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Reading Women Challenge 2020 #RWC20
Nov. 25th, 2019 11:10 amMy initial thoughts!
1 Author from Caribbean or India
Google threw up: Julia Alvarez (who lives in the US), Rosa Guy, Jamaica Kincaid (born St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda but lives in the US), Yanick Lahens (lives in Haiti) Bain de lune / Moonbath or La couleur de l'aube / The Colour of Dawn [if I'm feeling really dedicated, I could go for the French original...!] Edwidge Danticat (Haiti, now lives in the US) Kettly Mars (Haiti), possibly Je suis vivant. Michèle Lacrosil (Guadeloupe, died in Paris in 2012), Demain Jab-Herma (£50 on amazon! And not even on Goodreads. Argh.), Evelyne Trouillot (lives in Haiti), Le mémoire aux abois / Memory at Bay or Rosalie l'infâme / Rosalie the Infamous. Hilma Contreras Castillo (Dominican Republic, started writing in the 1930s, first woman to win the Premio Nacional de Literatura; died in 2012), La carnada: cuentos (not translated; can I actually read Spanish???) or Entre dos silencios / Between Two Silences [has one review on Goodreads: 'bizarre' - might be interesting but also a challenge -- but then this is called the Reading Women CHALLENGE].
2 Translated from an Asian language
Shikibu "Lady" Murasaki, Tale of Genji, vol.1 (sitting on my coffee table)
3 About the Environment
Does Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction count? (sitting on my coffee table; left over from a few books bought inspired by RWC19, rubric 'nature').
4 Picture Book by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) Author
Lupita Nyong'o, Sulwe, also illustrated by a BIPOC
5 Stella (Australian Women Writers') or Women's Prize Winner
I await the announcement of the 2020 winners in April 2020. None of the previous winners grabs me: Alexis Wright, Tracker (not available via my amazon); Claire Wright, Forgotten Rebels of Eureka (fiendishly expensive).
6 Nonfiction by a Woman Historian
Karen Hagemann, Gendering German History (also Rubric 8). Or: Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages.
7 Afrofuturism or Africanfuturism
Solomon Rivers, Unkindness of Ghosts (been on my TBR [to-be-read list] for most of 2019)
8 An Anthology by Multiple Authors
Karen Hagemann, Gendering Modern History (also Rubric 6). Another one may come to me during early 2020.
9 Inspired by Folklore
Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Ice (Swedish/ Finnish). Or, scouting for German titles using 'Volksglauben' and 'Brauchtum' and 'Volksbrauch' as search terms, maybe: Sabrina Schmid (Austrian), Das Kreuz im Apfel. Or Hexe Claire (Witch Claire), Stadthexen (I own quite a few books by her already so it'll be a guaranteed amenable read but not really a challenge.)
10 About a Woman Artist
Doris Hermanns' book about Christa Winsloe is on my TBR (but yet another biography! Help! See rubrics 12 and 15). The biography problem comes up again re Gail Tanzar, Graven Images: The Tumultuous Life and Times of Augusta Savage, Haarlem Renaissance Sculptor but I may be able to avoid it via Kirsten Pai Buick, Child of the Fire: Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History's Black and Indian Subject which sounds more academic which I like.
11 Read and Watch a Book-to-Movie-Adaptation
If I can get hold of it: one of the Indian movie adaptations of Agatha Christie. But ideally, I want a movie that's directed by a woman.
12 About a Woman Who Inspires Me
It says 'about', not 'by'. Also, the women who inspire me are mainly my friends and family. However, Maren Gottschalk's biography of Astrid Lindgren might do (I love Lindgren; she has definitely inspired me since childhood; but I dislike biographies! See Rubric 15. How can I read a book about a woman who inspired me that is not a biography? My challenge to separate rubrics 12 and 15.)
13 By an Arab Woman
Manal al-Sharif (Saudi), Daring to Drive. Hanan al-Shayk (Lebanese), The Occasional Virgin (but title and cover get on my nerves). . Nawal El Saadawi (Egyptian), Woman at Point Zero.
14 Set in Japan / By a Japanese Author
Yoko Ogawa, Museum der Stille (not sure if it's been translated into English; Museum of Silence); been on my TBR for over a year.
15 A Biography
I don't like biographies. I never read them. So I thought, at least go for a person who's rare and far-away. Possibly Majrorie Chibnall, Empress Matilda. Another possiblity is the 1866 biography of Harriet Tubman by Catherine Clinton (nice because 19th C.). But I will continue scouting.
16 Featuring a Woman with a Disability
I want #ownvoices so have googled authors with a disability (who also write about women with a disability). I have come up with: Corinne Duyvis, On the Edge of Gone (YA apocalypse). Or Cece Bell, El Deafo (graphic novel for children). Or a space opera with POC women: Jacqueline Koyanagi, Ascension.
17 Over 500 Pages
I went for Victorian. George Eliot, Adam Bede (have read her other long ones).
18 Under 100 Pages
I'm thinking poetry because I hardly ever read poetry. So to inspire me to read some.
19 Frequently Recommended to Me
I must start keeping a tally.
20 A Feel-Good / Happy Book
Anything that K.J. Charles will publish in 2020.
21 A Book about Food
Lenore Newman, Lost Feast (recced by <user name=gloriamundi>
22 By a Favourite or New-to-Me Publisher
Googled 'Kleinverlage' (small publishers in German); came up with Badreya el-Beshr (Saudi author), Kaffee und Kardamom, published by Alawi Verlag, a small publisher that specialises in translations from Arab women authors (kudos to them!).
23 By an LGBTQ+ Author
Rivers Solomon, The Deep. Or anything else that will come my way in 2020; there's sure to be plenty.
24 From the 2019 Reading Women Awards Shortlists
Tressie Cottom, Thick (been on my TBR for half a year).
Bonus: Book by Toni Morrison. Book by Isabel Allende.
1 Author from Caribbean or India
Google threw up: Julia Alvarez (who lives in the US), Rosa Guy, Jamaica Kincaid (born St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda but lives in the US), Yanick Lahens (lives in Haiti) Bain de lune / Moonbath or La couleur de l'aube / The Colour of Dawn [if I'm feeling really dedicated, I could go for the French original...!] Edwidge Danticat (Haiti, now lives in the US) Kettly Mars (Haiti), possibly Je suis vivant. Michèle Lacrosil (Guadeloupe, died in Paris in 2012), Demain Jab-Herma (£50 on amazon! And not even on Goodreads. Argh.), Evelyne Trouillot (lives in Haiti), Le mémoire aux abois / Memory at Bay or Rosalie l'infâme / Rosalie the Infamous. Hilma Contreras Castillo (Dominican Republic, started writing in the 1930s, first woman to win the Premio Nacional de Literatura; died in 2012), La carnada: cuentos (not translated; can I actually read Spanish???) or Entre dos silencios / Between Two Silences [has one review on Goodreads: 'bizarre' - might be interesting but also a challenge -- but then this is called the Reading Women CHALLENGE].
2 Translated from an Asian language
Shikibu "Lady" Murasaki, Tale of Genji, vol.1 (sitting on my coffee table)
3 About the Environment
Does Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction count? (sitting on my coffee table; left over from a few books bought inspired by RWC19, rubric 'nature').
4 Picture Book by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) Author
Lupita Nyong'o, Sulwe, also illustrated by a BIPOC
5 Stella (Australian Women Writers') or Women's Prize Winner
I await the announcement of the 2020 winners in April 2020. None of the previous winners grabs me: Alexis Wright, Tracker (not available via my amazon); Claire Wright, Forgotten Rebels of Eureka (fiendishly expensive).
6 Nonfiction by a Woman Historian
Karen Hagemann, Gendering German History (also Rubric 8). Or: Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages.
