Read Women discussion

I just finished Alison Bechdel's memoir "Fun Home." She created it as a comic or graphic memoir. I didn't think I would get into it as it is the first graphic book (think graphic novels) that I've ever read. The book is about her relationship with her father, as well as her exploration of her sexuality. It's well done.

Susan wrote: "I just finished Alison Bechdel's memoir "Fun Home." She created it as a comic or graphic memoir. I didn't think I would get into it as it is the first graphic book (think graphic novels) that I've ..."

Just added that to my TBR shelf - thanks!!!

I'm now reading The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya, set in Cold War-era Soviet Union.

Meet Me in MalmoTorquil MacLeod

I'm reading City of Bones and I'm in love with it :)

Karin wrote: "I enjoyed my first two Canadian female author reads, both by Susan Juby, Home to Woefield and its sequel, Republic Of Dirt : A Return to Woefield Farm."

So glad you enjoyed them. Apparently there will be a third at some point.

I'm very much enjoying the company of Miss Webster And Chérif about a cantankerous older woman whose trip to Morocco causes her life to take an unexpected turn.

I started reading Mama Day by Gloria Naylor today. I've been meaning to read it for years. I like the sections that take place on the island better than the sections that take place on the mainland.

Update: I finished reading it at 11:45 p.m. on January 31 which means that four of the six books that I read in January were by women. I gave Mama Day four stars.

A friend gave me this book by John Irving called Avenue of Mysteries. I've read the first chapter when my dad saw it. He was looking at it with so much interest so I feel like I had to ask him if he wants to read it first. And he gave that "you-know-me-so-well" look. So yeah, he is now reading it. Lol

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics.

Really liking it so far. I'm listening to an audiobook of it.

Not sure if I like it more than the other book of hers that I read last year, The Women in the Walls. I think the protagonist in Daughters unto Devils is more likable.

I'm also reading Little Heaven by Nick Cutter.

I started reading You by Caroline Kepnes this morning and I'm loving it! It's a really engrossing, creepy thriller told from the perspective of this dude who is stalking/obsessed with a woman he meets.

I started reading Terrible Virtue by Ellen Feldman yesterday. It's a biographical novel about Margaret Sanger. She's such an important figure. Now more than ever.

By a woman: I just started a reread of Uncle Tom's Cabin. I may end up reading more than one novel by her, but want to revisit this one I have only little memories of it from when I read it as a teen. Today I'm going to start the audiobook Winter (a reread, but I read it in print first) for a reading challenge where I need a retelling novel. Nothing like lots of chauffeuring my teens miles to help with this. I have 2 books I'm reading for the first time, but they are by men.

I'm currently reading The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan. This is the first book in a mystery series that takes place in Canada and has an an Islamic protagonist.

I'm reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle. loving it!! hopefully will finish on my lunch break.

I'm reading Slaying the Mermaid: Women and the Culture of Sacrifice by Stephanie Golden. Informative analysis and discussion.

I'm currently reading The Dove's Necklace by Raja Alem. This is a very unusual mystery that was originally written in Arabic. It takes place in Mecca and is narrated by the street where the body was found.

I just finished a reread of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which I hadn't read since I read it as a teenager (not for school, just because we had it at home).

I'm reading In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif. It's an intimidating book at 700+ pages, but I'm reading with a friend and enjoying it so-far.

I'm reading The King Must Die by Mary Renault. It is a re-telling of the myth of Theseus and the minotaur. I enjoy mythic retellings but I'm finding it challenging to get used to her style of writing.

Finished The King Must Die. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. (I moved my comment to the Finished Reading thread.)

I'm reading a digital ARC of Behind the Mask: A Superhero Anthology from Net Galley. When it comes to anthologies, I only read stories that hold my attention. So far I've read six and the gender distribution is 50/50.

I am reading Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and enjoying it immensely. Still trying to get far enough in to In the Eye of the Sun to be invested, but the incredibly tiny font in my copy, and Soueif's dense paragraphs are working against me.

