Read Women discussion
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2022: looking forward, brainstorming, planning
What I like most about Read Women is that we read woman authors. Other groups often read male authors.I definitely want to continue fiction and non-fiction choices. I often don't participate in group reads because those particular books don't interest me. I think that's unlikely to change. I have a taste for the unusual.
I like that the focus of this group is on women authors. I've found many great books written by women because of this group. I don't often participate in the group reads because I read mostly genre fiction, and rarely read non-fiction.
I'm also a cheapskate, and prefer inexpensive, free, or subscription (kindle unlimited) books. I read library books, but the wait time is fairly long.
I also love that the focus on women authors from around the world. Like Ozsaur, I've found lots of great books by women here. I didn't often participate in the group reads this year because I've been extra-tired and am reading lighter books that don't eat up what's left of my brain power :) But when I do participate, I enjoy having some structured questions to help me focus.
I'd be likely to participate more often if we sometimes chose books with happier themes. And I also have a very tight budget and need books that I can get for cheap, free or better yet, from my library. So older titles are easier to access than new releases.
I was just thinking about doing a post like this Carol. You're always on top of things, thank you. I would love to hear theme/genre suggestions from everyone so we can start building our calendar for next year.
Also very invested in what we can do to get more participation in our monthly read discussions. What will bring you to our discussion threads?
Following on from Story's comments I wonder if we could promote more classic reads, with classic being elastic, so books that are available through libraries or second-hand or online because out of copyright?This could be by author or themes so something like modernist women:
Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys, Antonia White etc
or Harlem Renaissance women writers:
Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston
or Victorian women:
Brontes, Eliot, Gaskell, Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Bestsellers by women from different decades:
Peyton Place, Beloved, The Group, Valley of the Dolls etc
In one of my other groups we have author threads that can be added to at any time and often lead to group or buddy reads because of shared enthusiams. So could have threads on writers like Toni Morrison or Woolf or a thread for more obscure women writers like Anna Kavan etc
I always have the problem with getting books at the library, esp. new ones and typical American ones, so I agree about Classics! Good idea, thanks Alwynne!I´m no fan of reading one author through several months or a whole year though. That´s mostly too much for me, esp. when I don´t like the first book.
I definitely go through author spurts, so I think author threads leading to buddy reads is a great idea. I also agree that I can get tired of reading too much of the same author or genre too, but as it wouldn't be a part of the main group reads and would be entirely voluntary and develop out of natural conversation in the said author's thread, I don't see that as an issue. I do get those wild hairs and read a bunch of a specific genre or era too Alwynne.
Absolutely, some of the author threads in the other group have been there for a couple of years, contributions wax and wane, so it's not like a challenge where people have to read that author. But also people add articles or reviews or links that relate to that author or that topic if it's a broader category.
I'm getting alot from the feedback so far, and really appreciate the varied inputs and voices. For everyone's consideration, in terms of group reads and themes, the following books generated the most comments in their respective threads.
Minor Feelings – Cathy Park Hong (theme - nonfiction - open choice)
Annie John (theme was Read Around the World)
Parable of the Sower (theme - speculative fiction)
Memoirs of a Polar Bear (open choice)
The Cure for Death by Lightning (theme - fiction - open choice)
We also had great, thoughtful discussions of our 2 buddy read selections - Breasts and Eggs and A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers)
Before we turn the conversation to engaging on and refining a theme list, and, Alwynne, yours are really intriguing from my perspective, my observation is that the common factors across our selections garnering the greatest participation are open choice + translated fiction + a non-white, non-American + ease of access in multiple formats + a setting outside of the US. In 2021, 5 of our 24 group reads were open choice. Consider whether we want to increase that from 5 to 10 of 24, just to put something out there for folks to react to.
Another observation - when our monthly read themes are in synch with our quarterly challenges and also the themes of our annual challenges, it allows challenge-motivated members to achieve multiple reading goals and I think drives participation across threads. So I try to think about balancing a calendar that offers something for everyone, against a calendar that echoes and supports some of our most broadly shared reading goals, e.g., feminism.
Keep the thoughts and suggestions coming... and thanks for your time in submitting them.
