BL Reading List version Women's Lit 101

I have to agree with Simon's take on Rand, and I'm sure its because I am violently opposed to her politics. However I also have to agree with Brainrape that
As far as women writer's go, her work is unparalled in the sheer amount of discussion and contoversey it has elicited....
Put her on the list, but I can't promise anyone will like her.
 
I know this isn't a Rand discussion, so I promise to add more female authors at the end, but... ;)
I disagree with a lot of her politics also. The majority of my respect for her writing is knowing the history behind it. One can hardly blame her extremist issues after getting out from under Soviet control - to disagree with principles so vehemently and be forced to live under them is something no one should be subjected to. I love her books more for the passion behind her convictions - I'm a sucker for anyone who believes in something that powerfully. And IMO they are very well written, although her penchant for her politics does make the speeches drag on and on and on... Fountainhead is a much better example for me, and much easier to read through. Some people never tire of heroes, I guess.
As far as a female author (I promised!) -
Anais Nin
 
A wrinkle in time is a damn awesome book! Thumbs up to Madeleine.
I have to reccomend Sister Souljah who wrote one fiction; The Coldest Winter Ever and one book on her views and her life; No Disrespect. The Coldest Winter Ever is one hell of a good book and I read all 423 pages in one night, it's that good. You can expect some raw words and issues dealing with drugs, community, and young men and women in her books.
Another great woman author is Shirley MacLaine who wrote books about metaphysics, her life and work in the movie industry etc. Many would classify her books as New age or whatever, but they go way deeper than the surface and her views and questions are good to bring up your own. My favorite book of hers is called The Camino. It's about her travels through Spain on this sacred ley path traveled since ages ago.
Peace
[ 23 December 2002: Message edited by: jaymie ]
 
Oh, just read The God of Small Things by Arundhati (sp?) Roy. Absolutely fantastic. Right up there with Rushdie or Garcia Marquez, IMHO.
 
Originally posted by Simon:
Oh, just read The God of Small Things by Arundhati (sp?) Roy. Absolutely fantastic. Right up there with Rushdie or Garcia Marquez, IMHO.
Yes, it is fantastic. I am reading my first Rushdie novel right now, too. Have to admit, it's slow going if I don't pay good attention.
 
Yeah, I just re-read this thread and saw you already mentioned it. Which Rushdie are you reading? Moor's Last Sigh is my favourite.
 
I am reading Midnight's Children. I am enjoying it, but it takes my full attention. I plan on getting through a big chunk tonight in the bath, and then finishing by the weekend (I always feel guilty "leisure" reading during school).
 
George Eliot. That is all.
Werd. "Middlemarch" - truly symphonic literature.
ALSO - hello? The Brontes? Part of the incredible mystery of reading them is wondering how they ever got the stimulation to make these incredibly keen observations about human character while living lives tucked away on these horribly dreary moors....But "Villette" is my favorite book of all time. Never has there been a narrative voice like the main character, Lucy Snow.
In terms of feminist theory texts - Jean Baker Miller's "Towards a New Psychology of Women." Clear, incisive, seminal. So to speak.
 
The Mastery Of Love
by Don Miguel Ruiz
Wouldn't say it was a a all female crowd that would only enjoy this book.
Read and see what I'm talking about.
 
Upon recommondation from this thread, I just finished reading the Handmaid's tale. It was excellent. When I came to the end of Offred's writing, I actually felt a little bit of pain because I didn't want it to end. I just wanted to read more and more. I did find the last section annoying but that's because it was a very accurate dipiction of an academic's speech, and I strongly dislike academic's speeches. Anyhow, fantastic book, I recommend it, too. It actually found it scarier and more fascinating than 1984.
[ 25 January 2003: Message edited by: shannabanana ]
 
I'd like to second the earlier nomination of Poppy Z. Brite. Very interesting to see a woman writer who can write men well, can write gay men astoundingly well, but can't write anything but the most shallow and one-dimensional of female characters.
Her best known work is "Lost Souls", no it wasn't made into a movie with Winona Ryder. The book mentioned in the earlier post is called "Exquisite Corpse", hard stuff to stomach, some very extreme depictions of violence.
Also look for "Drawing Blood", which is a ghost story of sorts, and "Swamp Foetus", a collection of short stories.
Wire.
 
Simon said:
Oh, just read The God of Small Things by Arundhati (sp?) Roy. Absolutely fantastic. Right up there with Rushdie or Garcia Marquez, IMHO.

This just goes to show, trust the librarian.

I had to read The God of Small Things twice, but oh... my...god... I think this one should go on anyone's "must read list". I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitute and it is also shaping up to be very good.
 
since my last contribution was a bit dumb, i just finished reading Etel Adnans' Sitt Marie Rose, and I'd recommend it for its compositional style alone, "The incredulity toward meta-narratives that Lyotard characterizes as the post-modernist condition is embodied in th enarrative technique of Sitt Marie Rose." (Thomas Foster, PMLA Journal, taken from the back cover :)).

Its about the Lebanonese civil war in the '70s.

:)
 
Words wants to stick with bluelighter original contributions and some outsiders contributions, but not reviews of outsiders contributions.

Actually, there are book suggestion threads all over the board (the lounge, life, aus' social, thought and awareness), but sort of done differently in each forum.
 
^ Couldn't have said it better myself


plus everyone knows the smart people hang out in here

ok, I read this in high school andI've been tearing my house apart trying to find the copy I had of it with annotations, but Alice Walker's The Color Purple is incredible, even if it does violate my own rules (Oprah involvement).

Also, I read a book 2 years ago for a Women Studies class about a girl growing up in a village someplace in africa. It was fantastically written but I can't remember ANYTHING else about it... any ideas?
 
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Yesterday said:


plus everyone knows the smart people hang out in here


yes
we all know ;)

there was a discussion about this in a&f that you can read the whole spiel or whatnot

we get the book threads
and we like it, or something
 
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