Introductions

[G]

Can someone please explain to me what the BINGO thing is, and how it works?

[Sonia]

G wrote: "Can someone please explain to me what the BINGO thing is, and how it works?"

For me I see it as a bit of fun encouraging me to read some genres/ authors I might not normally pick up. You pick a line of 5 - horizontal, vertical or diagonal and read books that meet those prompts. I did one line for the Jan to June BINGO and will do one for the July to December prompts. Others have been more dedicated and have done more than one or all of them.

[blissful.brii]

Hi everyone I’m Briana (or Bri) I love all genres on non-fiction and fiction alike. Especially thrillers, romance, action, fantasy, mystery and story from a strong woman lead pov or perspective! Looking forward to these discussions.

[GailW]

Briana wrote: "Hi everyone I’m Briana (or Bri) ..."

Hi, Bri, welcome! I think you'll like it here. Great reads every month and some good discussion. Have fun!

[Ozsaur]

Hello, and welcome, Briana!

[Jen]

Briana wrote: "Hi everyone I’m Briana (or Bri) I love all genres on non-fiction and fiction alike. Especially thrillers, romance, action, fantasy, mystery and story from a strong woman lead pov or perspective! Lo..."

Welcome, Bri! Yes, do check out and join us in the discussions :)

[Christine]

Hi I’m Christine. I’m 30. Currently I have been reading a lot of non-fiction, poetry, and memoirs but am looking to broaden my reading interests.

[G]

Hi Christine, and welcome!
I’m relatively new here (I joined this and two other groups about 3 months ago), and have definitely found that the group has introduced me to books I’d not encountered before. It’s also induced me to read some things that I’ve always felt like I should read one day, but haven’t yet.

[Jen]

Welcome, Christine!

And cool to hear that, G. I have the same experience here.

[Lady]

Hello , I am new here. Looking forward to chatting with you all.

[G]

Lady wrote: "Hello , I am new here. Looking forward to chatting with you all."

Welcome, Lady!

[Delicia]

Hi, I'm Delicia. I just put out the 2nd book in my ResilientAF memoir series, Not My Circus: Triumph Over Abuse, Trauma & Family Secrets—A Journey to Self-love, Pride & Remarkable Resilience, the first in the series, Kissing Asphalt: The Courageous True Story of One Child's Unbreakable Spirit from Kidnapping and Abuse to Self-Love came out last year. Both are written to inspire and encourage everyone to know that we are ALL ResilientAF! Please note: The trigger warnings are REAL!

[Anna]

Hi everyone! My name's Anna, I'm from New Jersey, and this group seems really great!
To be honest, I've had goodreads for a while but only ever used it on my phone to track what books I've read, and now that I see that there's all these groups and things, I figured I'd give it a try!

I saw that your group had so many posts about stuff that I'm passionate about, like neurodiversity rep, lgbtqia+ rep, etc. I've been getting really interested in Aboriginal artists lately so if anyone knows any good books on that, I'd love any recommendations!

Right now I'm finishing the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and then I have a lot of books I've impulsively bought that I want to get to, haha!

Do you think it's realistic for me to try and start the 2024 BINGO challenge in the middle of August? I could probably read 5 books by the end of the year but we'll see!

Looking forward to chatting with you all!

[GailW]

Anna, welcome! It never hurts to start a challenge whenever you can. How many you get done is totally your choice (and your time!), if nothing else it may introduce you to authors of whom you never heard. Have fun!

[Ozsaur]

Hello, and welcome, Anna! A Bingo is five books, and you can choose any line you want. Plus, you can find plenty of great books in the Bingo threads.

[Carol]

Anna wrote: "Hi everyone! My name's Anna, I'm from New Jersey, and this group seems really great!
To be honest, I've had goodreads for a while but only ever used it on my phone to track what books I've read, an..."

Good to see you here, Anna! I’m a big fan of challenges for how they help me try new things and the threads and comments of other participants has steered me toward some great books that might have otherwise gone to die in the middle of my TBR. I’m not a completist, though. If you don’t finish a line and that will make you sad, then my advice is to do whatever makes you most happy.

We’ve got an indigenous authors challenge that includes aboriginal authors and several members who read a lot of Australian books who can help point you in the right direction. When I’m next at my laptop I’ll drop some links into this comment, too.

[Aino]

Hi everyone!

I’m Aino and I’m from Finland. I’m teenage girl who loves to read. I hope you have very good day!