I am currently reading Labyrinth Lost, a YA urban fantasy by Zoraida Cordova. This is the first book in the Brooklyn Bruja series. Bruja is the Spanish word for witch. I am very much liking the author's development of the witchcraft and its practices. I am reserving judgment about the teenage protagonist.

Shomeret wrote: "I am currently reading Labyrinth Lost, a YA urban fantasy by Zoraida Cordova. This is the first book in the Brooklyn Bruja series. Bruja is the Spanish word for witch. I am very muc..."

That looks like a fun read!!

I am currently reading The Magnolia Story I love how good they are together and their show is awesome!!

Monica Wood's The One-in-a-million Boy. Excellent.

Elfriede Jelinek Die Liebhaberinnen

The Nearness of You by Amanda Eyre Ward brings to light the age-old question what makes a mother? The surrogate and/or the woman that child.

We're introduced to several mothers in this short novel who have left an imprint on almost every character. Each mother has their own drama to contend with then add a child and things start to get a little mixed up.

One of the daughters is Eloise who has found a way to be lost and finding her surrogate is high on her list of ways of finding herself again.

I only have pages left of the short novel but it hasn't disappointed me yet so I'm eager to see how the complications become untangled.
It's my first novel by the author but intrigued to find some other pieces that she has written.

I am reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I am currently on page 500 out of 700. This is such great writing, story building, and character building I dare to say I have ever read. At the same time, this is also the most heart-wrenching book I think I will ever read. I am already greatly moved and disturbed by Jude, and all that has made him who he has become.
I honestly hope that by the time I have finished, that love will have transformed him into a cheerful soul. I wish for him the justice for joys that were stolen from him at birth, and all through- out his life. I WANT to believe this will happen. I want to believe that the hyenas that chase him will lay down and die. I could cry for what this man has been through. I can feel his humiliation. I can feel his broken spirit. I can feel the shields he has put up around him with my hands. I have never been so mindfully ambitious for a character's happy ending. Please, God. Let him live in peace and joy.

Snow wrote: "I am reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I am currently on page 500 out of 700. This is such great writing, story building, and character building I dare to say I have ever read. At the same..."

I love what you wrote here... that was one of my favorite books that I read last year.

I'm currently reading a horror anthology called Black Feathers: Dark Avian Tales: An Anthology but I've read about 3 stories and it's not grabbing me so far.

Another group I'm in is doing a promo read for Blue Demon this month so I was able to get a free copy and I started that on my kindle today. The writing could be better but I'm only about 30% in so I'm hoping it gets more suspenseful and "horror"-y.

I also started The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike which I'm doing as a buddy read this month in another group. I'm only a few pages into the book but I think it's going to be a good read.

Snow wrote: "I am reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I am currently on page 500 out of 700. This is such great writing, story building, and character building I dare to say I have ever read. At the same..."

I just finished A Little Life a few days ago. I'm still thinking about that book. It definitely pulled me in and kept me invested. It is definitely a book that will stay with me. I hate to say it because I kind of roll my eyes when other people say it, but I really think that book changed me a little bit. I'm so aware of how I treat others, and I look at little kids and think how important it is that we treat them so good when they're little... I know that the book isn't really about that, but it kind of is in the long run isn't it? And it is definitely an "in the long run" kind of book. I absolutely loved reading it, and even though it took me quite a while I never felt like it was a chore to read.

Two things that kept popping into my head, and slightly jarring me out of the book while reading it, were: 1) the constant jumps in time - we lived through, what, like 3 or 4 decades? and sometimes it took a little time to settle in to where we were in the character's life at the moment, and 2) how... financially well off everyone was. Even though Jude and Malcolm were poor college students together, it didn't last long for either of them, and they still managed to surround themselves with people who were clearly quite wealthy. It didn't ruin the story at all, but I guess it bothers me when everyone has a fairytale aspect of wealth to their lives.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I posted a lot of updates on my feelings as I read through it too

Going to start the next in my list for Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum. This seems to not be a favorite of hers, but my intent is to read her in order.

I started reading Paul Beatty's The Sellout last night, inspired by my real-life book club which read it last month. My copy never arrived in time for me to read it for book club, but after their discussion I realized I was still interested, so I am now reading it since it finally came in for me at the library.

Generally I get nervous whenever fiction is labeled as "satire" because satire often doesn't work for me in the written form. But I would say this is satirical in its social commentary, which works a lot better for me because I am already interested in the issues and topics Beatty discusses. I can see how it wouldn't necessarily work for everyone, however.

Anita wrote: "Snow wrote: "I am reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I am currently on page 500 out of 700. This is such great writing, story building, and character building I dare to say I have ever read..."

Anita,
I 100% agree that it should affect the way that we treat EVERYONE, and especially children. The sad and great thing is that a child's mind is a sponge. They keep so much of what they learn from a young age. So yes, I agree in the long run it is very important.

I had the same thought on the success of every single one of them. It's not as if they all grew up with silver spoons, so why are they all at the top of their fields? I said to my husband last night, I'd of loved to have one of them be a Walmart greeter or a truck driver. It would make it a bit more realistic.

Overall though, I dont think I will EVER shake this book. What did you read right after it Anita?

exactly my thoughts. Some normalcy to balance it out. But again, it still didn't keep me from living the book!

I actually haven't really been able to pick anything new up since I've read it. I finished a book of short stories (Slasher Girls and Monster Boys - pretty good and full of contemporary YA authors), but am just now coming around to feeling like picking something else up. I'm eyeing He, She, and It by Marge Piercy on my nightstand. It's my next due back at the library so probably that.

I'm wondering if you've finished A Little Life yet?

"from *loving the book" -on phone will edit later

Not yet, I should finish it this weekend, though. I'll either be at peace or heart-broken I'm sure. I think after this book I'm going to read something super funny and upbeat, just to balance out my emotions.

I finished The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine. It was a riot--a labyrinth of stories within stories within stories.
My review on goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

I'm currently reading Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.

Tamara wrote: "I'm currently reading Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés..."

I tried reading this years ago (think early teens) and I wasn't ready for it. I got a copy for Christmas last year and I look forward to finally reading it as an adult reader.

Anita wrote: ""from *loving the book" -on phone will edit later"
Anita, I just finished A Little Life. My review from last week still stands. It may be the best writing I've ever read, but the most tormented character I've ever known. I'm heartbroken.

El wrote: "I tried reading this years ago (think early teens) and I wasn't ready for it. I got a copy for Christmas last year and I look forward to finally reading it as an adult reader..."

I read when it first came out around two decades ago. I loved it--mind you I was a lot older than early teens :-)

I just read The Heart Goes Last. I assumed it would be in the vein of Atwood's recent dystopia/post-apocalypse books. It starts out that way with a breakdown of society so that people are willing to give up freedom in order to have some comfort and stability. (I saw that I'd absolutely do that!) But then it veers into a farcical caper with Elvis impersonators and lifelike sex robots. I thought it was a hoot and I'm sure she enjoyed writing it, but I can understand why some readers were disappointed if they expected something else.

I finished The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. It was ok. I wasn't too excited about it.

My review on goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and on my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

Not one book by a woman at the moment, but will be starting one either tonight or tomorrow. In the Woods by Tana French. Not my usual cup of tea, so I hope I can get through it :).

Hope you enjoy it, Karin. I liked it, but I tend to like police procedural type books on occasion. I haven't read the other books in that series yet though.

I'm reading Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela. I enjoyed The Kindness of Enemies and am enjoying this so far.

I just started The Dry by Jane Harper. it's pretty good so far!

I started Betty Miller's On the Side of the Angels (1945). I'm only a couple chapters into it, but am enjoying it so far. Only a few reviews posted on Goodreads, so I'm hoping this will be one of those delightful hidden treasures that Virago tends to put out.