I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the ACT, the Ngunnawal people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

New Year, New Challenges. Reading.

Once upon a time I was a big reader, voracious even.  A couple of books a week was a slow week.

Since returning to Canberra 10 years ago, though, there just hasn't been the brainspace for reading much.

Mid 2012 I joined Goodreads and attempted reading through a couple of lists of the best Australian and New Zealand fiction.  It didn't "take" as well I had hoped in that I didn't build a new habit of reading regularly, but I did read and I discovered some truly enjoyable new-to-me authors.

My renewed desire to read also coincided with the development of the Stella Prize and an unprecedented level of public misogyny in our literary, political and social world. I read the Australian Women Writers Challenge blog and cheered Carrie Tiffany when she won the inaugural Stella Prize with Mateship with Birds.

So this year I am taking a very small plunge and taking up the AWW Challenge at Stella level, to encourage me to read and to support Australian women writers.

I commit to reading 4 Australian Women Authors this year.  I will not be reviewing them.  I reckon this is do-able.  Of the 10 books read in 2013, 6 were by Australian women so perhaps not much of a challenge, but this is not about setting myself up to fail, it is about ensuring that good things are done. So 4 is my minimum goal.


Of course I am not starting well.  My first book for 2014 is Booker Prize winner The Luminaries, by New Zealand author, Eleanor Catton.


1 comment:

Janette said...

Happy New Year and good luck with your books!