What books by women are you reading in FEBRUARY 2010

Wow, it's February 2010. That means the Olympics are just about upon us. Anyway, what books by women are you reading?

I'm still doing a detailed analysis of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, and a relaxed reading of Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society for my book club.

I'm about 3/4 through The Voyage of the Narwhal. Loving it.

I have just started Digging to America by Anne Tyler.

Nickelini , I loved Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society !

Of the seven books I'm currently reading, only two are written by women: The Sibyl in her Grave by Sarah Caudwell (a humorous mystery) and Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson (a vmc).

I loved The Sibyl in Her Grave!!! Isn't Sarah Caudwell fantastic?

I adore Sarah Caudwell and was crushed when I learned she is dead.

Yes, I was very upset too. Just imagine how many more Hilary Tamars we could have enjoyed.....

So, Paola, do you think that Hilary Tamar is a man or a woman?

Difficult to tell, as there are no clues.
For some kind of reason, which I cannot even explain to myself, I have the feeling Hilary is male.
What do you think?

I know, that's one of the things that's so interesting about the books. I would have to reread them, but I lean towards her being female, again for no particular reason.

Started Barbara Kinsolver's The Lacuna the end of January & finished it this week end. (that doesn't qualify it for Feb., does it?)
I have read all of Ms. Kingsolver's books, this one was O.K., but not great. I still put The Poisonwood Bible as #1. See my review in the review section.

>12 MarianV:: I haven't read The Lacuna, but I agree with you about The Poisonwood Bible as her #1!

I'm reading a biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Alison Weir. It's well-written and I'm enjoying learning about a strong woman in history. I also don't read as much nonfiction as I should, so this is a nice change.

>12 MarianV: Marian - I loved The Lacuna. It was such a departure for her, but I thought she did it quite well. Sure beats her last novel Prodigal Summer which I disliked intensely! I'm up for a re-read of Poisonwood Bible this year, I'm looking forward to that.

I know a lot of people hated Prodigal Summer, but it was my first Kingsolver, and I thought it was wonderful.

#10, 11 - I think my view of Hilary Tamar varies depending on the mood I'm in, for some reason...

I am reading (and really enjoying) Evening Is The Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan, an exuberantly written Malaysian family saga.

Just started Rebecca Fraser's The Brontës : Charlotte Brontë and her family.

I'd been thinking of simultaneously re-reading Shirley (it's been ages) but I stumbled across Gail Godwin's Unfinished Desires on my Kindle and the subject intrigued me, so I bought it in hardcover. I'll flip back and forth between this and Fraser's biography for the next few days.

Enjoying Digging to America by Anne Tyler, and i I shall be starting The Rose of Sebastopol later tonight.

Last night I started The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. So far so good!

Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips. It's taking me a bit to get into it, but I have faith.

About halfway thru Larry's Party by Carol Shields. It is very good, this is the 3rd. book of hers I've read. It's too bad she's no longer around to write any more.

#20 I read Lark & Termite last summer & it just gets better & better.

I'm reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, and really enjoying it. It's the first book of hers that I've read.

cmt: I predict it won't be your last.

#23 Terri, no it won't because I have Jane and Prudence (or is it Prudence and Jane? No, it's not...) coming over on the boat!

I just finished The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa. Nicely written.

I recently discovered Dorothy Allison. My mooched copy of Bastard Out of Carolina is on top of the TBR pile.

I just started reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and Notorious Royal Marriages by Leslie Carroll.

I'm reading Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief.

#22 Are you enjoying Pym? I find her characters and their lives to be unforgettable. Like the priest who has sole flown over from France every Friday in Lent. And all the spinsters opening their tins of fish paste. (Whatever that is, it sounds Really Bad.)

I just started the new Carol Goodman novel, Arcadia Falls. It is a bit over dramatic. If this were a film, surely there would be a part for Bette Davis. Still, it's always nice to find literate popular fiction.

I finished The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini, Carol Shield's daughter, at the start of February. I loved the first 2/3 of the book, but the last 1/3 didn't continue to captivate me.

I have been in a reading funk for the last couple of days, picking up and discarding books. I have now settled on There a Petal Silently Falls, a collection of three short stories by Ch'oe Yun.

#29, I used to like fish paste when I was a child, but thinking about it now I imagine it's actually pretty horrible stuff... (I just like things with strong flavours).

