Shop local. Eat local. Buy local. You've heard the rallying cries, I'm sure. Local business owners, struggling to compete with large corporations who can easily sell at a loss until they drive local competition out of town, have devised a number of ways to encourage local consumption. This prompt asks you to go one step further: Read local.

July's People is a short, poignant little book about the perils of liberal claims to equality in Apartheid South Africa.

When I first started putting together the prompt list for this reading women challenge I was astonished by the number of prompt lists that already existed. There are dozens of prompt lists out there, although none of them quite fit the kinds of books I wanted to read this year. In particular, one prompt I read I still think about today: "A book with a pink cover."

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein blew me away. It was such a shock to go back and read the original text that has inspired so many aspects of Western horror and science fiction. It made me realize how different Shelley's concept of Frankenstein's monster is from the monster depicted in most media today.

For this prompt I wanted to highlight the Reading Women Award. Each year they celebrate outstanding books written by or about women. The award winners and shortlisted books also function as a great resource to find new and wonderful books to read.