7 Afrofuturism or Africanfuturism
Solomon Rivers, Unkindness of Ghosts (been on my TBR [to-be-read list] for most of 2019)
8 An Anthology by Multiple Authors
Karen Hagemann, Gendering Modern History (also Rubric 6). Another one may come to me during early 2020.
9 Inspired by Folklore
Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Ice (Swedish/ Finnish). Or, scouting for German titles using 'Volksglauben' and 'Brauchtum' and 'Volksbrauch' as search terms, maybe: Sabrina Schmid (Austrian), Das Kreuz im Apfel. Or Hexe Claire (Witch Claire), Stadthexen (I own quite a few books by her already so it'll be a guaranteed amenable read but not really a challenge.)
10 About a Woman Artist
Doris Hermanns' book about Christa Winsloe is on my TBR (but yet another biography! Help! See rubrics 12 and 15). The biography problem comes up again re Gail Tanzar, Graven Images: The Tumultuous Life and Times of Augusta Savage, Haarlem Renaissance Sculptor but I may be able to avoid it via Kirsten Pai Buick, Child of the Fire: Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History's Black and Indian Subject which sounds more academic which I like.
11 Read and Watch a Book-to-Movie-Adaptation
If I can get hold of it: one of the Indian movie adaptations of Agatha Christie. But ideally, I want a movie that's directed by a woman.
12 About a Woman Who Inspires Me
It says 'about', not 'by'. Also, the women who inspire me are mainly my friends and family. However, Maren Gottschalk's biography of Astrid Lindgren might do (I love Lindgren; she has definitely inspired me since childhood; but I dislike biographies! See Rubric 15. How can I read a book about a woman who inspired me that is not a biography? My challenge to separate rubrics 12 and 15.)
13 By an Arab Woman
Manal al-Sharif (Saudi), Daring to Drive. Hanan al-Shayk (Lebanese), The Occasional Virgin (but title and cover get on my nerves). . Nawal El Saadawi (Egyptian), Woman at Point Zero.
14 Set in Japan / By a Japanese Author
Yoko Ogawa, Museum der Stille (not sure if it's been translated into English; Museum of Silence); been on my TBR for over a year.
15 A Biography
I don't like biographies. I never read them. So I thought, at least go for a person who's rare and far-away. Possibly Majrorie Chibnall, Empress Matilda. Another possiblity is the 1866 biography of Harriet Tubman by Catherine Clinton (nice because 19th C.). But I will continue scouting.
16 Featuring a Woman with a Disability
I want #ownvoices so have googled authors with a disability (who also write about women with a disability). I have come up with: Corinne Duyvis, On the Edge of Gone (YA apocalypse). Or Cece Bell, El Deafo (graphic novel for children). Or a space opera with POC women: Jacqueline Koyanagi, Ascension.
17 Over 500 Pages
I went for Victorian. George Eliot, Adam Bede (have read her other long ones).
18 Under 100 Pages
I'm thinking poetry because I hardly ever read poetry. So to inspire me to read some.
19 Frequently Recommended to Me
I must start keeping a tally.
20 A Feel-Good / Happy Book
Anything that K.J. Charles will publish in 2020.
21 A Book about Food
Lenore Newman, Lost Feast (recced by <user name=gloriamundi>
22 By a Favourite or New-to-Me Publisher
Googled 'Kleinverlage' (small publishers in German); came up with Badreya el-Beshr (Saudi author), Kaffee und Kardamom, published by Alawi Verlag, a small publisher that specialises in translations from Arab women authors (kudos to them!).
23 By an LGBTQ+ Author
Rivers Solomon, The Deep. Or anything else that will come my way in 2020; there's sure to be plenty.
24 From the 2019 Reading Women Awards Shortlists
Tressie Cottom, Thick (been on my TBR for half a year).
Bonus: Book by Toni Morrison. Book by Isabel Allende.