New Saturdays @ the South: An unqualified source promoting diversity in books

The latest Saturdays @ the South post has arrived here: http://www.peabodylibrary.org/freeforall/?p=2254.

I'm probably not the best person to be extolling the virtues of diversity in literature. My bookcase and favorite books are overwhelmingly white, but there's a part of me that believes that I shouldn't have to "seek out" diverse literature, that literature should be diverse enough that people can make choices based on what speaks to them. That's my fantasy, anyway. I know that's not a realistic view and it saddens me that it's not.

I included the Guardian article because I felt that it provided the most balanced approach to the argument that she started. There is a part of me that understands her point. That literature shouldn't have to have an agenda. That writers should tell the stories they feel they need to write without filling a gap somewhere in the whole of the universe. But, like my candy-coated vision for literature, her's isn't any more realistic. Literature has long since been art and served an agenda and it hasn't suffered for it. What I took offense with in her comments (and what I think started people off) is her implication that "hundreds, thousands" of books from the perspective of queer black boys is somehow enough, or a reason against people asking for more. This is a narrow-minded, knee-jerk reaction to a slight upset in the status-quo and for her to wonder why people got so upset I think is a privileged position to have. To be able to write whatever you want and have people be willing to publish and share it is a luxury (one that even I, who am not well-acquainted with that struggle, can notice). Sometimes the need to write comes from not being able to find the right voice in a book that's already been written.

As I said in my original post, we all need to have voices, faces, struggles in literature that we recognize. They give us the tools to help us get through our own lives. To imply that might be enough of one type of voice is insensitive. We all deserve to have as much support out there as we can find, regardless of who we are, what we came from, or where or alleged "agenda" might lie. Diverse books are essential; there can never be too many different voices out there. 

Talking autumnal comfort at Saturdays @ the South

You'll find the latest Saturdays @ the South post here. As I mention in the post, even though this is the last day of Banned Books Week, I think keeping the discussion about challenging books open to be too important to really give the week a finale. And since fall is my favorite time of year, it seemed appropriate to start talking about fall things.

The blog extras this week include one more Banned Books Week article from the Huffington Post, which I thought was an interesting take on the concept and a point of view that hadn't yet been taken on the Library blog.

Also as an extra is a little behind the scenes note: while all of the books I listed are definitely comfort reads, it's not always easy to pick books because I try to limit myself to the ones available at my library. Because I have quirky taste in books, it doesn't surprise me that some of my first-choice selections aren't necessarily available at my little branch. Some other comfort reads that I love going to include Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire (I LOVE his take on Cinderella and it was the only hard-copy book I brought with me to Amsterdam); Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and Moby Dick by Herman Melville (because sometimes you just need a little transcendentalism).

I'll be honest here and say that I have comfort watches just like I have comfort reads. There are TV shows that are comforting to me as familiar reminiscences, but perhaps that's a post for another time...