What I’m Reading This Year, Part One

At the beginning of this year, I started the Reading Women Challenge. It's a list of 24 categories of books to read (and two bonuses), with the requirement that each book you choose for the category is written by a woman.

As recent events have been unfolding with the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, I have been grateful that I started this challenge because I believe even more now than ever that for me, as an avid reader, that diversifying my intake of books to include more voices with more varied experiences is an important piece of the internal work of embracing anti-racism. The challenge provided a structure that forced me to search out new writers and new formats. I’m forever grateful for the experience of starting this challenge because I think it will change how I read for the years to come.

I look forward to completing it. I’m generally pretty terrible at following through on challenges like this, but I’m very proud of myself for continuing to work on progressing through the list and not getting distracted, even during COVID when I’ve also gotten sucked into Tiger King and Jane the Virgin binges on Netflix. I actually feel pretty confident at this point that I will finish it, since it’s June and I have finished 11 of 24, which is almost half, halfway through the year.

One of the things I realized in creating my list of books to read is that books written by women make up less than 50% of what I read last year. Books written by women of color are almost totally unrepresented. Until this year.

I usually read a pretty wide range of business, psychology, literary fiction, historical fiction, and the occasional romance novel, with a few outliers from other categories thrown in. I'm a prolific reader, but I don't know that I can name a book about black history that I've ever read, until this year. I’ve realized that in most books I read, the characters are white. It’s not a conscious choice I've made, and I guess this is one of those places where when I start looking, I can find my implicit bias of choosing books with characters that look like me, that fit into my own experience of “normal”. Now that I realize this, I can choose to diversify my bedside table and hear voices more representative of the breadth of human experience.

I want to share my picks for the challenge this year and my progress so far.

1. A Book by an Author from the Caribbean or India

The Farming of Bones - This book was much darker than what I would usually choose to read, but I experienced the story in an intensely visual way, I think in part because it featured settings and characters that are not part of my usual consumption of books. My mind had to dig deeper to create the experience of the story visually in my head.

2. A Book Translated from an Asian Language

The Traveling Cat Chronicles - This was absolutely charming and sad. I never would have chosen this book, but it was a sweet journey and exploration of pet love, which is also a little out of my norm. I am not really a big pet person, but empathizing with the relationship broadened my perception of the depth and joy inherent in the pet-owner relationship.

3. A Book About the Environment

I haven’t purchased this one yet - when I researched ideas, I wasn’t intrigued enough to commit to what I’ll read for this category.

4. A Picture Book Written / Illustrated by a BIPOC* Author

Ojichan's Gift - This one is sitting in my office. I’m not sure what magical moment I’m waiting for to read it with the girls.

*I had to learn what BIPOC means. If you are wondering too, it means Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It's an inclusive term to unite these categories of people.

5. A Winner of the Stella Prize* or the Women's Prize for Fiction*

The Strays - This one actually turned out to be more similar to the type of book I would have grabbed last year, but I enjoyed it. I definitely had some late nights where I couldn’t put it down.

*I didn't know what these prizes were. The Stella Prize is a literary award celebrating Australian women's writing. The Women's Prize for Fiction is a literary award celebrating female writers in the UK.

6. A Nonfiction Title by a Woman Historian

The Warmth of Other Suns

This is a great book. It’s long, historical, but reads so well because it’s story driven instead of a long factual expository, written by a black woman about the migration of black people from the South to the North, Midwest and West during the 20th century. I had no idea that this demographic shift happened, or how it affected American society as a whole, and why it kept happening. Hearing the stories told in the book contextualized in the broader scope of American history was an important lesson, one I wasn't taught in American History class. I also became more aware of the inherent bias in how I was taught history and how that has shaped my own perception of what historical events are significant.

7. A Book Featuring Afrofuturism or Africanfuturism

Lilith's Brood (not started)

8. An Anthology by Multiple Authors

Winter Wishes: A Regency Holiday Romance Anthology

My guilty pleasures of reading are romance novels and historical fiction set in European royal courts. This combines both - I'm saving for the holidays for something light and fluffy in December. Hoping this will be my last book!

9. A Book Inspired by Folklore

Gods of Jade and Shadow - I chose this because it incorporates Mayan folklore / religion and we were heading to Mexico City for Spring Break. But of course, that got cancelled. At first, I wasn’t loving the story, but it grew on me as I read. It’s almost a romance novel, actually. In the very strangest way.

10. A Book about a Woman Artist

You Don't Look Fat, You Look Crazy

This is Ashley Longshore’s autobiography. It was fantastic and fast - I think I read it in two days. I love her art, and hearing her tell her own story makes her art better. It inspired me to visit her studio when we went to New Orleans, and my enthusiasm for her work inspired Tommy to buy me a piece of her art as my Val-Birth-Anni-Mother’s Day gift. I can’t wait to add it to our home. This may be known as the year that I diversified my reading and that I started being an art enthusiast. Following her and noticing how much I enjoyed her art has inspired me to look for other artists I can love too, which has brought me lots of pleasure.

And if I trace it back, a children’s art studio (Meri Cherry) that I started following for activity ideas when Harper was born shared her work once, on instagram. I started following Ashley on instagram, then decided to read her book for the challenge, then visited her studio, then bought a piece of art. It’s interesting how a small action (sharing an artist you love) can flow out into unexpected results.

11. Read and Watch a Book-to-Movie Adaptation

The Woman in the Window (not started)

12. A book About a Woman Who Inspires You

Untamed

You should read this book. I don’t know who you are, but you should. It’s incredible. It’s inspiring. She is inspiring. Go read it. I love it so much I’ve been handing it out to friends all year since I read it.