Action heroine annual reading challenge

[Mervi]

I've just finished Caliban's War. It the second book in the Expanse science fiction series. One of the four POV characters is Roberta Draper, a Marine gunnery sargeant who can kick ass both in battle armor and outside it.

The tv-show Expanse is based on this series.

[Werner]

Looks as though you and I both only need one more book to meet our challenge goals, Mervi!

[Mervi]

Indeed! I'm going to start my final action heroine book Night and Silence this week. It's the newest book in the October Daye urban fantasy series.

Good luck with your goal, Werner!

[Werner]

Thanks, Mervi! I'm expecting to work in at least one more action heroine book before year's end.

[Werner]

Yay! I've completed my challenge goal of eight books! For those of you who haven't, you still have a few more days before year's end to read some more (or to edit your goal downward :-) )

[Mervi]

Congrats, Werner! I've also completed the challenge.

[Werner]

Thanks, Mervi, and congratulations to you, too!

[Werner]

I've put up a new action heroine books reading challenge for next year, at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/... . (It also shows right near the top of our group homepage.)

As the first person to sign up this year, I set a goal of six books. I'm hoping some others in the group will join me once again!

[E.G.]

I missed by one, 19 out of 20. But I'm releasing two novels this quarter, Nightingale: The Apprentice, Volume 6 on 1/22 and Bond Proof: The Apprentice, Volume 7 on 2/19. Getting ~ 250K words publication ready took a bit out of my reading time.

[Werner]

E. G. wrote: "Getting ~ 250K words publication ready took a bit out of my reading time."

That's very understandable, E.G. I thought it was great that you read as many action heroine books as you did!

[Mervi]

I'm joining with initial goal of ten books (and comics).

[Georgann]

I did really well last year,so this year my goal is 19! Of course, I did all reading and no writing!

[E.G.]

I'm going to try for 20 again. I only missed it by one this year!

[Werner]

Glad to have all three of you joining in!

[Mervi]

My first read for the year has unexpectedly an action heroine: The Delivery of Flesh.
Temperance Whiteoak is a pistol warlock, someone who can cast spells with hexbullets. She's on the trail of her family's killers but ends up on a dangerous detour escorting an imprisoned sorcerer to a large city. Temperance a skilled gun-fighter.

[Werner]

It looks interesting, Mervi! Too bad it's apparently not available in paper format.

[Mervi]

Amazon shows to me that the paperback is "in stock". However, the official publication day seems to be January 12th. Maybe the paperback will be available then? Oh and it's a novella.

[Werner]

Mervi wrote: "Amazon shows to me that the paperback is "in stock". However, the official publication day seems to be January 12th. Maybe the paperback will be available then? Oh and it's a novella."

That's evidently why the paperback edition doesn't show up in the book's Goodreads entry (yet!).

[Mervi]

I'read a bunch of Wonder Woman comics and Battle Angel Alita, so I'm increasing my goal to 15.

[Werner]

Sounds good, Mervi! So far, I've only read one this year; but I'm expecting the pace to pick up soon.

[Mervi]

I read Alison Morton's Succession in her Roma Nova series and quite enjoyed it. I also like how much time goes between the books and how Carina and her family change.

I've also read the first two collections of Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman. It was part of the New 52 relaunch. For the most part I've enjoyed them because they're very heavily focused on Greek deities and a war between them. The artwork is also very nice and different from usual superhero art. However, the Amazons were changed from immortal noble warrior women to mortals who three times a century kidnapped men, mated with them, and killed them. They also sold all male children to slavery. This sounds like very strange change.

Next I'm going to read more Battle Angel Alita. It seems that most of my challenge this year is going to be made up of comics.

I'm also increasing my goal to 20 because I've still go Gail Simone's Wonder Woman to read and the upcoming Gambit and Rogue collections. I'm also most likely going to read some X-Men collections.

[Werner]

Wow, Mervi, you've made more progress with your challenge than any of the rest of us; keep up the good work! So far, I've only read one book towards my total; but I'm currently reading one (Element 42 by our own Seeley James) and have another one, Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman by J. B. Lynn, coming through interlibrary loan. I'm planning to read the sequel to the Lynn book this year as well, and also hope to make major progress in reading Seeley's Sabel Security series.

