Reading Women Challenge 2019 -- COMPLETE!

Learn more about Reading Women HERE.

For 2019, I decided to try a new challenge, the Reading Women Challenge. Not that I had much hope of succeeding. Challenges for me tend to be more of a roadmap for what I'd like to read during a given year, and I rarely succeed at them. This challenge, however, proved to be an exception to the rule. 

As the year progressed, I noticed that I was making very good headway and was thoroughly enjoying the books I read, which motivated me to continue. The Reading Women Challenge encourages the reader to read books by and about women and makes your reading life a bit more focused by giving you specific guidelines to follow as to what you read. I followed the spirit of the challenge to the letter; all of the books I read were by female authors and had women as their subject or protagonist.

Many readers, even women, find upon analyzing their reading that they read books that are predominantly written by men and about men. When I looked at my reading life from the previous few years, I discovered that for me that wasn't necessarily true. Regardless, I decided to give the 2019 challenge a go.

I would like to give a shout out to my many friends and family who responded with great enthusiasm to my Facebook post requesting suggestions for the 2019 categories. You will see many of your suggestions reflected in the books I ultimately read. Thanks for helping to make my reading year wonderful! I look forward to all your suggestions as we move forward into the next decade. 

If you would like to see the 2020 Challenge list, you can find it HERE.

Here is my completed Reading Women Challenge 2019:

Reading Women Challenge 2019: (This challenge celebrates women, as authors and subjects. For more info: readingwomenpodcast.com)

1. Mystery/thriller by a WOC: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
2. Woman with a mental illness: Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
3. Author from Nigeria or New Zealand: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
4. About or set in Appalachia: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
5. Children's book: Becoming Madeleine by Charlotte Jones Voiklis (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
6. Multi-generation family saga: Roses by Leila Meacham (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
7. Featuring a woman in science: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
8. A play: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
9. A novella: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
10. About a woman athlete: Run the World by Becky Wade (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
11. Featuring a religion other than your own: I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
12. Lambda Literary Award winner: Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
13. A myth retelling: Circe by Madeline Miller (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
14. A translated book published before 1945: Ourika by Claire de Duras (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
15. Written by a South Asian author: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
16. By an indigenous woman: The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
17. From 2018 Reading Women Award shortlist: Hunger by Roxane Gay (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
18. Romance of love story: I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella (⭐️⭐️⭐️)

19. About nature: Spineless by Juli Berwald (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

20. Historical fiction: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
21. Bought or borrowed in 2019: The Lost Queen by Signe Pike (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
22. Read because of the cover: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
23. From a series: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
24. YA book by a WOC: Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo 
25. BONUS: By Jesmyn Ward: Men We Reaped (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
26. BONUS: By Jhumpa Lahiri: Interpreter of Maladies (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

#ReadingWomenChallenge