1. Intercourse, by Andrea Dworkin
The political implications of intercourse from a radical feminist perspective. The first half of the book examines different (male) authors' views of sex; the second is all her. Quite a fiery analysis, quite absorbing. It made me despair at times of the male sex, but it's not really fair to count that against it.
2. The Weather of the Heart, by Madeleine L'Engle
I've posted two poems from this book before, here and here. Her spiritual musings are highly intellectual/her intellectual musings are highly spiritual; and she has a naturally lyrical voice.
3. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
Like a literary lovechild of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Emily Brontë. Such lovely prose...not flowery, but beautiful, to fit the elegance of life at a seaside manor in 1920s England. Very period-atmospheric, and sort of nouveau-Gothic.
4. The Dream of a Common Language: Poems, 1974-1977, by Adrienne Rich
I like pretty much all her writings, but I love her seventies/eighties work. Lesbian feminist thought/poetry at its glorious and incisive best.
5. The Stepford Wives, by Ira Levin
Funky retro satire-thriller slash conspiracy novel...contemporary to the second-wave feminist movement and mostly just amusing, but the penultimate scene was a bit too real to be funny. I read it in about an hour and a half (unfortunately, because I had chosen it for a five-hour flight...).
6. Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life, by Jenni Schaefer
Quite conversational (a bajillion short chapters) without being light on content. Made me realize that there are still aspects of the ED/diet mentality in my brain/life that I hadn't recognized as such and was still tolerating. That's not discouraging, though — what's discouraging is thinking that a sometimes-mediocre recovery is as good as it gets.
7. Trickster's Queen, by Tamora Pierce
A favorite fantasy author from my childhood, i.e. always good.
8. love belongs to those who do the feeling, by Judy Grahn
More lesbian-feminist poems from another second-waver, yes. (I've been utterly absorbed by the questions and ideas of the seventies this summer.) Very spell-like, influenced by myth and ideas of ritual. Her work was recommended to me by the two Canadian sisters.
It won't surprise you that I love you "Read in..." posts :)
ReplyDeleteErin - That was a great post of yours; I'm definitely going to be sharing it. And a good motivator for me.
ReplyDelete"what's discouraging is thinking that a sometimes-mediocre recovery is as good as it gets."
ReplyDelete.....asdf YES.
When I read "gaining" in June-- the first book on ED I'd read in years and the first one that DIDN'T center around recovery... I had some similar realizations. Actually, pretty big ones.
your lists area always so informed and intriguing.
ReplyDeletesui - Yes!!! Of course you would understand...I ought to have expected. I'm glad you're here. You know, I've seen Gaining at my library -- I'll have to pick it up next time.
ReplyDeleteBeth - I've no clue how to write a real book review, so I'm glad these are at least readable.
I read Rebecca for the first time earlier this year and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. Oh my word.
ReplyDeleteErin - Isn't it just so elegant and clean, even in its building creepiness? Perfect traveling book.
ReplyDeleteHolly: aw. I'm glad you're here too. :)
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't like gaining so much as a book-- I thought of it as a "Malcolm Gladwell book of eating disorders," meaning lots of random anecdotes and statistics but not really any real underlying thesis or through-line-- but it did bring me some epiphanies.
sui - Hahahahaha. Okay, I've skimmed some of his writing -- I get what you're saying, and thanks for letting me know.
ReplyDelete