Introductions

[Alwynne]

Hi Rachel!

[Carol]

Hello, I’m Carol from Essex in the Uk. I enjoy fiction, historical fiction and classics, and the occasional non fiction, often as an audio book. I read more last year than ever before, and really enjoyed the escape from the real world. I also really appreciated the enthusiasm of others for books and joined lots of book clubs, groups, and challenges, very satisfying filling in those lists. Looking forward to joining in the discussions and some challenges.

[lethe]

Hi Danny, as you could (should) have guessed from the group's name and homepage, this is a group for reading books by women authors.

Furthermore, the homepage states one rule for authors:

Authors
1. No self-promotion.

[Michelle]

Hi everyone! My name is Michelle and I currently reside in Michigan. 2020 has pushed me back into my love for reading and exploration of new worlds.

Lately my go-to genres have been self-care, feminism, and Eastern religions.

I am thrilled to be part of this beautiful community! Read on, sisters.

[lethe]

Welcome, Michelle :)

[Carol]

Hello, my name is Carol. I'm retired and live in California. My favorite genre is historical fiction but I enjoy most any genre if its a well written book.

In browsing through the group bookshelf, most sound like great reads, and I like the inclusion of a non-fiction pick. Women's issues interest me and I look forward to reading more books by women authors. I think I've found the right place!

[lethe]

Welcome, Carol! :)

[Story]

Good to have you join us, Carol, and all new members who've joined us recently.

[Alwynne]

Hi Carol look forward to hearing about your reading, this is a really friendly group so hope you enjoy it!

[Michaela]

Welcome Carol and everyone I missed! :)

[Brenda]

Hi everyone!

I'm Brenda, I started purposely trying to read only women authors a few years back based on a challenge I saw on Instagram. Admittedly, I did not really read that much anyway but in the last year I've become disabled and homebound, which leaves me with a lot of time to read more and ward off loneliness/depression/anxiety due to my situation.

I am mostly a nonfiction fan first but have been learning a lot about what else I enjoy reading and have managed to venture out into the realms of historical fiction and mystery… I'm really still learning about all the different categories of work there is!

I look forward to connecting and reading some great books!

[Carol]

Brenda - welcome! This group has a number of active members who are avid nonfiction readers, so whether you stay in your comfort zone or venture into other areas, you hopefully will feel right at home sharing thoughts and recommendations in our threads. I'm sorry you're dealing with the challenges you're dealing with, btw.

[Story]

Welcome Brenda!

[Michaela]

Welcome Brenda, glad to see you on the threads! :)

[lethe]

Welcome, Brenda! Sorry to hear about your situation.

[Brenda]

Carol wrote: "Brenda - welcome! This group has a number of active members who are avid nonfiction readers, so whether you stay in your comfort zone or venture into other areas, you hopefully will feel right at h..."

Thank you, I appreciate the sentiment :-) and I do look forward to contributing my thoughts and learning from everyone too!

[Brenda]

Michaela wrote: "Welcome Brenda, glad to see you on the threads! :)"

lethe wrote: "Welcome, Brenda! Sorry to hear about your situation."

Story wrote: "Welcome Brenda!"

Thank you!

[Ria]

hi i'm Ria and i'm a student from the UK! i am currently taking a year out from university but it has really reignited my passion for reading and i'm hoping to find more works by women authors to enjoy :)
i've realised that almost all of the academic works i have to read for my course are by male authors so i'm hoping that being in this group will help me to expand beyond that. looking forward to taking part!

[Story]

Welcome Ria!

[Michaela]

Welcome Ria! What a pity about the academic works, but hope you´ll find something else to read here.

[María]

Hi! I'm María and I'm from Spain. I joined this group with the intention of sharing thoughts about the recommended books and get motivated to get a reading habit. It's been a long time since the last year I read more than one book so I really want to change that while supporting women writers.
I don't have a specific favorite genre, but I love learning about different cultures and I usually don't like Sci-fiction.
Thanks for welcoming me here and I hope we all can exchange opinions and cultivate each other.

[Michaela]

Welcome María! You´ll find a lot of interesting books here. :)

[lethe]

Welcome Joe, and also (belatedly) Ria and María!

[Darcy]

hey everyone:) i just realized i've never made an introduction here, im christina, im 19, and im from the midwest. i was super into reading when i was a kid but that obsession halted when i was in high school. im *finally* getting more into books again and i joined this group bc of that :) i love fast paced reads by women authors :)

[Mj]

Hi Everyone,

Joined about a week ago and thought I’d take a minute to introduce myself. I am a very eclectic reader and used to read voraciously. Unfortunately, since Covid began I’ve slowed right down - having difficulty concentrating as not many books are grabbing my attention too quickly. It also seems that my tastes have changed somewhat and I have been leaning more toward non-fiction than fiction though in the past I still read about 35% non-fiction. I also find myself looking for light, feel good books and shying away from some of the heavier books I used to read.

I am Canadian born and raised and read about 65% Canadian authors and generally at least 65% women. I believe I gravitated naturally to female authors because they are more likely to write about topics of interest to me.

Am a big fan of memoirs, debut novels and I deliberately choose to read quite a few social justice books, even though they are sometimes hard to read, I want to educate myself by walking in others’ shoes. I set annual goals to read authors from or subject matter about indigenous, black, poc, lgbtq+ and other countries with different life experiences and cultures.

