I am now six months in to my #ReadWomen2014 committment, and it seems only appropriate to take a moment to reflect on how my endeavor is progressing so far. I had a few goals in mind when I took up the task of exclusively reading books by women this year; I wanted to expose myself to far more books by women of color; I wanted to catch up on the contemporary literary fiction by women that I kept hearing about but hadn't read; and finally, I wanted to read some of the most noteworthy works of feminist literature/non-fiction, because it seemed in keeping with the spirit of the undertaking.
I should note a few notable exceptions to my adherence to #ReadWomen2014. I have read two books by male authors since January: A Call to Action by Jimmy Carter and White Girls by Hilton Als. The former is a non-fiction treatise about the terrible treatment of women around the world, so I gave it a pass. The latter was something I had already started in late 2013 and was really enjoying. I also had a biography of Teddy Roosevelt that I was reading but put on hold for the year (it's three volumes long, so I am going to be reading it for years anyway), and Bleak House, which was part of my 2013 New Years resolution to read one Dickens novel per month. I made it six months and then ran out of Dickens novels under 1000 pages and lost momentum. I still have every intention of finishing it, but it's not exactly a priority.
In regards to the women of color goal, I did read some pretty significant books, including The Color Purple and Beloved, as well as plenty of contemporary books, which are much more plentiful. I had this goal in mind before I started #ReadWomen2014, but I stopped thinking about it consciously and found myself reading many titles by women of color anyway, so this occurred very organically.
As much time as I have spent reading contemporary books by women authors (Donna Tartt, Karen Russell, Zadie Smith, Lydia Davis, Cheryl Strayed, Joan Didion, etc), I still feel like I have so much catching up to do (Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Adrienne Rich, Clare Messud, Meg Wolitzer). This is a probably an accomplishment I will never attain because new contemporary literary fiction by women is being published every month, but I will definitely never stop trying.
In regard to the pillars of feminist literature and non-fiction, I haven't even really started on this goal. I had a list of writers that included Erica Jong, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Naomi Wolf, and I have yet to even get a copy of any of their books. I have Hillary Clinton's new memoir in the stack on my nightstand, but that's as close as I've gotten. Part of the reason I keep putting these off is that so many of them were written well before my time, and although I know empirically how culturally important they were, I have a feeling I will find them uninteresting and outdated. I'm not giving up entirely on this goal, but neither am I going to feel guilt over reading An Untamed State over The Feminine Mystique. (Speaking of Roxane Gay, her book of essays Bad Feminist comes out in August, so I guess I can kill two birds with one stone in that instance).
In a more specific but less meaningful spirit, I also wanted to increase the percentage of books by women in my personal library. When I first heard about #ReadWomen2014 and started kicking around the idea of adopting it, I decided to make a tally of books by women on my shelves. I was surprised that it was only 30%, because even before the popularity of #ReadWomen2014, I thought of myself as a highly literate feminist, and many of my favorite authors are women. In December of 2013 only about 30% of my book collection was by women-- I haven't taken the time to count that more recently, but I have certainly purchased a high number of books by women in the past six months, and haven't bought any books by male authors.
It's hard for me to even think of any new goals I have for myself as I head into the second half of #ReadWomen2014, because it has been such a pleasurable and easy experience. I barely think about the fact that I'm reading only female authors, and I've read so many books that I loved, and have discovered several new authors that I can't get enough of (Joan Didion comes to mind). There have only been a few instances when I craved a book by a male author and decided against reading it -- last summer I spent a lot of time with Faulkner and Hemingway, and now that it's warm and beautiful in Michigan again, I am tempted to read them again, but I don't think it will be hard to find great books by women authors that get me in the same frame of mind (Flannery O'Connor is a definite). Most of all I've enjoyed the experience of having a really structured plan for my reading habits; normally I read whatever strikes my fancy and I usually read a few books at a time, so I've enjoyed being a bit more deliberate in my choices.