#29 Yes, I really enjoyed Excellent Women, and just like wandering_star I ate fish paste a few times as a child. I haven't gone looking for it since!

Finished Arcadia Falls - it will be released March 9, but I can't recommend rushing out to find a copy. I usually like Carol Goodman's books - I've read them all. But she's getting a bit repetitive. Rather movie of the weekish.

I've moved on to the new Anne Perry The Sheen on the Silk. It should be interesting; she's set this one in thirteenth century Constantinople.

Sounds like I won't be adding fish paste to the grocery list. I wonder if it was a postwar make do food. Busy trying to figure out what food name if given the 'paste' addition still sounds promising. Chocolate pie paste?

Chestnut paste - mmm...

Almond paste, ohhhh yes....

I accidentally started reading a Barbara Pym book, Crampton Hodnet this afternoon. Delightful.

>32 cushlareads:: Oh Cushla, I'm so glad you've discovered Barbara Pym. She is delightful. Excellent Women was the first one I read, and I've enjoyed all those read so far (Jane and Prudence, Quartet in Autumn, and No Fond Return of Love).

>35 teelgee:: I just received Crampton Hodnet from a friend but have squirrelled it away so as not to be tempted. I have a few others on my shelves also!

Reading Going Bovine by Libba Bray and it is a trip - literally and figuratively.

I'm just starting A Girl made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi.

I'm about to start Vanora Bennett's Catherine of Valois novel, The Queen's Lover. I need a winner.

>6 aluvalibri:-11

The Caudwell was very good--the best of hers I've read so far. It's a pity there's only one more left I have yet to get to. :( But, looking up her info so I could fill in her Common Knowledge details, I did discover she is related to one of my favorites--Evelyn Waugh.

I'm enjoying Conceit by Mary Novik, which I've long looked forward to. Also, I'm listening to Rose Tremain's The Way I Found Her.

Oops, I got lost in January. Re-posting (thanks lindsacl)

I finished and reviewed three wonderful books by women this week:

Lark and Termite

Crampton Hodnet

Voyage of the Narwhal

Now I'm reading Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt. I have felt somewhat intimidated by this one for awhile, but finding it very readable and enjoyable so far.

>42 teelgee:: my pleasure. Couldn't stand the sight of you going off the rails like that.

Would the weather improve if you posted the March thread now and we all started using that?

'Just a thought,' said Diana, sitting in front of her frosty computer screen with her feet resting in a bucket of warm hot chocolate.

>44 dianaleez:: Well hell, if that'll work let's post the JULY thread ! I'll bring the fruity drinks with umbrellas in 'em.

Yah, but then all our friends Down Under would be freezing. Well, chilly anyway.

I'm reading Mistress of the Monarchy The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster by Alison Weir.

#46> I could do with some chilly weather! 33C today, and it's been horribly humid all week. (While today is hot, at least the humidity has dropped off and there's a bit of a breeze. Plus the chance of a thunderstorm later. So long as that hits *after* I get home, I'll be happy.)

Taking a break from the serious lit (written by men; and as I commented to a mate, when a short story is titled 'Hiroshima' you just know it's not going to end well) with Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear and the wonderfully titled The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After: Being the Private Correspondence Between Two Prominent Families Regarding a Scandal Touching the Highest Levels of Government and Security of the Realm by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer. Delightfully entertaining fluff. (Maisie is less fluff, but shaping up to be a good read.)

I'm reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and can't wait to get back to it.

I'm just starting Family Album, a collection of three novellas by Central American (Nicaraguan possibly?) writer Claribel Alegria.

I'm reading an ARC called "Second Time Around" by Beth Kendrick .

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer.

I'm reading The Siege by Helen Dunmore.

I have started, but might not last much longer through, Bold As Love by Gwyneth Jones...

I'm still caught up in The Queen's Lover. (Which today insists on coming up on the Touchstone by its British title, Blood Royal.)

I was up at 3 AM reading; just can't put it down. I've Googled everyone in the book and know everyone's fates, but I still have to go back and see Catherine and Owain Tudor finally get together.

Bennett's Owain has more than his share of charisma. Am I seeing a young, thin, sober Richard Burton? Might as well.

The novel is far more fiction than fact, but it's an engrossing read.

