December 01, 2019

Tooting Your Trumpet #7


Some people toot their own trumpet. I mean to toot yours. On the first Sunday of every month, I'm sharing your posts, your sites, anything interesting I stumble upon during my internet vagrancies. This month on TYT...
  • I'M TIRED OF GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS (a discussion on Shealea's blog Shut Up, Shealea)
  • HAVE YA PRICES GOTTEN OUT OF HAND? (a discussion on Veronika's and Ruzaika's blog Wordy and Whimsical)
  • YA VS. NA: WHY IS IT SO HARD TO CATEGORIZE? (a discussion on Emily's blog Paperback Princess)
  • ON CANADA'S IDOLIZATION OF AN OLD WHITE MAN AND HIS RACISM (a think piece/discussion on Emily's blog - see above)
Please note: all the graphics featured in these posts are property of the blog/site owners, and are only used in association with their blog/site links.

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    I’m Tired of the Whiteness of Goodreads Choice Awards (Ft. Diverse-Friendly Alternatives You Can Support Instead!) (discussion post) - by Shealea


    Shealea points her finger at the whiteness and heteronormativity of the yearly Goodreads Choice Awards nominations, and suggests diverse, reader-based alternatives. While I'm posting this, sadly, the nominations are already closed, but you can still cast your vote for all these awards!

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    Getting Wordy: Have YA Prices Gotten Out of Hand? (discussion post) - by Veronika


    Veronika looks at "the price of events, swag, and other items or content that relates to Young Adult literature". And as a "new adult" now, she went out of her way in order to include a few actual teens' perspectives in her post!

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    Paperback Ponderings: YA vs. NA: Why Is It so Hard to Categorize? (discussion post) - by Emily


    Emily argues that most of the books she's looking for, as a person who's out of her teens and wants to branch out, "are being categorized under the YA genre, when they are so clearly not YA". NA, as a label, has bombed for so many reasons...so publishers are cashing out on YA instead. The problem is - how do you find older people books that are not straight-up adult?

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    Paperback's Ponderings: On Canada's Idolization of an Old White Man and His Racism (think piece/discussion post) - by Emily


    The same Emily reflects on a Canadian celebrity who's been recently fired for his controversial opinions...at 85. She realised that, by watching him on TV year after year as a kid and a teen, she was kind of desensitised to his supremacist bullshit, until it hit her that he was spouting just that...and then she proceeds to reflect on Remembrance Day and its real meaning.

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    That's all for now folks! See you the first Sunday of every month for more!

    18 comments:

    1. Thanks so much for sharing my post, Roberta! I’m happy you enjoyed them :D

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    2. Oh I need to read all of those! Thanx for sharing :)

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    3. I don't bother with Goodreads or their awards. I have seen a few of those award lists and they are mostly books I would not read. But it's called 'Goodreads Choice Awards' because it's Goodreads' opinion which I have always thought are popular opinions and not necessarily regular people's opinion.

      When you say NA, is that for Not Adult? I don't really know that many book acronyms. It's strange but I don't even remember how I transition from YA to Adult but I guess it has not been successful because I sort of do not read contemporary adult fiction.

      Have a lovely day.

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      Replies
      1. "it's called 'Goodreads Choice Awards' because it's Goodreads' opinion"
        LOL, it is. They try to sell it as a true readers' award, but as a matter of fact, readers have no say at all in the nominations.

        Yep, the infamous New Adult category (more of that below). To be honest, even YA is still a rather new category. Back in the day, it was either kid books (that is, a mix of what we would call Middle Grade and Young Adult now) or adult books. On a side note, I don't read any contemporary adult fiction either...I want escape from my books LOL.

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    4. Ah, I just remember it's New Adult which is a strange category to me because I never know what is New Adult.

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      Replies
      1. It should be about people aged 18+, all through their early 20s, facing new problems and life changes - sadly though, there have been so many NA books centring on "college girls getting laid" that the category is sort of frowned upon these days, even if there are writers who try and take a wider, less sexualised approach.

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    5. Emily really shone this month - I'm so glad you feature these two posts of hers!

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      Replies
      1. I usually try and find four different individuals/sites to feature, but her posts were too good to pass up!

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    6. These are fantastic! I have noticed the price of YA books going up, and I 've also have no idea why it's so hard to categorize between YA and NA. I'm bookmarking this page so I can revisit their individual posts later. :)

      Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?

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    7. I have a deep hatred for the GR Choice Awards and I will die on this hill. Also YES, NA was a big deal back in 2014, but um... it somehow died on a hill that i would rather it not die on?

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      1. It only made sense that there would be a in-between category, neither YA nor quite adult - but NA became synonym for "college sex", while it could (SHOULD) have been so much more than that. I don't even know if it can be salvaged at this point...

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    8. Thanks so much for sharing these posts!! I'll have to go check them all out! (I agree with your comment above that NA probably can't be salvaged because of what it devolved into---so sad!).

      Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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      1. I wish at least "lower YA" and "upper YA" were a thing. Such categories would help a lot!

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    9. These all sound really interesting- thanks for sharing!

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