What books by and/or about women are you reading May-August 08?

I'm still working on Middlemarch by George Eliot, which has caused me to neglect Charlotte Bronte's Villette, sadly.

Fanny, don't know about you, but I would have a difficult time reading two 19th century novels simultaneously. If I read more than one novel at a time, I try to keep them very different from each other. I too am currently reading Middlemarch, and also West With the Night--the memoirs of Beryl Markham, who is very different as Dorothea.

>2 Nickelini:, Yeah, like I said, Villette has basically fallen by the wayside.

I've just finished a reread of The Handmaid's Tale not sure what i will tackle next (the choices are pretty much endless around here...)

I'm reading Blow Your House Down by Pat Barker. It's a novel about prostitutes in a city in northern England and the dangers they face. It's gritty and depressing, but she has a lot of compassion for the women she's writing about. The female characters certainly don't do anything noble in this book, but their humanity shines through.

I am still with The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, and totally engrossed in it. One of the best read I have had in a while.

This evening I need to finish Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather for book group tomorrow. The writing is lovely.

I'm also reading The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, Whose body? by Dorothy Sayers, and an old collection of funny pieces by Jean Kerr called Penny Candy--my first for all three writers.

This time of year I usually alternate between fiction and gardening books, but I've dropped the ball this year. Maybe later in the month . . .

d&*m, I didn't see this thread, being so far down the list, and I created another. Sorry, fanny, didn't mean to usurp. . . going to fix now.

I've set aside Shelley Jackson's clever novel Half Life for a time when I have more brain cells available. The novel looks quite promising.

So, in the meantime, I have picked up The Outcast by Sadie Jones which is on the Orange Prize shortlist. It caught my interest pretty quickly.

Wel I have a ton of books that I have always meant to get around and read and this is a good a time as any. I too have a copy of Villette that is begging me to read it, Mary Roberts Rhinehart, Queen of the Amazons, The EarthSea Trilogy,Feminist Fabulation Space'Postmodern Fiction, The Storm Lord, Ethan of Athos, The Xenogenesis Series, Promised Land, Alien Blood, Snow Queen, Summer Queen, Trouble and her Friends, Freedom's Gate, The Barbarian Princess, Lady of the Forest, Herland, Woman on the edge of Time,Dance the Eagle to Sleep, The Wild Hunt: Vengeance Moon, Native Tongue, Jane Gaskell's The Serpent, The Ruins of Isis, Native Tongue II The Judas Rose, Ask A Policeman, The Mermaid Chair, Women As Mythmaker's Poetry and Visual Art By Twentieth-Century Women, First Feminists, Kissing The Rod, The Galesia Trilogy and many, many more too. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As you all can see I have my work cut out for me.

beatles1964

(I'll post here to bump this thread up to avoid confusion with the duplicate topic!)

This month I plan on reading My Antonia by Willa Cather for a bookclub that I'm in at work and reread The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood for the Atwoodians group here on LT.

I tried to start Carol Gilligan's debut novel, Kyra last night but found the prose oddly irritating. I've decided to table the book and return to another novel which I had replaced (found it in my scanner!). Gilligan is a very notable scholar on feminist psychologist, famous for In a Different Voice : psychological theory and women's development.

Nine days after my original post, I'm still reading Middlemarch. I'm going to focus on it this week and see if I can get it done. Just over half-way done at this point.

Am reading The House of the Spirits and absolutely loving it!

I'm reading Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess, a YA novel about a 15-year old girl who was sexually abused by her father. Much to her terror, her father gets released from prison early and comes home to live with her and her mother. Her selfish mom is very deep in denial and is delighted to have her husband home. It's a pretty messed-up situation so far. I can't wait to see how she copes with this.

I have just completed the first seven short stories in The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry by Assia Djebar translated from the French by Tegan Raleigh.

I just started Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. So far, so good! (Although I must admit, when I first started the book, I had somehow assumed that the main character was a woman. It took me several pages before I finally figured out that it was a man. I had to go back and re-read the first few pages of Chapter 1 to reorient myself. Weird. I usually never make those kinds of assumptions.)

I started Cherry by Mary Karr.I've heard that she admitted to adding on a few"extras" when she wrote her memoirs. Cherry & The Liars Club but I read the Liar's Club & it was so funny -- right now I'm in the mood for a little light entertainment, the "whole truth" or not.

I just finished Karen Armstrong's two memoirs, Through the Narrow Gate and The Spiral Staircase. The first is about her time as a nun; she entered a convent when she was 17 years old. The second is about her life after leaving the convent. They were both fascinating books. She's such an engaging writer.

Well the end is in sight: on 225 pages left to go with Middlemarch (which is more than many books I read, but never mind that!). I also picked up a book from the library today that fits the "about women" part of this thread: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in theory and practice, by Christopher Hitchens. I know Hitchens has a huge ax to grind when it comes to organized religion, but I find his logic and reasoning very interesting. Two blurbs from the back cover are kinda fun:

"A dirty job but someone had to do it. By the end of this elegantly written, brilliantly argued piece of polemic, it is not looking good for Mother Teresa" (London Sunday Times), and,

"If there is a hell, Hitchens is going there for this book."

Sounds like people who don't want to hear anything negative about Mother Teresa shouldn't read this book. But I'm okay with it, and it's only 98 pages long, so there you go.

Nickelini: Sounds interesting. I hadn't heard about this one by Hitchens.

LindsayG: I've alway wanted to read more K. Armstrong. Having read the two back to back, do your recommend doing that? Sometimes I find that can be a little too much of a good thing, even with writers I like a lot. But if they hold up well, I will try it with these two.

I just finished Kindred by Octavia Butler. I wasn't wowed by the writing style (I prefer to be shown things about a character that allow me to decide for myself what his/her personality is like, but Butler seemed to prefer to just tell the reader what to think.) BUT I loved the premise and the depths and complexities she explores through it. She provides so much to think about, esp. about race, gender, relationships, history, power. I've never read anything else like it.

I'm taking a road trip next week and have a pile of books on CD from the library all picked out and ready to listen to. I will report on those when I return.

>20 Nickelini:, Nickelini - I was just talking with someone about the Mother Teresa book & could not remember who had written it. Now that you've mentioned it, it soooo does not surprise me that its Chris Hitchens! The man just can't stop being a contrarian!

>21 TerrierGirl:, TerrierGirl - I found that as soon as I finished the first one I really wanted to find out what happened next in her life, so I enjoyed reading them back to back. She does recap some of her experiences from the first book in the second book, but not so much that it was bothering me. I think I liked the second book even more than the first one.

rereading The nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch. An adorable romp through English country house life among the upper civil servants. it includes a mystery, and some romance. Fun book.

24, almigwin - That sounds like fun. Will look for it. I recently read her Sacred and Profane Love Machine, which was fun, too.

24 & 25 I did start an Iris Murdoch group, if you'd like to join and talk about those?

Strangely, I'm reading a book by a male author which has no prominent female characters. Set in 1918 in Boston, The Given Day focuses on two men, one Irish-American, the other African-American; the women fall entirely in supporting roles (i.e. mother, wife, lovers).

Just finished Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. Although none of the characters are people I'd enjoy knowing, I'm finding myself haunted by these melancholy women. A lovely, wryly observed small book about the lives of a particular set of women. Highly recommended.

I liked Hotel du Lac for the same reasons, Nancy!

Recently finished South Riding which I loved and am going to read Testament of Youth as a result - Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain were friends and Holtby features in Brittain's book. I plan on reading other books by both writers over the summer. And Middlemarch is also on the cards.

I am reading My Mother the Cheerleader by Rob Sharenow. It's a YA novel from the perspective of a 13 year old girl about her mom in New Orleans in 1960. This is when schools were first started to be integrated, and the girl's racist mom and other women in the town (the "Cheerleaders") would go to the local school and yell slurs and throw things at the one black child who was going to kindergarten there as she walked into the building.

I'm reading poems from Madwomen: the "locas mujeras poems of Gabriela Mistral by Gabriela Mistral - while I think the jury is still out on whether these translations really hit the mark, the poems are enjoyable and thought provoking. Since it is a bilingual edition, I get to work on my rather stale (and never great) Spanish skills.

