Women Read Women Update 4

At the end of March, I set myself a personal reading challenge. So, how did I do in July?

I can hardly believe that it’s August already. July was a mixed bag, reading wise. I read 8 books, which is a good average for me. Half the books I read were by women and all four were authors I was new to. Only one was an out and out duffer.

The Portable Veblen was my favourite of the books by women writers. A well deserved nominee for the Bailey’s prize. I’m still mulling over Faces in the Crowd. I really enjoyed its weirdness but something is stopping me from giving it 4 stars. I read it for the Olympic reading challenge over at The Reader’s Room, and wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise. I’m glad that I did.

My diverse reading fared better last month. Although I didn’t enjoy it so much, I read The Snow Queen. LGBTQ as a genre isn’t that big a deal for me, because the existence of a spectrum of sexuality is a fact of life, and I feel that LGBTQ writers are part of my mainstream reading. The best thing about Michael Cunningham’s book was that his gay characters were also part of the mainstream. It wasn’t my favourite book.

Veblen also hit the diversity mark as it had characters with mental health issues. So did The Marriage Plot, which has confirmed Jeffrey Eugenides as a favourite author.

My outstanding book of the month was Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It’s a real tour de force, an essential read if you truly want to know what life is like for African Americans.

August and September are going to be interesting months as I attempt to find books by authors from specific countries that match specific genres. Diverse reading beyond that of a geographical nature might go out of the window for a while.