500 Great Books By Women discussion

If you'd like to participate, feel free to make your own discussion in the Reading Women Bingo 2020 folder.

Copy Paste Version

B
1 - Published in the 1900s
2 - Sci-Fi
3 - Author Born in Latin America
4 - Queer Theme and/or Author
5 - Potential Classic Published After 1969

I
1 - Translated from Language Other Than English/Not Originally Written in English
2 - Play
3 - Disability as Theme and/or Disabled Author
4 - Published in the pre-1800s
5 - Novella - Less than 200 Pages

N
1 - Published in the 2000s
2 - Long Read - More than 600 Pages
3 - Free Space
4 - Less than 1,000 Ratings on Goodreads
5 - Fantasy

G
1 - Published in the 1800s
2 - Nobel Laureate Author - Not Just For Lit
3 - Author Born in Africa
4 - Less than 5,000 Ratings on Goodreads
5 - Mystery/Thriller

O
1 - Less than 10,000 Ratings on Goodreads
2 - Author Born in Asia
3 - Poetry
4 - Nonfiction
5 - Short Story Collection

Hello all. I realize I've been rather negligent of this group of late, and for that I apologize. I'm taking advantage of a momentary lull in school/work/internship to put forward this group's 2020 reading challenge. This time, I'm taking bits and pieces of other challenges and smudging it into one instead of wholesale copy pasting someone else's, so that's hopefully an improvement. I'm posting the proto plan here and welcome commentary on what I have so far.

Rough Draft + Resources

B
1 1900s (year of publication)
2 sci fi
3 Latin America (author country of origin) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8... (suggestions)
4 queer (theme/author)
5 potential classic (published after 1969)

I
1 translation (not from English) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9... (suggestions)
2 play - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8... (suggestions)
3 disability (theme/author) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... - (careful using these suggestions, it's not all women and it's gotten unruly with public add ons)
4 pre-1800s (year of publication) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... , https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... (suggestions)
5 novella (less than 200 pages (subject to change)) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... , https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggestions)

N
1 2000s (year of publication)
2 long read (600+ pages)
3 free space
4 less than 1,000 ratings - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... (suggestions)
5 fantasy

G
1 1800s (year of publication)
2 nobel prize laureate (doesn't have to be for lit) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4... , https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggestions)
3 Africa (author country of origin)
4 less than 5,000 ratings - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7... (suggestions)
5 mystery/thriller

O
1 Less than 10,000 ratings - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... (suggestions)
2 Asia (author country of origin)
3 poetry
4 nonfiction
5 short story collection - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (suggestions)

Feel free to start planning. I know I will be soon.

Aubrey, I like these options. The Reading Women Challenge hasn’t been a good fit for me either of the last two years, but your tasks, on the other hand are 99% themes and criteria I would enjoy seeking out. Thank you!

I'm glad to hear that, Carol. I based these options on my own reading interests (except for Mystery/Thriller, but I have at least one work that fits), so it'll ideally appeal to some and prove a welcome challenge for others.

I agree with Carol! I wanted the Reading Women Challenge to work, but it was too forced for me. This one looks excellent. Enough stretch to feel like an accomplishment, but some will fill itself in naturally with books I'd read anyway. The low rating options are a great idea!

Thanks for taking the time to do this, Aubrey.

My reading fell way off this year. I read a lot of memoirs and biographies but not much else. So I’ll try. It will be tough and I doubt I’ll finish but I already have the tough squares for me figured out and that’s half the battle. I’m looking forward to trying.

Brina wrote: "My reading fell way off this year. I read a lot of memoirs and biographies but not much else. So I’ll try. It will be tough and I doubt I’ll finish but I already have the tough squares for me figur..."

That's good to hear, Brina. I figured the Bingo would give people the option of doing what they could without making them feel as if they have to get a blackout, so hopefully you can make this challenge work for you.

Kathleen wrote: "I agree with Carol! I wanted the Reading Women Challenge to work, but it was too forced for me. This one looks excellent. Enough stretch to feel like an accomplishment, but some will fill itself in..."

Thanks, Kathleen. I look forward to your choices.

I've gone ahead and made my own planning discussion in this folder, so anyone who's interested is free to do the same.

Finished my board! And most of these I wanted to read next year anyway, I only had to add 5 at the most to my tbr. I love Bingo, also the name of my best buddy cat. Thank you, Aubrey. I wasn’t going to do challenges next year but this now motivates me to read fiction again. I’m excited.

