Persephone book challenge

As an avid reader, it can be hard to branch out from your typical reading genre. I've been stuck in a YA phase for quite some time and though I do still really love those books, I sometimes feel like I need to read something else. To experience other writing that will help me grow as a reader and writer. 

That's why I signed up for the 2015 Classics Challenge and why I'm starting this new section on my blog: a section that will highlight several Persephone Books.

So I'm challenge myself to read at least 10 books this year that have been published by Persephone. I'll read it and answer the same questions about different books. Persephone aims to publish books that highlight under appreciated female writers from the 20th century. Did the book succeed? Was it fun to read? What did I learn? I want to take all you readers on this journey with me as I slowly start to branch out from the mainstream YA books. 

If any other bloggers would like to join, please let me know and we can decide on book together or just discuss them together!

Persephone Book Questions

In their "About us" section, Persephone publishing says: Persephone prints mainly neglected fiction and non-fiction by women, for women and about women. The titles are chosen to appeal to busy women who rarely have time to spend in ever-larger bookshops and who would like to have access to a list of books designed to be neither too literary nor too commercial. The books are guaranteed to be readable, thought-provoking and impossible to forget.

Based on that, and my personal interest in gender studies and the lives of normal women in different eras, I thought of five questions that I will answer about each Persephone book. They will discuss the story and also provide me with the motivation to do some research and find out more about the context of the story. They're not really review questions - more a way to expand on the books.

1. Have I heard of the author? Who is she and what is her life story?

2. What did this book teach me? (This could be about the time period, womanhood, daily struggles,...)

3. Is there a more famous book I could compare this book to? (This will help you, the blog readers, decide if this book is for you)

4. Why does this book matter?

5. Are there men in the book and what is their part? 

So those are my five main questions for each book. I might shuffle them around after a while or add questions that I find significant for a specific book, but this will be my outline.

The first book I'll discuss is The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson.