Introductions

[Hannah]

Welcome Lehar! Looking forward to discussing with you!

[Story]

Welcome Lehar! I'm a magical realism fan too. What are some of your favourite magical realist titles?

[〰️Beth〰️]

🌷Welcome Frances and Lehar🌷

[Lehar]

Story❤ wrote: "Welcome Lehar! I'm a magical realism fan too. What are some of your favourite magical realist titles?"

Thank You!

I owe my love for the genre to Rushdie and Murakami. I binge-read Murakami and feel I absorb so little that way. Rushdie's 'The Enchantress of Florence' is my all-time favourite and also the one to introduce me to the genre. 'Like Water for Chocolate' is another I want to read. I enjoy Vonnegut's work, too, even though it's not strictly magical realism.

What are your favourites?

[Anita]

Welcome to all the new members :) we're so glad to have you and we look forward to hearing your thoughts in any (and all) of our discussions. We've got many new members from all over the globe and all of your input helps us read and discuss diverse books and topics, so thank you for joining and helping us expand our reading too.

[Story]

Lehar wrote: " Rushdie's 'The Enchantress of Florence' is my all-time favourite and also the one to introduce me to the genre. 'Like Water for Chocolate' is another I want to read. I enjoy Vonnegut's work, too, even though it's not strictly magical realism.
What are your favourites?
..."

Three recent favourites are The Book of Chameleons by Angolan author José Eduardo Agualusa. (His A General Theory of Oblivion was also good) and Flames by Tasmainian writer Robbie Arnott. Also To The Bright Edge of the World by Alaskan author Eowyn Ivey.

[Julia]

Hi everyone, my name is Julia and I'm a PhD student/researcher in the US. Took a long time off from reading for pleasure since I have so much reading to do for my job. Lately I have been getting back into it and trying to consciously commit to reading more female authors (my dissertation is on gender issues!). The list of previous group reads posted here looks amazing. Lately I have been working my way through all of Scarlett Thomas's books and am trying to read female authors from around the world, so this group is perfect for me.

[Laura]

Hello all! :) my name is Laura. I'm a 20-something from California who mostly stays inside reading and cooking with my cats lol. I've always gravitated towards female-authored books with strong female leads... Gone With the Wind, Jane Eyre, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and Wuthering Heights are some of my favs. I'm STOKED to find this group and get more recommendations from you all.

[Anita]

Welcome Julia and Laura! We're so glad you found us and hope we can continue to have great reads by women together.
Please do look around our challenges threads for great recommendations for reading women around the world, Julia.
Laura we have a classics thread that you might like to view and hopefully add a few recs to as well.
I look forward to reading with you both and hope you will join in all aspects of the group from nominations to discussions. Happy reading.

[D.R.]

Hi/Bonjour

I am from Canada. I also enjoy reading fiction when I am not writing, gardening, or teasing my little fur person Gibbs.

[Carol]

D.R. wrote: "Hi/Bonjour

I am from Canada. I also enjoy reading fiction when I am not writing, gardening, or teasing my little fur person Gibbs."

Welcome, D.R. We’re glad you’re here!

[Cami]

My name is Cami and I’m ecstatic to read and grow with everyone! I’m from Orlando, Florida, and the book that has excited me the most during this pandemic is “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett. I would love to be friends, so feel free to add me and discuss all things books.

[Angeliki]

Hello all! I am Angeliki, and I come from Greece. I'm interested in reading books from almost every genre (fiction, philosophy, art, poetry, nature, etc.). It's the first time I'm participating in a group, so I'm still trying to find out how it works. I hope I can find some good recommendations for women writers and also have some engaging conversations. :)

[Hannah]

Welcome D.R., Cami and Angeliki! I look forward to discussing reads with you all

[Crazytourists_books]

Γειά σου Αγγελική! Θα βρεις πολλές ενδιαφέρουσες προτάσεις σε αυτό το γκρουπ. Έχω ανακαλύψει βιβλία-διαμάντια εδώ!
Please excuse my Greek, I got excited that another Greek joined the group! Welcome all, you'll find brilliant books here :)

[Angeliki]

Crazytourists_books wrote: "Γειά σου Αγγελική! Θα βρεις πολλές ενδιαφέρουσες προτάσεις σε αυτό το γκρουπ. Έχω ανακαλύψει βιβλία-διαμάντια εδώ!
Please excuse my Greek, I got excited that another Greek joined the group! Welcome..."

