The FFP 2013 Diversity Challenge

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I think part of the growth of a reader is to start trying out books or genres which one doesn't usually read. The trial might result in a long-term love affair with the genre, temporary preference, mild tolerance, or outright rejection. Even if it's the last case, one can at least say, "I don't like ." and know whereof one speaks.

Enter the Flips Flipping Pages (FFP) 2013 Diversity Reading Challenge. As I mentioned, we resurrected the challenge this year with new categories. Three years, after all, is enough time for new book trends to gain prominence. And given the changes in technology, I believe it's high time for us to explore the new ways that content is packaged.

This Diversity Challenge is open to members of our book club, Flips Flipping Pages, an online/offline book club for Filipinos all over the world. If you're interested, you can head on over to Shelfari to join the club, with the click of a button.

If you don't want to or can't join the club but want to participate, that's cool, too. You can do what I do when there's a challenge and I want to do it, but I'm not inclined to formally state my participation. You can just take note of the categories here and complete them on your own.

Of course, part of the fun is comparing notes with or getting book recommendations from other people, so I do hope you show up in the threads or, at the very least, mention the origin of the category list. Speaking of the list, here it is:

FFP 2013 Diversity Challenge Line-Up
  • 1 Common Book--published in 2013 (To be announced before June 2013)
  • 1 for The Umberto Eco Challenge (fiction or non-fiction)
  • 1 for the Partner's Challenge (mechanics to follow) 
  • 3 titles for Alternative Media Challenge (at least one of them an audiobook. Children's book apps excluded.)
  • 1 Foreign Award Winner
  • 1 Self-published/Indie book - Foreign
  • 1 Self-published/Indie book - Local. This is also 1 out 4 local titles
  • 1 Local Title - Non-fiction
  • 1 Local Title - Award-winning
  • 1 Local Title - Filipino language or other local languages and dialects
  • 1 Foreign Book 1 - Asia, except the Philippines (author or publisher)
  • 1 Foreign Book 2 - Australia (author or publisher)
  • 1 Foreign Book 3 - North America, except USA (author or publisher)
  • 1 Foreign Book 4 - South America (author or publisher)
  • 1 Foreign Book 5 - Europe, except England (author or publisher)
  • 1 Foreign Book 6 - Africa (author or publisher)
  • 1 Read-Along (Read-alongs are voluntary and may be scheduled by anyone in the club at any time. The first one is in January, on Murakami's IQ84.)
  • 1 Poetry
  • 2 Non-Fiction books (bios, business, art, essays, travel, philosophy, psychology, etc.)
  • 2 books from any edition of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die
  • 1 Graphic Novel
Total: 25 books/titles

If you prefer the chart version, you can also download the excel file made by FFP founder, Gege. It summarizes the list very nicely.

The excel file

And there are additional guidelines, also written by Gege:

Guidelines:
  • For most categories, the book will be decided on by the reader. Exceptions: Common book, Read-along book, Partner's Challenge
  • All the books must be read within 2013. 
  • Rereads are allowed. 
  • Deadline of completion: the eve of the FFP Christmas party (to be announced)
  • Overlaps with FFP's 2013 line-up allowed. 
  • Internal overlaps not allowed. Different titles for each of the 25 books. For example, Gaiman's Sandman cannot be listed twice for graphic novel and award winner. You have to choose in which category to put it. 
  • Each book must be completed from first to last pages. (Forewords, prefaces, indexes, etc. excluded.)

I'm very excited about this list because it works in a lot of my own interests and advocacies. For instance, really happy about the indie/self-published categories. I think more people should give indie authors and publishers a chance. Though some of them are a pain to read, there are quite a few that are impressive. 

Also happy about the alternative media category. Obviously, I've no problem with ebooks, but I've never actually listened to an audiobook in full. I'm curious about how I'll take to it. And about the apps, I do have The Silent History on my iPad, but I haven't really read a lot from it. Still, I know there are other enhanced/multi-touch ebooks and book apps out there, so I'm going to have fun exploring them.

Of course, happy that the Filipino category still there, with ever more variety. I happen to think that some of the best Philippine writers today are independently published authors. Mainly, they're the ones pushing the envelope on Philippine writing, opting to come up with new forms instead of the hackneyed old styles and themes. 

The 2 books from the 1001 Book List are in line with one of my goals of reading as many books as I like from that list. I also love the poetry and graphic novel part. Oh, and the challenge to read one book from every continent (except Antarctica. We weren't sure we could find a lot of writers from Antarctica. Are there? Do tell.) is also a personal goal I'm glad has been explicitly stated through this challenge.

After a 2-day reading slump, I've finally started on a book for the challenge. It's a Spanish zombie novel, translated into English and republished by AmazonCrossing. I'm reading the ebook, so this goes either in the Europe or Alternative Media cateogory--haven't decided yet. In any case, it's one of those.

And now the question: how much of a challenge is this list? Well, if we're talking about finding titles that fit the categories, I think most of us can say that that won't be much of a challenge. One of the advantages afforded to us these days is the ease by which we can find books. Not available in a bookstore? There are always ebooks. And I'm fortunate enough to be familiar with a few indie authors, so I know where their books can be found.

But the funner part of the challenge is to fill the list with books that are, at the very least, interesting. Preferably awesome. Diversity, if you pardon my saying so, should be very easy these days when you can Google almost everything. Provided that the individual is willing, that is. 

What I'm more interested in, however, is curation. So, I'd like to fulfill this challenge with a curated list of titles that I would not be ashamed of recommending. If I happen to read a book that I don't like, I'm going to try my darnedest to read another book in that category. If I still end up not liking the second book, I'm going to stop there. I only have a year, you know. Which is why if push comes to shove, it's also likely I'll forego the second book. I'm wishy-washy that way.

Anyway, I'm 68% into Apocalypse Z. It's so-so. Nothing astounding. We'll see what the last 30% bring. 

Any other books you'd like to recommend for any of our Diversity Challenge categories? Would be happy to pass the word along.

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