Not sure how active I’ll be in the group but I’ve been following the group for a while and it looks like a pretty interesting group that I will enjoy. Looking forward to my membership.

P.S. when I call a female feisty it is intended as a compliment and they are some of my favourite book characters and real life friends.

[Alwynne]

Hi MJ welcome, it's an exceptionally friendly/supportive group, hope you enjoy being part of it.

[Mj]

Thanks Alwynne for the welcome.

[Story]

Welcome to all our new members!

[Whitney]

Hi everyone! My name is Whitney and I live in the US, Texas to be exact. I have recently rekindled my relationship with reading for leisure, so I'm very excited to be a part of the this group and make friends!

[Michaela]

Welcome to all new members and happy reading!

[Pippa]

Welcome, Whitney and all new members.

[g ✰]

hi! I'm Grace, I'm a student and I'm here because I took a look at my bookcase and realized that only about a quarter of the authors were women!! so yeah, I want to broaden what I'm reading and appreciate great books by women/nb people!

[lex]

hi!! :)

i‘m lex/lisa, from vienna/austria and currently working on applying for film school as a director.
i found my love for reading again through reading more books written by non-male and non-heterosexual authors and i joined this group to share reviews and find recommendations.
my pronouns are they/she.

[lethe]

Welcome, Grace, lex/lisa and all new members!

[Michaela]

Hi lex/lisa! I´m from Vienna too! Never met anyone from my city here, so enjoy! :)

[Crystal]

Hi, all. Looking so forward to hearing your recommendations. I guess I wouldn't be here if I weren't already an enthusiastic reader. If I were to guess, I would say that 80 percent of what I read is written by a female author.

What else can I tell you? I read 55 books during the pandemic, a huge achievement for me because I read very slowly. I write for a living (content marketing and magazines) and I can't stop myself from reading for the purpose of improving my own writing.

I'm looking ahead to fall with great anticipation because I know I'll be indoors with more time to read! Happy reading! Tag me and say hi!

Best,
Crystal

[Story]

Welcome to all our new members!

[Alwynne]

Hi everyone hope you enjoy the group.

[Hannah]

Welcome everyone!

[Whitney]

Hi all newcomers!! <3

[Moonbeam]

Hi, I'm from Philippines! I'm aiming to read more works of female authors, especially Asian women.

I'm actually surprised by the fact that I've mostly read novels and literature made by men authors (which is something to be frowned upon.) But I wanted to change that.

Favorite works of women authors are:

1. Rape of Nanking - Iris Chang
2. Kim Jiyoung , Born 1982 - Cho Nam -Joo
3. Smaller and Smaller Circles - F.H. Batacan
4. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven
5. Earthlings - Sayaka Murata

Favorite female authors:

1. Iris Chang
2. Rainbow Rowell
3. Sayaka Murata

[Story]

Welcome Consuelo and thank you for sharing your favourite books and authors with us!

[Hannah]

Welcome consuelo, I really liked earthlings and kim jiyoung also so I'll be checking out your other favs!

[Carol]

Consuelo, I've had Smaller and Smaller Circles on my bookcase for several years, always really excited to read it some day, but never picking it today. Thanks for introducing yourself and reminding me to move it up my TBR, for real. (Similarly Nanking is on my shelf, but I think I'm actually afraid to read it, imagining it as the monster book under the bed, waiting to take a bite out of my heart that I'll never get back if I ever open its pages.)

[Misty]

Okay - I finally made it through this whole thread! Whew. So, I guess it's time to introduce myself. :)

I'm Misty. I live in Colorado, USA. I am a professional musician. Almost all of my undergraduate and graduate academic research has been on women's issues in classical music. Of course, I am also interested in women's voices in the literary world! I started this year with a vague - read more work by women - goal, and I am at over 60% of my reads having been written by women. Next year I want to add more Women in Translation to the list. This year, so far, there have only been two. I read everything. I lost my mom earlier in the year, and that was only one of many losses. Reading has been my solace. In February, a friend introduced me to Sarah J. Maas. Since then, my oldest daughter and I have read 14 of her books! :) Now we are reading our way through the Sookie Stackhouse series. "Books are a uniquely portable magic." - Stephen King (also love him and read multiple of his books this year).

[Michaela]

Welcome everyone! Looking ahead to your thoughts and ideas!

[Carol]

Misty wrote: "Okay - I finally made it through this whole thread! Whew. So, I guess it's time to introduce myself. :)

I'm Misty. I live in Colorado, USA. I am a professional musician. Almost all of my undergrad..."

I'm sorry for your loss of your mom, Misty. I'm glad reading helped in some way this year. Your musical background is really interesting, as well. I"m so glad you joined our group.

[[deleted user]]

Hello folks! I'm a high school student in Brazil named Luisa. Literature grew in me recently and continues to expand from within ever since. As a woman, I'm interested in angles of the world besides those sold to us every day. I enjoy horror, fantasy, historical fiction, poetry & non-fiction alike, and bend myself more to classics than any other type of book. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & Sylvia Plath are female authors I'm very interested in.

Thanks for the effort put into this group! It's a joy to participate.

[Story]

Welcome Luisa! We look forward to your participation :)

[Michaela]

Welcome Luisa! :)