#61: Reading Female Authors in '22

It's going to be a great year.

Happy year end! I’m a list maker. I like perusing them, working through them, and I love making them. I can’t contain my excitement for the list of books Jeremy and I have put together for next year. We’ve been working on it since March!

Earlier this year I realized that I don’t read enough female authors and that many classics written by females have been on my “to read” shelf for years. Hence, this year-long pursuit.

The original idea was to read 52 books at the pace of 1 per week. But, in order to not kill myself and to give each book its proper due, I’ll only be picking two each month from the list below. Because I’m me, I’ll also be trying to watch a movie, TV show, or documentary adaptation as I deem it realistic or exciting that doesn’t put my marriage at risk.

So, with that lengthy introduction, here is The List for 2022! If you scroll to the bottom you’ll find a few thoughts and musings about some of the books.

January

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1869)

3. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)

4. A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans (2012)

February

5. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Thurston (1937)

6. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (2010)

7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

8. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969)

March

9. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (2013)

10. The Witch Elm by Tana French (2018)

11. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (2003)

12. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)

April

13. The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova (2020)

14. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013)

15. Jade City by Fonda Lee (2017)

16. The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (2014)

May

17. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1963)

18. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (1993)

19. Piranesi by Susanna Clark (2020)

20. Black Fatigue by Mary-Frances Winters (2020)

21. I'm Telling the Truth but I’m Lying by Bassey Ikpi (2019)

June

22. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (2006)

23. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)

24. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth (1850)

25. The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson (2020)

July

26. The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed (2008)

27. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016)

28. Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich (1997)

29. Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone (1979)

30. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871)

August

31. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (1998)

32. The Red Record by Ida Wells (1895)

33. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes (2015)

34. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)

September

35. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck (1931)

36. Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot (2018)

37. Thus Were Their Faces by Silvina Ocampo (1988)

38. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984)

39. In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (1994)

October

40. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (2005)

41. Things We Lost In the Fire by Enriquez (2017)

42. Fledgling by Octavia Butler (2007)

43. Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier (1938)

November

44. A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Lucy Bird (1879)

45. A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit (2009)

46. The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992)

47. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943)

December

48. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989)

49. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1846)

50. How the South Won the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson (2020)

51. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936)

52. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927)

Thanks for a great 2021! This newsletter has been a joy to work on and the community aspect with all of you has been the best part! What are your 2022 reading plans? I’d love to hear about them.

Kyle

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I’ll be starting the year off strong by reading Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice. I’m excited to see what all the fuss is about! Movie pairing: There are so many, but it’ll have to be the 2005 film starring Keira Knightley. Never seen it!

The 1994 and 2019 movie versions of Little Women hold a special place in my heart for different reasons. I watched the ‘94 version so many times growing up. Wynona Ryder, Claire Danes and Christian Bale will always be my Jo, Beth, and Laurie. 2019’s remake with Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet was beautiful and charming and delivered a wallop of emotion. I’m a bit ashamed that I’ve never read the source material.

While they aren’t my favorite, I’ve been suitably entertained by the other two Christie mysteries I’ve read (Death on the Nile and The Orient Express). I am excited to check out And Then There Were None. No Poirot? No problem!

A Year of Biblical Womanhood was an easy choice for The List. I’m naturally drawn to “do something for a year” types of challenges (obviously). Rachel Held Evans attempts to take the Bible’s directions to women as literally as possible for a full year. From Goodreads: “Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor.” I think I will.

I’m aware of Malala as a hard working, inspiring activist, but I don’t know all the details of her story. I Am Malala seems even more timely now with the Taliban back in power in Afghanistan.

After a few weeks of heavy material, it will be nice to mix things up with The Witch Elm, an Irish crime novel by “The First Lady of Irish Crime,” Tana French.

Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Azar Nafisi, a bold and inspired teacher, secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. Reading Lolita in Tehran is theira story and I expect it to be fantastic.

Dubbed “one of the best-loved stories in all of children's literature,” The Little Princess tells the story of a resourceful young girl whose fortune changes…and then changes again. I hope to read this to my kids and watch one of the film adaptations.

I had never heard of The Biggest Bluff prior to this project but it sounds fascinating.

My friend Shelby gave such a moving review of Braiding Sweetgrass that I knew it had to be on the list.

Jade City is part one of a trilogy that sounds like a blast. From Goodreads: “The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It's the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.” Should be fun!

With Earth Day in April, I’m curious to read Kolbert’s take on how we are treating our home. Many friends have read The Sixth Extinction and recommended it.

May is a month dedicated to mental health awareness and The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted are must-reads.
Black Fatigue and I’m Telling the Truth will explore mental health from the African American perspective.
Piranesi is the fun read for the month.

I remember reading parts of The Diary of a Young Girl but never cover to cover.

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth will help me celebrate Juneteenth.

The Space Between Worlds and Fun Home both come highly recommended. The graphic novel format of Fun Home will be a nice change of pace at the midpoint of this project. Both have LGBTQ+ representation, which will be good for Pride Month.