ŷ������

Congratulations, Beth! I love Margaret Atwood too, and I'm trying to read more of her work.

So far I already 3 new women writers:

1. Agatha Christie with: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with:Purple Hibiscus
3. Jen Campbell with: Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops
4. Roxane Gay with: Bad Feminist: Essays
5. Elizabeth Stroutwith: Olive Kitteridge
6. G. Willow Wilson with: Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal
7,Paula Hawkins with: The Girl on the Train
8. Amy Poehler with: Yes Please
9.Rebecca Solnit with:Men Explain Things to Me
10. Mary Shelley with:Frankenstein
11. Imogen Edwards-Jones with Restaurant Babylon
12.Noelle Stevenson with Nimona
13.Caitlin Moran with How to Be a Woman

My goal was 10 and now I am already in 13. Hopefully more will be coming by the end of the year!

Great job, Caro! What did you think of Nimona?

Cassandra wrote: "Great job, Caro! What did you think of Nimona?"

I love it! I bought it and read it almost at once. The story is very well written, the graphics are excellent and you can't help but felt in love with the main characters... they are amazing... Not sure if it will be a second part but I only wish... I am also planning to read Lumberjanes #1. Listen amazing things from that story....

Awesome! I loved Nimona too. You'll have to let me know what you think of Lumberjanes #1 when you read it.

I have reached my goal this year of reading 50 female authors that I've never read before. And I'll probably still manage a couple more before the end of the year.

I couldn't pick a favourite, but I am most looking forward to reading more of Lynn Austin, Di Morrissey, Judy Nunn, Elizabeth Wein, Dawn Barker, Jackie French, Kathryn Fox and Emma Donoghue

1. Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin - 3.5 stars

2. A Lancaster County Christmas by Suzanne Woods Fisher - 3.5 stars

3. Though the Bud Be Bruised by Jo Wanmer - 3 stars

4. Passion Play - the Oberammergau Tales by Valerie Volk - 4 stars

5. Oceans Apart by Karen Kingsbury - 3.5 stars

6. A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor by Caroline Stoessinger - 3.5 stars

7. The Opal Desert by Di Morrissey - 5 stars

8. Elianne by Judy Nunn - 4 stars

9. Wild Lavender by Belinda Alexandra - 4 stars

10. Family Secrets by Liz Byrski - 4 stars

11. The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran - 3.5 stars

12. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - 4.5 stars

13. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert - 3 stars

14. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - 4.5 stars

15. The Visitors by Sally Beauman - 3 stars

16. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty - 4 stars

17. Fractured by Dawn Barker - 5 stars

18. Ronan's Echo by Joanne van Os - 4 stars

19. Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser - 3 stars

20. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - 3.5 stars

21. Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner - 2 stars

22. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 2.5 stars

23. Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French - 4.5 stars

24. The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon - 4 stars

25. The Heavy: A Mother's Battle Against her Seven-year-old Daughter's Obesity by Dara-Lynn Weiss - 4 stars

26. The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell - 4 stars

27. Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light by Amy Thomas - 3 stars

28. Big Brother by Lionel Shriver - 4 stars

29. The Happy Endings Book Club by Jane Tara - 3 stars

30. The Lady's Maid: My Life in Service by Rosina Harrison - 3.5 stars

31. Goodbye Piccadilly by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - 4 stars

32. The Tea House On Mulberry Street by Sharon Owens - 3 stars

33. Longbourn by Jo Baker - 4 stars

34. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson - 3 stars

35. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai - 3.5 stars

36. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler - 3 stars

37. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - 4 stars

38. Alice Brown's Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating by Eleanor Prescott - 3.5 stars

39. Not Quite Nice by Celia Imrie - 3 stars

40. The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell - 4 stars

41. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick - 4 stars

42. While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax - 4 stars

43. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - 4 stars

44. The Magpie's Nest by Jacqueline Perry-Strickland - 3 stars

45. Before I Go by Colleen Oakley - 3.5 stars

46. Me Without You by Kelly Rimmer - 4 stars

47. Malicious Intent by Kathryn Fox - 4 stars

48. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - 4.5 stars

49. Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey - 3.5 stars

50. Room by Emma Donoghue - 5 stars

Beth wrote: "Oops, I forgot to post when I finished. I'm finished! My favorite was Margaret Atwood. I've since read several more of her books and she's amazing! Kate Atkinson is really good too.

25/25 complete..."

Margaret Atwood is great. My favorite of hers is The Handmaid's Tale, but she has all types of books.

That's awesome, Kathryn! Congratulations on finishing your challenge. I read over 50 this year too, but set my initial goal much lower.

The Radiant Way by Margaret Drabble

21/30

Update: I have currently read 29 new women authors this year, my original goal was 20, so I think I will increase the goal to 30 and get one more squeezed in before NYE

Good luck, Victoria!

A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash by Sylvia Nasar

22/30

That's been on my to-read list for the longest time. What did you think of it?

Completed 30/30 with The Girl in the Photograph by Kate Riordan

Full list at page 3 message 126

Thanks for hosting Cassandra

Congratulations, Victoria!

Updated message 352-5/5-DONE!

Congratulations, Anissa!

Updating message 760 with A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride

46/40

I updated post #6.

17/18/19:

Gigi and The Cat by Collette (12/27/16, ***)
Transformations by Anne Sexton (12/24/15, ****)
We Should All Be Feminists by (12/28/15, )

Read: 19/20

Cassandra wrote: "Congratulations, Anissa!"

Thanks Cassandra!

At final count, I read 21 new female authors this year. Final list:

1. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
2. Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
3. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
4. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
5. The Vacationers by Emma Straub
6. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
7. The Recipe Box by Sandra Lee
8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
9. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
10. All the Light There Was by Nancy Kricorian
11. I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
12. Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens
13. The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley
14. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
15. The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman
16. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
17. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead
18. Serendipity by Louise Shaffer
19. Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White
20. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
21. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

21/12

Awesome job, everyone!

I went way over my goal - I read 55 new-to-me women authors this year and my goal was originally 25.

Okay Let's see how I did. My goal was 12, and I had planned for them to be friends books, but I failed there, however I think I found 12 overall.

1. Assassin by Angela Addams
2. Operation XOXO by Elle James
3. Candy Store by Bella Andre
4. Love Struck by Melissa Marr
5. Zombiewood Confidential by Mari Mancusi
6. The Dragon Maker by Elizabeth Baxter
7. Gentlemen Prefer Voodoo by Angie Fox
8. Rose by Holly Webb
9. His Secret Valentine by Kate Hoffmann
10. The Cue Ball Mysteries Series by Cindy Blackburn
11. Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman
12. Undercover Daddy by Delores Fossen
13. The Shadow Force Series by Stephanie Tyler
14. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
15. The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay by Rebecca Sparrow

15 of 12. Not bad.

Congratulations, Rae!

10/10 completed

Favorite: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

2. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
3. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry
5. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
6. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
7. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. The Woman Code by Sophia A. Nelson
9. The Young Elites by Marie Lu
10. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Updated message 494
I'm done for 2015!

39/30:
1. Shungiku Nakamura
2. Anno Moyoko
3. Hina Sakurada
4. Junko
5. Suzanne Collins
6. Roxane Gay
7. Charlotte Brontë
8. Anne Brontë
9. Asumiko Nakamura
10. Sylvia Plath
11. Margaret Atwood
12. Simone de Beauvoir
13. Akiko Higashimura
14. A.S. King
15. Amy Poehler
16. Germaine Greer
17. Cassandra Rios
18. Mika Yamamori
19. Emily Carroll
20. Juliet Marillier
21. Mariko Tamaki
22. Noelle Stevenson
23. Ashley Marie Witter
24. Jung Chang
25. Maya Angelou
26. Kyōko Okazaki
27. Felicia Day
28. Amanda Palmer
29. Vera Brosgol
30. Natasha Allegri
31. Kelly Sue DeConnick
32. Emily Brontë
33. Daphne du Maurier
34. Gloria Steinem
35. Bell Hooks
36. Shirley Jackson
37. Charlotte Perkins Gilman
38. Virginia Woolf
39. J.K. Rowling

I also want to mention some authors I read that are not the main author of their books on goodreads:
. Jen Wang
. Jillian Tamaki
. Renae De Liz
. Amy Reeder
. Anne Rice
. Jill Thompson

And that's it! I wanted to read only women this year, but I still read a few men. Nevertheless, I discovered a lot of new authors and ended the year with a lot of new favourites! (I will not update the rest of my messages because I think I lost them.)
Happy 2016 to everybody and thank you, Cassandra, for hosting this challenge! :)

Congratulations Sarah and Diana for meeting your goals!

Diana - I'm glad you enjoyed the challenge, and it was my pleasure to host. :)

Wasn't actually in on this challenge (Only just joined, after all) but I was kind of doing this as a personal project. Rounding up all the new-to-me female authors this year...

01. Karen Lord - The Best of All Possible Worlds, The Galaxy Game, and Redemption in Indigo

02. Jacqueline Koyanagi - Ascension

03. Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice, Sword, and Mercy

04. Nnedi Okorafor - The Shadow Speaker and Who Fears Death

05. Kyung-sook Shin - Please Look After Mom

06. Anita Amirrezvani - Equal of the Sun

07. Cristina Henriquez - The Book of Unknown Americans

08. Azadeh Moaveni - Honeymoon in Tehran

09. Andrea Hairston - Mindscape

Had I been participating, I would have aimed for ten (10) new female authors. But nine's not too bad, and it made me stretch beyond sci-fi, which is always a good thing.

