Reading Women Challenge 2020

Hello lovely readers, Happy Sunday! I hope you’re all doing well! I am sitting here on a particularly blustery and stormy Sunday afternoon (thanks Storm Dennis) and have finally decided to post about one of the year long reading challenges/readathons I am taking part in this year. I really enjoy year long reading challenges, and find they have been really useful in making me read new things and focus my reading efforts for the year as a whole. I was told about this readathon by chance on Instagram and decided that it would be a great mix of fun and challenging and decided to take part! I have already started the reading challenge and will be tracking my progress through the year on this post and in my bullet journal (I’ll share the tracker at the bottom of the page)

So what is it all about? Simply, reading more books by different women. I know, it pretty much does what it says on the tin. The sad fact is that I don’t read as many different female authors as I probably should, and I certainly don’t read books by women that are out of my comfort zone or not on the shelves at my local supermarket or book store and it is time to change that. This readathon is challenging, but I am really going to try and finish it by the end of the year. I have copied the ‘rules’ from the Reading Women podcast website – which you should really check out, because they are simply wonderful:

The 2020 challenge officially begins January 1st, 2020 and ends December 31st, 2020.

Here’s the rundown: complete as many challenges as you can from the list below. If you have one book that covers two categories (or more!), feel free to count it for both*. It’s not a contest. Our goal is to encourage you to read widely (and fight the patriarchy, but that was probably a given), so just have fun with it!

Be sure to share your progress, useing the hashtag #ReadingWomenChallenge. Need some recommendations? Join the Goodreads group.

(*I have decided that I am going to try and read a book for each challenge because I read a lot and think this makes it more fun and diverse for me)

The Challenges

1. A Book by an Author from the Caribbean or India
          Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
2. A Book Translated from an Asian Language (Bonus if the translator is a woman!)
3. A Book about the Environment
4. A Picture Book Written/Illustrated by a BIPOC Author
5. . A Winner of the Stella Prize or the Women’s Prize for Fiction
          The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
6. A Nonfiction Title by a Woman Historian
          Women & Power by Mary Beard
7. A Book Featuring Afrofuturism or Africanfuturism
          Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
8. An Anthology by Multiple Authors
9. A Book Inspired by Folklore
10. A Book about a Woman Artist
11. Read and Watch a Book-to-Movie Adaptation
12. A Book about a Woman Who Inspires You
         The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
13. A Book by an Arab Woman
14. A Book Set in Japan or by a Japanese Author
15. A Biography
16. A Book Featuring a Woman with a Disability
17. A Book Over 500 Pages
18. A Book Under 100 Pages
19. A Book That’s Frequently Recommended to You
20. A Feel-Good or Happy Book
          The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
21. A Book about Food
          Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
22. A Book by Either a Favorite or a New-to-You Publisher
23. A Book by an LGBTQ+ Author
          Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell
24. A Book from the 2019 Reading Women Award Shortlists or Honorable Mentions (2019 Fiction Shortlist  | 2019 Nonfiction Shortlist | 2019 Honorable Mentions)

BONUS

• A Book by Toni Morrison

• A Book by Isabel Allende

So that is basically what this readathon is all about. I know, how amazing does it sound? I was so excited when I found out about it and it was one of the first trackers I drew in 2020’s bullet journal because I was so dang excited about tracking my progress and reading some fabulous books by some brilliant women!

What are you waiting for? Why don’t you join in with this amazing reading challenge hosted by some amazing women and reclaim half the bookshelf with us!

And if you have any suggestions or ideas I would hugely welcome and appreciate them. Show some love and like/comment down below!

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