Thanks to lauredhel and Galactic Suburbia, I have been made aware of the 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge.
In brief, a person can sign up to read a specified number of books within the year, and to write a (smaller) specified number of reviews. There are different levels of the challenge, and you can add other aspects to your own challenge to make it more personally challenging.
Given that I read quite a lot, and that my reading is skewed towards women writers (and often towards Australian women writers), and that my genre tastes are fairly catholic, it makes sense for me to go for the Franklin-fantastic Devoted Eclectic. This means I am committing to read at least 10 books, in as many different genres as possible, and to write at least 4 reviews, including at least one substantial one.
However, this will not be particularly challenging for me – I think I could get it done very comfortably by the end of January, even with the reviews (although these do add another dimension, not being something I would normally do).
So here is what I am doing to make it more challenging:
(1) No repeat authors.
(2) No books I have already read (although I am allowed to read books by authors whose other books I have read before).
(3) No repeat genres (sub-genres count as separate genres for this purpose).
(4) At least three substantial reviews.
(5) At least two Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander authors (h/t lauredhel for this idea).
(6) At least one immigrant (or first-generation-Australian) author (in practice, it may well be more than this, given Australia’s immigrant history).
(7) At least one book set in a rural setting.
(8) I’m not starting until 1 January 2012 (this is a real challenge – I always do a lot of reading between Christmas and New Year, and this year has been no exception – and so I have held off reading some books I really want to read for the purpose of the challenge).
(9) I aim to finish the challenge by the end of February.
I have also joined Goodreads. You can find me here, although you will only be able to view my profile if you are a Goodreads member.
Well, you’ve upped the ante on that one! Enjoy the challenge, and I’m looking forward to reading your reviews.
And I, yours!
As for upping the ante: the main thing that will be challenging will be making sure I read different authors and different genres (and to some extent, reading new authors – but it gives me a reason to go in search of new-to-me Elizabeth Jolley and Olga Masters books, for example – hmm, can I really say they wrote in two different genres?). I can get stuck in a rut if I find something I like :)
Oh, and after a discussion with my mother, I have remembered a bunch of books I have been meaning to read for years and which fit squarely into the challenge (including The Female Eunuch – yes, I am a Bad Australian Feminist!). So getting around to reading those will be a part of the challenge, too.
(They are not books I don’t think I’ll enjoy, but you know how when you know you “should” do something, it becomes less appealing?)
You’ve reminded me I have a couple of Susan Mitchells sitting on my shelf that I’ve been avoiding (they’re largely about powerful white women…)
I wouldn’t quite say “enjoy” about The Female Eunuch, at least for me. “Not infrequently wish to throw across the room”, perhaps. But that doesn’t make it not worth reading, at least in my opinion. It can be useful to know where you’ve come from and how you’ve fucked up in order to set a course for the future.
Re Female Eunuch: no, I don’t expect to enjoy it either, particularly, but I think I should read it for the reasons you give.
Good for you – no repeat authors. I’m going to live on Sonya Hartnett. Read “Sleeping Dogs” if you haven’t read her before.
Thanks Cassie!
Sleeping Dogs rings a bell – I was a teenager when it was published, so it is entirely possible I read it then and have now forgotten. It sounds like it’s worth a re-read anyway if I can find it in a 2nd hand bookshop. If I don’t remember reading it by the time I finish it, well, I can count it. If I get halfway through and think I have read it before, no harm done and I will just read something else for the challenge!
Hi Jo
Like you it is conceivable I could finish this challenge in a month lol, I plan to just keep going regardless for the year
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out
Oh, I’m not going to change my reading habits and stop reading Australian women writers just because I finish the challenge – my point is more that I wanted to make it something more of a challenge *for me*.
I like that you’re going to do it in a month! I look forward to what books you find. Maybe at least a one sentence review if you don’t do full reviews for them all? :oD
I think I could finish the normal challenge in a month, but with the extra bits and pieces (and, you know, an awareness that life happens), I’m giving myself two :)
Anyway, I’ll probably post a provisional list of books tomorrow, so you won’t have to wait too long for that. I have way more than 10 books available, but I think I’m missing an immigrant/first gen author (which surprises me). I guess I could check the history of the authors of the books I have, but, well, let’s just say I’d prefer to stick with the spirit of that extra rule, being cultural diversity, rather than the letter of it. I’ve got a few books in mind; I just need to get to a 2nd hand bookshop which stocks at least one of them. So I might not finalise my list until a few days into Jan.
As for reviews: I’ll definitely post any full reviews here, as individual posts as they are done, but I agree that at least a sentence for the rest would be good. I might put all those up together at the end of the challenge.
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[...] fact that I finished the challenge well before the end of January confirms what I said in my sign-up post: this was not a big challenge for me. I already read a lot of books by Australian women writers, I [...]