More snow on the way - and this is Alabama!

After a couple of books that don't fit this category, I am now about to pick up what the world will look like when all the water leaves us, a collection of short stories by Lauar van den Berg.

Just finished The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain and started Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin. Still working on Mary Novik's Conceit as well.

>57 Cariola: What did you think of the Tremain, Deborah? I still have that one waiting in the wings.

58> Here is my review:

"If you think of Rose Tremain as mainly a writer of historical novels, this one will surprise you as much as it did me. In fact, I kept forgetting that I wasn't reading a novel by Ian McEwan. It's a coming-of-age novel and a mystery of sorts, involving a 13-year old English boy and a 40-ish Russian medieval romance writer. Lewis Little is spending the summer in France while his mother, a Scottish beauty, translates Valentina's latest work. He becomes obsessed with Valentina--an obsession whose depiction seemed very McEwanesque to me. Then, suddenly, Valentina disappears, and Lewis, not willing to leave matters to the police, determines to find her . . .

I certainly didn't enjoy this as much as Tremain's historical novels like Music and Silence or Restoration, and I'm not much of a one for mysteries/crime novels. But overall, it kept my interest and was a pretty good read."

I gave it 3.5 stars, which just happens to be the average.

I agree with Deborah on The Way I Found Her, well written but not exciting.

Today I started Hermione Lee's biography of Virginia Woolf.

I have had a great weekend for reading. I finished what the world will look like when all the water leaves us, a collection of short stories by Luara van den Berg that blew me away. I have posted a review on the book page here: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/56621203 I then made short work of another excellent book, The Incident Report. Review posted here: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/56639420

I am now reading The Perfect Circle by Pascale Quiviger.

Today I started Hermione Lee's biography of Virginia Woolf.

That's a biggie--I've dipped in and out of it for various Woolf assignments at school. One day I'll read the whole thing from cover to cover. I'm interested to see how long it takes you. I've seen Hermione Lee interviewed about Woolf, and I think she's probably my favourite Woolf scholar. Although Julie Briggs is also excellent (I have her Virginia Woolf: an Inner Life.

Reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. It's entertaining, so far.

>63 Nickelini:: If anyone can read the Woolf bio quickly, it's er60. She reads at a phenomenal pace!

I've been reading Antonia White's Beyond the Glass, and hope to finish it soon. It's the last in a series of semi-autobiographical novels and I don't think it's going to end happily. The story is quite an emotional one and all the more so having read the earlier novels.

> 38 I've heard good things about A Girl Made of Dust.

For myself, I've just started Sahar Tawfiq's Points of the Compass, a collection of short stories.

Looking for a light fun read - from my bookshelf - since I'm grounded today. Entertainment w/o angst.

Finished JCO's Childwold recently and have now started some nonfiction - Living Dolls: the Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter (I know, you're thinking whaaattt? did it ever go away?) I usually sandwich bits of a nonfiction book between other books so who knows how long I'll take to read this.

That sounds interesting, Lois. Since I teach college students, I hear all the time that there's no longer a bias against women--from both women and men. One of the comments on my teaching evaluations was "She is a feminist, and everything we read was about feminism. There are other things that are more interesting." I thought that was an odd comment because 1) I am far from a rampant feminist, and 2) we read Poe, Hemingway, Faulkner, Williams, and many other male authors, and even when we read a female-authored work like Frankenstein, while we discussed the portrayal of women, we also discussed the limits of science, personal responsibility, the need for community, and many other topics.

I wonder if the title, Living Dolls, reflects another trend that bothers me. It would be nice to think, as many claim, that the provacative dress of many young women today is an expression of freedom, individualism, and honest sexuality, but I think a lot of it still stems from the same old desire to attract and please men. (Why does every woman on the Food Channel--even the plus-sized ones--wear clothes a size too small and a plunging neckline? I don't think it's about cooking or independence . . . It's all about marketing.)

#63 & 65 - I am reading three chapters a day. so should be finished biography of VW by end of month. Read 2 chapters so far and I am finding it very interesting. Zooming off to read ch. 3 in a few minutes.

I am reading and enjoying Hilary Mantel's collection of short stories, Learning to Talk.

