Diversity Spotlight Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Aimal @ Bookshelves and Paperbacks. Every week, you come up with one book in each of three different categories:
– a diverse book you have read and enjoyed
– a diverse book on your TBR
– a diverse book that has not yet been released
You can check out Aimal’s announcement post for more information.
Don’t forget to leave a link to your own post in the comments and take some time to check out other people’s posts! 🙂
A diverse book I have read and enjoyed
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 
This is an eye-opening portrayal of the the lives of two women in a war-torn country. Set in Kabul, Afghanistan, Hosseini’s novel beautifully captures the experiences and struggles they have to face and the bond they form with each other.
compelling quote:
“Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.”
A diverse book on my TBR
We should all be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
An essay adapted from a TedTalk which created a lot of buzz around the internet, written by the author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. This is on my TBR for this month!
compelling quote:
“The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.”
A diverse book that has not yet been released
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 
I’ve been seeing this around a lot. Whitehead’s novel deals with Black experiences in pre-Civil War America.
Expected publication date: September 13th 2016.
compelling quote:
“Somewhere, years ago, she had stepped off the path of life and could no longer find her way back to the family of people.”
Especially with the recent discussion about the need for more diversity in literature, I think this is a brilliant meme. Let’s broaden our horizons together and read more diversely! If you participate in the meme, leave me a link to your post in the comments or just tell me about some diverse book you have read or want to read 🙂
#WeNeedDiverseBooks
A Blog Of One's Own 
I need to read a thousand splendid suns. I recommended to my boss and she said she cried a lot after the read.
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The story really pulls you in emotionally, so I can imagine that!
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I’m going to read A thousand splendid suns this month!
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Awesome, I hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂 Happy reading!
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Nice list! The last two are on my TBR as well, loved Americanah and a book with that title must be good 🙂
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Thank you! I’ll probably put up a review of We Should All Be Feminists when I’ve read it so I’ll let you know what I thought 🙂
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I also have We Should All be Feminists in my TBR, but for some reason I never pick it up. That has to change soon 😛 I’ve heard amazing things about a Thousand Splendid Suns and that quote you wrote there is fantastic :O The last one I’ve seen around, I think Oprah’s book club chose it and Obama talked about it so it has gotten a lot of attention. It must be really good!
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It is! It’s been years since I read it though, I really should re-read it soon 🙂
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I’ve got A Thousand Splendid Suns but never got around to reading it. We Should All Be Feminists sounds really great too! 🙂
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Oh, you should give it a go! Putting this list together made me realize that it’s been way too long since I read A Thousand Splendid Suns myself, so I’ll try to re-read it in the near future 🙂
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Colson Whitehead is going to be at the Bookmarks Book Festival I am going to in Winston-Salem, NC on Saturday (along with a lot of other great authors!).
Adichie is one of my favorites, especially Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah. She has a great Ted Talk as well, called ‘The danger of a single story’.
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Oh that is awesome! Have lots of fun at the festival 🙂 I haven’t read any of Adichie’s other works yet, which is a shame. I already put them on my tbr though 🙂
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Great post! I’ve not yet read anything by Adichie, but I would really like to. I buy most of my books secondhand so I’m always on the lookout for those that are on my wishlist. Hope I find We Should All Be Feminists sometime soon!
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Oh, same. Really looking forward to reading her works! Good luck finding We Should All Be Feminists 🙂
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I love this post! I still need to read AMERICANAH but I’d heard fantastic things. Hope you enjoy her latest just as much! Also, thank you for the follow. This is one of my favorite memes as well.
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I will surely put up a review when I’m done! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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This is great! I definitely will take part in this 🙂
Fantastic books listed here!
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So happy to see more people joining in 🙂
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I have nominated you for The Blogger Recognition Award, check it out! https://loisreadsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/the-blogger-recognition-award/
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All of these novels just went onto my TBR list! I don’t know wether I should thank you for that though considering how impossibly long it’s getting! Anyway great picks and a lovely post!
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Hahaha, believe me, I know the feeling 🙂 still glad to hear that though!