[Ozsaur]

Hello, Aino! I hope you find some great books to read here.

[Asma]

Hello beautiful community ! I am from France and I and I read a lot of inclusive books. For the moment, I only read in French, but I hope to be able to read in English (if I can understand at least a small paragraph !) I can't wait to share my little recommendations of French-speaking authors with you !

[Jen]

Welcome Asma- yea share your recommendations! Reading women authors from around the world and in translation is very popular in this group :) We actually had a few group reads recently that were originally written in French. We read The Years by Annie Ernaux and The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter. Personally I loved both.

[Ozsaur]

Hello, and welcome, Asma!

[Asma]

Jen wrote: "Welcome Asma- yea share your recommendations! Reading women authors from around the world and in translation is very popular in this group :) We actually had a few group reads recently that were or..."

The first women author I'd recommend is Faiza Guène, whose best-known translated book is “Kiffe kiffe tomorrow”. Then there's a French-Senegalese author I really like : Fatou Diome. Her first novel is Belly of the Atlantic. Let me know when you read them and what you think ;)

[GailW]

Asma wrote: "The first women author I'd recommend is Faiza Guène, whose best-known translated book is “Kiffe kiffe tomorrow” ..."

Thanks, Asma! Picked this one up today on kindle unlimited. I see that it is the author's debut novel and YA. I have found some real gems in both those scenarios.

[Odessa]

Hi, everyone! My name is Odessa Cortese, and I’m Brazilian, but I live in the U.S. and write books in both English and Portuguese—I also speak Italian and Spanish! Words are my passion; the way we can combine them to form sentences that we carry with us feels like magic to me! I recently published a book on KDP about a movie actress who is killed on the red carpet. The story unfolds between her past, narrated by herself, and the present, where investigators try to learn more about her life and find out who killed her! It’s free, and if you’d like to give this book a chance, it would be an honor for me! Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJ7RGK8T

[Ozsaur]

Hello, and welcome Odessa! You have many talents!

[Brenda]

Hello, everyone! My name is Brenda. I’m Mexican-American born and raised in California. Been living in Las Vegas for almost a year and a half. I’ve been on Goodreads for many, many years though I’ve never really stuck around enough to get to know people. With the outcome of recent events and the anxiety for the future, I’m hoping to spend more time in the things that brought me joy when I was younger: reading is one of them, journaling, writing, drawing, watching more movies, and spending time in other social media sites that encourage critical thinking, creativity, and community like here. Thank you for having me.

[G]

Brenda wrote: "Hello, everyone! My name is Brenda. I’m Mexican-American born and raised in California. Been living in Las Vegas for almost a year and a half. I’ve been on Goodreads for many, many years though I’v..."

Welcome, Brenda!

[Jen]

Brenda wrote: "Hello, everyone! My name is Brenda. I’m Mexican-American born and raised in California. Been living in Las Vegas for almost a year and a half. I’ve been on Goodreads for many, many years though I’v..."

Welcome, Brenda :) That's well said. I do myself feel encouraged and enriched here in those ways you mentioned. I hope you do find joy and inspiration here and share your thoughts and readings with us in the threads.

[Brenda]

Thank you for the welcome. =)

[Ozsaur]

Hello, and welcome, Brenda! I think you'll find what you're looking for here!

[[deleted user]]

Hi there,
I‘m Jane and am from Europe and want to read more different female authors, so I joined this group to discover new female authors and broaden my range.

[GailW]

Welcome, Jane! You've got a great group here to help with your discoveries!

[Ozsaur]

Hello, and welcome, Jane!

[Ozsaur]

Hi Mary! Welcome!

[ilovebakedgoods (Teresa)]

Hi all! I’ve been lurking in the group for about a year or so and haven’t really participated much, due to feeling out of my depths and overwhelmed with where to begin. So, I’ve started a personal challenge thread where I can narrow down my goals and focus with regards to reading more women, and I posted in the Author Focus thread because I’m interested in reading and participating in author discussions this year.

I live in the US of A. The majority of my books come from the library so sometimes it’s hard to access certain authors from around the world, but this group has already introduced me to so many women I’d love to read!

I wholly admit that I love genre fiction and am proud of all the women I read, but this year I’m trying to branch out to more “literary fiction” and even some classics. I have a hard time getting into classics, but I feel like I’m missing out on some good stuff! I’ve never read Virginia Woolf, for example, so I’m going to try to get into Orlando this month for the monthly discussion.