I'm very glad to hear that, Brina. Also, I saw your question about the 'less than # ratings' categories, and I've gone ahead and linked to some listopia lists that are devoted to retaining an updated record of applicable books for each category. Hopefully that gives people some ideas.

I looked at my year tbr and found some but the lists are definitely helpful.

I am pretty much in agreement with most of the comments. The list seems a bit more manageable. I hope to complete my 2019 challenge, but I may fall short a few in the list.

Mary wrote: "I am pretty much in agreement with most of the comments. The list seems a bit more manageable. I hope to complete my 2019 challenge, but I may fall short a few in the list."

Glad to hear that, Mary. I look forward to seeing your reading plans.

We've about a week left until 2020 and this Bingo begins. Anyone have any idea which book/category they're going to start with?

It's a toss up between Claudia Piñeiro's Betty Boo and Selma Lagerlöf's Gösta Berling's Saga. Both fit multiple tasks and also are January book club selections, so it's likely up to whimsy.

Carol wrote: "It's a toss up between Claudia Piñeiro's Betty Boo and Selma Lagerlöf's Gösta Berling's Saga. Both fit multiple tasks and also are Januar..."

I'd never heard of the first work, but the Lagerlöf got a five star from me, so I have to vote for that one.

I myself will be starting with The Etched City by K.J. Bishop: it will continue this month's focus on 21st century works that have been on my shelf forever a bit into 2020.

Kathleen and I are going to hopefully buddy read Country Girls sometime in the month, but I have two short stories I might read on Jan 1 and get them out of the way. Haven’t really decided yet.

Brina wrote: "Kathleen and I are going to hopefully buddy read Country Girls sometime in the month, but I have two short stories I might read on Jan 1 and get them out of the way. Haven’t really decided yet."

Sounds like a plan.

Wow, The Etched City sounds like quite a romp, Aubrey. Enjoy!

Yes, I'll be reading Country Girls for sure, and Gosta Berling hopefully, so I'm looking forward to starting the year sharing with Brina and Carol. :-)

Kathleen wrote: "Wow, The Etched City sounds like quite a romp, Aubrey. Enjoy!

Yes, I'll be reading Country Girls for sure, and Gosta Berling hopefully, so I'm looking forward to starting the year sharing with Bri..."

Yay!

Reading Women Bingo 2020 has officially begun! Have fun!

I finally put up a cleaned up version of the bingo list for copy paste purposes, so hopefully that helps someone out.

For, "translation (not from English)", does it have to be a translation or can I read a book in another language?

Nocturnalux wrote: "For, "translation (not from English)", does it have to be a translation or can I read a book in another language?"

That'd be perfectly fine, Nocturnalux, and thanks for reminding me to not be so Anglocentric in the future (and with Women in Translation Month coming up! phew!).

Aubrey wrote: "That'd be perfectly fine, Nocturnalux, and thanks for reminding me to not be so Anglocentric in the future (and with Women in Translation Month coming up! phew!)."

Thanks for letting me know.

I was going to go for Clarice Lispector for the 'Latin America' slot but it turns out that while she did live most of her life in Brazil, she was born in the Ukraine. So I don't think I can use her in that slot but I can use her for the other language one as I am a native Portuguese speaker.

Sorry to bother you, but would magical realism also cover the 'fantasy' slot or is it more along the lines of high fantasy and the like?

Honestly, I'd imagine someone else used Lispector for that challenge slot (the fact that I didn't myself is rather amazing), and if I didn't bother to catch it then, I'm not going to worry about it now.

For fantasy, I'll say magical realism works. Bonus points if the magical realism is by a white person :P (just kidding, but I have been noticing exotifying trends of late).

Heh, I'm afraid it will probably be a white person...I am trying to combine this challenge with the Boxall's list and as you very likely know, there aren't a lot of non-white women authors there.
But my current pick for fantasy is not white and I may just run with it.

I have a question, N1, Published in the 2000s, does that only include books published between 2000 and 2009? Or do books published in the 2010's/2020 also count?

Nocturnalux wrote: "I have a question, N1, Published in the 2000s, does that only include books published between 2000 and 2009? Or do books published in the 2010's/2020 also count?"

That'll be the entire millennium, like how the 1900s is the entire century. That'll be good to clarify in future challenge set ups.