Introductions

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Welcome, Joseph. I hope you will not end up being the "token man" of the group. Louise is right, the more viewpoints and backgrounds of the group members, the more interesting the group becomes.

[Joseph “Millennium Man”]

Hi everyone!

thanks,


Louise, Anita,

[Sanne]

Hello!
I'm Sanne, Dutch, and an eclectic reader. I have a preference for historical fiction and short stories, but I dabble in almost all genres. Though the common theme is to read as much as possible from all parts of the world.
After I made a tally of last year's reads I was surprised to learn that I wasn't even close to reading 50/50 in terms of gender (not last year, but also not the years before that....). So, my new-years resolution for 2016 is to read at least 50% female authors. Now that I've stumbled upon this group, I hope this will bring me even more reading suggestions, and motivation to keep going with my challenge.

As it's March, I'm already 3 months into my challenge and I'm so happy I started it. There's so many great works out there! My favorite discoveries so far have been the writer Astrid Roemer (who won the biggest oeuvre award in the Netherlands last year, and writes beautifully about Surinam), and the books Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (the memoir of feminist Fatema Mernissi which highlights the position of women during her childhood in Morrocco) and The Fall of Language in the Age of English (an opinionated non-fiction work by novelist Minae Mizumura on the position of non-English fiction in our English-dominated world).

[lethe]

Welcome, Sanne! :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hi Sanne and Tesni! Glad to see you here and hope to learn from you.

[Lotti]

Hi all

I'm Lotti from London (not to be confused with Latte or Lottery, thanks Starbucks). I've joined after a scan of my over packed bookshelf revealed a startlingly lack of female authors. For someone who often engages in long-winded feminist debates on long car journeys with anyone who will listen, I found this somewhat hypocritical.
I am an impulse shopper and have been known to bulk buy books after popping in to a shop for a new bookmark, however I rarely pick up female authors and shockingly find myself almost prejudice towards them.
So I guess I am here for a re-education.

I am also desperately trying to read as many books from as many different cultures as possible, so translated female authors are becoming my new niche obsession!

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hi Lotti! happy to see you and your sense of humor!

[Lia]

Hello to everyone! I'm Lia, I'm from Spain. I love reading, specially feminist science fiction and dystopian fiction novels.
Since last year I decided to discover more female authors, and read books that offered a heterogeneous and diverse image of women, because traditional literature -mainly male- shows a very stereotyped image of women.
Since then, I have discovered invisible female authors like Joanna Russ, Charlotte Perkins or Ursula K. LeGuin, that have given me the opportunity to get closer to other type of literature. So I hope, through my participation in this group, to continue discover more female authors and interesting books.
My English isn't very good, but I will try to participate in any of the group discussion. Excuse me if I make some linguistic error.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Welcome, Lia. If only I could speak any language other than English!

[lethe]

Hi, Lotti and Lia!

[Anita]

Welcome Sanne, Tesni, Lotti, Lia - everyone! I hope you all find great female authors to read here, and add diverse authors to our lists as well :)

Lia, from the authors you mentioned, I wonder if you've read Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time? If not, I highly recommend it for your tastes. It offers a very refreshing view of a possible future feminist utopia. I read it last year, and it is like Joanna Russ' The Female Man (which I also love) but more soothing to read.

[Louise, Group Founder]

Welcome all! As always great to see so many people joining from such different backgrounds and with such a wide variety of interests. I hope there will be a little something for everyone here.

Lotti, I started this group pretty much for the same reasons. I'm also a massive impulse buyer (also living in London, also a lover of feminist rants!) and when I stopped last year to examine what I was impulse buying, I was genuinely shocked to realise just how little of it was written by women. Part of that's marketing and publishing I'm sure - the sorts of covers and blurbs that get given to books. But part part of it is also me. So you're not the only one doing some re-educating and re-evaluating.

[Lia]

Thanks for your recommendation, Anita.
I'm really want to read that book, but there isn't a spanish edition :-(

[Cristina]

Hi everyone! I'm Cristina, 25, currently living in the UK but moving to Canada soon!

Looking forward to joining the discussions, it's hard to find people who actively read books written by women!

[Anita]

Lia wrote: "Thanks for your recommendation, Anita.
I'm really want to read that book, but there isn't a spanish edition :-("
That's really too bad, it's such a great book! I hope you get a chance to read it some day in some language.

Welcome Cristina! I hope you enjoy Canada, I'm considering uprooting my whole family and heading that way myself (from America). We look forward to hearing another new voice in the discussions :)

[Ann]

Hi there, Ann from New Zealand here, a writer but avid reader also. I am not new to goodreads, but fairly new to joining groups so excited about this group in particular. I had to go through and think about the gender of the authors I have read this year, and really I do think that I seem to veer toward reading the works of women authors more than men. Perhaps due to women tending to write more saucy fiction? Lol ... anyway, I read a bit by women authors who are already really popular out there, but this year through being a Kindle Scout participant (reader and author) I have been fortunate to be given some free books that were written by women who I would otherwise possibly never heard of, and I have enjoyed them all ... so much talent out there, that unfortunately due to so many books being self-published now, are far too easy to simply never see!

Good idea for a group, and I look forward to recommendations from members about new and emerging women writers, in particular.

A couple of authors who are still not famous out there but who I really enjoyed the books of and look forward to future stories from:
* https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
* https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[Elena]

Hi, my name is Elena and I am from Barcelona, Spain. When I find a writer I like and one I can identify with I tend to be quite an obsessive reader. Last year it was Carol Shields. When I read "Unless" I immediately looked up the author and was distraught to find out she died in 2003. I still can't get over how she seems to write exactly what I am thinking. Now I am really keen on Rachel Cusk but I have much to read yet! I look forward to discussing books by these and many other authors!

[Paula]

Hi, I'm Paula from Sweden. I am an eclectic reader and I thought this group looked fun, so I joined. I look forward to participating!

[Karin]

Hi, I'm Karin, and just discovered this group. I have always read a number of women authors, but haven't been in a group dedicated to this before. I don't have a favourite anything, and that goes for authors. I have no idea what my ratio is, since it's not something I pay a great deal of heed to, but I've read authors from Victoria Holt to Gabrielle Roy, to Lois McMaster Bujold, to Jane Austen to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Mary Wollstonecraft, and I don't

Your August read, Girl Waits with Gun is at home on my tbr for sometime in the next few weeks.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Glad to see you Karin!

[Karin]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Glad to see you Karin!"

Thanks!


For those that don't know, I knew Elizabeth from Shelfari days.

[Nell]

Hi, I'm Nicole! I joined a bit ago but never introduced myself. I'm from Canada, and in school to become a librarian. I've been working very hard to ensure that I read more broadly. While this year I read mostly women (of my 54 books (so far) about 42 were authored by women)...my goal for next year is to read even more CanLit than I did this year, and to read more women of colour.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Karin wrote: "For those that don't know, I knew Elizabeth from Shelfari days."

Actually, I was never at Shelfari. Goodreads is the only site for readers where I've ever joined and participated. I joined a group here that was a transfer from Shelfari, and met Karin there. And happily so, I might add.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Nicole wrote: "my goal for next year is to read even more CanLit "

Hi Nicole. You might be interested that a few of us have set a 2017 goal to read more Canadian women.

[Karin]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karin wrote: "For those that don't know, I knew Elizabeth from Shelfari days."

Actually, I was never at Shelfari. Goodreads is the only site for readers where I've ever joined and participated. I ..."

Really? Wow, I feel like I've known you longer. What this means is that I've now been on GR long enough to see familiar names that I think I've known longer than I have.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Karin wrote: "Wow, I feel like I've known you longer. "

Well, when I saw you on Play Book Tag, I thought I'd seen you before. Could I have seen you here at GR before that group?

(Sorry, everyone, to have this sort of one on one conversation. This where do I know you from is just a tad perplexing!)

[Karin]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karin wrote: "Wow, I feel like I've known you longer. "

Well, when I saw you on Play Book Tag, I thought I'd seen you before. Could I have seen you here at GR before that group?

(Sorry, everyone,..."
Based on your current groups, Goodreads Feedback, which I'm no longer in, and perhaps something else. I have joined and left some groups as I've been learning my way around here. I haven't spent much time in the Goodreads Librarian group, but did become one, but that was only this fall.

[El]

Hello, just discovered this group and am excited to be a part of it. Glad to see interest in reading more women authors. I just did a quick looks-y at my bookshelf for the year and see that I have read about 57 books by women authors (out of, so far, 101 books), though some are duplicates (a couple Margaret Atwoods, a couple Louise Erdrichs, etc.).

I have plenty of books by women to read off my own shelves, but love being a part of groups where I can learn about and discuss many more.

Looking forward to joining discussions.

(And hello to several of you I know through different groups!)

[Anita]

lol hi El! It was only a matter of time :)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hi El - glad to see you!

[Karin]

Welcome, El!

[Aly]

Hello! I'm Aly, I'm from Sydney, Australia. I'm a PhD ecology student and read widely. I'm setting a goal of at least 50% female-authored books for 2017, and I'd love to see a more diverse authorship on my shelves. Can't wait :)

[Karin]

Hi, Aly!

[Mary]

Hi! I am Mary from Johnson City Tennessee. I love reading books and lately I have been wanting to be reading more books written by women. I have done pretty good for the past two years that I made the goal. I am open to read anything once.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Welcome to Aly and Mary. Look forward to learning more about your reading of women!

[Anita]

Hi Aly, Mary, and Christine. Always happy to see more people here looking to expand their reading horizons with female authors. This is definitely the place for that :)

[Nurai]

Hello everyone, my name is Nurai. I live in Utrecht in the Netherlands. I'm nineteen-years old and just started studying English at university.
Last year I didn't read as many books by women authors as I would have liked, and then this year, without even trying, I read way more books by women than men. I mainly joined because I'd like to read more diversely, and I also enjoy discussing books with other people and hearing other opinions on books.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Glad to meet you Nurai. I look forward to your perspective.

[Tamara]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Tamara from Kansas. I grew up in England and have lived in the US for the last 40 years. I joined Goodreads about a year ago, but I’m still finding my way around. I’m glad I found your group because most of the books I read are by women authors.

A little bit about me: I was a professor of English for about 18 years before moving into administration for several years. I retired from my position as Vice President for Academic Affairs a little over three years ago. While I was a faculty member, I introduced a series of courses on women: Introduction to Women’s Studies, Women in Literature, and Women in Religion. I have published 3 books, all of which deal with women in mythology and/or religion.

I love reading re-tellings of myths, for example Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles; Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad; Ursula le Guin’s Lavinia; Laurel Corona's Penelope's Daughter. And if a myth is told through a woman’s voice, all the better. I am currently reading Alcestis by Katherine Beutner.

I also love reading the literature by women of color, especially those from Asia and the Middle East. Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies is a favorite of mine. I just finished reading Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy. I had mixed feelings about it. I post all my book reviews on my website and on Goodreads.

I looked on your bookshelf and didn't see any books about women in mythology and few books by women of color. So if there is little interest in either of these, it simply means I've probably joined the wrong group. Please let me know if that's the case, and I will do a gracious retreat. Otherwise, I'm glad to be here and look forward to participating in the discussions.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hi Tamara - First, welcome!

I think the bookshelf includes only those books that have been nominated for a group read. We nominate based on themes that Louise has chosen. I believe she is quite open to adding themes and I think members in this group may be interested in both mythology and authors of color.

I just don't "get" mythology and retellings, but I am aware they are popular. I just finished Passing. I am very open to such books, although they are not my focus. I would look forward to a thread about either of these topics and I suspect others would join in the discussion.

[El]

Tamara wrote: "I looked on your bookshelf and didn't see any books about women in mythology and few books by women of color."

Hi Tamara! I'm new here too, but I would love to read books about women in mythology and certainly women of color. Just throwing my voice out there to join yours. But as Elizabeth mentioned, if books on the bookshelf are those that have been nominated for group reads, I hope you and others will nominate some of these books/authors. I think they both would make for interesting discussions.

Now I'm going to go peruse your shelves for things to add to my TBR. :)

[lethe]

Welcome, Tamara!

Read Women is still a fairly small group, but when more members join, the nominations will become more diverse. You can help with that! If you'd like to see more books by women of colour or on mythology, feel free to nominate them for our monthly reads.

I'm sure many members joined because they want to read beyond their usual fare, pick up suggestions for books they might not have thought of otherwise.

I looked on your bookshelf and didn't see any books about women in mythology
Well, there is at least one there, because I nominated Cassandra by Christa Wolf for the March group read (translated fiction). It was the runner-up that month. :-)

[Tamara]

Thanks to Elizabeth, El, and Lethe for your warm words of welcome.

I feel a little uncomfortable jumping in with nominations since I'm still new to the group. I'll wait to see what the theme for your next group read will be. My understanding is you nominate books based on a theme and vote on which book to read for the month. And you do one book a month. Is that correct?

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Tamara wrote: "My understanding is you nominate books based on a theme and vote on which book to read for the month. And you do one book a month. Is that correct? "

Yes. Louise hasn't yet opened up the nominations for January, and we don't know what the theme will be (at least I don't). I suspect she'll be opening a thread before too many more days.

[Karin]

Hello, Mary, Nurai and Tamara. Great to meet you!

[Tamara]

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Tamara wrote: "My understanding is you nominate books based on a theme and vote on which book to read for the month. And you do one book a month. Is that correct? "

Yes. Louise hasn't yet opened u..."

Great! I look forward to joining.

[lethe]

There are also "open choice" months. They don't have a theme, any book (by a female author) may be nominated. For an overview of themes chosen in the past, have a look at the polls page: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

[Tamara]

lethe wrote: "There are also "open choice" months. They don't have a theme, any book (by a female author) may be nominated. For an overview of themes chosen in the past, have a look at the polls page: https://ww..."

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I looked through the polls. This is going to be interesting.

[Anita]

hi and welcome Nurai and Tamara. the great thing about this group is that we are all here to share and discover female authors. So the more diverse members we have, the more diverse options we are shown. your voice (and recommendations/nominations) opens our eyes and ears to other voices and vice versa, so we all look forward to hearing from each other :)

[Beth]

A Rose For Jonathan
Quiver


Hello everyone!

My name is Beth Green and I'm an author. I am also a pediatric physical therapist and began writing a few years ago. My latest series listed above is about some experiences I've had working with children who were battling cancer and received life-saving organ donations. The story evolved from this experience but is a fictional story about a young pastor and his organ donation experience as well as the effects of a special spiritual gift that he received as well.

The series has won multiple awards and I would love for you all to at least sample them. They are available in both print and ebook and on Kindle Unlimited.

Thank you all for supporting women authors. It is a very competitive world in publishing and I appreciate anyone willing to sample my work. If you do take some time to look through them or read them, a review is a great way to honor me. In fact, please review other women's books as well. This helps us all become more recognized and grow our following.

Have a wonderful day!

Beth