Category Archives: memes and challenges

2012 – Wrapping up the Australian Women Writers Challenge

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I signed up for the highest of the three levels of the inaugural Australian Women Writer’s Challenge which required me to read and review 10 books written by Australian women. I also agreed to ‘dabble’ with genres which meant reading more than one genre but not as many genres as I could find.

In the end I read a few more books than I needed to (which feels pretty good) but I did not come anywhere near the super-human efforts of Shelleyrae of Book’d Out who has, at the time of drafting this post, read and reviewed 106 books by Australian women writers this year! Because that wasn’t enough she also interviewed and/or featured many of the authors at her blog, hosted giveaways of many of the books, designed the challenge logo, kept the Good Reads discussions flowing, tweeted up a storm and generally put the rest of us to shame. I am in awe Shelleyrae and just so you know there were a couple of times during the year when I thought I’d slink away from the challenge due to the various annoyances of the non-bookish elements of my life but I figured if a busy mum of four could find the time to be such a stalwart the least I could do would be to stop my grizzling and get on with it. Thanks for leading the way with such an enthusiastic spirit Shelleyrae..

Before giving you a full list of the 18 books I read I thought I’d tease out some of the reading themes and highlights I noticed:

Meaning to get some of the dreaded genre-dabbling over with early I started out the challenge by plucking a book at random from my library’s shelves that I would not otherwise have bothered with. Caroline Overington’s MATILDA IS MISSING was an unexpected treat, offering genuine insight into family breakdown plus a narrator eerily reminiscent of my own father. Along with Overington’s latest novel, SISTERS OF MERCY, this novel prompted a late-year rant about the dangers of labelling of books as women’s fiction. I am still reflecting on this issue as I think it’s at the heart of why books by women are, still, under represented in wider literary discussions and the subject of such puerile nonsense as this.

As far as demographic groups receiving consideration at any level of politics, the media or wider society women over 60 are not even a blip on the radar. If they appear at all in popular culture they are either kindly, grandmotherly types or crazy cat ladies and are rarely the focus of a single scene let alone an entire novel. But the protagonist of Virginia Duigan’s THE PRECIPICE, octogenarian Thea Farmer, is a vibrant, intelligent, socially awkward, sarcastic, hilarious heroine and is, without doubt, the favourite character of my reading year. She is who I want to be when I grow old (I’ve started early on socially awkward and sarcastic).

This year one of my new favourite authors, Sulari Gentill (whose first book of her 1930′s historical crime series was only released in 2010) released two novels in the series. They were both the kind of great reads I have come to expect from Gentill but the second of them, PAVING THE NEW ROAD, was particularly pleasing. I have railed against authors who hit on a winning formula then keep churning out the same novel time after time in seeming disdain for the intelligence of their readers and with this novel in particular Gentill made it clear I don’t have to fear her treading this path. This novel does have the same core elements as its predecessors – a delightful lightness of tone and an intriguing minor cast of real historical figures to add spice to the adventures of the four key characters – but the tough issues that one might imagine would crop up in a novel set during the rise of the Nazi regime are neither ignored nor turned into ridiculous clichés. It’s a more sombre novel than the earlier ones but still a marvellous read and a great addition to the series.

Living in Australia you could be forgiven for believing that the only places which produce writing worth reading (or even settings worth reading about) are Sydney and Melbourne and so, even though I live in a different under represented part of the country, I am thrilled to see TASMANIA feature so strongly. THE BETRAYAL, PAST THE SHALLOWS and POET’S COTTAGE were all written by women who have lived on the island in the past even if they don’t live there at present and though very different novels all three offer a great sense of their Tasmanian setting. Funnily enough I’ve just today bought what might be my first read for next year’s challenge and it too is set in Tassie. It’s an epidemic!

