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| Australian Women Writers |
There are reasons for this. The main one being that my previous exposure to reading challenges has been through communities on LiveJournal such as "50books_poc" - a challenge to read books by authors of non-white origin - and the sister community "queerlit50" (books by authors who are not straight), where reading 50 books in a year is the aim, and is met by a lot of people.
Secondly, by the end of this year I will have read more than 75 books (actually, just added my 75th to Goodreads this evening), and that doesn't include those I didn't note on Goodreads (there's at least a couple). Which means even if 50 books had been directed at a particular challenge focus, I've read enough books to do said challenge plus some to spare.
Thirdly, when I first heard of the challenge, I started a bookshelf on Goodreads for the challenge. I didn't add any books - all I did was go through what was already in my shelves written by Australian women, that were not marked as read. I had fifty within 15 minutes.
As an example, of the 75 books I've complete this year, I just did a count and 21 of those, just under a third, were by Australian women. Now, I'll admit that 16 of those 21 (or over two thirds) are by one woman, Stephanie Laurens. I know, I know. But it's escapist reading, okay?
All of that said, I think my goal for the AWWChallenge for 2012 will be 40. My total goal for the year is going to start at 75, and a side goal is going to be clearing out my On Hiatus shelf. (This will be interesting, as there are currently 45 books "On Hiatus", only a few of which are by female Australian writers.) Finally, as I still want to complete 50books_poc and Queerlit50 within a calendar year, clearly Queer Australian female authors of non-white backgrounds get top billing. And now I'm trying to think of some... suggestions, please?
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A sidenote: I'm no longer a member of 50books_poc, however I continue to set myself the challenge to a) read 50 books by authors who are not white within a calendar year and, more broadly b) continue to be aware of the breadth of life experience among the authors I read.
I've popped in here from Good Reads. I think it's great you're planning to read more than 10 books, I plan to as well, but I can totally understand why Elizabeh has set the bar relatively low at 10 books...it's a failry attainable goal and not intimidating which means it'll attract a much wider range of participants aiming for the high level which means the challenge - and Aussie women writers - will get talked about in more places. And I'm sure no one will get told off for reading more than 10 books :)
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