Can’t recall how I found this group. Possibly by typing “read women” into the group search. A few years ago, I started to design myself a curriculum/syllabus of things I want to learn more about and it organically became a focus on women only, in whatever focus or topic I choose. For example, women in mythology, women in music, feminist topics, etc., so I think that’s what inspired me to try to find a group like this one. Or start one if this didn’t exist.

I just wish I had more time to read all of the books and women I want to read! 😆

[Lindsey]

ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) wrote: "Hi all! I’ve been lurking in the group for about a year or so and haven’t really participated much, due to feeling out of my depths and overwhelmed with where to begin. So, I’ve started a personal ..."

Hi Teresa!

I pop in & out of the group discussions depending on how busy life is, but I'm looking forward to following your "women reads." This group has definitely helped me find some gems (books and authors!) that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise :)

[Ozsaur]

Hello Teresa!

Take a look at the BINGO challenge. It's a fun and easy way to branch out.

[Mj]

Welcome Teresa!! Hope you enjoy being part of this reading community as well as increasing your female reads. There are so many wonderful female authors to choose from and explore. Take care!! MJ

[Lindsey]

Mary wrote: "𝗛𝗶 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲! ☺️💞
𝗜'𝗺 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗨.𝗞. 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿, 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 📚 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀! 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲. 💕"

Hi Mary,

You've introduced yourself here before. And twice in another group I'm in. Are you hoping to join in, or are you simply looking for others to "Friend" you on GR?

If you haven't already, enable notifications so you can join in the conversations, if you'd like.

[Amatul]

Hi everyone, me Amatul from Bangladesh. I am great fan of non fictional history based novels. Elif Shafak is one of my fav. I also like Sydney Sheldon. I specially join this group to widen my eyes about worldwide women readers. Looking for wonderful experiences with all..

[GailW]

Amatul wrote: "Hi everyone, me Amatul from Bangladesh. I am great fan of non fictional history based novels. Elif Shafak is one of my fav. I also like Sydney Sheldon. I specially join this group to widen my eyes ..."

Welcome, Amatul! You should find some great recommendations and people here. Have fun.

[Lindsey]

Amatul wrote: "Hi everyone, me Amatul from Bangladesh. I am great fan of non fictional history based novels. Elif Shafak is one of my fav. I also like Sydney Sheldon. I specially join this group to widen my eyes ..."

Welcome Amatul!

I, too, love Elif Shafak as well as historical non-fiction. I hope you'll find some like-minded readers here :)

[Federico]

Hi everyone, I'm Federico from Rome, Italy. This year (never too late...) I made a sort of commitment to read more books written by women. My personal challenge is to end the year having read more books by women than by men.
I got off to a good start: I’ve already read the entire Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante, along with books by Donna Tartt, Daphne du Maurier, Elizabeth Gaskell, and others. Looking forward to discussing more reads with you all!

[ilovebakedgoods (Teresa)]

Welcome, Federico! I have the same goal for the year -- to read more books by women than by men.

Looking forward to seeing your posts around here :)

[Federico]

ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) wrote: "Welcome, Federico! I have the same goal for the year -- to read more books by women than by men.

Looking forward to seeing your posts around here :)"

Thanks so much!, Teresa

[G]

Federico wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Federico from Rome, Italy. This year (never too late...) I made a sort of commitment to read more books written by women. My personal challenge is to end the year having read more ..."

Welcome, Frederico. I have a similar goal. I'm a little behind right now, owing to current events in the US, and some buddy reads in another group, but I've not given up!

[Porsche]

Good morning, happy Friday everyone! My name is Porsche Day and I joined this group to discover more female authors. I myself am also a female author!

[G]

Welcome, Porsche!

[Grace]

Hiii my name is Grace, I recently got into reading and I really want to focus a lot on female authors cause I’m a girl myself and most books ive read up to this point has been by male authors
I’m from Sweden and I love family/friendship drama, whimsy metaphorical stories and political criticism
I’m pretty excited for this group this will definitely be fun

[Jen]

Welcome, Grace :) I like those reading interests too. And I love Sweden! I totally fantasize of living there. I’m American living on a German island in the Baltic Sea (East Sea) so it’s not so far for me, so I’ve been lucky enough to go a couple times since I’ve lived in Germany :) Anyway, hope to hear about your reading and such in the threads here.