Friday, July 17, 2009

The Orange Prize Project



I was inspired the other day when I came across this blog and read the challenge. It sounded like something I would recommend. Prize winning books only by women. Sounded like the book club from the 1990's. Some of you will remember that.

I started looking at the list of nominees and winners since 1996 and reading about the history of the prize. Women like Toni Morrison, Zady Smith, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Sandra Cisneros. Some of my favorites. Then, I saw books that I had been in love with or couldn't put down until the last page like The Time Traveler's Wife, The Bonesetter's Daughter, From Caucasia with Love, The Secret Life of Bees, and Lovely Bones. Finally, I saw ones that I owned but had not gotten to yet, and I realized that this might just be the beginning of a new list of must reads. After all, they were all nominated, many were shortlisted, and there were at least two winners every year, one for the best fiction and one for the best fiction by a new writer.

But don't just take my word for it, read some reviews of any one of these books, either at Amazon, GoodReads, or LibraryThing, and you will see that they all fall in the category of worthwhile reads. I did, and I was blown away by the synopsis, and editorial reviews of books that, 1. I had never heard mentioned before in my circle of reading friends, or 2. had never seen on the front table of Borders. I had to finally stop because my wish list was getting too long.

So if you are currently without a good book to read, or waiting for your favorite author's newest release, this list or Project is a great resource of wonderful women writers from all over the world.

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