Καλησπέρα!!!
Thank you for welcoming me! I am happy to meet you and be part of the group!

[Sarah]

Hi everyone!
I'm Sarah (she/her). I'm German (excuse any errors; English is not my first language) and I'm looking to diversify my reading. I already read about 50/50 male vs. female authors, but I've noticed that almost everything I pick up is written by white authors. I'm looking to change this and your group reads seemed perfectly suited for this. I'm looking forward to discussing with all of you!
Thanks for having me! :)

[Story]

Welcome Sarah! We are happy you have joined us.

I hope you'll join our September group read of Nectar in a Sieve by Indian author Kamala Markandaya.

[Michaela]

Welcome Sarah (I´m Austrian) and everyone else I missed! We can always broaden our range of books!

[Sarah]

i was actually planning on participating in this month's group read, if thats alright? i am only a few pages into The Woman from Tantoura and sadly, my copy of Ceremony won't arrive until around the 27th, but it still love to try and participate in the discussion :)

[Anita]

Welcome to the group D.R., Cami, Angeliki, and Sarah!

You can join in any conversation at any time. We would love to hear your thoughts on all the books. We will be reading those two all month, so you aren't late or anything. If you ever read any book that we have already discussed you're always welcome to post your thoughts on those threads as well.

I recommend visiting the New here? Start here! thread put together by our founder, Louise. She lays out the group workings and site navigation pretty well. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Welcome to the group!

[Lisann]

Hi everyone!
I’m Lilly from Germany.

I’ve always preferred women writers, I found that women characters feel more real when they are written by a female, especially when feminism is a topic.

Somehow I feel like women characters, written by men, either drift into the “help me I’m female direction”, become a sex object or an overpoweringly fierce and unrealistically invulnerable feminist.

The energy here seems very warm and welcoming to me, so I am looking forward to reading all of your opinions and getting to know everyone ;).

[Jovan]

Somehow I feel like women characters, written by men, either drift into the “help me I’m female direction

Except Emil Zola, he is one of the kind

[Michaela]

Welcome Lilly, hope to see you on the threads! :)

[Story]

Welcome Lilly! I look forward to sharing news and ideas about books with you :)

[Crazytourists_books]

Welcome everyone!

[Irphen]

Hello everyone!
I'm Irphen, joining you from France^^
I came here because I would like to read more books written by women. I don't particulary prefer female authors to male authors but there is a male predominance in everything so you often end up reading mainly books written by men without being aware of it. So there for I now toke the desicion to try and read more women authors. I'm very glad to join here and discuss books with you all!^^

[Carol]

Irphen wrote: "Hello everyone!
I'm Irphen, joining you from France^^
I came here because I would like to read more books written by women. I don't particulary prefer female authors to male authors but there is a..."

Welcome, Irphen! We’re happy you’re here.

[Michaela]

Welcome Irphen! I think we share another group! :)

[Paulina]

Hey there! My name is Lina and I've recently been realising how much my bookshelf need to be diversified, and I feel like this group will help me do just that. I joined because I consider myslef both a feminist and a reader, as well as to expand my reading horizons and support fellow women. I read a lot of fiction, wether it's classics or newer releases, I enjoy both. My favourite generes are fantasy, mystery, young adult and sci-fi.

[Story]

Welcome Lina! We all enjoy expanding each other's reading horizons here :)

[Anita]

Welcome Lilly, Irphen, and Lina. I love that we have members from all over the globe. Looking forward to getting to know all of you and gleaning some great reads from you as well. Welcome!