In actual Greek mythology, the Amazons were represented as mortal women, usually pictured as living north of the Black Sea (ancient tribes in that area actually did have many women warriors, as well as male ones, so the legend has some basis in fact). Strabo says they had sex once a year with the males of a neighboring tribe, and kept any resulting female babies; but rather than killing the male babies or selling them as slaves (as some modern fiction depicts), they simply sent them to the neighboring tribe to be raised there.

[Mervi]

Werner, that is indeed in Amazon mythology and has probably inspired Azzarello and DC editors. They just took it quite a bit further.

I'm increasing my goal to 30.

[Werner]

Alas, J. B. Lynn's series turned out to be (for me) disappointing, and didn't contribute to my challenge total. :-( Nevertheless, I've increased my goal from six books to eight! The series opener of Mary Connealy's Sophie's Daughters trilogy, which I already knew featured strong, competent female characters, proved to have enough action to qualify, and it's already clear that the second book will as well. (Actually, all of the grown women in the heroine's family are action heroine types, and proud of it!)

[Werner]

I've upped my challenge goal to nine, and I'm pretty confident I can meet it! :-)

[Mervi]

Nice going, Werner! :)

[Werner]

Mervi wrote: "Nice going, Werner! :)"

Well, I've already read seven. The book I'm currently reading to my wife in the car (I call these "organically-powered audiobooks" :-) ) will qualify; and I've recently gotten an e-novella in Kelley Armstrong's Nadia Stafford series, which will be next in the Kindle app queue after I finish a review book I'm reading in that format. (Now, if I can just actually make some time to do some e-reading...!)

[E.G.]

I've exceeded my target, but I goofed and forgot to update my goal before shelving the extra books. :(

[Werner]

E.G. wrote: "I've exceeded my target, but I goofed and forgot to update my goal before shelving the extra books. :( "

That happened to me once too, before I knew about that little quirk in the program! :-(

[Mervi]

I've changed my target to 45.

Gwen in Stillhouse Lake turned out to be an action heroine. Also, the book ends in a cliffhanger, so I'm going to get the second book soon. I've got at least three X-Men Gold collections to read and the newest (and last, sob :() Gambit and Rogue collection.

[Werner]

Sounds good, Mervi! I've made my goal of nine for this year; I just haven't recorded them yet. (I'm planning to do that over the weekend, when I write reviews for the last two.)

[Sristy]

Can I get some recomm for Action Heroines for the challenge?

[Werner]

Ash, I don't know exactly what your reading tastes are like, so it's not easy to just toss off recommendations. For instance, do you prefer novels or short stories, or do you like both? Do you like science fiction and/or fantasy and supernatural fiction, or do you prefer your action heroines in more realistic settings? Are things like bad language, sexual content or religious content off-putting for you (or, on the other hand, do you think of some of those as pluses)? How do you feel about first-person narration, or works written in the present tense? (Some readers don't like one or both of those.)

To start with, though, you might want to browse our group's bookshelf: https://www.goodreads.com/group/books... . It includes any books group members have read and added to it, not just books we read as a group common read; and it's sub-divided into various customized categories to make it easier for people to find the kind of reads they're looking for. You might also check out these threads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... .

[Werner]

Our new Action Heroine Fans annual challenge for 2020 is up and running, at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/... . (It's also featured at the top of the group home page.) A big thanks to E.G. for finding the "Fight Like A Girl!" Internet meme, which serves as our challenge logo for this year!

Hope more members will take part this year! I've signed up, with a modest goal of four books to start with.

[Mervi]

Happy new decade to everyone! :)
I'm joining with an inital goal of twenty books (and comics). I got five Buffy books from a second hand bookstore so I'll get a great start.

[E.G.]

I'm matching Mervi's optimism and going for 20. :)

[Werner]

Sounds great, Mervi and E.G.!

