Minority Literature

[Bri C]

I'm beginning a book club with my college and recent grad friends focusing on minority literature, particularly queer and Hispanic, but covering the full range, hopefully. Off the top of our heads, we're thinking Aristotle and Dante, Song of Achilles, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, and possibly Simon and the Homo Sapien Agenda. We want to both explore how various identities are represented in literature and honestly sometimes just see ourselves represented in the media we consume. Anyone have any recommendations?

[VivianLove]

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo?
This sounds like an awesome book club! Please post your final booklist. I would love to see all the recommendations!

[Bri C]

The Poet X looks really good! Did you read it or listen to the audiobook? I noticed some people on goodreads said that the audiobook might actually be better for this one due to the slam poetry aspect. I usually prefer reading due to auditory processing disorder, but I'm really intrigued by that bit.

Will do! I'm excited to see what books we come up with. I found quieroleer, a website with Spanish books, but only two of us speak Spanish, so I don't know how helpful that'll end up being, ha. I know there's a few subreddits (and at least there used to be tumblrs?) dedicated to this sort of stuff, and I'm using them to compile ideas too.

[VivianLove]

I didn't listen to the Poet X audiobook, only read the book, so I'm not sure how the two formats would compare. In general, I'm not a big fan of audiobooks haha, because I need more time to process and appreciate words than audiobooks would allow.

Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish, and I wish I know more books that are translated from other languages. Looking forward to seeing your booklist!

[gen_g]

I'm beginning a book club with my college and recent grad friends focusing on minority literature, particularly queer and Hispanic, but covering the full range, hopefully. Off the top of our heads, we're thinking Aristotle and Dante, Song of Achilles, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady, and possibly Simon and the Homo Sapien Agenda. We want to both explore how various identities are represented in literature and honestly sometimes just see ourselves represented in the media we consume. Anyone have any recommendations?

That sounds great; Jeanette Winterson's Oranges are not the Only Fruit and The Passion revolve around themes of sexual exploration, and I do think Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve is also a good read. Hope it helps and good luck!

[Lydia Matson]

I highly recommend any book by Toni Morrison, and also The Color Purple if you have not read it.