[Hannah]

Welcome Sarah, Lilly, Irphen and Lina :)

[Louise]

Hello everyone! I am brand new to Goodreads, but this group really stood out to me as a wonderful starting place to interact and learn more about other female authors. As a new author myself, I can't wait to discover other female writers and those who as less common or "undiscovered." Any way to support and learn more about the female voice and others working to spread their message - count me in!

I typically love the self-help, sports science, and nonfiction genres. My interests are in books about frameworks to fight disease, running, ultra running, functional medicine, longevity, personal wellness, self-empowerment, business, and personal development. My family and I are currently in Maryland but we are a military family so soon to be from wherever the U.S. Army tells our family to go to next :)

[Story]

Welcome Lilly, Irphen, Lina and Louise! Looking forward to getting to know all of you and discussing books in our various threads.

[Sparrow Knight]

Hi! My name is Jane, and although I joined the group ages ago, I haven’t participated. I intend to change that!

I live in rural New Mexico, and my reading tastes tend towards speculative fiction, and Buddhism. I just finished reading Girl, Woman, Other, which I greatly enjoyed; has this been read by the group (I’m still figuring out how to navigate around here)?

Currently I’m near the end of Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression — An Introduction to Mahayana Buddhism, and I’m just starting Perdido Street Station.

Other than books, I’m into dogs, board games, and miniature painting.

[Imogen]

Hey, my name is Imogen. I'm from the UK & currently reading It & The Memoirs of SherlockHolmes: Sherlock Holmes #5.

[Michaela]

Welcome Jane and Imogen! :)

[Jo]

Hi everyone, my name is Jo. I joined the group a few months ago, gathering reading suggestions and... quietly sneaking about, so to say. (Is that sneaking? If yes, I'm sorry.) I like to read women. Because.
After completing my doctorate and a year of... experiments, I'm about to enter the workforce proper and am worried that I might "forget to" or be "too tired to" read much. It happened to me before. So that's why I finally decided to "commit" to this group and introduce myself. I tend to participate in group discussions sparsely, but I'll probably be reading many of your posts, so... pleased to meet you!

[Story]

Welcome Jo and congratulations on your doctorate!

[Pe]

Hello! I'm Pe (it rhymes with 'meh') and I'm from Spain. I'm a teacher, currently in law school, and I try to write as often as I can. Though I've always naturally gravitated towards female authors, for the past few years I've tried to be more purposeful about it and make an effort to diversify my reading list. I'm really excited to join this group!

[Bloodorange]

Hello,

I've only noticed this group today (been using GR mostly for logging my reading this past year), and remembered the excellent time I had with "2015-year of reading women". And Carol is here (hi Carol!). I promise to read everything I can easily get my hands on.

Pleased to meet you!

Current reads: The Virgin Suicides, Fingersmith, Long Walk to Freedom.

[lethe]

Welcome, all new members! :)

[Dressa]

Hello, my name is Dressa i am from Brazil. I'm an engineer student who everybody mistake by a literature student.
I'm very excited about joining the group because my main goal to 2021 is read more women writers and looking for ways to achieve that i found goodreads and this group.
My english writing is kinda bad but i really try my best lol

[Story]

Welcome Dressa! We're so happy that you've joined us.

[lethe]

Welcome, Dressa! :)

[Carol]

Bloodorange wrote: "Hello,

I've only noticed this group today (been using GR mostly for logging my reading this past year), and remembered the excellent time I had with "2015-year of reading women". And Carol is here..."

Ewa, so lovely to see you here - welcome! Every book you are reading is on my TBR and yet I’ve not gotten serious enough to start them, so hopefully your feedback will nudge me happily forward.

[Michaela]

Welcome Dressa! :)

[R.L.S.]

Hi! I'm Rachel, and I love all kinds of books. Well, all kinds of fiction, and a few kinds of non-fiction. (I'm actually surprised at how much I'm enjoying Founding Mothers.) Like many people here, I'd like to read more women authors.

[lethe]

Welcome, Rachel!