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I loved the first two of these books. Americanah is also one of my favorite books, so I’m trying to read everything written by the author. Only one novel left!! I also can’t wait to read The Underground Railroad!
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I’m hearing lots of great things about her works as well! I haven’t read any of then yet, but I already added americanah and half of a yellow sun to my tbr 🙂
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You should add Purple Hibiscus as well!! It was so good. I haven’t read Half of a Yellow Sun yet.
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I will, thank you! 🙂
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Underground Railroad was actually released in early August because Oprah said so! lol These are all really great books. I adored A Thousand Splendid Suns, it’s one of my favorite books ever. Anything Chimamanda Adichie writers is brilliant too.
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I’m glad to hear you loved A Thousand Splendid Suns, I thought it was fantastic as well! 🙂 I have yet to read anything from Adichie but I really want to and soon 🙂
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Adichie is in my top 10 favourite authors pile I think. So far I’ve read just 3 of her works but each one was amazing. I think ‘Purple Hibiscus’ is a… nice place to start. Perhaps not a “lovely” read but certainly evocative.
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I’m hearing so many good things about her works, I really should read one of her novels as well soon! Thank you for the recommendation 🙂
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No problem! I saw you mention half of a Yellow Sun above and would recommend reading a different title first as it can be inaccessible if you don’t already understand A) the cultural context or B) The history concerning the Biafran War. It is marvellous, but difficult to read.
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Oh thank you so much! I will definitely take that into account 🙂
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Great picks. I love all books by Kahleed Hosseini and Chimamanda Ngozie. I also have Underground Railway on my ARC TBR. I just read The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah, also a great book set in Zibambwe and featuring an albino as the main character.
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Oh that sounds really interesting! I will check it out on goodreads 🙂 thank you for the recommendation ❤
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I own A Thousand Splendid Suns but haven’t read it yet. Everyone raves about it, though.
I haven’t heard of the other two! But good luck on your upcoming reads! 👍
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It’s really good! You should give it a go 🙂 thank you!
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I only recently realized the importance of reading books about diversity.
I have never avoided it, I read diverse reads for almost half my life, but I always just read them as stories with characters I didn’t think too much about afterwards.
I recently realized how much I actually learned reading books about diverse characters and cultures, and also because of that I am aware of how much I want to learn, how much I still don’t know and want to know, so I want to read more diverse books.
The next two on my tbr are In Order To Live and Americanah.
I’m thiking about participating in #Diverseathon.
Do you plan to participate?
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I only found out about #diverseathon in passing this morning, so I don’t plan on participating yet! I do think it’s a wonderful idea though. I will think about it and see if I can reconcile that with my already existing tbr and my schedule in general 😛
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I’m in the middle of The Underground Railroad now. It’s so good! It’s definitely the kind of novel you have to read slowly (and maybe pair with some lighter reading) but I’m absolutely loving it!
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That’s great to hear! Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂 happy reading & thanks for stopping by!
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Great choice! 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
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I love this meme idea. I really like having a look at diverse books bloggers are recommending. We Should All Be Feminists is also a title on my TBR. Let’s hope we both pick it up soon!
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I plan to pick it up very soon! I’d actually like to pick it up as my next read, but I’m already supposed to be reading a different book for that 😀 Ah, we’ll see. 😛
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[…] other bloggers and get them to find you. I’m currently taking part in the WWW Wednesday and Diversity Spotlight Thursday memes. I will also be joining Top Ten Tuesday the coming week, so be sure to keep an eye out for […]
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Hi, I have tagged you in the book courtship tag, feel feel to do it https://loisreadsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/the-book-courtship-tag/
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Aw thanks! I’ll check it out shortly 🙂
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I’m probably one of the few people who have yet to read a thousand splendid suns. It sounds like something I’d love so I have zero clue why I’ve yet to pick it up. I also recently added The Underground Railroad to my TBR. Am I the only one who thinks the cover is pretty?
Great post!
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Considering it’s been an eternity since you left this comment and I’m only replying now, I hope you got a chance to finally read A Thousand Splendid Suns in the meantime 😛
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