Click on the icon for an introduction to Nonfiction November.
Click here to link up to Week 3.
Week 3: Diversity
and Nonfiction:
This week we're talking about what diversity in books means to us. Does it refer
to book’s location or subject matter? Or is it the author’s nationality or
background? What countries/cultures do you tend to enjoy or read about most in
your nonfiction?
Personally, I think we’re doing ourselves and our
children a big disservice if we think of diversity in terms or skin color, nationality,
gender, religion, political affiliation, or sexual orientation. Likewise, I don’t care if
the book I’m reading was written by a Smith or a Huang or a Goldberg. What
matters to me is the material presented and the quality of its writing. This does
not mean that a Goldberg wouldn’t bring a different worldview to the material;
he would. As would a woman or a gay man or a libertarian. This will be a much
bigger deal with fiction than nonfiction, as most nonfiction is objective in
nature, or clearly labeled if nonobjective. I read mostly nonfiction, so I care
very little if a book about the Battle of the Bulge, say, was written by a man or
woman, a lesbian or straight person.
That said, diversity of subjects is very important to me.
I seek out books on subjects I enjoy (American history; food and cooking;
politics & Washington, D. C.; biographies; living abroad) and subjects I
know little about (this year I learned about polar exploration, baseball, horse racing, and President
Garfield). I just love learning new things. (Even if that statement nominates
me for Geek of the Year.) I read a lot
of memoirs, and you just can’t get more diversity of life experience than that.
I love to read about different cultures, cuisines, parenting styles, families, religions
and faith. I read a lot of books about Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, China, France,
and England. Many of my favorite books deal with diversity in some way, though
I seldom seek out reading material because
it’s diverse. I find it and it finds me because that’s who I am and what I
enjoy.
Here is a list of my favorite books dealing with
diversity of thought, culture, and experience.
My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor
Puerto Rican-American Supreme
Court Justice’s memoir.
Becoming Sister Wives, The Brown Family
A polygamist
Mormon family.
Bloom, Kelle Hampton
A mother’s experience raising a
Down Syndrome baby.
Kabul Beauty School, Deborah Rodriguez
An American woman
creates a beauty school in Afghanistan.
Extraordinary, Ordinary People, Condoleezza Rice
African-American
Secretary of State’s memoir.
French Kids Eat Everything, Karen Le Billon
Raising good
eaters—the French way.
Lipstick Jihad, Azadeh Moaveni
An Iranian-American
caught between cultures.
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua
Raising
children the Chinese way.
Bringing Up Bébé, Pamela Druckerman
Raising children the
French way.
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, Kathleen Flinn
An American woman studying at Le Cordon Bleu in France.
Elizabeth the Queen, Sally Bedell Smith
A biography of
the Queen of England.
Little Princes, Conor Grennan
American aid worker
recovering trafficked children in Nepal.
Hungry Planet, Faith D’Aluisio & Peter Menzel
Food
in world cultures.
Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton
Portraits and short
interviews with New Yorkers of all stripes.
Home is a Roof over a Pig, Aminta Arrington
An American
family living in China.
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