In the end I read a mixture of crime, historical, contemporary, women’s (ugh to the term) and literary fiction by a nearly even mix of authors I knew and those who were new to me.  I overcame my lingering aversion to literary fiction (thank you Favel Parrett), reconnected with some old favourite authors and found several new authors whose writing I want more of. I am ever grateful to Elizabeth Lhuede for creating the challenge and to these talented women for providing such a plethora of delights for my personal enjoyment. I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

My full list: (in reading order):

  1. Caroline Overington, Matilda is Missing
  2. Sulari Gentill, Miles Off Course
  3. Sylvia Johnson, Watch Out For Me
  4. Kerry Greenwood, Cocaine Blues
  5. Wendy James, The Mistake
  6. Felicity Young, A Dissection of Murder
  7. Virginia Duigan, The Precipice
  8. Annie Hauxwell, In Her Blood
  9. Ellen Mary Wilton, Hysteria at the Wisteria
  10. Sulari Gentill, Paving the New Road
  11. Katherine Howell, Silent Fear
  12. Gabrielle Lord, Death by Beauty
  13. Y.A. Erskine, The Betrayal
  14. Kathryn Fox, Cold Grave
  15. Tara Moss, Assassin
  16. Caroline Overington, Sisters of Mercy
  17. Favel Parrett, Past The Shallows
  18. Josephine Pennicott, Poet’s Cottage

AWW2012 Books Read

Taking on the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2013

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australian women writers 2012I must have had some kind of psychic foreboding that 2012 was not going to be an easy reading year for me as I only signed up for one reading challenge rather than the half-dozen or more of recent years. But what I’ve lacked in quantity has been made up for in quality in that this year’s sole challenge, the Australian Women Writers Challenge, has both challenged and engaged me in a way that most of my previous reading challenges have not.

Born out of a frustration about the lack of coverage of books by women in the mainstream media, the challenge’s aim was to raise the profile of Australian women writers and their books in whatever media we could manage. As a participant then the challenge was not purely in reading at least 10 books by Australian women writers (I did that easily last year too) but to ensure that I reviewed them as intelligently as possible and that at least a couple of them were from outside my reading comfort zone. It’s not much of a stretch for me to pick up the latest crime novel by much-loved authors like Sulari Gentill but, especially in a year when I wasn’t reading as much as I normally would, it was much more difficult for me to try new crime writers or, heaven forbid, books that aren’t crime at all! Happily these forays into unfamiliar territories proved a positive experience for me. I even learned something from the one DNF ascribed to this challenge (I will post a formal wrap up of this year’s challenge in a few days…one last book to finish).

The engagement of this challenge was the real surprise though. Spurred on by its passionate creator, Elizabeth Lhuede, the challenge seems to have been everywhere that good books are being discussed:

In short an entire community of people celebrating Australian women writers has been born. Woot as the kids would say (ok they probably wouldn’t actually say that but hopefully you get my point). You can even take a short survey about your awareness and consumption of literature by Australian women!

awwbadge_2013I think it’s wonderful news then that the challenge will be run again in 2013 and I’ll be curious to see what other elements evolve in the year that the first Stella Prize for Australian women’s writing is to be given. I suppose the first change is that next year Elizabeth will be getting some help to keep things ticking along. A swag of readers/writers/bloggers answered Elizabeth’s call to arms and we (yes yours truly will be curating reviews in the crime genre) have agreed to help with the myriad of small but necessary tasks such things demand (website and database maintenance, regular roundups of reviews posted in ‘our’ genres and so on).

I for one can’t wait to participate as both helper and reader next year and hope you’ll consider signing up too. You can get away with reading as few as four books if you like, though I’m aiming for at least 10 again. Even if you’re not going to take the challenge do check out this year’s reviews (the snazzy new database makes it really easy to browse them all now) and find an Australian woman writer or three to celebrate. You won’t regret it.

My Life as a Book 2012

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One of my earliest bookish blog discoveries was Pop Culture Nerd and it is still one of my favourite places to go for booky news, not least because the resident Ninja there has taken the My Life as a Book meme and made it her own. And so, for the fourth year in a row, this year’s My Life as a Book meme has begun. All you need to do is complete the supplied sentences using the titles of books you have read this year.