Is this challenge repeating in 2016, do you know?

Updated message 156.

30/30 Challenge complete!

Here is what I have read in 2015 I might have one or two by tomorrow. Hopefully. But 68 of my books had been women authors which I am proud of! And one of my goals for next is to read more women

Where She Went
Secret of Pembrooke Park
Practical Magic
Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason
The Private Notebook of Katie Roberts, Age 11
How Reading Changed My Life
The Great Green Notebook of Katie Roberts
Because of Winn-Dixie
Yes Please (One of my favorites of the year)
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
Good Night, Maman
Greater Than Angels
Isabel: Taking Wing
Lessons From the Mountain
All for a Song
Austenland
The Silent Governess
Fairyopolis: A Flower Fairies Journal
Garden of Angels
The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Garden Spells
Frankenstein
Pippi Longstocking
The Princess Diaries
Princess in the Spotlight
Princess in Love
Princess in Waiting
Princess in Pink
Princess in Training
Party Princess
Princess on the Brink
Princess Mia
Forever Princess
The Princess Present
Royal Wedding
Tiger Lily
Redeemed
Louisa May's Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women
Sanctum
The Fairy Rebel
I'll Be Seeing You
The Jane Austen Book Club
A Heart's Disguise
The Sugar Queen
Lost Lake
The Daring Ladies of Lowell
In the Days of the Salem Witchcraft Trials
The Journey
Cannons at Dawn: The Second Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1779
Jane Eyre
Following the Mystery Man
The Woman in Black
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly
The Starving Time
Season of Promise
Finding Audrey
The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall
The Peach Keeper
The Healing
Truths I Learned from Sam
The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet
The Secret Lives of Dresses
In Search of Sam
The Queen of the Tearling
The Invasion of the Tearling
A Girl's Guide to Life
Catacomb

My last update of the year:

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Total: 23/30

I haven't completed this challenge, but I've had good fun anyway :-)

Updated message 760 with H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Final year-end total: 47/40

Awesome job, everyone! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Congratulations to Charity and Mary for meeting their goals.

Samantha, I added you to the list with your 9/10 books! :) We won't be doing this challenge in 2016 (we've done it for the last two years already) but you're welcome to do it on your own. Alternately, we have a yearly Listopia challenge where you can pick your own list. You could do that with a list like Best Women-Authored Books and pick only books by new-to-you authors, which would essentially be the same thing.

Cassandra, thanks for the response! I can see why you'd want a break after a couple years XD. I've taken your advice and added it into my personal challenges, though.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! :)

Finished 71 this year! Way underestimated myself with my goal of 15...lol

Completed: 71/15, 35, 55

1. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker Completed January 1, 2015.
2. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater Completed January 22, 2015.
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Completed January 25, 2015.
4. UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn Completed January 27, 2015.
5. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan Completed January 31, 2015.
6. The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro Completed February 12, 2015.
7. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel Completed February 28, 2015.
8. Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff Completed March 5, 2015.
9. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton Completed March 9, 2015.
10. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Completed March 12, 2015.
11. Hush Money by Susan Bischoff Completed March 25, 2015.
12. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard Completed March 31, 2015.
13. Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway Completed April 4, 2015.
14. Fallen by Lauren Kate Completed April 14, 2015.
15. If I Stay by Gayle Forman Completed April 22, 2015.
16. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout Completed April 26, 2015.
17. Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn Completed April 29, 2015.
18. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge Completed April 30, 2015.
19. Dahlia by Christina Channelle Completed May 6, 2015.
20. Stitch by Samantha Durante Completed May 8, 2015.
21. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani Completed May 20, 2015.
22. The Program by Suzanne Young Completed May 22, 2015.
23. The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman Completed May 24, 2015.
24. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent Completed May 26, 2015.
25. Katherine by Anya Seton Completed May 27, 2015.
26. Leopard Moon by Jeanette Battista Completed May 30, 2015.
27. Existence by Abbi Glines Completed May 30, 2015.
28. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Completed May 31, 2015.
29. Die for Me by Amy Plum Completed June 1, 2015.
30. Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton Completed June 3, 2015.
31. The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long Completed June 6, 2015.
32. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson Completed June 8, 2015.
33. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine Completed June 9, 2015.
34. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen Completed June 13, 2015.
35. Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin Completed June 16, 2015.
36. Luna by Julie Anne Peters Completed June 19, 2015.
37. The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski Completed June 20, 2015.
38. House Broken by Sonja Yoerg Completed June 21, 2015.
39. Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck Completed June 22, 2015.
40. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter Completed June 24, 2015.
41. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Completed June 25, 2015.
42. Life After Life by Jill McCorkle Completed June 29, 2015.
43. The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow Completed June 30, 2015.
44. The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell Completed June 30, 2015.
45. Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare Completed July 3, 2015.
46. Cinder by Marissa Meyer Completed July 7, 2015.
47. The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black Completed July 9, 2015.
48. Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee Completed July 11, 2015.
49. First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones Completed July 14, 2015.
50. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Completed July 17, 2015.
51. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Completed July 17, 2015.
52. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed Completed July 24, 2015.
53. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty Completed July 24, 2015.
54. The Vacationers by Emma Straub Completed July 25, 2015.
55. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay Completed July 29, 2015.
56. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski Completed August 7, 2015.
57. Truly, Madly by Heather Webber Completed August 28, 2015.
58. The Color Purple by Alice Walker Completed September 4, 2015.
59. Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay Completed September 6, 2015.
60. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke Completed September 10, 2015.
61. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs Completed September 24, 2015.
62. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger Completed September 28, 2015.
63. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Completed October 15, 2015.
64. The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama Completed October 24, 2015.
65. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter Completed November 17, 2015.
66. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Completed November 26, 2015.
67. Along Came a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle Completed November 27, 2015.
68. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng Completed December 14, 2015.
69. Uprooted by Naomi Novik Completed December 25, 2015.
70. The Bear by Claire Cameron Completed December 30, 2015.
71. Beastly by Alex Flinn Completed December 31, 2015.

Hey everyone, is this challenge happening again for 2016? I've just done an analysis of my 52 books for 2015 and only 11 were written by women. I'm horrified by this and this year I'm going to read books by women in as many genres as I can and I'd love to do it with fellow ŷ������ participants!

I updated post #6 with my full list, as I've snuck in #20 at the last minute.

The Library Window by Margaret Oliphant (12/31/15, ***/3.5)

Read: 20/20

*A Long Overdue Update for Nicole W.*

So.....I got sidetracked by life and kinda forgot I was doing this challenge, so.....I forgot to keep track of who were my favourites, but here is my list of new-to-me female authors for this year:

1. Minor Robberies by Deb Olin Unferth (from )

2. Hard to Admit and Harder to Escape by Sarah Manguso (from )

3. by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson (with illustrations by Cassandra Jean). (While I've read almost all of Clare's work, this is my first time reading anything by Brennan & Johnson [even if this is a collab. and not actually their sole work- still counting it as exposure].)

5. by Yukine Honami & Serubo Suzuki

6. by Madeline Miller

7. by Maki Minami

8. by Amy Poehler

9. by Lisa Brown

10. (There are some Female Writers in this Anthology)

11. by Katie Green

12. Blue & Touch & -Rain- by Hayase Hashiba

13. by Cassandra Clare & Holly Black (Again, another collab., but my first exposure to Holly Black.)

14. (Anthology featuring a couple of Trans Women; the Photographer and recorder of everyone's story is also Female.)

15. by Faïza Guène & Translated by Sarah Adams

16. by Kate Beaton

17. by Evelyne Amon

18. by Moto Hagio

Goal Met So Far: 18/5 (Wait- shoot! Forgot we were going by author and not just book. Oops! I don't remember how many female authors were in the anthologies, so.....I'm just going to stick with what I put, so just mark me as 18.)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Updated Message #54.

I complete my goal for this challenge with 32/20 new-to-me women authors read this year.

Congratulations to Kelsi, Candiss, Nicole, and Scarlett!

Hi Tess! We won't be doing this challenge in 2016 (we've done it for the last two years already) but you're welcome to do it on your own. Alternately, we have a yearly Listopia challenge where you can pick your own list. You could do that with a list like Best Women-Authored Books and pick only books by new-to-you authors, which would essentially be the same thing. I hope you can find some way to incorporate more female authors in your reading life. :)

Updated post #484:

My final tally is 33/25, surpassing my goal for the challenge by 8 books! A good year for reading women, and I'm definitely going to be reading more some of the new lady authors I read this year.

Hi , I just wanted to let you know that I read 39 unique women authors this year! I didn't end up keeping track of each book in a post. So enjoyable . Most were new authors to me but not all. Cassandra wrote: "#READWOMEN
Duration: January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2015

#readwomen is a movement started by Joanna Walsh who was tired of the status quo. In her own words, this is what the movement is all about:..."

Congratulations, Lulu and Libby!