I finished a book in a few hours yesterday, The Windfall. I had started reading Descent into Night, and it’s very interesting and compelling, but has dark themes and my brain needed a break from my usual intense reads.

I’ve decided that to maximize my reading I should always have three books on the go - a fun and light fiction book, a literary fiction, and a non-fiction. That way I won’t get stuck avoiding reading, when the subject matter gets too intense, and instead, and switch back when I’m ready for it.

I also read it with the Reading Women 2019 Challenge in mind.

** Reading Women 2019 **

1. Mystery or thriller written by a woman of color

   • ✔ A Study in Scarlet Women part of The Lady Sherlock Series by Sherry Thomas

2. A book about a woman with a mental illness

   • ✔ Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

3. A book by an author from Nigeria or New Zealand

   • ✔ Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
   • Pounamu, Pounamu by Witi Ihimaera (Maori New Zealand)
   • The Bone People by Keri Hulme (New Zealand)

4. A book about or set in Appalachia

   • ✔ What you’re getting wrong about Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

5. A children’s book

   • ✔ I read so many wonderful children’s books everyday… the benefits of having a toddler. Anything by Monique Gray Smith ranks high for me.

6. A multigenerational family saga

   • Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
   • The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
   • Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
   • ✔ Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

7. A book featuring a woman in science

   • Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
   • Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
   • ✔ Vox by Christina Dalcher
   • ✔ Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

8. A play

   • ✔ A very polite genocide or the girl who fell to earth by Melanie J. Murray
   • ✔ The Monument by Colleen Wagner
     
   • ✔ Angélique by Lorena Gale (also playing at the Factory Theatre this year

9. A novella

   • Home by Toni Morrison
   • ✔ Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (and all three in the trilogy)

10. A book about a woman athlete

    • The Frailty Myth: Redefining the Physical Potential of Women and Girls’ by Colette Dowling
    • ✔ Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina’ by Misty Copeland

11. A book featuring a religion other than your own

    • ✔ The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

12. A Lambda Literary Award winner

    • Hunger by Roxane Gay
    • Small Beauty by Jia Qing Wilson-Yang

13. A myth retelling

    • ✔ A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh

14. A translated book published before 1945

    • Himself: The Autobiography of a Hindu Lady” , Translated and Adapted by Katherine Van Akin Gates from a book written in the Marathi language by Mrs. Ramabai Ranade

15. A book written by a South Asian author

    • ✔ The Windfall by Diksha Basu (originally from New Delhi, India)

16. A book by an Indigenous woman

    • ✔ Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot
    • Pounamu, Pounamu by Witi Ihimaera (Maori New Zealand)

17. A book from the 2018 Reading Women Award shortlist

    • ✔ Educated by Tara Westover
    • A Place for Us: A Novel by Fatima Farheen Mirza
    • ✔ Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot

18. A romance or love story

    • ✔ An Extraordinary Union by Alissa Cole

19. A book about nature

    • Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
    • Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
    • (doesn’t count for the challenge because it’s not by a woman, but I want to read this one anyway) The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries From a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben
    • ✔ Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
    • Unbowed by Wangari Maathai

20. A historical fiction book

    • Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, Tiina Nunnally (Translator)

21. A book you bought or borrowed in 2019

    • Holding Still For As Long As Possible by Zoe Whittall
      • A friend lent me this book in exchange for The Hate You Give (also excellent)

22. A book you picked up because of the cover

    • I will do this, but eventually. It’s worth taking a trip over to my favourite bookstore and perusing the shelves.

23. Any book from a series

    • ✔ Murder is Binding by Lorna Barret (book 1 of Booktown Mysteries)
    • ✔ A Study in Scarlet Women part of The Lady Sherlock Series by Sherry Thomas

24. A young adult book by a woman of color

    • ✔ On the Come Up - Angie Thomas
    • ✔ The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

BONUS:

1. A book by Jesmyn Ward

   • ✔ Men We Reaped
   • ✔ Sing, Unburied, Sing

2. A book by Jhumpa Lahiri

   • ✔The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
   • The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri