Winter of Women 2017 Wrapup and Reflections

In the later part of 2016, I took stock of my reading habits.  I've been interested in reading more books written by women and people of color, however my reading wasn't reflecting it.  So, I made a decision and created a reading challenge for myself.  Beginning on December 21st, the first day of winter, and ending on the first day of spring, I would read only books written by women.  You can read more about the impetus to the project here.  And because I good track record of completing projects when I give them not only a deadline but a catchy title, I decided to name this my Winter of Women 2017.

I didn't read very much between December 21 and the end of 2016, with holidays and their various requirements of my time.  I only managed to read two books, and 2AM at The Cat's Pajamas is one that I re-read every year on Christmas Eve eve, because that is the book's setting:

• Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
• 2AM at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino

January was packed full with my teaching a night class at the local university, my birthday, and some very busy hours at my day job.  However, the #24in48 Readathon took place in January, so I was able to cram a bunch of books in there and bump up my month's reading...

• A London Child of the 1870's by Molly Hughes
• Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese O'Neill
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham
• M Train by Patti Smith
• Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
• The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt
• Other Stories and Other Stories by Ali Smith
• The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
• The Closed Door and Other Stories by Dorothy Whipple
• Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh
• Sad Animal Facts by Brooke Barker
• The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
• Ms Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

February is Black History Month, so I decided to focus exclusively on books written by Black women during this month.  The only exception is the poetry collection by Claudia Emerson, which I began reading in January and finished in February. Despite it being an outwardly busy month, with not much time for reading, I finished some great books...

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• Love Is Love: A Comic Book Anthology to Benefit the Survivors of the Orlando Pulse Shooting by various writers/artists
• Late Wife by Claudia Emerson
• Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Like One of the Family by Alice Childress
• Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston
• Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis

I had initially decided that I would conclude the #WinterOfWomen17 project on March 21, which is the first day of Spring.  However, March is Women's History Month, so I decided to extend my female-only reading through the end of March.  Life has calmed down significantly this month, so I was able to read the most books yet of any month in 2017...

• Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith
• Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
• To Bed with Grand Music by Marghanita Laski
• Frantumaglia by Elena Ferrante
• Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Towada
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• The Mothers by Brit Bennett
• Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis
• Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
• Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez
• Dear Ijeawele or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
• Dark Sparkler by Amber Tamblyn
• Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin

Whew, those were a wholelotta lists!  Here's what this whole project looked like, at a glance:

37 books read

3 poetry collections

10 books by women of color

13 non-fiction/essay collections

3 graphic-based books

8 short story collections

Why take on a targeted project like this, limiting myself in what I could read?  What could it possibly accomplish?  Why bother?

First of all, it wasn't a hassle or hindrance to find books written by women.  They are available everywhere, brought out through all manner of publishing.  There were no libraries, bookshops, or other retailers where I couldn't find female authors' work.  I'll admit that, although I had more than enough books to read for the whole project on my own shelves, I also borrowed some from my local libraries.  New releases, backlist, older works...it was a delight and a joy deciding which books to read every month.    

Second, I wanted to make a concerted effort to make my reading more female-centric.  Most of my literary education was made up of books written by men, including those that are commonly regarded as "classics" or "books everyone should read".  The reasons for this kind of classification, and their overwhelming masculinity and dudeliness, befuddle me.  I wanted to explore a variety of women's voices to discern if there were significant differences between them and those of their male comrades.
After completing #WinterOfWomen17 I believe wholeheartedly that women authors (and women in general) are just as capable, talented, empathetic, curious, scholarly, artistic, creative, and deserving of praise and attention as men.  Both genders write in all the styles, and do so successfully.  Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and any other form written by women is not any less valuable than those written by men.  Will I make it a permanent change - only reading books by women for the rest of my life?  Decidedly not.  Not only do I have many male authors' books sitting unread on my shelves, but there will be new/republished works I will certainly be interested in reading.  However, I will think a little more before I blindly reach for a book written by a male author.



Librorum annis