>69 Cariola: Well, I certainly agree with you and there are some interesting things she points out (like how the mainstream sex industry - that which we can see - has adopted the rhetoric of feminism for their own uses). I've only read a few chapters. Since her last book, apparently the author has become the mother of a daughter so things look a bit differently these days...

Right . . . the hypersexualization of women supposedly now represents "freedom" rather than exploitation, and, sadly, young women are buying into it.

What bothered me most about that student's comment was that it reflects the still-present sexism that they don't think exists anymore. He (I believe it was a man) was both belittling the discussion of women and women's issues and, by slapping the rather unwarranted "feminist" label on me and the class, making a negative value judgment about both that reflected his own misogyny. And probably doesn't even reallize it.

We each have a reason we're in a 'women's lit' group here.

I'm old enough to have grown up in a time when women had problems getting published.

oh my, guess I could be quite young! ; )

I just finished reading Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, and absolutely loved it.

I'm nearing the end of Possession by AS Byatt; and by tomorrow I'll be reading the followup to Chocolat by Joanne Harris - The Girl with No Shadow for my F to F book group.

I have just started The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.

#75 soozie2804 - I cannot wait to get my hands on Swan Thieves - I loved The Historian!

On the reading front, I finished The Perfect Circle - it was an interesting book that I find difficult to describe except to say that it is a journey of self discovery by the main author that encompasses such topics as self-reliance, cultural differences and social values. I have also completed my read of Finishing School by Helen Fogwill Porter. I really enjoyed it and have posted a review on the book page.

I've postponed the Sahar Tawfiq short stories for a bit and picked up a history book, The Forgotten Queens of Islam, by Moroccan professor and feminist Fatima Mernissi, whose author touchstone doesn't work for some reason.

I'm almost finished Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott, which hasn't really done it for me. It was an ER book, so my review will follow soon.

In the middle of The House (not to be found among touchstones) by Teresa Waugh, and really enjoying it.

Does anyone here read Martha Grimes? I've decided to try re-reading the Richard Jury mysteries.

Going back and re-reading often brings surprises. I have no idea if I'll enjoy them the second time around. It's rather like listening to the music of my youth - sometimes I cringe!

#78 The Swan Thieves is worth a look; I think that Kostova is a born story teller. Perhaps I need to re-read The Historian.

So many books and since I'm stuck at home for two weeks while the painters are here, so much time!

I'm about to start Ines of My Soul, by Isabel Allende, which is a rather perplexing title, as I have no idea what "ines" is, or what it has to do with anyone's soul. I expect I shall find out! (It sounds like a woman's name)

>83 Nickelini:: It is a woman's name, Joyce. She is the main character in the novel. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it ... have you read other books by Allende?

Thanks....it still doesn't make much sense to me ..... "Sandra of my Soul," "Donna of my Soul," "Ashley of my Soul." But I will read it and see!

I have read a little Allende: Paula, which is a memoir. I disliked her memoir writing, but she frequently went into fiction tangents that I thought were brilliant. I also read about the first 80 pages of House of the Spirits but it came due at the library and it never worked out to try it again. So based on what I've read, I expect to like this one.

Joyce, Allende is one of my favorite authors. Ines is a fabulous book, but be prepared for some pretty gory scenes. Not all her books are that violent, but this one is. I've loved almost everything I've read by her.

I'm ~100 pages into The Girl with No Shadow and liking it quite a lot - not as much as Chocolat though.

>86 teelgee:: I love her work, too although like Joyce the memoir didn't do much for me. Personally I liked House of the Spirits and Daughter of Fortune more than Ines.

I finished The Year of the Flood ( loved it) and have now started The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee. I am enjoying the read but do see the faults ( not setting up the time and place with enough description and some of the dialogue)

Just started Tell Me A Riddle by Tilllie Olsen.

89> Oh, I love Tillie Olsen's work.

88> I read Scandal of the Season a few years ago. Great idea for a novel, and while it grabbed me at first, it kind of petered out, I thought.

I am almost done with Conceit. Next up is an ARC of One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

Finished The Spare Room by Helen Garner. This is an ER book & a reveiw will appear shortly.

I'm about to start Stephanie Cowell's Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet.

I thoroughly enjoyed her Marrying Mozart, so I have high expectations.

Perhaps that's because the painters have returned to their lairs. The sun is shining, the daffodils have buds, and the hefty orange tabby is sleeping in the sun. It's a day to smile.