**Big thanks to Mogsy and Wendy at Bibliosanctum for this idea!
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week’s theme is “FREEBIE” which means we all get to come up with our own Top Ten lists. This past week I discovered the science fiction and fantasy website Worlds Without End, which is an awesome book database for genre books that are nominated for or have received major book awards. How did I not know about this website before? I decided to join one of their reading challenges, 2015 Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge.
So it took me a while to figure out how the website works. For the reading challenges, you can only use books that are already in their database, so I had to do a bit of searching before I came up with just the right combination of books for this challenge. Luckily, many of them are already on my “to read” list. The challenge rules state that the books should be “new-to-me” women authors. (I have to admit I’m cheating a bit, because one of these authors is NOT new-to-me.) So here are my TOP TWELVE Genre Books by Women that I plan to read in 2015 (in no particular order):
Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier. Yes, I am going to read this book! Every blogger I know has read it and LOVED it. I’m so glad it’s in WWE’s database:-D
Generation V by M.L. Brennan. Another book I’ve been trying to get to, this is the year, people!
The Three by Sarah Lotz. I want to read this before Lotz’s next book comes out later this year.
The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney. I have copies of the first two books in this series, and now I have a reason to make sure I read them:-D
Half Bad by Sally Green. This was a book I requested but wasn’t approved for, and so it was forgotten. But now that the sequel is on the horizon, I’m anxious to catch up.
The Quick by Lauren Owen. I won this from Library Thing, and for some reason it got lost in a pile of books. (That’s never happened to you, has it???) I’d love to read and review this so I can request more books from LT.
The Wilds by Julia Elliott. I have a digital ARC that I just didn’t get to, so now I have an excuse to catch up.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. I picked up an ARC of this book at Comic Con 2013 (!) and still haven’t read it!
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. Here’s another book I got at SDCC and now I’m determined to read it:-D
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear. I can’t believe I haven’t read Elizabeth Bear before, and I’m anxious to read her latest.
Kushiel’s Dart by Jaqueline Carey. Next month, Tor is re-releasing this book, which originally came out in 2001, and I’m excited that I get to help the publisher promote it with a giveaway. Many of my blogger friends have already read it, and loved it to boot!
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Broken Monsters was one of my favorite books of 2014, so I’m going to start tackling Beukes’ backlist this year.
I’m excited to get started on this list! I plan on reviewing each book, even though the challenge rules say you’re not required to add reviews. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books, or if you’re participating in WWE’s reading challenge!
Some very good books there. I have read a fair number of them. This year I would like to read Karen Memory, Maplecroft, and Kushial’s Dart from your list.
After I made this list, I wanted to drop everything and start on these books. It really is a good list *patting myself on the back* !!
I’d never heard of this site before, I’ll have to check it out.
I’ve only heard good things about Dreamers Pool and Half Bad is on my list too. You already know I loved Generation V, so I’m happy to see it made your list. 🙂 Kushiel’s Dart has been on my shelf forever I look forward to hearing what you think about it.
Molly Mortensen recently posted…Generation V, Iron Night, and Tainted Blood by ML Brennan
I can’t wait to read Kushiel’s Dart. I seriously had never heard of it before!
Fantastic choices!! Hopefully they’re all mostly good ones ;D
Kat Stark recently posted…Review: Blood Crown by Ali Cross
I think they will be, I’ve read mostly rave reviews of all of them:-)
Oo, we should buddy read Golden City 😀 I got it for my birthday last year and still haven’t read it D:
Anya @ On Starships and Dragonwings recently posted…Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis eARC {3 Stars}
Oooh love that idea! I’ve never done a buddy read before:-)
This is a fantastic challenge – I took part the year before last and really enjoyed it. I wish you all the best with this one – you’ve got some good authors on there!
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…The end, goodbye!
Thanks Lynn, it’s going to be fun:-)
Nice topic!! Gotta love the book covers!! Here’s my TTT post for the week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2015/01/top-ten-tuesday-authors-id-like-to-meet.html
Half Bad and The Coldest Girl in Cold Town are both great! 🙂
I’m adding Dreamer’s Pool and The Quick to my tbr. Great post!
Lauren recently posted…Noughties by Ben Masters – Review
Good to know, especially about Half Bad. I have seen lots of mixed reviews, but I still want to read it:-D
I got really lucky and won an ARC of it from Goodreads First Reads and I fell in love! 🙂
Lauren recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Music Groups and Solo Acts
Nice list! I loved The Three and Coldest Girl in Coldtown was lots of fun! 🙂 I also need to read Zoo City. I’ve had it for years and have recently read Broken Monsters and Shining Girls, really looking forward finally delving into Zoo City. Karen Memory was also a fun book!
Lisa @TenaciousReader recently posted…Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear
I freaking love Lauren Beukes, so I need to get to Shining Girls soon too:-)
YAY I’m so freakin’ excited to see another blogger on board with the WWEnd Women of Genre Fiction challenge! I LOVE this challenge and for the past couple years I’ve done this I’ve discovered new authors and also been able to polish off a bunch of backlist books by women authors I’ve always wanted to read. Unfortunately the WWEnd database isn’t all that complete, but they do add a lot more books throughout the year!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Book Review: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes
I was a little worried when I started looking for books, because nothing was popping up, but the more I looked, the more I found. I’m really excited about my list now! (I know I keep saying that but it’s true!!)
Generation V, Maplecroft, Zoo City, and Karen Memory are all on my list for this year! Generation V has priority though since I own a copy. I’ve been hearing rumblings about the Worlds Without End genre fiction challenges, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone explain it…now I want to participate! Hopefully the books I’d like to read are in the database – fingers crossed!
Danya @ Fine Print recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday: Vol. 28
Not all the books I searched for are in the database, but they do tell you that only books and authors that have been nominated for major book awards are included, so I guess that makes sense.
I have read Zoo City and also the following one of the same author, Broken Monsters – definitively worth reading, both. If you have to pick only one, the first. 😀
Oh year, I LOVED Broken Monsters, it was on my top ten last year!
I’m totally going to use WWE and this challenge as well. Isn’t it a cool setup that they have on that site!? I just wish that their database was more up to date. Only the folks that run the site can upload books so you won’t always find all of the books you want on there.
Tabitha (Not Yet Read) recently posted…Review: Darkwalker by E.L. Tettensor
Hello Tammy, thank you, and everyone else, so much for the kind words about WWEnd and our reading challenges. I hope you enjoy the WoGF as it’s one of my favorites. The only book on your list that I’ve read is Zoo City, for last year’s WoGF, and it’s a great one. That Maplecroft cover freaks me out 😉
For the challenges, I do want to make clear that yes, you can only choose books from our database (we can’t track books outside our DB) but you can request books you want to read be added. Just drop a note in the forum. We have 16 Uber User members who have data access and they’re really quick to fill those requests. They added almost 6,000 books last year so our selection is getting better all the time from their efforts and from members telling us about authors and books we’ve missed!
Read on!
Thanks for stopping by, Dave! I’m very excited to have found your website, and I look forward to being part of your cool community:-)