I'm now reading the Looking Glass, by Michele Roberts. I picked this one up now because it looked different, and I really liked the cover.

Have just completed a memoir When The Bough Breaks by Julia Hollander. A dislocated women story as a mother grapples with the birth of her severely brain damaged child and the ramifications of that birth upon her other daughter.

30, My book group will be reading Testament of Youth in August. I will check out South Riding earlier beforehand so I, too, can see the connections. Thanks!

26, Could you provide a link to the Murdoch group? I can't find it, and I definitely want to read more of her.

I've loved every Anita Brookner book I've ever read, but they tend to blur up a bit in my mind. A depressed woman living in genteel poverty in London . . . I don't mean to imply that they're formulaic; they're not. I just can't seem to retain details anymore!

I'm re-reading Ursula, Under by Ingrid Hill. The story of a 2-year old girl, Ursula Wong, (of Chinese & Finnish parents) who falls into an abandoned mine shaft while on a picnic. As her rescue slowly becomes national news, Miss Hill unfolds Ursula's diverse though connected ancestry beginning with a Chinese alchemist in the third century, to a mustard-grower in gold-rush California to a Finnish miner's wife in nineteenth century Michigan. I read this book several years ago. The characters stayed with me so much that I needed to revisit them.

Also reading The Diary of a Provincial Lady. Just lovely!!

Just completed The Children of Belsen by Hetty Verolme. This is a memoir of a woman that as a child was transprted from her home in Amsterdam to the concentration camp of Belsen. Following the transportation of her parents she, along with roughly forty other children had to fend for themselves. Harrowing and compelling yet I would call this book a spiritual book. The strength of spirit, the sheer love and humanity of human beings shines through the darkness of man's inhumanity to man.

I'm reading We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This by Achy Obejas. It has been on my TBR shelf for as long as I can remember, I swear. So I'm proud of myself for finally pulling it down.

Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, some of the stories feel a little dated - especially those related to queer/AIDS activism. Probably because I was very involved in those movements at the time and they are now so far removed from my life (at least in that late '80s early '90s way). Still well-written stories that represent a particular time very well.

Completed A Stricken Field by Martha Gellhorn and am now reading The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. These are both by and about women within the context of war.

I just started Smashed: story of a drunken girlhood by Koren Zailkas. It's an autobiography of a young woman who starts drinking at age 14 and spends the next 10 years or so drinking a lot.

Just finished The Gathering by Ann Enright. It's a good book, but I don't agree that it was good enough to win a prize. The author embellished a lot & repeated too much, still it was good.

I'm just starting The Divorce Party by Laura Dave.

#28 and 29 - I so agree with you about Hotel du Lac.

I'm reading Socialism is Great! a memoir by Chinese author Lijia Zhang. Heard about this on NPR, either a local or national interview, I can't remember which.

I just finished Mosquito by Roma Tearne. It's an emotional and beautiful story about love, loss, and war, set during the Sri Lankan civil war. I highly recommend it.

I'm unsure what to read next, although some Viragos seem to be beckoning me.

Chirstiquc, I loved, LOVED, loved Mosquito when I read it last year. Definitely one of my top 2 or 3 books of the year. I also really loved Michael Ondatjee's Anil's Ghost, which is similar in some ways (both set in the Sri Lankan civil war, both have beautiful, evocative language).

I too am unsure what to read next.

>45 Nickelini: Nickelini, it's one of my top so far this year as well(and I can't believe only 14 people own the book so far!). I've not read Anil's Ghost yet, but Mosquito did remind me of Ondaatje's writing. I used LT's fancy recommendations feature to recommend it for The English Patient yesterday; perhaps if I were better versed in his writing, I would have thought Anil's Ghost a more appropriate match. I'll now have to add Anil's Ghost to my shopping list. :)

At the moment I am reading Playing with water by Kate Llewellyn. Its in diary form and follows her as she creates a garden in her new house. I loved her Waterlily: A Blue Mountains Journal which was a similar theme and style.

I love reading about people and their gardens and their passion for the living thing.

Alex

I am reading For Her Own Good by Barbara Ehrenreich. Very interesting.

Have read and enjoyed:

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
Iola Leroy by Frances E.W. Harper

Now reading Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I just started The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen.

I just started The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories by Pagan Kennedy, even though I have two other ARCs I should be reading first. I love her voice so far! Has anyone read her novel Spinsters, which was a finalist for the Orange Prize?

As I said yesterday, I just started The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen. I'm really not too thrilled with it yet. I feel like I'm reading a book version of a Joan Crawford movie--overacted, over-dramatic, slightly boring. I hope it picks up, because I'm reading this for the Woman and War group read, and I want to finish it. I had problems with the other Bowen book I read, Eva Trout. But I did get through that one and in the end, there was something about it I liked.

Does anyone have any words of advise on reading Bowen?

>48 ejd0626: That's a great book!

>52 Nickelini: Oh dear, I picked up a Bowen novel at a library sale recently. I think it was the cover that I adored and I vaguely recognized the name.

I've started The Birth House by Ami McKay which I bought (from the UK) when it showed up repeatedly on the Impac Dublic nomination list (by Canadian libraries, of course). It's been languishing in the TBR pile for months. . .

>53 avaland: I'd be curious to hear what you think of The Birth House. I've heard great things about it.

35 Having now read Testament of Friendship, I wouldn't really recommend South Riding as the best complement to Testament of Youth, though I would recommend it in its own right.

T. of Y. is very much about Vera Brittain's struggle to get to university and then her nursing experience during WW1. Only towards the end does Winifred Holtby feature. T. of F. is about Holtby and that shows the difference between the two women's experiences - Holtby didn't have the same struggle for her education and as she was younger than Brittain, she only had one year of the war out of school, in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.

I now feel Brittain's personality dominates my thoughts about all these books so I want to read more by Holtby. I think South Riding will be one of those books I will want to reread every couple of years.

>54 avisannschild: I'm only reading it at night but it does linger in my mind during the day (even though I'm only 50 pages in or so). I think the author does a good job creating a sense of place (Nova Scotia) and populating it with interesting people; it is this which lingers. I have at moments thought of Anne of Green Gables in comparison, as it would predate this in setting by a few years and is also set in one of the Maritime provinces. Of course, MacKay's setting is more rural and not so 'quaint'.

#54 - I'd be curious to hear what you think of The Birth House. I've heard great things about it.

-------------

My book club read this last year and it was a popular choice (I had to skip the book because I was busy with school).

Read Herland - interesting idea - a world without men!

Just finished My Antonia - what a hard life the early pioneers had.

Started Frost in May enjoying it so far.

Recently finished a rather odd selection of books (driven by teaching and academic concerns);

Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red -- a contemporary retelling of the myth of Geryon -- who in the Labors of Hercules is a red, winged monster killed by Hercules, but in this tale is a red, winged young photographer, seduced by a slightly older Herakles, obsessed with volcanoes -- go figure -- lyrical, evocative, but I'm not sure what it all means.

Edith Everett Taylor Pope's Not Magnolia -- a rather silly but delightful tale of 1920s Florida co-eds finding love and/or marriage -- the protagonist defies the southern belle dictum by claiming her own life (sort of).

Annie Finch 's Eve -- a mixed collection on poems on ancient goddesses and legendary figures

I finished The Birth House which was a very good, thoughtful read. Set during WWI in a small Nova Scotian coastal town, it tells the story of Dora Rare a young midwife. Through her story we glimpse women's reproductive health and choices of the time, and a community of women, at their best, caring for each other. I have more comments here, if anyone is interested. (Sorry, i don't usually like referring people to somewhere else - i n this case the 75 Book Challenge group - but I'm feeling a bit repetitive tonight.

I'm now reading Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War by Assia Djebar for the 'women and war' theme. I really had the urge to finish Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones which I started several months ago but I couldn't find the book! O! the frustration! Still, it's not like there aren't other books to read:-)

I finished The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. Set in 17th century Iran it is a first novel, shortlisted for the Orange Prize. The result of a great deal of research with some excellent pointers to further accessible reading I think it would be of interest to many.

Avaland - you have such a bounty of Djebar's books! I am wondering how many she has written and how many translated into English - waving and dashes off to find out! This is what LT does to us!