  • Every Monday I look/feel like: (going) Into the Darkest Corner (Elizabeth Haynes)
  • Last time I went to a doctor/therapist was because: (I have) Hysteria at the Wisteria (Ellen Mary Wilton)
  • Last meal I ate was: Affairs of Steak (Julie Hyzy)
  • My savings account is: Ghost Money (Andrew Nette)
  • When a creepy guy/girl asks for my number, I: (am) Gone (Mo Hayder)
  • Ignorant politicians make me: (dream of) A Place of Execution (Val McDermid)
  • Some people need to spend more time: (in a) Fun House (Chris Grabenstein)
  • My memoir could be titled: The Age of Doubt (Andrea Camilleri)
  • If I could have, I would’ve told my teenage self: (you kill the bull) Or The Bull Kills You (Jason Webster)
  • In five years I hope I am: Paving the New Road (Sulari Gentill)

I have all but given up on book blogging memes but I do have a soft spot for the silliness of this one. Do join in.

Meme history

I first saw the meme on Petrona in 2009 and she saw it at Book Dilettante who got it from Booksnbards (which is where my short history dies as that blog is no longer with us). Here are my efforts for 2009, 2010 and 2011

Dabbling in writing by Australian women #2

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In trying to involve myself in the community component of the Australian Women Writers Challenge (not just the reading and reviewing) I’m doing a semi regular round-up of reviews and other discussion posts that have caught my eye.

Elizabeth Lhuede asked What’s All the Fuss about Geraldine Brooks’ CALEB’S CROSSING, and even though it was one of my favourite books of last year I didn’t take umbrage at Elizabeth’s critique of the book :) (see I can be polite mum). Indeed the post posed some very interesting questions about what makes a book Australian and what things we should expect to see from our Australian writers and what books are deserving of awards for their Australian-ness. I’m still pondering my thoughts on some of these topics.

Jenny Schwartz reviewed NOTORIOUS AUSTRALIAN WOMEN by Kay Saunders and discovered why she prefers autobiographies to biographies. I found this fascinating because I prefer the reverse. I also note that Jenny is a steampunk author so I will pay close attention and maybe I will learn what the term actually means one day.

At The Australian Bookshelf Jayne Fordham bills  SHARP TURN by Marianne Delacourt as Australia’s answer to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum and is exciting, funny and slightly outrageous.

Meanwhile at Bookstore off Euclid Avenue we’re reminded of one of the classics of Australian fiction, Miles Franklin’s MY BRILLIANT CAREER, the semi-autobiographical tale of a woman whose full name was Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin. In the review the book’s heroine, Sybylla is described as “a cocky teenage girl, all slang and rebellion. She is stubborn, intelligent, and uncompromising”. Given that definition is spot-on I guess it’s not surprising that I can still remember my teachers’ grimaces when I listed Sybylla as my all-time favourite literary character in an essay-writing contest when I was 13 :) The review also reminds us of Franklin’s consummate skill at describing our unique physical environment.

The review of Alice Pung’s memoir UNPOLISHED GEM at a blog called Wallaby has inspired me to add the book to my own wishlist. It deals with Pung’s life as the child of immigrants, straddling the cultures, inheriting the memories of her ancestors.

Meanwhile at Tony’s Reading List I discovered a book called EVERYMAN’S RULES FOR SCIENTIFIC LIVING by Carrie Tiffany which I had never heard of but am now very keen to read. Set in rural Australia of the 1930′s Tony describes it as a book about two people who fall in love, decide to start a farm based on scientific principles but struggle through the Depression and the two cope with their failures differently. Tony says the book isn’t perfect but is compelling and for some reason I really like the sound of it.

It’s not all reviews though, why not check out Tara Moss in conversation with Kerry Greenwood? Two of Australia’s most successful contemporary women writers spend a bit over ten minutes discussing writing, female heroes, being shocked by your own characters and the adaptation of Kerry’s most famous creation, Phryne Fisher, for television.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of reviews and other posts that have been written in the first weeks of the Australian Women Writers challenge 2012; to date 164 reviews are linked at the challenge’s website. It’s not too late for you to join in, or if you can’t do that at least head on over to the challenge website and check out some of the review links. You’re bound to find a recommendation for some great writing by Australian women.

Dabbling in writing by Australian women #1

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Because I’ve only signed up for one reading challenge this year I feel I have enough time to check out what other participants are reading and saying about their challenge experience which is something I’ve been pretty slack about in my reading challenges in other years. Part of my reason for diligently checking out as many posts as I can is that I challenged myself to dabble in a few genres for the challenge so I’m actively looking for recommendations for non-fiction plus historical, literary and contemporary fiction that I might like. But I’m also just curious to investigate the breadth of writing by Australian women and I thought I’d occasionally share the posts that interest me most over the course of the year.

One of the challenge’s main champions, Shelleyrae from Book’d Out hosted a visit from contemporary fiction author Lisa Heidke who talked about her horror at seeing her first book cover (which she had no control over). It must so painful for an author to know their work is going to be judged by lots of people based on some aspect that the author has had no say in themselves.

At Whispering Gums I found a review of Francesca Rendle-Short’s BITE YOUR TONGUE, a fictionalised memoir from the daughter of a woman who was an anti-smut campaigner. Starting life so unwillingly absorbed in someone else’s agenda always seems to me to be a tough break and it’s interesting to see how this plays out.

Marg from Adventures of an Intrepid Reader wrote a lengthy review of Anna Funder’s ALL THAT I AM, a historical fiction novel set in Germany in 1930′s as Hitler came to power. The book is one that you see everywhere in book stores here and I must have had it in my hands a half-dozen times but I’ve never walked out of the shop with it, despite the accolades it has received. Marg’s review is not ultra negative but it does take a critical look at the book and I think I’m convinced to try something else instead.

Coleen Kwan assured us all that Jessica Rudd’s CAMPAIGN RUBY isn’t full of political backstabbing and I can’t be the only one who breathed a sigh of relief. For overseas readers Jessica Rudd is the daughter of our most recent ex-prime minister and therefore it was not unreasonable to wonder if the tawdry mess that was his deposing got written into the book but apparently not. Even for a politics junkie like me this would not have been interesting as we all lived through it once :)

Maree from Like the World reviewed Favel Parrett’s PAST THE SHALLOWS which is one of the books I was thinking about when I decided to dabble in genres other than my usual crime fiction for this challenge. It’s literary fiction set in Tasmania and is the story of three brothers who live with their embittered father. The book is by a young Australian woman and everyone was talking about the book last year. Maree has made it very tempting saying “it completely immerses you as family secrets unravel and the boys’ lives are revealed with quiet urgency. This is the kind of book you read in one greedy sitting”

This is just the tip of the iceberg of reviews and other discussion posts that have been written in the first weeks of the Australian Women Writers challenge 2012. It’s not too late for you to join in, or if you can’t do that at least head on over to the challenge website and check out some of the other links. You’re bound to find a recommendation for some great writing by Australian women.

2011: The Challenges

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I managed to finish six of the seven reading challenges I signed up for at the beginning of the year. The Aussie Authors Challenge, the Global Reading Challenge the Historical Fiction Challenge, the Ireland Reading Challenge, the Nordic Book Challenge and the What’s in a Name challenge have all added diversity and, for the most part, enjoyment to my reading. I even completed my Good Reads challenge to read 175 books this year.

2011 Reading Challenge

2011 Reading Challenge
Bernadette has completed her goal of reading 175 books in 2011!
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The challenge that has defeated me is the Eastern European Challenge. I aimed to read a paltry-seeming 4 books but have completed only 3 books which qualify. I feel I must point out (as though the gods of Reading Challenges award points for effort) that my failure is not for want of trying. My house is littered with the carcasses of half-read Eastern European books that have dropped to the floor as I slipped into yet another coma induced by yet another 27 paragraph description of winter. It reminded me of the horrors of my first year at University where I came to the realisation that my planned-for future as an English teacher would never eventuate because I knew with certainty that I would go mad if I had to read one more word by ‘another bloody Russian’. There is something about the style prevalent in Eastern European writing that my brain struggles to process and at my ripe old age (44) I have finally learned that there are battles not worth fighting. I do actually have two more books here that I had planned to try for the challenge during my post Christmas break but it is the end of a difficult year, the first heatwave of summer has begun and I am weary. I am not at all in the mood for things dense or difficult and so admit defeat. The fault is all mine Amy, thanks for hosting the challenge anyway.

