In 2017, I exclusively read women authors. I embarked on my year of reading women after looking through my recent reads and realizing that the majority of authors I had read were men. I spent the year reading books that had been languishing on my shelves for years, including some that have become my most beloved. I finally read classics like Rebecca, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Dispossessed. It was also the year that my favorite author (and the 20th-century prophet), Octavia Butler, entered my psyche. The project reignited my love of reading, because in limiting my choices, I had widened my horizons.
This year, I am aiming to broaden my perspective by beginning another personal reading assignment: an international reading project. Each month, I'll randomly choose a country and read books written by authors from and about that country. I’m going to focus on translated works but not read them exclusively. I’ve selected books and mapped out my International Reading Project reading for the next three months.
I have begun in August by reading Iraqi authors and stories.