I'm reading Regeneration by Pat Barker which is really excellent, mostly telling the story of the man who is treating Siegfried Sassoon for "shell shock" and some of his patients. It's very well written, exploring the impact and ethics of the war on both men and women.

Oh - I loved the Regeneration trilogy, especially this one.

>juliette07. Obsessive book hoarder. I find an author I like and I start collecting their books. Djebar, Atwood, Pasternak, Oates, Urquhart, Grenville...and so on. . . I wonder what they would see on an brain scan. . .

I think I have 4 Djebar books, and I'm waiting for the US edition of the most recent which YOU have already read!

I watched The South Bank Show tonight. Melvyn Bragg was talking to Sarah Waters about her books. After watching this I definitely want to read more of her books - I've only read Fingersmith so far, which I loved.

I'm just about to start The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - it's the next book up in the Group Reads group: http://www.librarything.com/groups/groupreadsliterature

Just begun Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not my usual sort of book but have heard good things about it from a few people so thought I would give it a go.

Alex

Read Frost in May and Mr Fortune's Maggot - enjoyed both especially Frost in May.

My next read will be The Passion of New Eve.

Another Anita Brookner book Undue Influence

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. Just started it so am not sure how good it is, but I believe I saw a good review here on LT in one of the groups to which I belong.

Up to Ch.6 of The Passion of New Eve - loving it.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich -- first book of hers I've read in years, and I'm really loving it.

Finished Children of the New World and have started Mosquito by Roma Tearne, set in Sri Lanka.

>73 rebeccanyc: rebeccanyc: If you're in the mood for another excellent Erdrich book, try The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. I thought it was excellent.

Thanks, Talbin. I read a lot of her work in the 80s, but not since (except for stories in "The New Yorker").

I have two on the go at the moment: Isabel Allende's Ines of my Soul, and Assia Djebar's Women of Algiers in Their Apartment. Not terribly far along in either one yet ...

I'm reading an advanced reader copy of No One You Know by Michelle Richmond - it is terrific!

And I'm just downloading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton for group reads. I've read it and have a copy, but it's such a treat to be read to, and I'm in the mood for a treat!

75 and 76> The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is wonderful and so is The Painted Drum -- I can't get enough of Erdrich -- I've just added The Plague of Doves to my wish list.

I am currently half-way through The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. The next on my tbr list is The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

Read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Up to Chapter V of Ordinary Families by E.Arnott Robertson.

Began The Age of Innocence for the Group Reads group. Wharton has a lovely cadence to her writing. How I love their slow and careful manners and the tempest that lies beneath so calm an exterior.

#80 I just loved The Blood of Flowers - the type of book that stays with you long after you turn the last page.
I am also in old New York in The Age of Innocence and completely endorse bleuroses comment. I am so enjoying it, Wharton engages and carries the reader along almost imperceptibly.

I'm with blueroses and juliette on The Age of Innocence. I've read it before, but am enjoying the reread! Though at the moment I've actually followed Archer to Florida, in pursuit of May, rather than in old New York.

I started Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood, last night and I'm loving it!

I started Little Women, by Louisa M Alcott.

I never read this when I was a child, so am not entirely sure if I'll enjoy it or if it will be too "old fashioned" for me.

wonderlake, I confess that I love re-reading Little Women now and then. It is one of the books I enjoyed the most as a child. I hope you will like it too.
:-))

Reading Ordinary Families - Its slow going - not one of my favourite reads - in fact read The Hours to relieve boredom when I was halfway along,

englishrose60 - how did you find The Hours?

wonderlake, I reread Little Women a few years back and was disappointed that it seemed so juvenile; that was not, of course, how I remembered it:-)

I needed a break after reading two books with war settings, so I picked up a YA SF novel called Taylor Five by Ann Halam aka Gwyneth Jones. Jones is a superb SF writer who knows how to use the genre to really say something (or question something). Thus, I'll even read her YA novels. Turns out this one is set in a fictitious country of Kandah on Borneo...and guess what? there's a war going on. Oh well:-)

I just finished The Age of Innocence by Edith Warton. What a wonderful book, and so beautifully written. I had forgotten how much I loved this book when I first read it 20 years ago.

#89 Julie do you mean what did I think of the book OR where did I find it OR where did I find DVD?

Sorry - I wasn't very clear! I really meant what did you think of The Hours?

Well, Juliette07, you didn't ask me, but I loved The Hours. I read it along with Mrs. Dalloway. I also really like the movie--it's one of my favourites, actually. Have you read it?

I'm on a roll with books by women this month. I've just finished the two books mentioned in #77 and will now move on to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's memoir, Infidel.

#93 I loved The Hours - thought it was a very cleverly constructed book about the lives of the three women - I especially liked the way in which the author resolved the connection between them at the end of the book.

Hope to watch DVD sometime this week.

> 87, 90

Reading Little Women for the first time is quite interesting- who would have been my younger selves favourite sister ?

I imagine 'tomboy' Jo (like George in The Famous Five), although I'm not entirely convinced that a proper tomboy would also love reading quite so much ~ Or was this sometimes the only way she could get to have the adventures she longed for ?

It is very preachy though.

Read William - an Englishman by Cicely Hamilton. A good book about an Englishman's experience of the First World War.

Next read is Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus, the daily journal (1955-1960)of a writer; a single mother of three young children living in terrible poverty in a Brazilian slum.

I'm reading The Age of Innocence for the Group Reads group. I love it so much more than I thought I would although it's early days.

#94 nickelini I absolutely loved all three - The Hours, the film and Mrs Dalloway. But I have to say that my favourite Virginia Woolf is the one featured on my profile page A Room of One's Own. It is one of the most influential books I have read.

A Room of One's Own was my turning point for Virginia Woolf. I'd read one of her short stories for first-year English, and thought it ridiculous (I changed my mind on later readings). Then I was assigned A Room of One's Own for a European history class and dreaded reading it. But it was such a delightful surprise . . . not at all difficult to read, and interesting too. It made me a Woolf fan. I find that her essays and diaries are much more accessible than her novels (I feel similarly about Salman Rushdie).

Anyway, during the winter months my husband plays hockey on Friday nights, and about one Friday a month I light candles, pour a glass of wine, and watch The Hours.

#85 Alias Grace is my favorite Atwood!

Read Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbrige - enjoyed this book about the Titanic.

Just started Man Crazy by Joyce Carol Oates not sure whether I'll like it. Don't usually go for stories about satanism nowadays although I devoured them in my youth. I remember reading Dracula - stayed up till 2 in the morning to finish it - just couldn't put it down.

englishrose60, the same happened to me when I read Dracula, in my teens!
:-))

#103 and 104 ~ Same here, but I read Dracula as a teen on a cold autumn night in Chicago, with every light in the living room on. I remember worrying that my dad would get up and yell at me for wasting electricity, but I just couldn't stop reading yet it was so scary (esp. with the wind moaning outside and the limbs of the trees scraping against the gutters, and the house creaking in the quiet ~ brrrr!) I had to have all the light on for comfort. :D

I'm starting The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi for the Reading Globally 'immigration' theme and since it's a past Orange Prize longlisted novel, it worked for Jill's "Orange July" (ok, I'm getting an early start:-)

Finished Man Crazy. Read O Pioneers by Willa Cather. Enjoyed both books.

Just started Nectar in a Seive by Kamala Markandaya about rural life in India. Good so far.

107 - Nectar in a Sieve ooh, hardly ever find anyone who's read this. I did a while ago and thought it was excellent, although a bit bleak. Looking forward to hearing what you thought of it.

LyzzyBee - I have just read first three chapters so far. Its a totally different world to mine.Will let you know my view on it when I've finished.

Finished Nectar in a Sieve - very poignant story, well told.

It is a quick read, isn't it. Extremely poignant. I don't know if the author wrote any others. I sent my copy to a fellow BookCrosser who collected books written by people with the same first name as her!

Yes LyzzyBee a very quick read.

She did write other books although I have not read any. If you go to her author page there is a list of her other books.

Same first name eh! that's an interesting idea! :)

I just bought Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan. It looks like perfect summer reading. I'll give you the Amazon blurb:

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright.

Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion.

Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story.