Carol wrote: " Another observation - when our monthly read themes are in synch with our quarterly challenges and also the themes of our annual challenges, it allows challenge-motivated members to achieve multiple reading goals and I think drives participation across threads..."Yes! I think if we aimed to have at last 1 monthly theme line up with that quarterly challenge (maybe the second or last of the quarter) we could help those quarterly challenges without overwhelming readers who may get bored reading too much of one theme/genre/author, particularly if they don't like it.
As for increasing the open choice nominations to 10, that would put us pretty much to staggering an open choice nimination every month if we alternated between fiction and non- fiction. Which I'm perfectly fine with. Especially if it will drive participation.
With the idea of less themes/genres on the table, I'd really love to get member feedback on favorite genres for us to fill in this calendar with what you want to read, please share with us your favorite genres and themes to read with the group.
Here's a link to where you can find this year's themes:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
@Anita - I liked mixing Read Around the World in with Fiction and Nonfiction this year. Did you favor returning to fiction and non-fiction only?Possible themes for everyone's consideration, as a conversation starter.
Fiction
LGBTQ+
Speculative fiction
Author is of African descent
#WiT
Published between 1940 – 2000
Published between 1800 - 1917
Harlem Renaissance
Islam / Muslim characters
detective / mystery novels published between 1930 - 1965 (excluding Agatha Christie)
Author is of Asian descent
neurodivergent minds
classics (in some variation, incl anything > 50 yrs from 1st pub)
Nonfiction
ancient world
(worldwide) women’s suffrage
feminism
health
reproductive rights
civil rights, including disability rightsa and colonialism
immigration/displacement
nature/environment
indigenous peoples/history/experience
LGBTQ+
Read Around the World
Nordic Countries (Scandinavia + Finland + Iceland + Greenland + the Faroe Islands + the Åland Islands)
Africa
rural setting (excl US or UK)
Israel and Palestine
Korea and Japan
genre fiction/bestsellers in translation
What resonates? What doesn't? Additions or tweaks? Are there themes you think might work better as quarterly challenge themes than monthly group read themes? or that you'd prefer to see in the fiction vs nonfiction categories or vice versa?
Thanks for the great list Carol!Interests so far: LGBTQ+, Feminism/Suffrage, Classics, Ancient World, Detective Novels, Civil Rights, Environment, Indigenous, Nordic Countries, Africa, Israel/Palestine, Non-white Authors, Immigration/Refuge, so nearly everything. ;)
I´m always more for fiction than non-fiction, my native language not being English, but there may be exceptions, f.e. essays. Always the problem to get the books from the library or for free, though I also buy some.
I can imagine RatW being interesting for a quarterly challenge.
All these suggestions sound interesting, a wonderful thread to read, thank you everyone.I try to join in if I can, but sourcing English books here in France can be a challenge. sometimes I'll get to a book later than when it's read on here, but I just love the discussions and suggestions and the feeling of reading solidarity.
I am a big supporter of literature by women and particularly voices from other cultures, voices in translation.
I'm interested in Caribbean women authors, (in English and in translation), classics from the Margaret Busby Daughters of Africa collection, narrative nonfiction, narrative nature writing, feminism/gender, post-colonialism, neurodivergent storytelling perspective, middle East women authors, Asian women authors, South African (black) women authors, stories from Polynesian women writers, indigenous voices, Harlem Renaissance era, classics that rebel against convention...
Fairy talesDark Fantasy
Space
Historical detectives
Monsters of all types
Speculative fiction
Zombies
@ Carol, no, I really enjoyed mixing in RAtW and WiT with the reads, and from the feedback we've recieved, I think edging our non-fiction down with these alternative themes is the way to continue. I think we can maintain about 4-6 non-fiction reads for the year, with maybe 1 quarterly theme that incorporates non-fiction elements (which many of your suggested themes do)Themes that interested me from those suggested above are:
Nordic countries
Ancient cultures
Environment/ nature
Harlem renaissance
Indigenous
Polynesian/ Pacific islander
Caribbean authors
Asian authors
I do enjoy gothic literature and fiction
And all of Ozsuar's suggestions
I'm seeing a lot of RAtW opportunities in everyone's suggestions as well
Ozsaur wrote: "Fairy talesDark Fantasy
Space
Historical detectives
Monsters of all types
Speculative fiction
Zombies"
Love the idea of fairy tales and speculative fiction!
