GLBT Challenge 2010 and Persons of Color Reading Challenge

So I'm already nervous about signing up for more challenges, but these are two I've really wanted to do (they're the last ones, though!). I know I naturally gravitate towards some books and not others, but I don't often consciously think about the choices I'm making in what I read. Hopefully these challenges will help me choose books I might otherwise miss. I'd especially like to think about YA literature that fits these categories.  Most of the books I read last year with authors or protagonists of color were adult books, and up until this year, I don't think I'd read any YA with prominent GLBT characters.  I recommend a lot of books to my students, and I want to be more representative in the suggestions I'm giving.

GLBT Challenge 2010: The basic idea of this challenge is to read books about GLBT topics and/or by GLBT authors.

This is not something I did very well on last year.  I'm signing up at the lambda level (four books), but I'm hoping to go above that.

Books Read:

- Ash by Malinda Lo

- Luna by Julie Anne Peters

- Libyrinth by Pearl North

- Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

- Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

- Room by Emma Donoghue

- A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Persons of Color Reading Challenge: Commit to reading POC characters and authors.

This challenge came from all the recent cover controversy.  By my quick count, I read about twenty books last year with authors or protagonists of color.  I'm signing up at level four (10-15 POC books), but, again, I think I'll be able to go above.

Books Read:

- Ash by Malinda Lo

- The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

- The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

- Kindred by Octavia Butler

- Liar by Justine Larbalestier

- Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

- Libyrinth by Pearl North

- Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway

- Bloodchild by Octavia Butler

- The Freedom Writers Diary by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell

- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

- A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

- Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

- The Help by Kathryn Stockett

- The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

- The Color of Water by James McBride

- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

- Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman