Our Shared Shelf discussion

Any genre, preferably by a woman.

NK Jemisin's Broken Earth series
also her Inheritance series
I haven't read either yet but I've heard wonderful things

Roshani Chokshi's and its companion,
not technically a series but absolutely beautiful

I don't have any books to recommend, but I do want to say that NK Jemisin's books are not strictly YA. I know the Inheritance series does have sex in it - that's not to say a young adult couldn't read these and enjoy them, but they are not in the YA category.

- an ember in the ashes + A torch against the night by Sabaa Tahir.
- the wrath and the dawn + the rose and the dagger by Renee Ahdieh.

is an awesome trilogy. I haven't read yet but seems popular.

I've heard good things about Susan Ee's Penryn & the End of Days trilogy. :) Also Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman.

I enjoyed reading the first book in the Akata Witch series.

Susie wrote: "I enjoyed reading the first book in the Akata Witch series."

OMG I came here to say just that! It's the best! Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. She's Nigerian-American, and the book is fantasy set in Nigeria.

Also there's If You Could Be Mine and Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, both by Sara Farizan. They're both LGBT books written by an Iranian-American author, one takes place in America and one takes place in Iran.

All of these suggestions can also be considered feminist books as well, and they're all some of my favorites.

Two great YA books by an outstanding author of color are 'Everything Everything' and 'The Sun is Also a Star' both by Nicola Yoon.

Laura wrote: "Two great YA books by an outstanding author of color are 'Everything Everything' and 'The Sun is Also a Star' both by Nicola Yoon."

I think I've heard about 'The Sun is also a star'. Folks, do you wanna make me broke? So many books, so little money!

I was going to recommend Nicola Yoon! She's up already, though. Nonetheless, her books are some of the best!

Marie Lu, Sabaa Tahir, Roshani Chokshi-I love their books!

This is just a few I have found on this link.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
- Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan, Laia, fighting for her family and a soldier, Elias, fighting for his freedom.

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds
- Working in the local funeral home to support his family after his mother’s death and his father’s descent into alcoholism, Matt falls in love with a tough girl, Lovey, who never cries and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down.

Catalyst by Lydia Kang
- Zelia Benten has lost her father, the love of her life, and any future she might have imagined for herself. Now she, her sister, and the band of illegal genetic outcasts they’ve come to call their family are forced to run when the safety of their foster home is compromised.

Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert
- Braden’s older brother, Trey, has been estranged from the family for almost as long, and his father, the only parent Braden has ever known, has been accused of murder. His fate lies in his son’s hands; Braden is the key witness in the upcoming trial. Braden has always measured himself through baseball. Now the rules of the sport that has always been Braden’s saving grace are blurred in ways he never realized, and the prospect of playing against Alex Reyes, the nephew of the police officer his father is accused of killing, is haunting his every pitch. Braden faces an impossible choice, one that will define him for the rest of his life.

Daughter of Dusk (Midnight Thief #2) by Livia Blackburne
- After learning the truth about her bloodlines, Kyra can’t help but feel like a monster. As tensions rise within Forge’s Council, and vicious Demon Rider attacks continue in surrounding villages, Kyra knows she must do something to save her city. But she walks a dangerous line between opposing armies: will she be able to use her link to the Demon Riders for good, or will her Makvani blood prove to be deadly?

Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn
- From the Morris-Award winning author of Charm & Strange, comes a twisted and haunting tale about three teens uncovering dark secrets and even darker truths about themselves.

Dove Arising by Karen Bao
- Phaet Theta has lived her whole life in a colony on the Moon. Then her mother is arrested. The only way to save her younger siblings from the degrading Shelter is by enlisting in the Militia, the faceless army that polices the Lunar bases. Rank high, save her siblings, free her mom: that’s the plan. Until Phaet’s logically ordered world begins to crumble…

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan
- Music, magic, and a real-life miracle meld in this genre-defying masterpiece. Lost and alone in a forbidden forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and suddenly finds himself entwined in a puzzling quest involving a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California each, in turn, become interwoven when the very same harmonica lands in their lives.

Emancipated by M.G. Reyes
- The good girl, the bad boy, the diva, the hustler, the rock star, and the nerd. Six teens legally liberated from parental control for six different reasons, all with one thing in common: something to hide. Now they’re sharing a house in Venice Beach. But when one of them gets arrested, everyone’s carefully constructed facade comes crumbling down.

Emerald & Ashes (At Somerton #3) by Leila Rasheed
- In the third and final book in this romantic historical YA series, heroes emerge and tragedies unfold as the servant and gentry at Somerton Court face World War I.

End of Days (Penryn & The End of Days #3) by Susan Ee
- After a daring escape, Penryn and Raffe are on the run, but a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all. When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

Endangered by Lamar Giles
- The one secret she cares about keeping—her identity—is about to be exposed. Unless Lauren “Panda” Daniels, an anonymous photoblogger, plays along with her blackmailer’s little game of Dare or … Dare. But when the game turns deadly, Panda doesn’t know what to do. And she may need to step out of the shadows to save herself … and everyone else on the Admirer’s hit list.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
- This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

Something that hasn't been recommended yet is Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz.

"Jasmine de los Santos has always done what’s expected of her. Pretty and popular, she’s studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud, and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship.

