Before you throw accusations of 'reverse racism' at me, consider this: it is vital for us to hear more stories about our world told from non-western perspectives
2013 was the year I fell back in love with reading. As I read for a living, it had always been hard to look at more words once I got home, but last year I made the effort and it was worth it. In order to make sure I don't lose that passion, I have been keenly checking all those ubiquitous year-end "best books" lists to source new novels to read in 2014.
But my list has an entry requirement: I will only read novels written by authors who are not from western-European backgrounds. I will not be reading anything written by white authors.
Of course, I know accusations of reverse racism are pending, on the same vein that women-only book prizes and women-only reading lists have been declared sexist. And no doubt people will say I am limiting myself by purposely avoid books on the basis of an arbitrary factor. But it's the opposite: I see it as a way of opening myself up to new stories, rather than re-iterations of the same formulaic fables we've heard time and time again.
The first on my 2014 "to read" list is Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie's latest, Americanah, which has been on several year-end best-of lists – including at The New York Times and The Guardian. It's possible that Adichie will reach a new level of mainstream recognition since part of her brilliant TEDx talk, We Should All Be Feminists, appeared as a sample on a track on Beyoncé's latest album.
I first came to know of Adichie a few months ago, when I watched a video of another TED talk she gave back in 2009. In it, Adichie explored how dominant cultural narratives create and sustain stereotypes – she calls it the "danger of the single story". Stereotypes, while not necessarily untrue, paint an incomplete picture of people and places – something she personally experienced.
In Adichie's words:
The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasises how we are different rather than how we are similar.
So when she spoke about how she did not think "that people like me could exist in literature", it really struck a chord with me; as an immigrant kid who grew up speaking English and reading English-language books, I always felt alone and very, very different. As many times as I might re-read Pride and Prejudice (as I did) I always wondered why some truths are more universally acknowledged than others.
Adichie's discussion of the power dynamics in the way stories are told helped me make sense of my childhood uneasiness. It also made me look back and realise that it wasn't until I started reading books written by more diverse authors that I began to appreciate the importance of seeking out new perspectives in literature, popular culture and news.
In English-language media, everything amounts to stories of different places told though a western lens. But it is vital for us to hear more stories about our world told from other perspectives. Lilit Marcus, who recently wrote about why she only read books written by women in 2013, explained why:
One difference that my book list made is that it ever-so-delicately altered the way I looked at the world. It was slow at first, but opening myself up to a variety of female perspectives made me more aware of the female lives around me ... Feminism, as bell hooks pointed out, is for everyone. And when we become more aware of the small injustices and tiny everyday tragedies around us, we become better people. Reading women's voices helped me to hear them more loudly in my daily life. Our culture is getting better and better at encouraging women to speak, but it's not doing enough to listen to what they say when they do.
Just like opening up space for more stories from women, there needs to be a conscious effort to support multicultural voices and fight the assumptions surrounding what the mainstream market supposedly wants.
In addition to Americanah, my list so far includes Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland and Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic - both recently purchased by president Obama and, like Adichie's novel, about different migrant experiences in the US. I also want to read classics – James Baldwin's Another Country comes to mind – and critically acclaimed books – like Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace.
For new perspectives from closer to my Australian home, I will start with The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, a dystopian young adult novel centred around an Indigenous girl by Ambelin Kwaymullina, and I'm chomping at the bit for Anita Heiss's Tiddas (out in March) and Su Dharmapala's Saree (out in May). I've also picked up a translation of Indonesian author Dewi Lestari's Supernova: The Knight, the Princess and the Falling Star.
As I build up my list for 2014, I would be grateful for recommendations of books written from different experiences and perspectives to that we always hear about. I will put the list of suggestions up on my blog and keep updating it over the coming weeks – do share yours below.
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