Read Women discussion

Completed 20 of 20:
1. Published between 1750 - 1900 - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
2. Author is of African descent, living anywhere - Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward
4. Speculative Fiction - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
5. In translation - The Music Game by Stéfanie Clermont
6. LGBTQ+ Theme and/or Author - Amora: Stories by Natalia Borges Polesso
7. Author over 50 - Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall
9. Nature and/or the Environment - Elephant Winter by Kim Echlin
10. Author is of indigenous descent - A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
11. Neurodivergence - Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
12. Author is of Asian descent, living anywhere - Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho
13. MENA - Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi
14. Feminism or feminist perspective - I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home by Jami Attenberg
15. Author born in or resides in a Nordic country - The Child by Kjersti Annesdatter Skomsvold
16. Immigration/displacement (F or NF) - The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
17. Author is a contributor to Margaret Busby Daughters of Africa collection - Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
18. Memoir or biography - The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller
19. Monsters of any kind - She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
Alternate prompts:
1. Published by a small press - An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
2. 1001 BBYD - The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
3. NYTimes Bestsellers - Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

7. Author over 50 - Astonishing Splashes of Colour. A satisfying novel about loss, grief, and family secrets. It wasn't what I had expected, but I thought it was very well done. The author was 51 years old when this, her first novel, was published, and it went on to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

9. Nature and/or the Environment - Elephant Winter. The protagonist of this novel cares for and studies elephants in captivity at a "safari" in Ontario, Canada. There is a lot of information about elephant communication, which is mostly inaudible to the human ear, and the elephants are characters in their own right. I enjoyed it!

6. LGBTQ+ Theme and/or Author - Amora: Stories. I liked these stories but there were an awful lot of them and they were quite short (most <10 pages). Unfortunately, they all blurred together after a while.

18. Memoir or biography - The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. I absolutely loved this biography of a man from Wyoming who described himself as a redneck, cowboy, and oil-rig trash. It seemed like an unlikely fit for me, but it was beautifully written and full of heart.

1. Published between 1750 - 1900 - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. This was an interesting read, different from other slave narratives I've read. Written with much passion by Jacobs. Originally published in 1861.

2. Author is of African descent, living anywhere - Where the Line Bleeds. Jesmyn Ward's first novel, published by a small press. Unfortunately, I don't think she was well served by that press, as this could have done with a better edit and proofread!

12. Author is of Asian descent, living anywhere - Fiona and Jane. I enjoyed this collection of linked stories about Taiwanese American friends.

19. Monsters of any kind - Stalin, those living under the bed, fantastic, historical … - She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. Here, the monster is mostly Harvey Weinstein but also the people who enabled him and helped to keep public knowledge of his sexual predation under wraps for decades. It was interesting reading about how the journalists pulled their story together and how careful they had to be.

11. Neurodivergence - author, main character or subject matter - Kindred. A classic work I had been meaning to get to for a long time. It was a really enjoyable, propulsive read. I did not know that Octavia Butler was neurodiverse until I was searching for books to read for this prompt.

15. Author born in or resides in a Nordic country - The Child. I loved this short novel about motherhood and being an artist. I definitely want to read more by this author.

5. In translation - The Music Game. This was a sometimes confusing novel (because it jumped around in time) that I liked but realize wasn't written for my demographic, as it involved young women in high school or college and their early work years, trying to figure things out.

16. Immigration/displacement (F or NF) - The Undocumented Americans. This nonfiction book was quite different from what I had been expecting but I really enjoyed it. It covered many challenges that undocumented immigrants in the U.S. face, some of which I've thought quite a bit about and some of which I had never considered. A very interesting read.

4. Speculative Fiction - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I absolutely loved this book. This is fantasy but also a romantic story. It reminded me a bit of The Time Traveler's Wife in its feel.

10. Author is of indigenous descent - A Mind Spread Out on the Ground. A very thought-provoking essay collection that confronts ongoing colonialism of indigenous people (mostly in Canada).

Alternate prompt 3. NYTimes Bestsellers - Malibu Rising. Great summer read/palate cleanser.

13. MENA - Celestial Bodies. The good: I always enjoy reading about a culture and part of the world that I don't know much about. I've never read a book by an Omani author before! The bad: The narrative was disjointed, which often doesn't bother me, but here I felt like the parts didn't add up to a satisfying whole.

14. Feminism or feminist perspective - I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home. In this memoir, Attenberg writes about being a woman in the world (for better and worse), being an artist, and finding one's place and home.

Alternate prompt 1. Published by a small press - An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good. I enjoyed this one very much and chuckled many times. I intend to read the sequel.

Alternate prompt 2. 1001 BBYD - The Summer Book. I expected to like this more. Maybe it was bad timing when I read it. I wanted more of a clear narrative from it.

17. Author is a contributor to Margaret Busby Daughters of Africa collection - Parable of the Sower. I enjoyed this and look forward to reading the sequel, but I was surprised by how YA it seemed.

I have completed the challenge!