And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their visas expired years ago. Her entire family is illegal. That means no scholarships, maybe no college at all, and the very real threat of deportation. But Jasmine won't give up. Because when the rules you lived by no longer apply, the only thing to do is make up your own."

I really enjoyed this one, it's definitely worth a shot!

Malorie Blackman have some good books under her name. Do read Nought and Crosses series, by far one of my favorites

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina, there are three books in the series. Set in future Australia, dystopian, a bit fantasty. I've read the first one and plan to get the next 2 very soon as I did enjoy them. I'd say younger YA rather than older though :)

Does Asian count? The author Susan Ee is an Asian-American who wrote the Penryn & The End of Days trilogy:

Angelfall
World After
End of Days

The Shatter Me triology by Tahareh Mafi. It is an awesome dystopian series

An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir

The Young Elites
Marie Lu

Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi
I do NOT (NOOOOOT) recommend this series. The narrator/MC is god-awful and horrendously irritating. But some people love the series, and I'm a bit of a mean critic. So just throwing it out there

Why would you ask for book recommendations based purely on the ethnicity of the author?

This recent trend of white people obsessing over, and almost fetishizing, books/art/etc. because of the perceived ethnicity of the author or artist just reinforces the idea that "they" aren't in the same category as "us"... It's probably all very well-intentioned, but from the outside looking in, it comes off feeling like the South Park episode "Conjoined Fetus Lady", where everyone in the town tries to make a woman feel like "one of us" by tactlessly drawing attention to the fact that she's different in some small way.

Placing that much importance on the ethnicity of an author reeks of a subconscious statement that we have to give special attention to non-white authors, because they wouldn't be good enough to warrant our attention if we didn't carve out a special psychological ghetto for them.

In a surprise twist, some people who write good books just happen to be members of other races, so if you get into the habit of reading good books in general, you will run into these authors *all on your own*. There's not even a reason to look for them. They're actually just as capable as white authors. They don't need some kind of literary Special Olympics reserved just for non-whites.

The implication here is either that (1) non-white authors aren't capable of going toe-to-toe with Caucasian authors, or (2) people who make threads like these fetishize romanticized ideas of other ethnicities.

The former implication is tactless and kinda racist, and the latter is probably harmless enough, but bizarre, and still a little bit racist.

The fact that questions like this keep popping up in so many places lately is indicative that people are still enforcing dividing lines along ethnic grounds, even if just subconsciously. Except in cases where a literary work is directly about a particular culture and written by a member of that culture, writing is the goddamn *last* place we should be psychologically segregating people.

I have dozens of YA books on my bookshelf, and I have no fucking idea what skin color any of the authors have. Because, you know, the color of your skin doesn't have anything at all to do with how well you can write.

Jack wrote: "Why would you ask for book recommendations based purely on the ethnicity of the author?

This recent trend of white people obsessing over, and almost fetishizing, books/art/etc. because of the perc..."

Jack,

You're not wrong that drawing attention to ethnicity only furthers the divide. You're also not wrong about the irrelevance of the color of skin in determining anything about skill or talent.

I do think, however, that you're making too many assumptions about why Taylor created this thread. You could be right about the implications behind the "why", but it could also be that Taylor is simply curious to know more authors of color.

It's just a fact that when it comes to entertainment, minorities typically aren't as well known and/or represented. So there are positives and negatives to questions like Taylor's.

You've already pointed out the latter, but some of the former: any issue needs to be drawn attention to in order to be addressed. You can't fix a problem you don't acknowledge. It's like when people refuse to admit racism is still alive in America. Ignoring it, pretending everything's fine, or tip-toeing around the topic does nothing but leave it to run wild and free.

I also want to establish that prejudice isn't solely a "white people" issue. As an Asian-American college student, I can tell you that there are many prejudices in minority communities as well. But we are in America, so it is the minorities who experience racism. Each group has its own struggles. For example, Asians, Indians, Middle Easteners and Native Americans are often completely forgotten when it comes to discussions about racism. You usually only hear about the African Americans and Latinos (I'm not saying this is a bad thing. In a lot of ways, Asians have it the easiest).

Again, you made some very valid points. This is why having open-minded discussions is so important. Perspective is everything.

Tiffany wrote: "An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir

The Young Elites
Marie Lu

Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi
I do NOT (NOOOOOT) recommend this series. The narrator/MC is g..."

Oh hahaha I love the Shatter Me series, but I absolutely hated the Young Elites trilogy, so very clearly reading preferences are very personal :)

Cordelianne wrote: "Tiffany wrote: "An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir

The Young Elites
Marie Lu

Shatter Me
Tahereh Mafi
I do NOT (NOOOOOT) recommend this series. The ..."

Most people do! Like I said, I'm a mean critic hahah. I thought the series had an interesting plot and I LOVED Kenji. He's one of my favorite male characters ever (the only reason why I read all 3 books). But Juliette and the romance definitely grated on me.

The Young Elites was a bit boring at times, but I found it really refreshing having an antihero! The characters were all really flawed, but were also very real. Lots of depth to the series.

Though our reading preferences are clearly different, I still highly recommend (if you haven't already read it) An Ember in the Ashes! Everyone I've talked to has loved it, including many Shatter Me fans

Also, you check out The Alignment series. It's a romance-centered urban fantasy (like Shatter Me), but the characters are older and the plot is also family-oriented. I don't normally like romance-centered books (I only like romance on the side), but this series was just too good. You should try it if you have the time!