For this year's reading challenges, I decided to do something very different and drastic.  I am going to read women authors.  I feel like I've been neglecting all those wonderful female authors sitting on my shelves.  I will be tailoring my challenge participation to account for this overall goal.  I do have a few exceptions.  I may read a male author if 1) I've already started the series and desperately want to finish it (i.e. Song of Ice and Fire) 2) It is a book club selection (out of my hands) or 3) If it is a male author writing nonfiction specifically about a women subject (e.g. a biography of Kate Chopin).  Other than those three exceptions, I want to discover some wonderful women authors.

From Literary Escapism:

Welcome back to the New Authors reading challenge! I’m hoping everyone is still enjoying this reading challenge as we head into our seventh year.

For those new to the New Author Challenge, the whole idea started when I first started reviewing and I didn’t know that many authors in my favored genre. So I went looking. I gave myself a goal of finding 50 new authors and ended up reading 56 that first year. I loved finding these new characters, worlds and cultures, so I want to help others find new ones as well. Since 2006, I’ve tried over 150 different authors I may not have tried otherwise and I have found some really great authors.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you’ve never tried before, not necessarily ones that are debuting. They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it. If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page here at Literary Escapism or the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and2014 Challenge pages. With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

Here are the guidelines:

1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015.
2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels. Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors can be from short stories/novellas or anthologies.
3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors. It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.  If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop. Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky. We all want to know about your new experience.
4. After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to Mr. Linky. Make sure you include your name and the author, but adding the title is completely up to you.
5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. You don’t have to have a site to participate. You can link up via Facebook, GoodReads or even Amazon if you’d like.

Once you reach your goal, you don’t have to stop. Any new author you try, go ahead and head back here and add it to the list. Introduce us all to whoever you find. Afterall, there’s no reason to stop trying new authors, right?

I'm joining again this year.  I've decided to go for 15 new fiction authors this year.

OLW 2015: Home

I've joined Ali Edwards for One Little Word 2015.  As part of the class, someone on the message board mentioned the idea of reading books associated with their word.  What a great idea! I decided that I wanted to add this reading challenge onto my others.  My word is HOME, so I've been scouring Amazon for book ideas associated with HOME.  I have a few ideas, but I'm sure I'll find more and more as the year goes on.  I'm aiming for 10 HOME related books this year.