Next year doesn’t look like being any easier in my non-reading life so I’ve radically reduced my reading challenges to one: the Australian Women Writers challenge. I hope still to have diversity in my reading but I’m not going to turn the pursuit of that goal into a second job. Life is challenging enough on its own sometimes :)

Wrapping up my Ireland Reading Challenge 2011

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Although I only read four books for it I did enjoy the Ireland Reading challenge, hosted by Carrie at Books & Movies, very much, not least because it introduced me to two authors who I think will become firm favourites. They couldn’t be more different.

Alan Glynn’s Winterland is a fast-paced tale of family and politics set against the backdrop of a very modern Ireland, almost at the exact point at which the country’s current economic and political woes began. I read the book at the beginning of the year but its characters and clever construction have stayed with me ever since. I recently purchased Glynn’s latest novel Bloodland which I aim to read early in the new year.

Cora Harrison’s Scales of Retribution is a slower paced tale which takes place 500 years earlier, though it is still a fiercely Irish story which incorporates a whodunnit into an exploration of Gaelic law and its superiority over English common law.

I also read Ken Bruen’s Priest which was outstanding. It loosely uses the conventions of the genre to explore recent changes in Irish society, especially the changing relationship between the Catholic church and Irish people. Of course I’ll keep reading Bruen too but I had discovered him last year (late to the party, I know) so don’t count him as a discovery of this particular challenge.

I enjoyed Jane Casey’s The Burning too but as the only one of the four books to be set outside the country it doesn’t have the same sense of Irishness as the others. It’s full of suspense though and has some well developed characters.

I do actually have a fifth book which I was going to read for the challenge. It’s Aifric Campbell‘s The Loss Adjustor but I don’t think I’ll get to it in what’s left of this year. I liked the sound of it though (even though I’m not sure it’s crime fiction at all) so I’ll read it next year even without the motivation of a challenge.

One of the things I found most noticeable when looking for books to read for this challenge was the relative dearth of female Irish crime writers. Although not absolute about it I have been trying to achieve a vaguely even gender balance in my reading and so was particularly struck by the gender disparity, especially when compared with other countries with an emerging crime fiction scene (e.g. Sweden, Australia, Scotland).

I’ve read both Tana French and Alex Barclay before and if I’m being honest neither would make it to my list of favourite authors so I was keen to try out some new writers for this challenge. I was not exactly burdened by choice, especially not of current female writers. The Irish Book Awards had a crime fiction category this year which shortlisted 5 books (scroll to the bottom of the link), of which 1 and a half were written  by women (Casey Hill is the pseudonym for a husband & wife team).  Declan Burke, champion of Irish crime fiction, lists 21 books published this year as eligible for his Crime Always Pays Novel of the Year Award and only 4 and a half of these are by women (Casey Hill appears here too). In fact of 101 authors listed as Irish crime writers on Burke’s site I think only 19 are women (I did check all the people with initials or gender neutral names but I could have gotten a couple wrong).

I’m not really making any  point or claiming any great insight on this issue and would welcome any thoughts from people in the know. I wonder for example whether there are loads of Irish women trying to get their crime fiction published or whether Irish women aren’t bothering to write the genre at all?

One Book, Two Fish, Buckle My Shoe?

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As far as I can tell this meme (the name of which I have mangled completely) (I never was very good at nursery rhymes) started at Stuck in a Book, travelled here and here, was adapted here and then went here and…well you get the idea. Here’s my take…

The book I’m currently reading: BORN TO RUN by John M Green. The author is an Aussie but the book is a political thriller set in the US during the run up to a post-Obama election. I’m enjoying the conspiracies, shady characters and the reaffirmation of my belief that politics is just about the dirtiest business on earth. Seriously, international arms trading has more integrity.

The last book I finished: Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s ASHES TO DUST involving a case of three (and a bit) bodies found in a house abandoned during a 1973 volcanic eruption. Officially no one died from the eruption itself  as locals don’t count the man who was gassed in his basement from the toxic output of the eruption because he was an alcoholic (and presumably deserved all he got?) so the bodies must have been the result of deliberate murder. I liked the book very much because it was about volcanoes (a little bit anyway) and was funny.

The next book I want to read: I still have a couple of challenges to finish off for the year so I’m going to read Shamini Flint’s A DEADLY CAMBODIAN CRIME SPREE then Canadian author Maureen Jennings’ EXCEPT THE DYING to take care of the Global reading challenge.

The last book I bought: On Friday I ordered Derek Hansen’s A MAN YOU CAN BANK ON. It’s an Aussie comic noir tale and I took advantage of a local online seller’s free shipping offer for the day as it has been given lots of stars by two of my Good Reads friends. I don’t buy many physical books any more and while I do love eBooks I miss arriving home to find little packages of joy on the doorstep so I shall savour the arrival of this one.

The last book I was given: PRIVATE DICKS AND FEISTY CHICKS: AN INTERROGATION OF CRIME FICTION by Australian crime writer Cathy Cole. The book started life as her doctoral dissertation and I’m looking forward to chapters on the moral zone of the genre, crime and politics and am having fun imagining what the chapter called “Hellholes, havens and heterotopias” is all about.

Which was the last book you borrowed from the library? Yesterday I brought home the hardcover of Andrea Camilleri’s THE TRACK OF SAND which is the 12th Inspector Montalbano mystery. I very much enjoyed its predecessor and am keen to get stuck into this one in which the intrepid inspector arises one morning to find the carcass of a horse on the beach.

What is the most recent e-book you read? Outrage by Arnaldur Indriðason which I read on my iPad (Kindle app). I was one of my recent insomnia-inspired binge of mostly translated fiction and Ithought it very good. It was one of those books that makes you put yourself in the circumstances of the players and ponder what you might do. It also makes you hungry for Indian food.

What was the first book you read this year (I skipped the translated books question as lots of my recent reads have been translated as can be seen from earlier answers) Australian author Kathryn Fox’s DEATH MASK which I thought an outstanding start to the year. It concerns crimes committed in/around the world of elite sports and is a fascinating insight into all aspects of that worrying culture.

Which book is at the top of your Christmas list? I’ve been getting into books about crime fiction lately (like the one mentioned above and I also bought a copy of PD James’ TALKING ABOUT DETECTIVE FICTION). I would like to get some more but it’s hard to know which are good. I’m not really interesting in books that focus on one author (like the plethora of companions to Christie or Doyle) but if anyone has any recommendations for good books about crime fiction (that I can read while waiting for Margot to publish hers) do let me know as I have a birthday and Christmas coming up :)  

Which so-far unpublished book are you most looking forward to reading? I don’t buy that many brand new releases (though it’s getting more economical to do so with eBooks) but I am looking forward to Sue Grafton’s latest alphabet mystery – V IS FOR VENGEANCE – due out on the 14th of November. This is one of only two series of which I have read each instalment as they were released. The quality has waxed and waned a little over that period but the last one was terrific and I do have a special place in my heart for Kinsey, Henry and the 1980’s. Only 4 more installments after this one!

Sisters in Crime Challenge Post #3: The genre busters

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This post at Petrona reminded me of a tremendous small Australian publishing house called Spinifex Press which specialises in ‘publishing innovative and controversial feminist books with an optimistic edge’. A few years ago they re-published Australian author Finola Moorhead’s Still Murder which, according to Moorhead herself, is not a genre novel although it features a crime, an investigation, and suspects. In a short essay in Killing Women: Rewriting Detective Fiction (Delys Bird editor) Moorhead explains her somewhat paradoxical lack of comfort with the notion of the crime genre’s suitability for tackling the subjects that interested her (broadly speaking women’s thinking and feminism) and her reasons for using the genre’s popularity, in spite of these misgivings, to do exactly that.

