This year, WWE featured the Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge, encouraging readers to discover the many books written by female authors. Personally speaking, I choose a book because it intrigues me and sometimes specifically because the author is a person of colour, but I had not chosen books specifically because of the author’s gender. I know some readers discovered their reading collection grossly devoid of female authors and I love that this challenge opened their eyes to all the incredible women who are and always have been writing genre fiction. WWE’s reviews certainly reflect that now, thanks to this challenge.
As it turns out, I already had several books by female authors under my belt, but the challenge introduced me to so many more. Not all of them ended up as part of my challenge, but a lot of them definitely ended up in my to-be-read pile. And now that I’m finished this challenge, I can’t wait to find out what next year’s challenge will be!
~WENDY
I've always lived by the tenet: "Read what you're interested in...but also keep an open mind." You'll never know what you're missing unless you encourage yourself to experience things, and that is what I love about Worlds Without End's Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge.I believe there will always be a place for challenges like these, for they introduce us to new books by authors we've never read before. More importantly, they also ensure that the speculative fiction by talented women do not go ignored -- because sometimes, readers might not even realize they are doing it.
Throughout the years, I've always maintained a reading list with a good mix of books by authors of both genders, but participating in the challenge was still important for me. For one, it was a lot of fun -- trying out new authors always is, as well as getting the opportunity to procure more books -- and I also finally got to read many of the titles that have been on my to-read list for a while. All in all, I would say this challenge was a great success.
~MOGSY
I did this too, though it is a much easier challenge when you read 100 books a year than it would have been for others. I also tried to keep 50% of my reads female authored, though I fell a bit short on that, closer to 60/40. Still I agree, a challenge well worth doing and I will be keeping goals of this challenge in my mind next year as well.
ReplyDeleteMine was a little short too, around 55/45 but I never really paid attention to my ratio until this challenge so I figured I didn't do too bad :D I chose authors I'd never read before 2013 and actually ended up with a lot more than the 12 I designated for the challenge, but WWEnd's archives weren't complete. Found so many literary gems this year because of it though!
DeleteI haven't sat down and figured out the ratio of male to female authors, though I'm not overly compelled to do so. Many of my favourite genre fiction authors were female to begin with and, considering the books I'd already read this year by the time I found the challenge, I figure my numbers are pretty healthy. Either way, I discovered a lot of new authors through this, some of whom have been added to the favourites pile.
DeleteSame. I am planning a similar post, but of the top of my head ended up with 35 ish new. Of course, a lot of them were debut authors too.
ReplyDeleteI seriously have to rush to add some of these books to my list now and make it a point to check Worlds Without End more often - its been awhile.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what they 2014 challenge is!
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