(Through Message 17)Aggregate ideas separate from theme suggestions, for ease of reference:
- for group reads, consider availability and cost in a more intentional way - free (available online in .pdf at no charge), subscription (ebooks in the Kindle Unlimited catalog) and library (easy, not order in from somewhere some time or monumental wait list) (3, 4, plus a layer of me)
- happier monthly themes
- more classic reads, w/possible sub-themes (6)
- author threads (6)
- synch monthly themes to quarterly and annual challenges
I'm setting up a folder for author threads now, and we'll test out its use over the next 12 months and assess this time next year whether to continue. *Background: I'm mindful of the phenomenal work Louise did in 2019 to substantially reduce folders making the threads more usable, but members' needs and wants also change over time, and now I think many great topics in RW Chat get ignored because they aren't obvious unless you access GR at your laptop.
Ozsaur wrote: "Fairy talesDark Fantasy
Space
Historical detectives
Monsters of all types
Speculative fiction
Zombies"
I'm really intriged by this list, several of which are so far outside of my "normal" reading that I can't see them from my house. I'm going to take it as a personal challenge to find a way to honor and propose some options for incorporating them into our plans, subject to everyone's thoughts.
for anyone else like me who didn't know what dark fantasy is, wiki's answer: "Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dread."
I've been a real fan of the challenge to read books by female authors over 50 when they wrote it. I think I will be incorporating tracking that forever more. I suppose I want a reminder that my best years in terms of contributions to society may be to come. What was fascinating for me on a personal level is that I gravitated to these authors organically. I didn't choose any book this year on the basis of the author's age. My being over 50 has nothing to do with this, why do you ask?
Monica wrote: "I've been a real fan of the challenge to read books by female authors over 50 when they wrote it. I think I will be incorporating tracking that forever more. I suppose I want a reminder that my bes..."I like it, too. Funny, I wish I could more easily identify qualifying books and be more intentional, but they also seem somehow to find me in my stack chosen for other reasons. I swear it's true.
Hi everyone, I've just returned from holiday and have a lot to catch up on!Here are my thoughts:
---Regarding availability and cost issues - how about we nominate and vote on our monthly reads earlier? This way we have time to source a used copy if it's an older book and time to add to a library queue or request a new purchase from library if it's a newer book (this would have helped me to participate more in group reads this year). It may also be part of the reason why buddy reads have done better
---Quarterly challenges haven't worked as well for me since lockdown ended and real life resumed, and I noticed that participation did generally seem to drop. I felt as though I didn't have the time to fit in the reads I wanted. I am really enjoying our yearly challenges though because there is more flexibilitytime-wise. So i I wondered if perhaps 6-monthly would work better than quarterly? Either way, I think the idea of tying these themes in with the monthly reads is a great idea
---RatW I'm wondering if narrowing the theme down (for example isreal/palestine) is going to help spark interest or would mean even less nominations (which have been fairly low recently) perhaps we would get more nominations if the areas were broader (eg asia). Could go either way? Perhaps some such as carribean/indigenous/pacific islander/ancient cultures could be combined?
---I also like the weighted voting idea somebody (tamara?) mentioned in another thread. It is frustrating when a book wins because it has the most votes but from members who don't participate. I don't want to put anybody off from participating but the weighted voting idea seemed like the perfect solution
--- personal preferences- RAtW, WiT, indigenous, black women authors (although perhaps we could extend this to include non-binary authors eg Akwaeke Emezi). I'd like to see more of the immigration/exile theme as I feel it is an important topic these days. My genre and non fiction reading has become non existant this last year or so, so I am unlikely to participate in these themes
Monica wrote: "I've been a real fan of the challenge to read books by female authors over 50 when they wrote it. I think I will be incorporating tracking that forever more. I suppose I want a reminder that my bes..."I'd forgotten about this challenge so thank you so much for reminding me, Monica!
I really like everyone's suggestions my reading's quite broad - really anything that sounds good. The only genres I read that aren't represented so far are YA and children's lit but think they're not that popular on here maybe? They're what I pick up when I want a less demanding but decent read. But could fit under other categories anyway. I'm also particularly keen on WiT, Harlem Renaissance and vintage/classic reads. I read a lot of LGBTQ+ but that's because I'm queer so kind of par for the course rather than a taste preference. Also one of the things I like about the group is the diversity of books/authors particularly in relation to BIPOC, still surprised by how many profiles I find on here that only contain books by white authors seems very strange now that so much is available that isn't in that category.
I love all the suggestions so far. Maybe I'm easy to please? LOL. I would like to read works by Indigenous authors. I would love to see a focus on women authors from different time periods. Most of my academic research has been on women's issues surrounding music and/or poetry. What I have found in my research is that much of women's work will be wildly popular in its day, but then disappears. It's incredibly frustrating. I am a classical music composer. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it is to track down biographical information for women poets. A good deal of that information I cannot ever find. The work may gain recognition when it is written/performed, but then fades into obscurity. I would love to see something such as "books written between 1850-1900" then another section of time, etc. I love reading new authors, but I also have a passion for not allowing women's work to disappear. So, I guess that's my suggestion! :)
I'm also interested in women authors from different time periods, vintage/classic books, authors over 50, indigenous writers.
Sorry for my late addition to the comments. I am a little swamped at the moment and it is impacting my reading (and by extension my challenges).As I noted in my commentary for the Recommended reads from this year, what I love about this group are the great books that people are recommending. All of my 5 star reads this year were from this group and they came about via other people's comments, or because I had to do some extra research to find books for a challenge theme.
I really love the Quarterly Challenges because I have read authors and works that I might not normally have chosen, and thankfully they have mostly been hugely successful. I know someone suggested changing it to Six Monthly but I what I love about Quarterly is that you get more variety if you change themes during the year. Rather than having less challenges, maybe people need to select less books for their challenge. That is what I found that I needed to do.
I like the idea of synching the Challenge themes with the monthly reads as sometimes I haven't been able to join a monthly chat because I was busy trying to finish my challenge. I tend to map out my reading for the year in advance in order to manage the challenges. So if the Monthly reads were somehow connected to the Quarterly challenges then it would make participating in both a little easier. Plus there is the bonus that someone might recommend a book that I hadn't come across when trying to find something for the challenge.
I have seen the buddy reads in other groups and to be honest I haven't been a fan of them. People have been mentioning the reduced participation in monthly discussions and I think that having Buddy reads can take people away from those discussions. For me, the voting in the bookclub is like voting in an election. Sometimes you vote for a winner and sometimes you miss out. There have been times that I have read some great books that I might not otherwise have read simply due to that fact. If I'd chosen to do a buddy read instead then I would have missed out. It also feels a little unfair to the person who nominated the book that did win if people don't participate in that discussion.
I also wonder if we have too many challenges and maybe that is why people don't have time for the monthly reads. I know that I have been guilty of that.
I like the suggestion about nominating earlier as that might help people that are trying to get books through libraries.
I have seen the buddy reads in other groups and to be honest I haven't been a fan of them. People have been mentioning the reduced participation in monthly discussions and I think that having Buddy reads can take people away from those discussions.I see where you're coming from but it also means that if the group read doesn't appeal then it's not possible to participate in the group that easily otherwise. I've found I now participate more in other groups than in this one, much as I love it, because there are more choices available elsewhere, and so usually a buddy or a group read on offer that I want to take part in. Otherwise participation in the group tends to be reduced to listing what I've read or posting the odd link. I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect people who didn't vote for a book to take part in a monthly read simply because other people did, which is what you seem to be supporting? What bothers me though is people voting for a read and not participating, when there were other books that more active participants voted for, it means that in terms of activity this group then tends to go quiet for long stretches of time.
I
Alwynne wrote: "I have seen the buddy reads in other groups and to be honest I haven't been a fan of them. People have been mentioning the reduced participation in monthly discussions and I think that having Buddy..."I can understand that if the book that wins is something that you have absolutely no interest in reading then obviously you shouldn't be forced to read it but sometimes you have chosen one book over another one or two that might be interesting as well but you preferred the one you voted for.
I agree that it is frustrating that if people vote for a book and don't intend to read it or participate in the discussion then it makes it harder on the members of the group that want to participate. Buddy reads to me seem more like an option where we nominate several books and we can each join the chat that interests us most of all.
I'm really not sure how we resolve the issue to be honest.
I get that but clearly that hasn't often been the case here, or there wouldn't be so many instances of long stretches of time when the group barely generates any notifications compared to others.
Alwynne wrote: "I get that but clearly that hasn't often been the case here, or there wouldn't be so many instances of long stretches of time when the group barely generates any notifications compared to others."Actually if you look at the polls, there are not that many people voting either. This year, most polls have had less than 20 votes in total. Sometimes a book can win with only 3 or 4 votes which means there aren't that many people likely to join the chat if you only join a monthly discussion that you voted for. Maybe this is something we need to look into. If there are 3000 members in this group, why are so few people voting in the polls each month? What could we change to get people more interested in nominating, voting and joining the discussions?
Alwynne wrote: "Absolutely, some of the author threads in the other group have been there for a couple of years, contributions wax and wane, so it's not like a challenge where people have to read that author. But ..."A group I used to co-mod on Shelfari did something similar with great success: folders by region and theme--e.g. "Japan", "World War I" etc. Not sure if that would be of interest to us?
Alwynne wrote: "I get that but clearly that hasn't often been the case here, or there wouldn't be so many instances of long stretches of time when the group barely generates any notifications compared to others."I think that discussion is down in many groups. My suspicion is that it's due to both social media fatigue and pandemic overwhelm. One thing I do notice about groups that are more active is that many of them have a thread for general chat, not necessarily related to books. Some of them have a discussion question of the week, for example. I'm not sure if this is something that would be of interest here?
Story wrote: "A group I used to co-mod on Shelfari did something similar with great success: folders by region and theme--e.g. "Japan", "World War I" etc. Not sure if that would be of interest to us?"I like this idea story. A topic that immediately comes to mind is indigenous authors as I know quite a few of us have expressed interest in reading more but when we tried it as a theme this year there were real issues with availability. Unless this could be a quarterly or yearly challenge instead? Are we going to discuss these challenge topics separately Carol?
Liesl wrote: "I know someone suggested changing it to Six Monthly but I what I love about Quarterly is that you get more variety if you change themes during the year. Rather than having less challenges, maybe people need to select less books for their challenge. That is what I found that I needed to do"I think you're right Liesl. The 6-monthly idea was a brief thought but actually I think I prefer it as it is. There was more participation than I had initially remembered and I probably was overwhelming myself with long lists!
Story wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I get that but clearly that hasn't often been the case here, or there wouldn't be so many instances of long stretches of time when the group barely generates any notifications compa..."I agree but it's still a lot higher in other groups I'm participating in, but they do have general chat threads that generate a lot of discussion around GR or authors or just general book-related topics, I think that encourages people to participate because they don't feel they have to write a review or make a pithy comment about a book to join in.
Story wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I get that but clearly that hasn't often been the case here, or there wouldn't be so many instances of long stretches of time when the group barely generates any notifications compa..."So ... this is also why many groups have game threads, too. They drive a level of daily engagement that means that that group is always at the top of users' group notification files, if they access group discussions via the Community, Discussions pull-down. It's also why I prioritize adding new content in threads when I have time - the more a group is top of mind for users, the more likely it becomes their first stop when they access the site or app.
If there's any interest in a general group chat thread, I'd love to set it up. In my experience in several groups, it facilitates relationships aside from or in addition to book discussions, drives daily check-ins, and creates a sense of belonging, at least among members who participate in it.
I've noticed a fair amount of long-time active users/ reviewers whose accounts have been dormant since some time between May 2020 and July 2021. They either died, moved on, lost months to illness and haven't added GR back into their routine, stopped writing and posting reviews, entered witness protection, or of course could have just stopped accessing the site, etc. This group doesn't purge people who haven't been active. That 3000 user count isn't "real." Any more than my friend count is. I estimate that 1/3 of those accounts aren't active monthly users. In addition, however, since our group's remit is quite broad rather than focused on a common genre or interest (other than women authors), we're a resource group for many, many users. Their primary group might be their reading sweet spot and this is a secondary group they keep tabs on, so they're more active in that reading sweet spot group, occasionally active here. They want to get reading ideas from this group, but aren't looking to participate. And I'm glad they're here. It's a fairly common shared statement on the Moderators Group threads that a solid, well-run group typically has 15 to no more than 20 active members. Anecdotally, that's born out in what I observe in the dozen or so groups I participate in, to varying degrees. Not saying, a group shouldn't make every effort to adjust and adapt to try to drive that number up to 40 -50; only that it's not time for the Mayo Clinic if a group is in the 15-ish zone.
back to work to pay for books : )
I think a chat thread's a good idea Carol, but I can understand about dormant members, am surprised by how many profiles I encounter where there are no reviews, no comments, group memberships but no evidence of participation, like ghosts who just list and rate which is fine but odd when users like that send friend requests! I didn't think this group was terminal just looking for more ways to join in.
I'd love a chat thread. I don't always participate in chat threads for my other groups, but I often read through. It gives a group a cozy atmosphere.
I agree, plus I can post about GR glitches! Two or three of my friends' posts are not showing up on my feed and I have no idea why, I checked a friend's homepage who hadn't been around in a while and noticed posts I hadn't seen from the last few hours. I checked a few other profiles and found a couple more like that.
This continues to be such a great thread for listening and engaging. If I haven't commented on something, it doesn't mean it's not important or valuable, just ADHD plus work plus family distractions.Totally new topic/proposal: would you be interested (subject to the details, naturally) in our group offering an annual or semi-annual challenge that is comprised of 24 or so multiple tasks/categories of books by women authors? I've seen challenges of this type work well in several groups to create more frequent engagement across a variety of works, meet the need to stretch into new genres/topics but with entirely personal selection of the how, and it also tends less to make our related group threads a personal tracking device and more of a member-connecting challenge. If several are interested, I'll propose a sample for initial consideration.
Here's a link to our new off-topic chat thread, in its own off-topic chat folder, to allow for rants and the like. @Alwynne, GR glitches are 1000% fair game and I am here for it.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Carol wrote: "Totally new topic/proposal: would you be interested (subject to the details, naturally) in our group offering an annual or semi-annual challenge that is comprised of 24 or so multiple tasks/categories of books by women authors..."Sounds interesting to me!
Carol wrote: "Totally new topic/proposal: would you be interested (subject to the details, naturally) in our group offering an annual or semi-annual challenge that is comprised of 24 or so multiple tasks/categories of books by women authors? .."I'd be interested in something like this, too. But I guess it depends on the specific tasks/categories. How would something like this work, Carol? Do you list tasks/categories and then we select books individually that meet that criteria?
Tamara wrote: "Carol wrote: "Totally new topic/proposal: would you be interested (subject to the details, naturally) in our group offering an annual or semi-annual challenge that is comprised of 24 or so multiple..."Yes, but the list/categories would incorporate member input, e.g., it would be a team sport in this thread. I contemplate coming up with an initial list where we knock out or add based on thoughts of those most interested in refining it, then publish.
If there´s some chance to choose for myself, and I don´t have to do 24 in one year, I´m all for it!Also thanks for the chat thread Carol - I love those!
Annual ChallengesBased on participation, I'd propose that for 2022, we offer 4 annual challenges: Women Authors, Black Women Authors and Women in Translation, along with this multi-prompt challenge. (To be explicit, I'd not propose to re-up women authors and MCs over 50, as a group-wide and -promoted annual challenge.) Read Around the World and Authors A-Z threads remain open and members can create their own annual or ongoing challenges in both threads at their options.
So in terms of a multi-prompt challenge, here is what I was thinking, subject to interest and inputs.
Members can opt to create two 6-month challenges or a 1-year challenge. Pick any 10 prompts to complete in 6 months, or complete all 20 over the course of 2022. Also members can sub from any of the 5 alternative categories identified at the end to create an even more custom challenge. Each book read can meet multiple prompts, or a single prompt, at each member's option.
1. Published between 1750 - 1900
2. Author is of African descent, living anywhere
3. Fairy Tales and/or Retellings
4. Speculative Fiction
5. In translation
6. LGBTQ+ Theme and/or Author
7. Author over 50
8. Published between 1900 - 1970
9. Nature and/or the Environment
10. Author is of indigenous descent
11. Neurodivergence - author, main character or subject matter
12. Author is of Asian descent, living anywhere
13. MENA - Author born in or resides in/story takes place predominately in a MENA country
14. Feminism or feminist perspective
15. Author born in or resides in a Nordic country (Scandinavia + Finland + Iceland + Greenland + the Faroe Islands + the Åland Islands)
16. Immigration/displacement (F or NF)
17. Author is a contributor to Margaret Busby Daughters of Africa collection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughte...)
18. Memoir or biography
19. Monsters of any kind - Stalin, those living under the bed, fantastic, historical …
20. Ancient World – the subject can be a (real) heroine of the ancient world, or the novel takes place in ancient times, or the author is a woman writing about ancient history, culture etc. (ideas: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...)
Alternate/Substitute Prompts:
1. Published by a small press
2. 1001 BBYD
https://1001bookreviews.com/the-1001-...
3. NYTimes Bestsellers (listed by year @
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_o...)
4. The Caribbean - author born in or resides in/story takes place predominately in
5. Book Riot’s 100 Classics by Authors of Color. (https://bookriot.com/100-must-read-cl...)
Thoughts?
Great categories. I plan to give it a try. Thanks for setting this up.
I very much prefer historical fiction, mysteries, and science fiction.Examples -
1) Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy - Olivia Manning
2) Hellfire - Jean Johnson
3) The Futures - Anna Pitoniak
4) The Bombay Prince - Sujata Massey
5) Company Town - Madeline Ashby
In terms of non-fiction, I prefer travelogues, biographies/memoirs, histories.
Examples -
1) Black Lamb and Grey Falcon - Rebecca West
2) Richard Wright: The Life and Times - Hazel Rowley
3) Paris to the Past: Traveling through French History by Train - Ina Caro
Read Women
Books mentioned in this topic
Paris to the Past: Traveling through French History by Train (other topics)Company Town (other topics)
The Balkan Trilogy (other topics)
Hellfire (other topics)
The Futures (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ina Caro (other topics)Olivia Manning (other topics)
Jean Johnson (other topics)
Anna Pitoniak (other topics)
Sujata Massey (other topics)
More...
Between now and mid-November-ish, we will take members' inputs and feedback, review last year's roadmap, and set a goal of aligning on a 2022 plan for group reads, challenges and anything else we collectively discern is valuable to plan.
Right now we have two group reads per month, focused on a balance of fiction, nonfiction, and works that fit our theme of Reading Around the World, some of which are books in translation. We also offer quarterly themed challenges and whole-year challenges relating to women authors, generally, and women in translation, and many members continue to track multi-year readings from around the world. We have active ongoing discussion threads sharing what we're reading and what we've finished reading, including links to reviews at members' option. We are a large group with the usual proportionately smaller group of active members but also many active lurkers.
Prompts for those who like them, but feel free to offer commentary that doesn't fit any of the following buckets:
- What do you like most about our group?
- Is there a thread/topic or approach that works well in another group that you recommend we adopt here?
- What would you like to see stay the same?
- What would you like to see more/less of?
- If you don't participate in group reads, is there a change that would inspire you to participate?
- If you participate in group reads from time to time, is there a change that might inspire you to participate more often?
- Other ideas/suggestions?
If you typically step up and speak up when feedback is solicited, YES, PLEASE! If you typically stay quiet or are concerned about hurting feelings or become anxious with public postings, please consider sharing your thoughts with this group so we can take your preferences and thoughts into account. We promise civility and encouragement. Whether you joined this group in 2016 or yesterday, your inputs are equally valuable.