The book was first published in 1991 when it won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. On re-reading it 20 years later I was pleasantly surprised to find it largely undated and as compelling as I remembered. The themes and ideas it explores seem almost purpose-built for this particular challenge. To begin with Still Murder is not a conventional narrative, using instead a mixture of fictional diary entries, news clippings, detective’s notebooks and other documents to flesh out its complex, grand story. This could have proven not much more than a quirky experiment but Moorhead is skilled enough to draw these disparate streams and points of view together to tell a fascinating story. The fact that it unfolds somewhat unevenly with readers never knowing which angle will be coming next adds to the suspense.

The subject matter is another departure from run-of-the-mill crime fiction; exploring some themes that remain largely ignored even today. One that resonates particularly strongly still is the notion of war as a crime, especially in the myriad of horrendous ways it impacts on society for years after the events themselves are done with. For all its genre-busting ways though the novel does have a corpse (discovered by a nun), a police investigator (who spends most of her time pretending to be a nurse in order to keep an eye on a key figure in the case) and suspects (of a sort). It isn’t the easiest read you’ll come across but it is intellectually stimulating, especially for those who have some familiarity with the tropes and formulas of the genre who will enjoy seeing these subverted in intriguing ways. From this perspective the novel was quite a different read for me now than in 1991 when my knowledge of the genre (and most everything else at the ripe old age of 24) was fairly limited.

As part of this challenge my job is now to mention three other female crime writers whose work is similar. I might revisit this in a different way in a future instalment of this challenge by discussing more feminist crime novelists but here I thought I’d highlight other women whose works are only loosely ‘of the genre’ in terms of their structure, focus or themes.

Natsuo Kirino: a Japanese writer who eschews the traditional procedural or detecting elements of crime novels and in her grim narratives which explore a range of social themes such as the overall treatment of women in society. Of the two novels of hers that I’ve read, Grotesque and Out, I enjoyed the first more. It has elements of fantasy and gothic romance as well as crime but all are somewhat tangential to the deconstruction of the lives and thoughts of the sisters at the novel’s heart and the tortured, vitriol-filled relationship between the two is one you won’t forget in a hurry.

Dorothy Porter: another Australian writer who in 2007 released El Dorado, in whicb a man kills children (without molesting them) and is hunted by a troubled policeman whose own personal relationships are laid bare in the novel. The book’s break with genre conventions is that it is written entirely in verse. I thought I would hate it when it was selected by my book club shortly after its release but admit to finding myself thoroughly gripped by the exploration of people seemingly unable to grow up. If you’re worried about the poetry leading to a flowery or romantic book don’t fret; it’s as dark and sharp as any noir tale.

Karin Alvtegen: there are actually quite a few women writers specialising in the psychological suspense category of novels which often don’t feature police officers or detectives of any sort and in which sometimes even crimes themselves are only tangentially discussed. In these books it is the reason for the crime that the author is exploring rather than who did what to whom and how many years are they going to jail because of it. The fact that these novels are often standalones is, these days, something of a convention-busting trait in itself as the long-running series has become so ubiquitous in the genre. I’ve only read one of Alvtegen’s novels so far but it has stayed clearly in my memory for over 2 years which is high praise indeed.

Do you like crime writing that breaks with the traditions of the genre’s styles? Do you have any favourite women crime writers who ‘bust’ the conventions of the genre in some way?

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sisters in Crime (US) author, blogger and current Sisters in Crime board member Barbara Fister issued book bloggers the challenge of writing about women’s contribution to crime fiction. There are three levels of the challenge and I’m aiming for the expert level which requires me to write ten blog posts about works of crime fiction by a woman author and, for each, mention three similar women authors whose works I would recommend.  Though I am taking Barbara at her word and using the “whenever” deadline as a concrete goal, so it may take me a while to do all ten posts. Even if you only occasionally blog about crime fiction why not join in the challenge and help celebrate the women who write it?

