Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

A book by a blind or visually impaired author


I think it's finally time for me to read Blindness CORRECTION: Turns out Saramago was NOT visually impaired, so "Blindness" won't work for this category.


Listopia list is Here: A Book By a Blind or Visually Impaired Author

I have Notes on Blindness: A Journey through the Dark on my TBR, so I guess I'll be reading that.

Found this list of visually impaired authors:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I read The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight this year and can highly recommend it! It's also excellent on audio.

Not that he is everyone's cup of tea, but Jean Paul Sartre was blind in one eye and had vision problems all his life.

Dubhease wrote: "Not that he is everyone's cup of tea, but Jean Paul Sartre was blind in one eye and had vision problems all his life."

Nice!

I'm going to to go with The Black Book of Colors I don't know if it's written by a blind person, but it's written FOR blind people, half in English, half in Braille. It's just too good of an opportunity to pass up!

Helen Keller has an autobiography

When I read this intro line, I knew Academic Gothic by James Tate Hill would be right up my alley.

"Hardboiled noir meets academic satire in Academy Gothic."

I've heard great things about There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness. I'll either read that or Redsight, a queer SFF release that's supposed to be like Gideon the Ninth.

I really like this prompt, and I'm going to wait for a bit before deciding what to read for it.

I think I will read The Beauty of Dusk. It says on Scribd, that the author woke up one day with blurred vision and it turned out he had a rare stroke that cut off blood circulation in his eyes and as a result, he is now blind in that eye...

Severely nearsighted since childhood, Stephen King has worn what he describes as "Coke-bottle glasses" for most of his life. However in a 1998 interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, King revealed a much more serious threat to his eyesight than his lifelong myopia. "I do have a retinal problem. It's called macular degeneration," King told correspondent Lesley Stahl. "Blindness is the ultimate result, but right now, I'm fine. I just don't see very well."

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/260583/the-tra...

I'm reading The Odyssey. Supposedly, Homer was blind.

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law has been on my radar for a while. She sounds amazing, as does the book.

Well this might be good after all. I thought about skipping it, but then I saw the Listopia list and found these three which I own copies of already:

Paradise Lost

The Odyssey

The Iliad

A lot of these are memoirs which are not my favorite and I already have several of them slotted for next year. Googling "blind authors" or "visually impaired authors" didn't produce much, so I just started thinking about all of my favorite authors and if any of them wear glasses. I met Tessa Bailey earlier this year and she wore them, so I am going to read something of hers I haven't read yet.

Anna wrote: "Severely nearsighted since childhood, Stephen King has worn what he describes as "Coke-bottle glasses" for most of his life. However in a 1998 interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, King revealed a much m..."

Thank you for sharing this! It opens up a lot more possibilities since I'm trying to read books already on my shelves.

Jennifer L. Armentrout has been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, which causes loss of vision.

Jen wrote: "Jennifer L. Armentrout has been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, which causes loss of vision."



oh wow, and she's prolific. Aside from the Obsidian/Lux series, which I've read, which book do you recommend from her?

Sue Townsend became blind apparently. She of Adrian Mole fame.

I’ve thought about reading The Pengrooms by Paul Castle. It is a an illustrated children’s book by an author and artist who is losing his eyesight due to a genetic disease. I follow him on Instagram, which is how I heard about his book and it seems so much fun.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

“Cover: The word unseen in bold letters, slowly fading as the word ends. A women's face: young, confident, focused. Her dark hair is swept to the side covering one eye. Underneath is a mask extending down her face forming two X's over her eyes which …

Unseen is an audio comic created by Chad Allen. Written by a blind person, with a blind heroine, for blind (and sighted) audiences.

Unseen is the story of Afsana, a blind assassin living in a chaotic world in which she is invisible to society. Discounting her abilities is her enemies’ gravest mistake.”

https://www.unseencomic.com/

I recommend a non-fiction work "The Art of Choosing" by Sheena Iyengar, a psychology professor who is blind.

Jen Campbell is an author/youtuber who has talked about how her vision is becoming more impaired. I've watched her videos for years but never read anything by her, I guess now's the time

Changing 'Paradise Lost'. Found this interesting nonfiction one instead:

The Blind Advantage: How Going Blind Made Me a Stronger Principal and How Including Children with Disabilities Made Our School Better for Everyone

The Color Purple

Any book by Alice Walker <3333

Lilith wrote: "Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law has been on my radar for a while. She sounds amazing, as does the book."

I read it a few years ago and can confirm it's an excellent book.

