If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll have read my #DiversityBingo2017 updates (if you don’t, you can follow me here). I haven’t really introduced it here but now you know. I’m participating 😉 .
As of the moment, I’ve been able to cross of 14 squares (out of 36). I thought I’d tell you a little about my choices for those squares today.
1. Romance with a trans main character
If I Was Your Girl – Meredith Russo
Romance and coming-of-age story with a trans main character
Focusses on parent-daughter relationships, friendships and romantic relationship
#ownvoices
Rating: 5 stars
My review
2. Indian main character (own voices)
When Dimple Met Rishi – Sandhya Menon
Romance and coming-of-age story with two Indian American main characters
Includes storylines about programming and comics
#ownvoices
Rating: 4 stars
Review will be added in May before the release date: 30.05
3. Retelling with main character belong to LGBTQIA+
Peter Darling – Austin Chant
Peter Pan retelling
Romance and self-discovery story with a gay trans main character
#ownvoices
Rating: 5 stars
My review
4. Main character of colour in SFF
Fire Boy – Sami Shah
Fantasy story with a Pakistani main character
Main topic: Djinn and self-discovery
#ownvoices
Rating: 5 stars
My review
5. Own voices Latinx main character
Shadowshaper – Daniel José Older
Urban fantasy with an afro-latina main character
Magic through art
#ownvoices
Rating: 3 stars
My review
6. Free choice
We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Non-fiction book written by a Nigerian author
Topic: feminism
#ownvoices
Rating: 4 stars
My review
7. Own voices
Saree – Su Dharmapala
Story that connects the lives of 6 different people through time and place
Main topics: discrimination and conflict due to ethnicity, gender, religion, disability
Set in Sri Lanka, India and Australia
#ownvoices
Rating: 5 stars
My review
8. Book by an author of colour
Huntress – Malinda Lo
Coming-of-age fantasy story
F/f romance
#ownvoices
Rating: 3 stars
My review
9. Biracial main character (own voices)
Anusha of Prospect Corner – A. M. Blair, Maram Ken and Samria Ken
Middle-grade novel about a girl who is a quarter Sri Lankan American
Inspired by Anne of Green Gables
#ownvoices
Rating: 4 stars
My review
10. Black main character (own voices)
Kindred – Octavia E. Butler
Main topic: Time-travelling and slavery
Main character is an African American woman
#ownvoices
Rating: 4 stars
Review will be added end of March
11. Main character on the ace spectrum
Finding Your Feet – Cass Lennox
A story about dancing and romance
Biracial trans main character and ace spectrum main character
#ownvoices
Rating: 2 stars
My review
12. Diverse non-fiction
eingeschrieben – Emily Ngubia Kuria
Non-fiction book about racism in the German university system
#ownvoices
Rating: 4 stars
Only available in German
My review
13. Person of colour on the cover
Zahra the Windseeker – Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Non-western fantasy
Middle-grade book
Main character has dada locks and is an outsider
#ownvoices
Rating: 3 stars
My review
14. Hijabi main character (own voices)
Does My Head Look Big In This?
Topic: what happens after a Muslim girl decides to wear a hijab
#ownvoices
Rating: 4 stars
My review
I have quite a few 5 and 4 star reads here. The best book that I’ve read this year was Saree by Su Dharmapala!
Are you participating in Diversity Bingo 2017? Have you got any recommendations for the squares I’m missing? What was the best diverse book that you read in 2017?
Huntress of Diverse Books 
All of those books look fantastic. I need to read If I was Your Girl, it sounds awesome! I can’t wait for When Dimple met Rishi, it looks adorable! Have fun with the rest of the books you find for Diversity Bingo!
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Thanks! I think you’ll like both of those books. 🙂
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You’re doing really well so far! Fire Boy and Peter Darling are on my TBR because of you, I put them on hold at the library so hopefully they’ll be here soon. I’ll add Saree to the list too! I’m not participating but I really love that Diversity Bingo exists. I just started “Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid which could work for your “Immigrant or Refugee MC” box. Good luck getting the other squares!
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Oh that does look interesting. I’ll have to remember that. Thanks!
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AHHHH, you’re making all of us look bad with your progress – keep it up, you’re doing incredibly well. 😀 I’m so glad that you enjoyed most everything you read. Fire Boy by Sami Shah doesn’t get enough love, in my opinion, and I really think it’s a unique, interesting, complex read that people would really enjoy if they give it the chance.
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Oh, we still have a more than three quarters of a year ahead of us. I’m reaching the tricky squares now. I didn’t consciously realise it before but you a right! Few people have reviewed Fire Boy. Maybe they’re worried that it’ll be difficult to understand. I admit I did a lot of learning while reading the book, I learnt a lot about Islam. And the story is so creative and original. One of the best finds of the year!
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Great books so far! I read Queens of Geek and it counted for an MC with an invisible disability and could also count for Bisexual MC. It’s also an Own Voices read for both categories. I really enjoyed it!
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It’s on my TBR!
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Perhaps you mis-wrote but Kindred is not the first science fiction book written by an African American author. Some credit that to Martin Delaney 1859. But Kindred is not even Octavia E. Butler’s first novel although it is probably her most read. My favorite is Parable of the Sower.
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Hi Kathy! Thanks, I meant to write the first written by an African American woman, but I’ve taken it completely out since there’s some discussion as to whether it’s science fiction.
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