A Year of Reading Women

2015 is my year of reading women, hopefully dangerous women. Ok, just books by women. Of course, this plan has some caveats. I am probably going to focus on women whose works I have never read before.  I am not limiting choices to any particular genre or time period.

What?

I have asked my friends, both academic and general, via an academic forum, Facebook, and goodreads for suggestions and I have made choices based on reviews and, well, topics or story lines that sound interesting, and, in some cases, authors I feel I should have read before but I don't recall reading before. George Eliot, I am looking at you and blushing.  Of course, my memory isn't the best, so I might have read Eliot (and others) in the distance past, such as in high school, but who knows? I did not start keeping a list of books read until about age 48 or 49 so...

Because I enjoy many different types of books, this year's reading list will include novels, young adult books, thrillers, romance, science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, history, science, poetry, cognitive science, linguistics, how-to, memoirs, and, well, just about anything you can imagine.  So, don't be surprised at the insane variety of books.

Since it's only January 1, I am still wide open for suggestions (put them in the comments or email them to me or post online wherever you normally contact me). Suggestions for a particular book (not just an author) are the most useful, I believe.

Why?

Why do I feel the need to read only women authors? It's sort of a compulsion, really. In 2014 I read over one hundred books, but still, most of them were written by men. The only reason the women's works were as numerous as they were is that I reread every book in the series by Sue Grafton (detective/crime/suspense) which accounts for 23 books and I also read two complete short series by Christine Kling (thrillers/mystery/crime) accounting for about six books. As usual, I reread most of Jane Austen's works again this year which I vow not to do in 2015.

The sad truth is, with the exception of a very few genres, male authors dominate the available books. I have nothing against male authors and, in fact, have quite a few favorites (Tom Clancy, Bill Bryson, and Anthony Trollope - how's that for a bizarre triple juxtaposition?) and even read some first novels by men this year, mostly with good results (I'm smiling at you Jack July, Austin Grossman, and Charles Ameringer) but not always (Name withheld to protect the guilty).

So, I'm going in search of women writers of quality, importance, popularity, or whatever characteristic strikes my fancy. I want to be better read in women's works and I want to be better educated about the books women have written and the issues and plots and topics that interest them. Furthermore, the scarcity of quality female characters in most books (well, ok, most books penned by men, but really, most books) disturbs me. So, I want to find those female characters and their stories, presuming they exist.  I want them to become part of my psyche in the way other characters of previously read books have, only more so.

How?

Given my quinquagenarian presbyopia, the vast majority of this reading will take place on a Kindle (Why oh why, Amazon, have you discontinued the Kindle Keyboard, the best Kindle ever?).  The Kindle is the best invention of the 21st century (so far). I believe we are on our 10th Kindle now (various generations, used by four or five different people over how ever many years the Kindles have existed). Yea.

Some books, of course, are not available in ebook format or the ebook is ridiculously expensive (i.e. more than $10 which is my personal line in the sane with ebooks, most of the time). I will cross that bridge when I reach it as I already know some of the books on my planned reading list are not available in ebook format. I will have to look for larger print versions, if possible, or audiobooks. I can only read a tiny print book if highly motivated and given very good lighting conditions (e.g. Ukraine History by Orest Subtelny, a beautifully crafted history book but in a tiny font and not in ebook format - I had to read it in morning or midday light and limited the number of pages I could read daily.

When?

January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 is the planned reading period. But, I could change my mind in any way at any time. I'm like that. If I do, I'll blog about it, I hope.

If you are curious about the books I read in 2014, here's a list: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/25156813-amelia?read_at=2014&view=covers

Who?

Well, me and anyone who wants to read along with me, of course. Let's get started!