Hi everyone! Armchair BEA is literally that. BEA in the comfort of your favorite armchair :3 (I’m sorry, I just love that slogan). My family can’t afford to send me around the world whenever I please, but we sometimes do indulge in vacation time, yay! Unfortunately, I used up my vacation privilege in october, so no trips for me at least until next year. So, no BEA for me.
Lady Fortune has smiled at me, though, because I’m so ready for Armchair BEA, the new people I’ll get to meet, the prizes, and the discussions.
Who I am
I go by my two names, Pamela Nicole, but of course, you can call me Pam. I’ve been blogging for about a year and half. Since August 2014, actually. This is the first time I’ve ever participated in Armchair BEA. I’d heard of it before, but wasn’t sure of what it was and didn’t ask. This year, though, I found the website and now I know what it’s all about.
Other Stuff
Favorite books:
- The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta
- Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
- The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa
- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
- Cinder & Ella, by Kelly Oram
Honor mentions:
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
You’ll probably notice that most of these books are set in fantasy or sci-fi worlds. Those are my favorite genres in YA. I just love the creativity that is involved in creating a whole new world from scratch. It’s so awesome to read those kind of books.
My bookshelves
A while ago I made a Bookshelf tour, in which I show how I organize my books. I have a new bookshelf now, and you can sneak peeks at it at my Instagram, but it’s the same system XD.
3 Characters I’d love to have lunch with
- Puck, from the Iron Fey series
Because he’s awesome and we’d joke the whole time, and since I’m allowed to dream, he’d also start flirting too. Maybe he’ll even show me some cool moves with his daggers. We’d probably go to eat at a Subway.
- Nina, from Six of Crows
With Nina, I envision some kind of girls’ day. We’d visit all the shops and maybe even spend some time at a spa, and then she’d get all Grisha on the mean girls and it’d be really fun. With her, we’d have lunch at a nice restaurant.
- Penryn, from Angelfall
Penryn and I would first assemble our squad and then go rock the hell out of some paintball field. Then, we’d go for some pizza.
On diversity
I actually have a lot of opinions, but since when you meet someone you don’t really start telling them the story of your life (unless you’re drunk), I’ll just share a few of them.
As a latina, something I care about a lot is how people from south american countries are represented. I read an article recently on latin americans specifically, and their roles in the media, and the stereotype of all of us being brown-skinned and all weird and just others, outsiders.
I thought it was really interesting that a lot of stories about latinos are just about the arrival. We need more stories about people who are part of the american culture, or any other culture, and that struggle with identity issues. Not latin enough to distant family and other people with my ethnicity, and not american/or other enough for the people in my current environment. Which is really sad, because it’s a wonderful feeling to know where you belong, and who you belong with.
Another perspective is the stories that are not set in your run of the mill places, like the US. The language barrier makes it a bit hard for the english-speaking community to know our stories. Think about it, Tons of books published by english speakers get translated immediately so us can read them, but our stories? Do you think anyone who isn’t Gabriel García Márquez or Mario Vargas Iiosa gets their books translated from spanish into other languages? Not that many, you know. There’s not much we can do about it, except accepting and being more inclusive of the voices that are here. The latinos who have made their home in other countries, the ones who write from the comfort of their armchairs (XD), in their native countries but had the privilege of learning enough english to try. It’s really all we ask.
I couldn’t agree with you more on your diversity post. I’m white and married to a Hispanic. When I started my writing career I tried to use my maiden name but failed miserably. No one wanted to read a Hispanic named author. Then I changed back to my maiden name. Everyone wanted to read my books and interact with me.
I’ve noticed that Hispanics get a horrible image in society. I would love to read more stories with strong Hispanic characters on important topics that are written by Hispanics.
Welcome to ABEA, newbie! We’re glad to have you aboard.