[Georgann]

I'm going with the group's original suggested goal of one for each year it is, so 20. I didn't have any trouble making my goal of 19 last year, so here I go! I just finished Book 3 of the Firekeeper Saga, The Dragon of Despair It was rather too long for my taste, but our girl-raise- by-wolves heroine is definitely an action heroine!

[Werner]

Georgann wrote: "I'm going with the group's original suggested goal of one for each year it is, so 20. I didn't have any trouble making my goal of 19 last year, so here I go!"

Sounds good, Georgann! But where did you find that "original suggested goal"? It didn't ring any bells with me; and when I went back to the early posts on this thread from 2016 (when we first started doing these annual challenges), I couldn't find any reference to it. The number of books to read for the challenge has always been up to the individual; but if any of us lives until 2099 (hey, medical science is advancing all the time! :-) ), I could see where doing it the way you describe could become a bit too demanding --and maybe reach that point even well before 2099!

[Georgann]

Ha ha! "Since we're at the beginning of a new year, Danielle suggested (in a personal message to me) that it might be fun to have an annual challenge in this group, to read a certain number of books with an action heroine in the calendar year." Well, obviously, I read what wasn't there, or rather, interpreted what I read to say what I thought it should say!! Good thing there wasn't a test. And yes, I think I'd give it up waaay before 2099!! I wonder where I think I'd give up? Time will tell!

[Mervi]

If we can include single issues of comics, reading 99 issues is doable. :)

[Werner]

Mervi wrote: "If we can include single issues of comics, reading 99 issues is doable. :)"

True! And since we count graphic novels, I guess comics would count too. :-) (They'd have to be in the Goodreads database, though!)

[Georgann]

I read all 4 of this series.

[Werner]

Looks good, Georgann!

[Werner]

Since I've decided the book I'm currently reading (by myself), Farhope by Andrew Seddon, fits the bill here, I've raised my challenge total to five. The book I'm currently reading to Barb, The Husband Tree by Mary Connealy, has action heroine potential as well, though it hasn't manifested itself as such yet (unless we consider facing up to the physical challenges of a late 19th-century cattle drive in the Rocky Mountains sufficient action credentials!). If it does, I'll be able to put my goal up to six.

[Marc]

In the last couple of month's I read all 15 books in the Kitty Norville series. Radio DJ Kitty Norville is also a werewolf, and accidentally starts a show as the help line for the supernatural, just as the existence of the supernatural world is becoming acknowledged by humans. I loved the first book for it's thoughtful and human approach to handling the many issues supernaturals have, but Kitty proves over the course of the series that she has moxie other werewolves lack. Excellent series.

[Werner]

Marc wrote: "Kitty proves over the course of the series that she has moxie other werewolves lack. Excellent series.."

I've had the first book of the series sitting in one of my mountainous TBR piles for ages, and have often wondered whether or not Kitty was a heroine of the action-oriented sort; so that's interesting to know. (Of course, there are other ways of being a heroine, and I also greatly like and admire a number of fictional heroines who don't operate in physical action mode; so it wouldn't keep me from exploring the series even if she didn't!)

[Marc]

She doesn't start out an action heroine, but she becomes one over the course of the series. That's one of the best things about it. So many things she didn't know she could do until she was forced to do them. Some of the titles are things like Kitty's House of Horrors and Kitty Saves the World, and they aren't lying.

[Werner]

Thanks for the info, Marc! Right now, I want to finish up, or progress with, a few more of the series I'm currently juggling before I start on another long one, but I'll certainly keep Kitty in mind for future attention.

[Georgann]

I read this book waaaay back when (can it actually have been nearly 30 years?? How is that even possible?) I remembered liking it and in my rush to get a bagful of books at the library before it closed for COVID19, I grabbed this and the following 2 of the series. I'm having difficulty with the bullying and the bullies, the horrendous treatment of anyone without power, and the massive betrayals. I don't know if it's b/c I'm almost 30 years older and I'm much more aware of these things in real life, or if it's just this current climate or what. But! The heroine is definitely an action heroine, and I have started the second book. I think I'd read it even if the library was open and I could get other books! I miss my library!