This year I signed up for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, opting for the Franklin level: a commitment to read ten books by Australian women writers and to review at least six. When I did a quick tally of how I’m going, I was surprised to see I’ve already reached my reading target. And what a pleasure it’s been to discover wonderful new writers, as well as catching up with titles I’ve been meaning to read for a while. With some brilliant new releases coming up (I’m looking forward to Julienne van Loon’s novella Harmless and Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites) and the recent announcements of the Stella Prize shortlist and Miles Franklin longlist, there are now so many titles on my ‘to read’ list that I suspect I won’t have any trouble doubling, perhaps trebling, the reading challenge; I just have to keep reminding myself about the reviews!
Here’s my list so far:
Dawn Barker, Fractured (Hachette, 2013)
Emma Chapman, How to Be a Good Wife (Picador, 2013)
Caroline Hamilton, Consumed (ABC Books, 2008) *reviewed here
Wendy James, The Mistake (Penguin, 2012)
Iris Lavell, Elsewhere in Success (Fremantle Press, 2013) *reviewed here
Lynne Leonhardt, Finding Jasper (Margaret River Press, 2012) *reviewed here
Natasha Lester, What Is Left Over, After (Fremantle Press, 2010)
Kirsty Murray, Vulture’s Gate (Allen & Unwin, 2009)
Favel Parrett, Past the Shallows (Hachette, 2011)
M.L. Stedman, The Light between Oceans (Vintage, 2012)
looking up/looking down 
Great going, Amanda. Look forward to your reviews. I’ve signed up too, and I’ve read Favel’s too, plus Anita Heiss’s memoir, ‘Am I Black Enough For You’, Kate Morton’s ‘The Secret Keeper’, Fiona McIntosh’s ‘The Lavender Keeper’, Liz Byrski’s, ‘The Company of Strangers’, Drusilla Modjeska’s ‘The Mountain’, Judy Nunn’s ‘Tiger Men’, Paula Boer’s ‘Brumbies in the Snow’, Andrea Goldsmith’s ‘The Prosperous Thief’; Hilary Burden’s A Story of Seven Summers’, and Lindsay Simpson’s The Curer of Souls. And I am about to begin Jesse Blackadder’s newly released ‘Chasing the Light’. So delicious to have a wonderful array of writing from Australian women. ‘Elemental’ is next 🙂 Now which to review. Nervous!
Oh, excellent, Shirley! You have a few there that I want to read, too. That list just keeps growing… I’ll look forward to your reviews, too. 🙂
Nice work Amanda. I’ve read only 3 so far – How to Be a Good Wife, Fractured and Thew Inheritance of Ivorie Hammer. It sounds meagre compared to your list, but is as many books as I managed for the entire challenge last year so by my standards it is a great improvement.
Just different bases of interest, I think, Annabel 🙂 I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface!
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