In January I accepted a challenge from Valentina at Peek a Book to read at least 16 books in 2013 that were written by female authors. I am glad to report having met my goal already by reading a total of 22 books by women authors, not including nine children’s books read with my young son that were also written by women. Only 31 of the 70 titles I’ve read so far this year and only two of the six I have going right now were written by women, though.

Can the assumption be made I have a penchant for male authors, or my book club picks more male authors than female, or maybe there are more men writing popular books? Certainly not enough information is there to draw a logical conclusion, but at least I met my goal. My list includes some of my *favorites* of the year, too! It includes:

Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn *

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

12 Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis *in top five of 2013 (author’s first novel)

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman

The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler *

Brain on Fire:  My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Dahlia’s Gone:  A Novel by Katie Estill *

The Silver Star by Jeanette Walls *

The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn *

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Bossypants by Tina Fey *

Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran *

Valentina is back at it again. She has issued the 2014 Women Challenge and I am bumping it up this time. Even though I proved myself a Wonder Woman by last year’s standards, I’m going for a level of 20 or more to get there again in 2014. She says:

Welcome to the second edition of the “Women Challenge”!

This challenge will make us want to read more books of any kind written by women, so choose whatever you like and get involved!
Set your level and, if you like, leave me a comment on this post listing your three favourite women writers, in order to suggest new names to other participants as well.

Here are mine (they are just the first ones coming to my mind):
* Simone De Beauvoir
* Fannie Flagg
* Joanne Harris
Rules:

* anyone can join;
* you don’t need a blog to partecipate: if you are a non-blogger please leave a comment with a link (if you review elsewhere) to your review or with the list of the books you read and the level you choose;
* audio, e-books, bound books and re-reads are ok;
* create a sign up post on your blog and post the link in the Linky below (scroll down please, it’s at the end of the italian translation);
* challenge goes from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014;
* here you can link for your reviews.
Levels:

Level 1: BABY GIRL – read 5 books written by a woman author
Level 2: GIRLS POWER – read 6 to 15 books written by a woman
Level 3: SUPER GIRL – read 16 to 20 books written by a woman
Level 4: WONDER WOMAN – read 20+ books written by a woman

It’s never too late to join!
Have fun and good luck! 🙂

Perhaps part of the challenge’s purpose is to introduce readers to authors they’ve otherwise never read, which I had the pleasure of doing in 2013.

My favorites, though, remain Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, and Octavia E. Butler. Lucky for me, I have a ton left of each of their bodies of work to finish.

Accept the challenge yourself, and join in the fun!