Winter of Women

Yesterday, December 21, was the first official day of Winter.  Here in the Northern Hemisphere, wintertime is for coziness and warmth because it's freaking cold and dreary most of the time.  I'm happiest when I'm curled up on the sofa with a warm blanket, a hot beverage, and a good book.  Perhaps a pot of soup is simmering on the stove and a loaf of bread is baking in the oven, but perhaps not.  Whatever the occasion or situation, books are a part of it.

Recently, I was taking a look at my bookshelves.  Actually, I look at my bookshelves fairly often.  I find the act of looking at books to be soothing and relaxing (is it just me?), and where better to do that than amongst the comforts of home?  Upon a recent trip to my shelves, I found myself noticing just how many of my own books are unread.  Normally this doesn't bother me, because it leads to fruitful possibilities when I'm not sure what to read next.  Even if I have many many books yet to read, I'll happily order more, especially if they're by an author I'm excited about or a topic I'm interested in exploring.

For some reason, this time, it bothered me that there were so very very many unread books (I'm talking over a hundred books on my entire TBR).  Thus, I've formed a reading project for myself...and I'm calling it my Winter of Women.  From December 21 - March 20, I will do my best to only read unread books, written by women.  I'm hoping that this three month span of devoted reading will diminish my TBR at least a little bit.  I'll be tagging my social media posts with #WinterOfWomen17 if you want to join in or follow along.

Because this reading challenge will extend over such a long time, I'm not going to commit to a specific list of books.  However, here are some of the books I'm hoping to get to before March 20th:

1. Swing Time by Zadie Smith
2. Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple
3. At the Existential Cafe by Sarah Bakewell
4. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
5. How Should a Person Be by Sheila Heti
6. The Mothers by Brit Bennett
7. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
8. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
9. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
10. William: An Englishman by Cicely Hamilton
11. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
12. You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
13. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante
14. Mariana by Monica Dickens

Librorum annis