Diversity Spotlight Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful 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, and one that has not yet been released. The theme for this one is memoirs and realistic stories.

~O~o~O~o~O~

A BOOK I HAVE READ

“Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter” by Adeline Yen Mah

A riveting memoir of a girl’s painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s.

A Chinese proverb says, “Falling leaves return to their roots.” In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline’s affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for — the love and understanding of her family.

Following the success of the critically acclaimed adult bestseller Falling Leaves, this memoir is a moving telling of the classic Cinderella story, with Adeline Yen Mah providing her own courageous voice.

Goodreads Link | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

This is one of the first memoirs I’ve read in my life and I remember completely loving it. Though Adeline was not living in poverty and was financially better off than a lot of people in China at the time, the emotional toll she went through as a child for not being wanted by her family is heartbreaking.

~O~o~O~o~O~

A BOOK ON MY TBR

“Night” by Elie Wiesel

Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.

Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

Goodreads Link | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

This is a painful book to read. I started it once in the beginning of high school and put it down because I couldn’t handle the starting scene. Reading about violence in fiction is not the same as reading someone’s memoir. But I plan on starting it again soon because these are important stories to read and learn from.

~O~o~O~o~O~

A BOOK RELEASING SOON

“Difficult Women” by Roxane Gay

The women in these stories live lives of privilege and of poverty, are in marriages both loving and haunted by past crimes or emotional blackmail. A pair of sisters, grown now, have been inseparable ever since they were abducted together as children, and must negotiate the elder sister’s marriage. A woman married to a twin pretends not to realize when her husband and his brother impersonate each other. A stripper putting herself through college fends off the advances of an overzealous customer. A black engineer moves to Upper Michigan for a job and faces the malign curiosity of her colleagues and the difficulty of leaving her past behind. From a girls’ fight club to a wealthy subdivision in Florida where neighbors conform, compete, and spy on each other, Gay delivers a wry, beautiful, haunting vision of modern America reminiscent of Merritt Tierce, Jamie Quatro, and Miranda July.

Release Date: January 3rd, 2017 
Goodreads Link | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

I’ll admit, I just learned about this book when searching “upcoming releases” but I’m hooked. This sounds like it has a lot of potential with its unique perspectives and authentic stories.

~O~o~O~o~O~

What’s the best memoir you’ve read?

Diversity Spotlight Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful 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, and one that has not yet been released.

~O~o~O~o~O~

A BOOK I HAVE READ

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, for fifteen-year-old Christopher everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning. He lives on patterns, rules, and a diagram kept in his pocket. Then one day, a neighbor’s dog, Wellington, is killed and his carefully constructive universe is threatened. Christopher sets out to solve the murder in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes. What follows makes for a novel that is funny, poignant and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing are a mind that perceives the world entirely literally.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

This is the only book I’ve read with a main character who as Asperger’s Syndrome and it was very good. I loved Christopher. He sets out to solve the mystery of who murdered his neighbor’s dog. He has a very analytical mind and the way he describes the world is fascinating.

~O~o~O~o~O~

A BOOK ON MY TBR

“It’s Kind of a Funny Story” by Ned Vizzini

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life – which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig’s suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

I only recently found out about this book. The author himself has spent time in a psychiatric hospital so I think this book would be more insightful than most when it comes to mental illness.

~O~o~O~o~O~

A BOOK RELEASING SOON

“A List of Cages” by Robin Roe

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian–the foster brother he hasn’t seen in five years.

Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He’s still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what’s really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives.

Release Date: January 10, 2017
 Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Nobles

I’ve seen this book on a few people’s anticipating releases lists. I believe the main character has both ADHD and Dyslexia.

~O~o~O~o~O~

Have you guys read any of these? Are you planning to?