BL Reading List version Women's Lit 101

Yesterday

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 12, 2002
Messages
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Ok, I've been reading heavily from the original Bluelighter Reading List and we do have some awesome reads there, but I can't help but be a little dissapointed at how male-dominated the list is.
Don't get me wrong, a good book is a good book, but I would like to create a new list that focuses on female authors who don't suck.
So none of the shit my mom reads when she is on the beach. And anything that has been featured on Oprah is automatically disqualified with the exception of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou.
As opposed to the last thread, these books do not have to specificaly relate to bluelight, I'd rather just honor women who write and appeal to people of our mindset, particularly the ones who don't whine about their lovelives the whole novel.
To get it started once again:
ANYTHING BY MARGARET ATWOOD this woman rocks and is a genius, The Handmaidens Tale and The Blind Assasin are a good place to start, but you cannot go wrong with this writer.
Briget Jone's Diary by Helen Fielding (I had to put it, the ultimate guilty pleasure)
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx... they gave this woman a Pulitzer for a reason. Read this book.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin... my high school favorite.
 
i'm sad to say that there's only one book on my shelf that's by a female author. it's a good one though, check it out:
geek love by katherine dunn
 
^^^ start your own damn thread if you don't like this one.
name caller.
 
Excellent idea!
Off the top of my head:
Madeleine L'Engle - any of her work, really, especially the Murry family novels (including A Wrinkle In Time)
Elizabeth Wurtzel - writer of Prozac Nation, one of the best of the new female authors IMO
Katherine Neville - her book The 8 is brilliant! She has a knack for combining fiction and ancient history
Sandra Cisnero - The House on Mango Street, one of the world's top Latina authors
 
• Kathy Acker - Blood and Guts in High School
• Marianne Faithful - Faithful (her autobiog)
 
Originally posted by Yesterday:

So none of the shit my mom reads when she is on the beach. And anything that has been featured on Oprah is automatically disqualified with the exception of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou.
Briget Jone's Diary by Helen Fielding (I had to put it, the ultimate guilty pleasure)

I too seem to read maily male authors BUT Have read quite a few of the Oprah bookclub books, books written by women & without exception have been excellent.
so you're looking for sort of 'alternative' writers? Poppy Z Brite is pretty fucking awesome, damnit i cant remember the name of the book I'm thinking of though, it's set in New Orleans , If i think of it I'll edit this.Ok i *think it's called 'beautiful corpse' maybe 'immaculate corpse'? anyone care to jump in?
Totally agree with Magret atwood & the god of small things, oh AND the Marrianne Faithful autobiography , alothough I wished she'd just shut the fuck up about Mick Jagger.
'Wild Swans' by Jung Chang, 3 generations of woman in China, the delvopment of modern China , Chaiman Maos crazy antics & all, a brillant read.
More to come...maybe.
[ 17 December 2002: Message edited by: *kell* ]
 
I am basing my judgement on Oprahs book club on the following two books:
Shes Come Undone by Wally Lamb and
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
they were both GOD AWFUL. I highly advise you to avoid these books at all costs unless you want to read some whiny mediocre trash with a sad ending that makes it "deep and poingant".
Also, FYI I have some weird guilt thing where I cannot stop reading a book once I begin reading it, therefore I like to screen my selections before I am stuck with them the whole way through.
 
^^^^ yeah She's Come Undone sucked. I completely despised the main character by the end.
It's been out a few years, but Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club is a great femme-centered read.
 
OHOHOH
Molly Jong-Fast *Normal Girl*...great book...bout a cliched topic but very well writen and interesting
And Kaye Gibbons- *Ellen FOster*...ive read that about 5 times and I STILL love it...easy read but an amazing book. Kaye Gibbons rocks.
 
Angela Carter: I've only read Nights at the Circus, but it rocks. Puts me in mind somewhat of Thomas Pynchon (though not as incredibly complex).
 
Mary Daly
She is the outer most extreme of feminist writers. Painful for most males to read, akin to being castrated. I think she has had her day, but nonetheless remains a standard. I think she is essential for any women's studies because she marks the end boundary of radical feminism. This is necessary when considering feminist studies as a whole.
Check out these few among many of her works.
Beyond God The Father
Gyn/Ecology: Metaethics of Radical Feminism
Pure Lust: Elemental Feminist Philosophy
 
Women can read and write now? Before you know it, they'll be allowed to vote!
 
Perhaps I missed it, but I am absolutley fucking stunned that this author hasn't been mentioned yet: Ayn Rand.
Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are certified classics. As far as women writer's go, her work is unparalled in the sheer amount of discussion and contoversey it has elicited....
Personally, I figured she'd be the first to make the fucking list. Her prominance as a leading philisophical figure of our times, in addition to her writing achievments make her one of the most dynamic and important women in the history of literature...
 
id believe it would be because ayn rand has become the cliche and 'go to' whenever someone mentions womens lit.
not to say it isnt a worthy reputation, but perhaps overdone... or maybe it just goes without saying...
 
I just don't get Rand, I'm sorry - I mean, maybe its because I'm fundamentally opposed to her politics, but I find her writing style terrible as well. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged, and honestly, I thought it was awful, from a literary point of view. Nothing seemed to happen, characters talked in 10-page monologues, aaaaahhhh! There were some interesting ideas in there (though I disagree with them), but not well written, IMHO.
While I'm here:
George Eliot. That is all.
 
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