Sisters in Crime Challenge Post #2: Historical Women

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To me at least the phenomenon of historical fiction which features somewhat feisty females is easily understandable. If you read much actual history, including contemporary primary sources from just about any time before the 20th Century (and a good deal of the stuff written after 1900 too) women don’t appear all that often. When we do we’re generally in the background being demure (if we’re lucky) or being traded like chattel and abused in every way imaginable (when fortune does not smile so kindly upon us). So it doesn’t surprise me that female crime writers enjoy creating imaginary worlds of times gone by in which women participate more equitably in world affairs than reality might have allowed.

One of my recent, and newly favourite, discoveries in this genre is Ariana Franklin who was introduced to me by Norman from Crime Scraps Review (who single-handedly reignited my interest in historical fiction after I’d abandoned the genre many years ago). Franklin is a pseudonym for journalist and writer Diana Norman who sadly passed away earlier this year.  So far I’ve read three of the four adventures set in medieval England in which a woman, the rather magnificent Adelia Aguilar, shines. She is part of a team sought out by King Henry II to investigate a gruesome death which is being blamed on the Jewish population whom Henry is sick of offering protection because while he is doing so they’re not out earning money with which to pay him taxes. Adelia is said to be able to ‘read bodies’ which is the skill she brings to the table.

The basic facts of Adelia’s character, including her being trained as a doctor in Italy, are allowed for by historical record according to the Ariana Franklin website. And who knows…the other aspects of her unconventional character such her forwardness, eschewing of romance and disdain for organised religion might well have appeared in real women of the 12th century though we’ll probably never know because they do not make copious appearances in the few contemporary sources remaining. But it’s pretty difficult to imagine that there haven’t always been at least a few women wanting something more than a life of slavery and playing second-fiddle to men.

But the books do not only offer a marvellous protagonist, they are first and foremost tales of adventure and derring-do, with intricate plots and of loads of period detail to become absorbed in. In order the series books are

Franklin also wrote a standalone novel called City of Shadows which purports to tell the tale of the last living granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. I do own this one but haven’t read it yet either.

There are a plethora of historical fiction series written by women and many are similarly packed with strong female protagonists, though I have to admit I don’t like them all equally (and one or two have been the subject of a rant). Three I do enjoy and think share Franklin’s attention to period detail, ability to create warm and intelligent characters and willingness to have a little fun and display a sense of humour are

Elizabeth Peters whose novels featuring wealthy heiress Amelia Peabody and her implausible but delightful adventures in the archaeological digs of 1880′s Egypt are a treat I still enjoy. The first book, Crocodile on the Sandbank, was released in 1975 and the 19th book in the series was released last year. Of course Amelia is just a little over the top but I can’t help but get swept up in her various escapades, helped along by the exotic locations and Peters’ attention to detail.

Imogen Robertson whose novel Instruments of Darkness I read last year and thoroughly enjoyed. It’s set in England in 1780 and features as one of two investigators Mrs Harriet Westerman who runs her family estate while her husband is off at sea with the Navy. She does what has to be done and stands up for those less able, even when it gets dangerous for her to do so.

Victoria Thompson whose first mystery set at the very end of the 19th Century and featuring a New York midwife, Sarah Brandt, was called Murder on Astor Place. Sarah, who has been widowed before the book begins, is estranged from her wealthy family and so has to stand on her own two feet from the outset when she alone tackles an investigation into the murder of a young girl (after trying and failing to get either the police or the girl’s parents interested). I somehow lost track of this series but realise there are now 14 books to try, all seemingly named after famous New York streets.

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To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sisters in Crime (US) author, blogger and current Sisters in Crime board member Barbara Fister issued book bloggers the challenge of writing about women’s contribution to crime fiction. There are three levels of the challenge and I’m aiming for the expert level which requires me to write ten blog posts about works of crime fiction by a woman author and, for each, mention three similar women authors whose works I would recommend.  Though I am taking Barbara at her word and using the “whenever” deadline as a concrete goal, so it may take me a while to do all ten posts. And it turns out I might find it hard to stick to recommending just 4 authors per post. Even if you only occasionally blog about crime fiction why not join in the challenge and help celebrate the women who write it? So far for this challenge I have written about: