting my Tackle Your TBR readathon TBR selection last week, but as soon as I was made aware I knew I wanted to stand with the rest of the BookTube and online reading community and say No. This person is not a representation of us. We VALUE diversity. It matters to us. It's important. So I am participating in the #DiverseAThon this week, which will be taking place from Monday, September 12th (today!) to Monday, September 19th - the same timeframe as the first week of the Tackle Your TBR readathon. There were only two books on my original TBR that had diverse themes/characters so I added a few more diverse options for myself to choose from this week.

Click play on the video to hear my reasoning behind these picks! Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman 308 pages Diversity focus: Mental Illness Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella 286 pages Diversity focus: Mental Illness
Mr. Smith Goes to Prison by Jeff Smith 250 pages Diversity focus: The incarcerated, race, class
Americanah by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie 477 pages Diversity focus: Race, cultural differences
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger 244 pages Diversity focus: Cultural differences