If you're interested in going a little more offbeat with this one, Provincetown Seafood Cookbook reads more like a book than a cookbook, and its author lost his hearing in his youth.

Hard recommend for Kika & Me: How One Extraordinary Guide Dog Changed My World. Non fiction but very easy to read and a wonderful book featuring a fantastic guide dog.

Ronald Linson has several SF novellas, and also co-edited a horror anthology, Little Girl Lost: Thirteen Tales of Youth Disrupted

Whoo! Whoo! Richard Osman! Okay, I am NOT glad for this, but he suffers from nystagmus which greatly limits his vision! I just acquired copies of installments 2-4 of the Thursday Murder Club series: The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die. I really enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club! YAY!

According to wikipedia Audre Lorde was legally blind. She was a black lesbian feminist and has written fiction and non-fiction.

The humorist James Thurber was blind in one eye and later became almost entirely blind. His short memoir “My Life and Hard Times” has my favorite story of his in it, “The Night The Ghost Got In.”

Erik Weihenmayer is a blind author who wrote about his experience climbing Mount Everest.

My friend Ann Chiappetta is a visually impaired author. She has poems and prose and a memoir style book about adjusting to a guide dog.

L Y N N wrote: "Whoo! Whoo! Richard Osman! Okay, I am NOT glad for this, but he suffers from nystagmus which greatly limits his vision! I just acquired copies of installments 2-4 of the Thursday Murder Club series..."

Thanks for that!

L Y N N wrote: "Whoo! Whoo! Richard Osman! Okay, I am NOT glad for this, but he suffers from nystagmus which greatly limits his vision! I just acquired copies of installments 2-4 of the Thursday Murder Club series..."

Just finished instalment #4 for this prompt. It was wonderful.

L Y N N wrote: "Whoo! Whoo! Richard Osman! Okay, I am NOT glad for this, but he suffers from nystagmus which greatly limits his vision! I just acquired copies of installments 2-4 of the Thursday Murder Club series..."

Thank you for this. I have The Thursday Murder Club on my TBR on the shelf at home and didn't realize this about the author. It will be my choice for this prompt then!

I read Queen Camilla. Sue Townsend suffered sight loss as a result of diabetes, and was registered as blind in 2001. This book was first published in 2006.

The book is a sequel to The Queen and I. The Royal Family are still living in Hell Close but a looming general election brings the promise/threat of them being returned to royal life.

It's a long time since I read The Queen and I but I remember it as very funny. This book is not so light-hearted; perhaps some of the dystopia it portrays now feels a bit too prescient. The author has a great feel for dialogue and social interactions and there are some very funny lines. A sad book in lots of ways, interspersed with laughter.

Joanna wrote: "If you're interested in going a little more offbeat with this one, Provincetown Seafood Cookbook reads more like a book than a cookbook, and its author lost his hearing in his youth."

This suggestion intrigues me, but did the author lose his hearing or his sight? I haven't done either prompt yet. Thanks

Sarah Rees Brennan is blind in one eye according to a post she just reblogged on Tumblr.

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker. When Ms Walker was a child, her brother was playing with a BB gun in a foolish way and shot her. A pellet hit her eye, which might have been saved...if her parents had been able to afford a car to get her to a doctor for treatments.

V sad.

Charlotte Bronte suffered from shortsightedness or myopia

I will be reading Jane Eyre

I read in Zami: A New Spelling of My Name that Lorde was nearsighted to the point of being legally blind. The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House also written by Lorde was on my tbr for a long time so I'm reading it for this prompt.
A great book to read for Black History Month.

I’ll be reading Zero Days by Ruth Ware

I read:
Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust by Michael Hingson

Michael and his guide dog, Roselle, were on the 78th floor of WTC Tower 1 on Sept 11, 2001. This is the story of their escape from the building, as well as Michael's account of living with his blindness. Very inspiring!

Allegra wrote: "Joanna wrote: "If you're interested in going a little more offbeat with this one, Provincetown Seafood Cookbook reads more like a book than a cookbook, and its author lost his hearing..."

Ah, my bad! He lost his hearing; I meant to post that in the thread for the other prompt.

Nadine in NY wrote: "A book by a blind or visually impaired author


I think it's finally time for me to read Blindness


Listopia list is Here: A Book By a Blind or Visually Impaired Author"

I don’t believe Jose Saramago was blind or visually impaired.

Jessica wrote: "I don’t believe Jose Saramago was blind or visually impaired...."




whoops!! I thought I had read that he was visually impaired and that was his inspiration for the novel, but I just googled again and I find nothing saying that, so I guess I had it wrong. Thank you for pointing that out!!