So far I have heard that she has beautiful prose and that is a draw for me. It is also more about Mamah and shows her strengths for her time period, that also peaks my curiosity. I think what people say the most that won me over is that they wanted to keep reading, but they couldn't say why. It wasn't a cliffhanger or some mystery, but they kept turning the pages to find out more detail. The odd thing to me is that this is historical fiction, not a biography. Yet, people feel interest as if this is true. (There are supposedly true, obscure facts thrown in.) I think it may be more a show of the writers wonderful skills in character development. I wonder if she could do the same with two imaginary 'famous' people?

I just bought Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan. It looks like perfect summer reading. I'll give you the Amazon blurb:

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

In this ambitious debut novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Cheney’s profound influence on Wright.

Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world. Mamah’s is an unforgettable journey marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leading inexorably ultimately lead to this novel’s stunning conclusion.

Elegantly written and remarkably rich in detail, Loving Frank is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman, a national icon, and their timeless love story.

My two cents:

So far I have heard that she has beautiful prose and that is a draw for me. It is also more about Mamah and shows her strengths for her time period, that also peaks my curiosity. I think what people say the most that won me over is that they wanted to keep reading, but they couldn't say why. It wasn't a cliffhanger or some mystery, but they kept turning the pages to find out more detail. The odd thing to me is that this is historical fiction, not a biography. Yet, people feel interest as if this is true. (There are supposedly true, obscure facts thrown in.) I think it may be more a show of the writers wonderful skills in character development. I wonder if she could do the same with two imaginary 'famous' people?

Read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Loved it.

Now reading Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy. IMO she is a wonderful storyteller.

#114 Looks like an interesting read yareader2.

Read I'm Not Complaining by Ruth Adam about a middle-class schoolteacher working in a primary school in Nottinghamshire in a working-class area during the Depression.

Also read a short novel by Isobel English called Every Eye. Middle-aged Harriet, recently married, reflects on her past life while on holiday in Ibiza.

I just started A Thousand Days in Venice, by Marlena De Blasi. The uber-librarian, Nancy Pearl recommended it. After one chapter I'm not too sure about it. But I'll give it a bit more . . .

Just read So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba about two Sengalese women whose husbands take second wives. It shows how each of them handles the situation in their own different way. I Liked this book very much.

I put aside the book I started (A Thousand Days in Venice), and am now reading How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Great title, but I'm not sure I like this one either.

I'm reading The Age of Innocence for the Group Reads; taking me awhile to get the flow of the language, etc. but I'm getting into it now. Also dipping into Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.

The month of July will be devoted entirely to contemporary women writers (yea!!!) as I join mrstreme's Orange July - reading all selections from Orange Prize winners, short- and long-listed and new authors. I have quite a lovely pile waiting for me! Here's info about it. (apologies if this has been posted before, I didn't have time to go through all the posts.)

Just read Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge and I'm about to start her novel According to Queeney. Althoug Master Georgie was a bit bleak, about the horrors of the Crimean War, I enjoyed reading it.

I'm reading The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy. Also, I'm reading Arms and the Women by Reginald Hill (because I've got to get some male authors and mysteries in before my Orange July!).

I read The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi recently which was excellent. Notes over on the Orange July thread. However, it seems now I have slipped into male-authored books. It happens:-)

I took a break from A Thousand Days in Venice to read How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. I picked up A Thousand Days again yesterday at the beach and thought I made good progress, but I see now that I'm only on page 40 (and the pages are small). I may not be able to finish this one--it appears to be yet another memoir of a self-indulgent, independently wealthy American who moves to Italy. Last night I read the very lengthy intro to Virginia Woolf's The Waves and I may give that a try, or perhaps I'll read Five Quarters of an Orange. What ever I read, this time it will be written by a woman. :-)

Nickelini - I really like Five Quarters, thought it very well written and a fantastic story.

Just finished The age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Now I have to make my next choice, unusually I don't have my next book planned. However there are three library Viragos ready so it will be one of those!

I just finished it too, juliette07, last night.

Just finished The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton.

Just started Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg.

Read Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg - a very entertaining and amusing coming of age story.

#115 I remember reading Light a Penny Candle years ago and really loved it, Maeve Binchy is an excellent storyteller.

I have just started Road to Paradise by Paullina Simons and although a bit slow going at first I am now really getting into it.

I am about to start readingWe Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.

#131 We Need to Talk About Kevin is excellent.

Teresa40 - Thanks for your recommendation.

Launched Orange July last night by starting When the Emperor Was Divine. Loving it.

'We' knew you would teelgee :)

I am enjoying The Idea of Perfection so far.

Reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.
Enjoying it so far.

#136 I like the idea of the book, let us know if you like it after it is done.

I am reading a wonderful book - Pioneer Women: Elizabeth Fry, Elizabeth Blackwell, Florence Nightingale, Mary Slessor by M E Tabor. Published in 1925 I am reading a library copy. I ordered it as it was later published as a Virago. It reflects the writing, thinking and times not long after these ladies had achieved their reputations for breaking the mould.

Last night I finished When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka - exquisite book. Then started The History of Love by Nicole Krauss I'm liking it a lot so far!

Finished We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. As I was reading this I could not decide whether or not I liked Eva. I could empathise with her on certain aspects of motherhood, but then she would confess to something which made me dislike her. I think her husband should have been more supportive to her, but his eyes were blinkered. I found this book disturbing and there were times when I did not want to continue but I am glad
that I did read it to the end.
Nature or nurture? I can't decide - perhaps a bit of both.

>141 englishrose60:: englishrose60, I just left a comment on your 50 book challenge thread about this book! Your message above mirrors exactly what I was thinking ! It poses a very intriguing "nature vs. nurture" question isn't it?

I meant to also say ... I'm reading A.S. Byatt's Possession. This has come highly recommended by many LTers, plus it won the Booker Prize. It took me a while to get into it, but now (just over halfway through) I'm finding the parallel story lines really interesting. I like the way the lives of those in the present and past weave together, and Byatt does a great job of poking fun at the present-day academic world (which I believe she has been part of herself?)

#142. Thanks for your response. I agree that within a family what one person says or does affects the ways in which others in the family react.

I'm reading Kelroy by Rebecca Rush, an American author published in 1812. It's an intriguing picture of upper class society in the Philadelphia area about the same time period as Austen. The story is about a conniving, cold and calculating widow who uses her remaining financial resources (her husband had been wealthy but had debts) to invest in her two beautiful daughters - as security for her future.

And Kelroy goes in the Amazon wishlist!
I am finishing Dina's Book by Herbjorg Wassmo, which, for many different reasons, has taken me an awfully long time to complete. Wonderful book!
The story is unusual and fascinating, the prose excellent (the translator has done a fantastic job), the descriptions of the Norwegian landscape so well done that I felt I was actually there.
I warmly recommend it.

I'll second the wishlist addition of Kelroy. I've just started reading A Thousand Acres and am really loving it. I put off reading this for so long because I couldn't figure out how you could make the King Lear story credible in the present day (or even really in the seventeenth century...) but it's been done brilliantly. It's also making me think I should re-read Lidie Newton - and possibly have a bit of a Jane Smiley-buying fest. Any favourites anyone wants to recommend?

Coincidentally, I just bought A Thousand Acres today after reading someone's rave review on LT, but I'd completely forgotten about the King Lear connection...

Currently reading Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, another LT recommendation. Very intriguing so far, but also gruesome by parts (given that it's in part about the crusade against the Cathars, I guess I should have been prepared for that, but it still hard to read).

147 - the thing about Smiley is that she set out to write one book in each genre, so you can't really recommend more that are similar - but in my opinion, they are all good. I loved Horse Heaven though if that helps.

148 - oooh it was so gruesome wasn't it - I almost couldn't read it! In fact, I would probably have put it down, but I took it on holiday and had to ration my books as it was a 2 week holiday - so I battled on. But I won't read the next one!

I've also added Kelroy to my wishlist!

I'm reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler. It's a dystopian novel, the main character is a Black American woman who is trying to establish a new belief system and way of life after something happens in America in the 2030s. I don't really know what the 'something' is - this is the subject of Parable of the Sower, but I didn't realise there had been an earlier book!

I really enjoy dystopian novel - I think it appeals to the pessimistic/conspiracy theorist side of me that believes that we're setting ourselves up for some kind of very big catastrophe at some point in the near future!

Also, I've found the idea of setting up a new belief system really interesting. How do you go about it? (as my partner pointed out, getting celebrities and mega-rich people on board certainly helps!)

I read We Need to Talk About Kevin about a month ago. I think it's the most haunting book I've ever read. And I find it amazingly wonderful that after reading it, we all find the need to "talk about Kevin" and Eva.

I don't know if I'll ever have the emotional stamina to reread this book.

But I do want to read Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child about the same subject. I've seen the two books compared in several reviews. (Another one for MT TBR!)

#147
I haven't read Smiley's later books. I didn't care for The all true adventures of Libbie Newton Moo however, was laugh-out-loud funny & a good take on acedemic life.
Greenlanders was well done with the historical details.
However, her early novels, The age of grief Ordinary love & Good will & of course 1,000Acres deserve to become classics.

Kelroy has ended in the Amazon basket, not the wishlist!!
I know I am bad, but could not resist when avaland said it is from about the same period as Jane Austen.....

I just finished Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood - great characters, lots of insanity, no plot or particular purpose that I could find. I would like to rewrite this book as a stage play. I think it might work better that way. I'm currently reading The Gates of Ivory by Margaret Drabble. I'm withholding judgment until I finish. I've also been dipping in and out the the short stories in The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits. I'm not impressed thus far. I keep thinking that I ought to like Donoghue, but I just can't get there. In April or May I read The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson. I enjoyed it quite a lot. But then Winterson is one of my favorite writers.

aluvalibri, there are five books that I know of in the "Early American Women Writers series" by Oxford University Press. I have three, and have now read two. The other I read, New England Tale by Catharine Maria Sedgwick, was set about the same time but in Stockbridge, Massachusetts (western part of the state, much more rural) and was more or less a critique of New England Puritanism as it existed in the early part of the 19th century. Of course, there is love, mystery ...also:-)

Kelroy has some fine characters, the mother being a deliciously three-dimensional villain of sorts. Kelroy is the handsome, moody poet that the youngest daughter falls in love with - er, did I say he was penniless? Not exactly high on mom's list of eligible men. Rush is no Austen, but it's a good story and it's neat to compare high society in Philly with London (equally dangerous, imo).

Thank you, avaland, I will check them out.
I always enjoy a good story with love, mystery etc....;-)

Just started my July theme read book last night: Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of her Age. Thanks to Nickelini for recommending this; it's fascinating already!

Oops. I posted in the wrong thread. Sorry.

After having been through three relatively unsatisfying books, I vowed to read Jane Austen or go the devil if the fourth book did not please. Vis a vis, the fourth book, I am still withholding judgment, but at least I now know why. Margaret Drabble is doing a Murdoch (that's Iris not Rupert) imitation, and while I like both Drabble and Murdoch I find it nearly as disconcerting to see Drabble doing a Murdoch riff as it would be to see Iris Murdoch do the Drabble hop. But if Iris did do a Margaret imitation, please somebody tell me. In the meantime, the Drabble keeps sneaking up on me when I least expect it.

However, I couldn't put down Hanne Marie Svendsen's Under the Sun. The back blurb calls it an example of Danish magical realism. Much of the story (the life of a woman from childhood through old age) is profoundly sad and/or disturbing, but the fairy tale conventions grant one enough distance for clear evaluation. And at the end, there might be a piece of real magic, but that's a secret I won't tell. It reminded me a bit of The Hedge, the Ribbon by Carol Orlock, another really beautiful book with a lovely leitmotif running through it that I won't divulge. Should you read The Hedge, the ribbon, you need to discover the leitmotif for yourself.

Hello everyone. What a thrilling conversation - please may I join in? Byzanne (message #55): Have you read The Clear Stream, Marion Shaw's biography of Holtby? It gives a fascinating perspective on Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth years as well as Testament of Friendship. Sadly, Holtby is known here in the States almost solely as Brittain's best friend.

I'm just about to read Anita Brookner's four most recent novels. I haven't read her in years, and I miss her. I adored her novels in my 20s and hope our reunion is as happy and simpatico - but perhaps not too much so! Her characters' haunted, inwardly-turned rage reminds me of some of Holtby's women and men. Also gearing up to read Monique Truong's The Book of Salt, which a friend lent me. It's a novel written from the point of view of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas's fictional Vietnamese cook -- a pre-post-colonial take on 1930s Paris Bohemia! Have any of you read it?

159 - Urania - what is it about the Drabble that reminds you of Murdoch? I'm not familiar with that Drabble so will be interested to know!

Finished Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim. A quiet look into a past world forever
gone (and in some ways - just as well)
Aslo read Anita Brookner's undue influence

>160 DrSusan: welcome!

I've started Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson purported to be America's first bestseller - the most read book here until Uncle Tom's Cabin arrived on the literary scene.

Welcome, DrSusan!
:-))

#163 avaland - You might like Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America by Cathy Davidson. She does a fascinating study of Charlotte Temple. Just a few interesting tidbits - according to Davidson, after the Bible, the book most likely to found by people's bedside was Charlotte Temple. The book enjoyed something like a cult status. In had been reprinted over 100 times by the end of the 19th century. One of the interesting elements of Davidson's work was her collection of marginalia that people wrote in copies of Charlotte Temple. She went to libraries and booksellers all across the country and examined the books for marginal comments. Consequently, she was able to offer a fascinating study of reader response to the novel. An interesting essay to read in light of Charlotte Temple is Wendy Martin's "Seduced and Abandoned in the New World."

If you're going to read all those early American sentimental novels, then you might take a look at The Wide, Wide World. Some have accorded it the status of America's first best-seller by a man or a woman. So many contenders, so little easily measurable evidence. The sentimentality of these works can get a bit sticky (like children after tea), so you might take a look at some more interesting work - Elizabeth Stoddard's The Morgesons (1852) and her novella length Lemorne vs Huell as well as Rebecca Harding Davis's Life in Iron Mills ( 1860) and Margret Howth (1861). All are far better written than Charlotte Temple or Kelroy. If you want to be amused, Tabitha Tenney's Female Quixotism (1801) is a stitch and ends in an interesting, not altogether expected place.

#159 LyzzyBee - Most of the time Margaret Drabble's work does not remind me of Iris Murdoch's novels. In fact, this is the first time, I've read a novel by Drabble and periodically found myself thinking "Iris Murdoch wrote this." I'm not sure I have a clearly articulated response to this question, but I'll give it a shot. In all of Murdoch's novel's, the characters struggle with a big philosophical question, which ultimately turns on the struggle between good and evil. The characters all come from the intellectual upper middle class, so their angst may sometimes strike one as a bit fatuous. Murdoch was also a philosopher and heavily influenced by Plato among others. In the Murdoch novel that interests me most The Nice and the Good, Murdoch really challenges us to think about this distinction. Being nice is not the same as being good although the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Sometimes, however, "niceness" can simply be lazy meanness (i.e., nice characters can actually be mean but too lazy to really act out this meanness. They have no ethical core. In The Gates of Ivory, Murdoch's characters initially seems to be caught up in a fairly superficial way of life; however, when one of their friends goes off to Cambodia to write a play about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and disappears, the characters undergo a kind of moral awakening (at least that seems to be the case at this point in the novel) that jolts them out of their superficiality. How far remains to be seen.

#160 Dr Susan I have read The Book of Salt. Ultimately, it struck me as a devastating critique of Stein, showing her as a poseur. Let me know what you think.

urania1, thank you for your comments, all very interesting! I have read some of the later works you mention, but the Davidson work sounds intriguing (and I am a sucker for these kinds of things. Sigh). Female Quixotism is the one book of Oxford University Press's "Early American Women Writers Series" and just yesterday I undertook to remedy that (others, as you may already know, are Charlotte Temple, A New England Tale, Kelroy, and The Coquette).

That's it! Now, between avaland and urania1, I feel I MUST get them all!
I have Life in the Iron Mills, so one less to look for.

# 165 - interesting - thank you! Have you joined my Iris Murdoch group on here? I can't remember and about to finish my lunchbreak! Me and 3 friends are reading one book a month in order, and are on to the Unicorn at the moment, with its themes of guilt and redemption...

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley. On the lighter side, but it's about a girl with kidney disease who takes a road trip to find her mother. I really enjoyed it.

My review is here: http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/07/driving-sideways-jess-riley.html

Hello everybody!

I'm just dipping my toes in the water, so I picked up two books and/or about women to take on vacation with me next week. I chose Sister Outsider and Perfect Madness. I have some catching up to do in terms of what's a good read in women's books. So I'll be following this chat closely.

>170 srubinstein: Welcome to the Girlybooks group!

#152, MarianV, I love Jane Smiley but her work is definitely uneven. The All True Adventures of Lidie Newton was definitely not one of her best but, as you say Moo is wonderful, and Horse Heaven is terrific. I wasn't a big fan of Good Faith, and I've stayed away from Ten Days in the Hills, but I may buy it now that it's in paperback. I remember loving those earlier books, but it's probably 20 years since I read them.

I'm reading Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, another book from the Orange List. I do think it's interesting, but I'm having a hard time keeping my attention. Has anyone else read this?

Thanks for the welcome christiguc! I'd like to add a little charming book to this group's chat that I read in about an hour last night. It's called The love letters of a Chinese lady and it charmed me. The illustrations were wonderful. I didn't know that I had it in my library. Reading this book is like looking at some really beautiful antiques.

>165 urania1: I neglected to mention that Cathy Davidson is the editor of OXUP's Early American Writers series and does terrific introductions to the all the books. I love the study of marginalia in the Charlotte Temple books! Thanks for pointing out Revolution and the Word; I've just dropped it in my Amazon basket!

> 160: DrSusan, thanks for the recommendation of The Clear Stream - it's now on my TBR list. I also want to read a biography of Brittain, Vera Brittain : a life is in the local library. I don't think Holtby is better known in her own right here in Britain either.

I've just finished Somewhere towards the end by Diana Athill, which I really enjoyed - I want to read her other books as a result.

I just started The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. After about 80-100 pages, it looks like it will be a look into a difficult mother/daughter relationship, with some emphasis on the meaning of stories and writing in our lives. This will also be part of my Orange July reading. So far, so good!

Thanks for the Jane Smiley recommendations. I've read (and loved) Moo, didn't enjoy Duplicate Keys, and I've now mooched several others. Also added practically every book recommended by urania1 to my wishlist...

Incidentally, Urania1, I haven't read The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits but am generally a fan of Emma Donoghue - have you read Hood?

I am currently reading Diana Athill as well - Yesterday Morning, which is about her childhood. To be honest, I'm finding it a bit bland - but I would like to read one of her memoirs about being older.

I'm reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka. A delightful book. I've been intrigued by the title for a year or so. It's an Orange July book.

# 179 teelgee, I thoroughly enjoyed A Short History of Tractors in Ukrania. I originally picked it up because of the title. My husband had just purchased a tractor at the time (after months of research during which his nose appeared super glued to the computer screen) and was experiencing an extreme case of tractor love. He read the book as well and loved it.

# 178 I haven't read Hood. Perhaps I should give it a try.

Yesterday I started reading The Septembers of Shiraz. This is one I've heard a lot about on LT, and I'm really enjoying it.

I'm reading She's Such a Geek: women write about science, technology and other nerdy stuff. I'm a few essays into it right now and it's very interesting. As a she-geek I am very glad this book exists.

That sounds interesting, weener! I may have to check that one out (fellow she-geek here!)

I have nearly finished Jamaica Inn and I have savoured every moment.

I just finished The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, and will probably read Love by Toni Morrison this weekend - both for An Orange July. Plus, both used to be close to the bottom of Mount TBR, so I get an extra feeling of accomplishment!

Edited to correct touchstone.

Still working on The Waves, by Virginia Woolf, and also dipping in and out of Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels. Neither are plot driven, and both are written in a poetical, lyrical style that lends itself to dipping in and out of. Which suits my very distracted life right now. :-)

I'm on a Barbara Pym and Margery Sharp kick right now. During the last couple of weeks, I have read Harlequin House, The Sweet Dove Died, and An Unsuitable Attachment. For the Orange July, I've read Crocodile Soup, which I definitely recommend to everyone. I'm also making my way through Half a Yellow Sun, but it's not going as fast as I expected. I started The Fear of Losing Eurydice last night. Thus far, I really love it. I've also read a few pages of Queen Lear by Molly Keane. And I still can't seem to finish that damned Margaret Drabble. Ack.

I just got back from vacation when I had time to read in leisure! Finished Fantasia by Assia Djebar whom avaland recommended -- this is a marvellous book that see-saws between modern-day Algeria and the French colonial takeover -- when I catch up on my email, I'll post a review. I also read Songs Without Words by Ann Packer which I thought was pretty mundane -- I'm not sure I'd have finished it if I weren't on vacation. Since I've decided to join the August Atwoodian discussion on Oryx and Crake, I finished that as well. I'm currently in the middle of Losing Battles by Eudora Welty -- it's about a family reunion at the 92nd birthday of Granny -- the matriarch of a back-woods Mississippi family -- so far it's been a bit hectic but very amusing -- it has a very different pace than Delta Wedding, which I loved.

Plans are now to read Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan, as I saw her speak and read at Chautauqua and to dip into a collection of stories by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (whose house in Cross Creek was another stop on our trek up the East Coast).

I've just finished reading White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters which was a back-of-the-house look at speech writing staffs from FDR to G.W.Bush. This was a point of view that we rarely see and the relationship of the writers to their respective "bosses" was very telling of how policy was set by the the various administrations. Now however, I am back on the girlybooks line with The Red Tent and since it is an easy read, I will probably finish it and go on to read Zadie Smith's On Beauty fairly quickly. I hope to get back to some non-fiction titles after that. I just discovered an otherwise unknown to me source of some wonderful books in my neighborhood--the Salvation Army! I found seven books for $8.50. Among them was a book by Bruno Bettelheim, Love is Not Enough autographed by Bettelheim in 1952; two books by Ann Patchett; Song of Solomon Toni Morrison's book; F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned; Different Voices; and Wild Swans: Three daughters of China. That should keep me through August and into September. I would have taken more, but I couldn't carry everything. Next time I'll take my granddaughters to help me.

I just finished The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain, and am now reading The Nightingales are Singing by Monica Dickens.
I am also reading Bleak House, but that is another story and certainly does not belong in this thread.
:-))

aluvalibri - you're reading two Dickens? Monica and Charles? that's funny.

Oh! You know that I had not thought of that?
And, if I am not mistaken, Charles is an ancestor of Monica's.
Small world, isn't it?
;-)

>192 aluvalibri: Yes, great-grandfather.

I'm currently reading The Keep by Jennifer Egan to close out my Orange July (although I may not finish it until August). And I'm reading Women in the Wall by Julia O'Faolain for the Women and Spirituality theme read. Both are fantastic so far.

I gobbled up The Keep.

I'm reading The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction by Justine Larbalestier, although I'm not sure when I'll finish it. I'm in the middle of a number of books currently, and non-fiction takes so much more concentration than fiction (even when I like it and am interested).

# 195 bluesalamanders,

How interesting. I'm currently reading James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. Her biography is fascinating, much more interesting than the one piece of her science fiction that I've tried to slog through.

I've just started reading Unless by Carol Shields to wind up my Orange July.

195 urania

Yes, James Tiptree/Alice Sheldon has been mentioned prominently, especially since the advent of the James Tiptree Award (in the 70s, I believe?) is apparently where the book's look at science fiction and the related subcultures ends.

I read a lot of old SF starting when I was in high school, and it wasn't until the past few years that I learned that a lot of the authors I'd read were women. That was interesting.

# 198 Most of my favorite science fiction has been written by women. I tend to be pretty picky when it comes to sci-fi fantasy. Some excellent writers use this genre; however, at lot of really poor (and boring) writers work in it as well.

On other topics, it wouldn't do to read just one book at a time. I'm also reading Jane Gardam's The Flight of Maidens. It is completely different from Old Filth and The Queen of the Tambourine. Has anyone read any of her other novels? If so, what would you recommend?

I have the two you've read on my shelf but haven't read them yet. I'm hoping to soon though! What did you think of them?

I love Jane Gardam's books but Queen of the Tambourine is probably my least favourite. I found it clever but not comfortable reading and the life in the suburbs theme seems a little dated now. I liked it more towards the end.

My favourite Gardam is Bilgewater though actually I know objectively it's not the best one she's written. Something in me just related to the geeky schoolgirl protagonist! Also loved Faith Fox, Flight of the Maidens and Old Filth. Old Filth is probably the most polished of these books but I particularly loved the quirkiness of Faith Fox. I have also read The Summer after the Funeral, an enjoyable quick read but not her best and Missing the Midnight, a whimsical collection of short stories. I have God on the Rocks on my bookshelf, waiting to be read.

I've found all her books charming in the best sense and extremely readable. They have an understated intelligence and humour about them. I love the way she keeps you guessing how things will be (or not be) resolved! I've never known what is going to happen next in any of them!

Aw - Bilgewater is my favourite too - I think I first read it as a schoolgirl in fact!

# 200 teelgee, I loved Queen of the Tambourine. The protagonist was wonderfully quirky and whacked out. I have a weakness for such characters. I enjoyed Old Filth but did not love it; however, I do think it was the better of the two books. It leaves one with more intellectual bone on which to gnaw. I have not yet finished The Flight of the Maidens, but thus far it has not measured up to the other two books. Gardam has three protagonists to follow. I find myself wanting to know more about them than she reveals. The portraits are simply too glancing to be thoroughly satisfying.

# 201 Soupdragon, thanks for the overview. I, too, like stories with geeky schoolgirl protagonists. Have you read Special Topics in Calamity Physics? It's not great literature, but I enjoyed it immensely in part because of the schoolgirl narrator. I think I will put Bilgewater and Faith Fox on my list of books for which to look.

#203 I'm quite embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Special Topics in Calamity Physics now that I see it's owned by over 2500 LTers! Having read the many, varied reviews I am now intrigued and will be looking out for it!

Welcome DrSusan!

I am now reading Union Street by Pat Barker. Loving it so far. I was born and raised in the North-east of England and love most books with a Northern flavour.

Speaking of Pat Barker, I just finished The Eye in the Door for the September/October theme read. I'm about to start The Ghost Road, the third book in her Regeneration trilogy. The books are beautifully written and the characters are so engrossing.

Sigh. I've read several books by women in the past month, and right now I'm reading a male-authored book and it's just not the same. I think my reading is usually more balanced as to author gender, so I don't feel the difference as much moving from one book to another. But this time, coming off a string of women, I really feel it. Hard to describe, but it makes me appreciate the women authors that much more. I'm glad that 2 of the 3 library books waiting for me are by women!!

#206 - I shall read the Regeneration trilogy as soon as I can get hold of Regeneration.

#207 - I used to have a balanced approach to author gender, but now I'm older and there are so many books by woman I want to read, men are on the backburner (their books I mean). ;p

#207 - I agree. I often find it jarring when I read a book by a man. Perhaps this is one of the drawbacks of heightened awareness--in the past, I simply hadn't noticed.

BTW, has anyone read Ordinary Springs by Lenore Hart? I like it, but I keep putting it down and drifting to other things. I'm on about p. 130, and I've put it down again . . .

Also, I just finished The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence. It was a book I learned of from a GirlyBooks reader and I'm so grateful for the recommendation (but unfortunately I just can't remember which person, or which discussion strand!). What a wonderful bok. It was so moving. The reader mostly sees things from the point of view of the 90-year-old woman who doesn't want to move to the nursing home, but you get hints that her son and his wife have legitimate issues, too. They're exhausted from caring for her and worrying about her. It's all so moving and human and complex--and yet very simply presented. I definitely want to read more Margaret Laurence!

Union Street by Pat Barker - a quick read - vignettes about several woman who live in Union Street - includes many issues which are important to women (poverty, rape, growing-up, growing old, motherhood, abortion, violence). A good read.

I'm on a roll with Pat Barker - now reading Blow Your House Down - about prostitutes in an impoverished area with a serial killer in their midst - bleak but good so far.

#207. I have a definite preference for fiction by women, to the extent that picking up a novel by a man has started to feel like a slightly risky idea. In my case the description of this group at the top of the page should read "person who makes the effort to read books by men" as the reading books by women is no effort at all!

There are of course some notable male exceptions. For me they are generally Irish or Henry James !

I know this is a completely subjective thing and no way would I suggest women are actually intrinsically better writers than men.

>211 Soupdragon:: person who makes the effort to read books by men ... I like that, Soupdragon!

I've just finished The Red Tent, a quick read that held my attention throughout, by a woman and about women. Now I've started The Aesthetics of Toni Morrison, edited by a man, Marc C. Conner, with literary criticism of Morrison's work written primarily by women, (5 out of 7). I'm glad to see women participating --in the past it seemed to me that literary criticism was monopolized by men. Simultaneously, I will be reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith, a new author for me and I'm looking forward to reading her novel. And so begins August.

Finished Ellen Gilchrist's A dangerous age which was disappointing. Usually her books are good, but here, her characers are undeveloped & she dwells more on current events than on the story.

I will start The Writing on the Wall by Lynn Sharon Schwatz later today. I try to read all of her books, she's a really good writer.

#214 MarianV, I've read Lynn Sharon Schwartz's Leaving Brooklyn a few months ago. I enjoyed it. It was my first foray into Schartzland. Which of her books would you recommend next?

I just read Jennifer Haigh's The Condition, a fascinating and moving exploration of a family and its relationships. Starts a little slowly, but gets more and more interesting as the characters come alive.

Well (she says sheepishly), I fell for the mass market media frenzy about The Lace Reader. It makes for a fast evening read, would be good on a train, on a plane, but not in a box or with a fox. A couple of critics have compared Barry's book to Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. While Barry's book is not a taxing read, it's simply not in the same league with Setterfield's book. Setterfield plots brilliantly and exhibits superb craftswomanship. Barry's novel has gaps that could have been easily fixed but weren't. Where was her editor? Furthermore, Barry hasn't mastered the skill of transitioning smoothly from one point of view to another.

Blow Your House Down andCentury's Daughter both by Pat Barker. Light reads but give food for thought. The former is about the lives of prostitutes who work on the streets and how they are affected by a serial killer. The latter is about an old women and a younger gay community worker (male) who is trying to persuade her to leave her home which is in a redevelopment area. They both reflect on their lives and relationships. An interesting read. I enjoyed both books.

Touchstones not working.

Well, I abandoned the male-authored book mentioned in #207 last night. It was Baltasar and Blimunda, by Jose Saramago, and even though I read more than half of it, the plot wasn't holding my interest and the characters and relationships lacked depth.

So I read a few pages of Isabel Allende's Paula before bedtime.

I am waiting for Regeneration by Pat Barker, which I have ordered from Amazon Marketplace, then I shall read the trilogy.

In the meantime I am going to read Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. Years ago I read an extract of this in an anthology and thought it would be a good book to read.

#220 englishrose60, you are in for a treat. Cat's Eye is a wicked, insightful little book. You might also enjoy The Robber Bride.

I couldn't agree more about Cat's Eye -- it may be Atwood's best book. Her insights about adolescent girls are stunning.

Thanks urania for your recommendation. I shall put The Robber Bride on my list.

I just finished Disobedience by Naomi Alderman, the 2006 winner of the Orange Prize for New Writers. I found it for $3.99 in a Borders sale bin and bought it on a whim. Quite a nice little book, well done for a first novel, with a lot of inside insight into the London Jewish Orthodox community.

Over the summer I read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Very informative, I felt as though I had taken a tour of Europe, and that I can now not live without taking a tour of Europe! I expected more thrilling action, but in retrospect I think the book was much like Bram Stoker's Dracula in that the horror was psychological more than actual or visual. It definitely was reminiscent of the Stoker version. Message 222-I love Atwood-mostly. I find her work to be inconsistent, although the fact that I don't care for a book here and there does not mean it isn't good, just that I don't like it. Loved, loved loved Blind Assassin-especially on audiobook. But did not care for some of her other books. Still, I think she is brilliant and unique.

>Have you read Special Topics in Calamity Physics? It's not great literature, but I enjoyed it immensely in part because of the schoolgirl narrator.

I liked this too, urania1. I read it for my neighborhood book group, and we were definitely split between like and strong dislike, but I loved the voice.

>It makes for a fast evening read, would be good on a train, on a plane, but not in a box or with a fox.

And I love this description! It does leave me considerably less likely to pick up The Lace Reader. Such a great title, though.

224 - I read Disobedience exactly a year ago and really enjoyed it - my (Jewish) other half found it a bit uncomfortable - too close to home - but he enjoyed it too.

#221. You were right. Cat's Eye was a wonderful treat. I loved it.

#215

I've heard good things about Disturbances in the Field & I have ordered it from Amazon.

Now reading The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. When I started reading this I thought I was not going to like it very much but, perseverance has won through and I must admit I am now enjoying it.

Just got 500 great books by women (in English or translated into English), and it is a wonderful resource. It has indexes by geography, a chronological index, and is organized by subject matter. (Like motherhood, for instance).
It was done in the eighties, so it isn't current and the coverage of africa is slim, but I think everyone interested in writing by women should have it. Each book is described in a long paragraph by a specialist, or one of the three editors. I got it on Abeooks for one cent! plus postage.

I don't know what I'd do without 500 Great Books by Women! It has kept my book group going when we all felt dry for ideas. (Of course, that was before Library Thing--I'm never without ideas now!!) Even just the category groupings in themselves can be a great jumping-off point for more ideas. It would be great if the publisher were to do an update/revision, though.

>232 TerrierGirl: But why wait for the publisher? Aren't well-informed readers a better source for creating such a list? For example, there are several people in this group who I think would compile an extraordinary list. . .

Finished The Other Boleyn Girl, and I'm now on to Alice, I Think. Only on page 14, but so far it shows promise. I loved the episodes of the TV series that I saw, so this should be a fun one.

#233 - I also find 500 Great Books by Women a good resource. I would like to see a more up to date list - are you offering??

Forget to mention I have just finished Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist - another good read.

I think various LT group should come up with their own book lists by category or whatever. I'll help to the women's list if any one else is willing.

>227 LyzzyBee: LyzzyBee - Yes, I can imagine someone from a Jewish background - especially Orthodox - would have some ambiguous feelings toward Disobedience. I found it fascinating, though, and really loved the character Esti (the woman who "stayed behind"). I'm not Jewish, nor am I English, but Alderman did a good job of drawing the reader into her world. It was a good book, especially since it was a complete impulse purchase.

I am going to lighten my tbr pile and read Darkmans by Nicola Barker - 863 pages - might take a few days!!

>235 englishrose60: are you offering?? Ha! Rather, I was waving the torch, hoping someone would come up and grab it. :)

>236 urania1: I agree. I certainly would help contribute.

#236 I'm willing. Relatively new to the process, but willing. Women's writing is the heart of my library.

Me too! It sounds like a really interesting anfd intriguing project.
:-))

I shall pass as I do not feel qualified enough to pass judgement.
I would be interested to know how you are going to plan this project, as individuals or as a team??

I am having a festival with Writing at the kitchen table : the authorized biography of Elizabeth David, a novel about her life: Lunch with Elizabeth David, her An Omelette and a glass of wine, is there a nutmeg in the house and spices, salts and aromatics in the english kitchen. I think I have all the cookbooks except the English bread and yeast cookbook because i don't like Engllish bread. She is my epicurean heroine.

#241 and #236 How do we go about creating a 500 Great Books Written by Women list? By category? Best writer of cookbooks, poetry, about motherhood, mystery writer, biographer, dramatist, fiction, non-fiction, etc. Should we judge by reviews, statistics (number of people who have read). Should we nominate individually and vote?

There are a lot of surveys of comtemporary fiction, and prizes, and reviews. I think it would be best to compile a list of the prizewinners and well reviewed books including the ones in Rediscoveries and those you personally love. Then nominate individually and last, divide into categories.

I would recommend separate books for poetry,

for fiction

and for light fun comedy, romance and satire,

one for art/crafts/cookery/advice

one for social thought/philosophy/psychology,

one for mystery

and one for science fiction.

or just do it in sections if you prefer. Translated works should be a separate book, imo.

If it is to build upon the old 500 great books book, why should it be 500?. Why not just an update of 200 more great books since 1987. (or the date of the 500 great books book) I think you would have to get permission from the publisher to update the book.

Otherwise it would need to have a stand alone title, like the best books by women in the 80's and 90's.

I think we can come up with our own title and format. We can be creative. Who knows. If we're witty, elegant, and don't feel obliged to travel over the same old territory, we could be the next big thing. I agree with almigwin that we did need to decide how we want to categorize our books. I'm inclined to start a separate group for this project. This way we can come up with matters of organization, etc. Does anyone have any thoughts here. I'm slightly inclined to make it a private group - by invitation or request only. It's sometimes easier to get projects accomplished that way. On the other hand, I can think of lots of reasons to make it public in keeping with the spirit of wikis, etc. What do you guys think?

I think it wise to start a separate group for this project. I don't know what the spirit of wikis is at this point, so I lean toward getting the project accomplished. Kudos go to almigwin for setting up categories. There is so much in the literature that is new to me, I think it would be a real learning experience. Girlybooks seems to be the current rallying point for readers of books by or about women, a good jumping off point. How shall we phrase the challenge?

#241 Are you still intrigued?

Very much so, srubinstein!!!

Urania1, I think you should start it as a private group, and let people in who request to participate. Some might want to write, and some organize, and some counsel. If we know anyone in publishing, or with publishing experience, that would help. I think compiling the list is the easiest thing; writing the reviews would be the hardest. Avaland is in Australia at the moment, but i would value her advice. She started a private group that I am in, and it has been a joy.
however, we don't produce anything. the new book requires a work schedule, and division of responsibility. We could try to get volunteers for the categories. I know Avaland has read a lot of contemporary poetry. (I have not) and I think she is familiar with science fiction, but her expertise is in Africa. I would recommend that you invite her. I would volunteer, but most of my experience is with stuff published long ago. I read very little contemporary stuff.

Or, as a different option to categories along genre lines, we could break along themes (like the 500 list). One thing I liked about the organization of the 500 list is that just the categories sparked discussion. Since "we support female writers and positive representations of women." We could have the categories be the different roles that women play, and we will pick books written by female authors that 1) are excellent, and 2) have positive representations of women in those roles (whether main or supporting). For example

Woman the Mother
Woman the Sister
Woman the Fighter (activist? soldier?)
Woman the Survivor (I know people don't like that term, so we'd have to come up with a different one)
Woman the Mentor
Woman the Wife
Woman the Friend
Woman the Adventurer
Woman the Professional
etc.

I just have a feeling that if we break it down along genre lines we may be stuck grooming award lists and, if we don't, fighting to justify choices/omissions. Also, role/theme chapters open up the possibility for very interesting chapter introductions. Just an idea.

But--I'll leave the rest of the discussion until we start a separate group.

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To get back to topic: I'm starting a new thread for what we are reading as this one is over 200 and can get difficult for people with dial-up. Go here for the new thread!!

This catagory, although it is interesting to me, doesn't fit with the rest of the literature theme.

one for art/crafts/cookery/advice

If we start addressing nonfiction by women, I think we may need a separate book/ list.

That said,

I'm starting the group. I'm making it private. I'll send invitations. If you don't get one, don't feel insulted. Just shoot me a message and wait for the invitation

Sorry I've been away for a week--I had both a houseguest and a big work deadline. The project is a great idea but there might be permissions issues if you base such a project on the Bauermeister/Larsen/Smith work. On the other hand, in terms of usefulness (for us and others), using the B/L/S 500 as a jumping off point makes a lot of sense. Why duplicate work when the B/L/S book is readily available?

A different point: I do think the B/L/S 500 missed some key books and so would hate to see updating work limited to only books published after (c) 1994. I think you should allow yourselves to add some pre-(c) 1994 books that were overlooked by B/L/S.

I do work in the book publishing industry and have for about 20 years. Let me know if you need a copy editor or proofreader. I have a lot of experience editing and proofing trade nonfiction books. Good luck and let me know if I can be of help!