For all the girls who hid under their covers with a flashlight and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings long after mom said it was time to go to sleep, for the cliff note reading dilettantes, for the closet feminists, for the professors hungry to read something without “hermeneutics� in the title, for the smarty pants, literary controversy whores, and proud feminist dudes…welcome to your weekly column.
I will be weighing in every Thursday on a new book that has sparked my interest, or an old book that suddenly seems poignant again (you know the drill, “those who do not learn from history…�). I’m hoping the material will range—from graphic novels to academic texts, from popular nonfiction to, hell why not, poetry. But let’s also be honest, I write nonfiction. I read A LOT of nonfiction. So that’s probably what you’ll find here most of the time. For an intro on me, check out my site.
If you have a book you’d like to send me, please shoot me an email and I’ll reply with the address of my super secret sexy librarian hideout.
Next week, the nerdy fun really begins…
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Awesome--I cannot wait!
How terribly exciting! Nonfiction is where it's at for me, too. \m/
yay!!! I just love books...and well, book suggestions. thanks in advance ;)
Ooh, books! I love books!
I am also a HUGE lover of non-fiction. One of my all-time faves is Smashed by Koren Zailckas. It is her true "story of a drunken girlhood." Another bonus: there is a definite feminist theme within the book.
By the way: anyone want some recommendations?
Fiction:
Mort by Terry Pratchett
Amazon.com link: http://tinyurl.com/27r7gf
Non-fiction:
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Amazon.com link: http://tinyurl.com/23dmcm
Welcome! I can't wait for the nerdy fun!
Noooo. Why must you start this when I am one weekend into my self-imposed book diet??
My backlog of books has gotten out of hand. My personal finances have gotten uncomfortably low. I am trying to kill two birds with one stone. And now you go and make it more difficult for me! (I too love nonfiction. Mmm nonfiction). I already have two books on my "to buy" list just from recent posts at Pandagon. It's gonna be a long two months.
Some books that I love and think that every woman should read are:
Woman on The Edge of Time--an "oldie" but a goodie.
Slut: Growing up Female with a Bad Reputation
The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and how it undermines all women
I also LOVED "The War on Choice" and am currently reading "Beyond Choice", which is written by Margaret Sanger's grandson. He claims that pro choicers need to reframe their arguments regarding choice, I am not to the point where he makes them, I am still in the background information.
If anyone is interested in some tasty fantasy fiction with definite feminist themes -
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchet (I love the whole Discworld series. Thanks for mentioning it, Doug S.)
The Serpent's Shadow - Mercedes Lackey (This one was surprisingly recommended to me by my male roommate who cringes at the word feminist)
Book! Glorious books! I cannot wait.
Awesome! I am a book fiend AND a sexy librarian. Looking forward to the selections!
Cassandra,
If I might make a recommendation....ebooks are seriously cheaper than regular books. I know, I know...they don't feel the same, but my book collection was getting seriously out of control (Hi, I'm Kristen, and I'm a bookoholic)...to the point where we were going to need add an addition on to the house if I bought any more. For the last year or two I've bought most of the stuff I want to read as ebooks (or audiobooks, but that's for when work is too boring). It takes some getting used to but there is the whole instant gratification thing and they're usually a 1/3 the price or less.
As a future library student, I feel compelled to respond to the people saying books cost to much... Libraries are free!
And lots of time states have book trading systems, so you can get books from other libraries delivered to your home library. That way, if your library doesn't have it, you can order it.
As for book suggestions, I really liked "I Do But I Don't" by Kamy Wicoff, which was an interesting take on feminism and weddings.
OK. Off topic, but these ads by Google are horrible. I can't cut and paste, so let me just retype two of them.
"Photos of Cute Girls. Browse photos of Sexual Abuse near you. Chat, IM and Date free!"
"Spanish Child Abuse Video. Una Vision Desde Las Sombras 18 min, Spanish, 30 day preview."
Is there a way to make these go away?
"Spanish Child Abuse Video"
What???! Isn't that criminal?
Who knows? One would like to think so. The ad seems to have shifted now, and been replaced with one that says "Abusive Relationship? Understand Abuse & Stop It in This Free Article."
I find it disturbing that Google can't distinguish between ending abuse and promoting it. I'm sure it just does keyword searches for "abuse," but this just sucks.
LOVED Skipping towards Gomorrah by Dan Savage.
Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser was also very good. And, if you have time, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.
I cannot express my hypedness!
I am a book geek to the extreme. Once upon a time, my parents took away my nightlight because I was using it to read :D
I second Slut! I read it when I was a teenager and it really made me feel loads better about the whole slut thing.
I'd also like to nominate Self Made Man (dyke dresses up as a dude [I want to say for a year?] to see the difference). I've been meaning to read it and need an excuse to actually go out and get it.
Also, if your book collection is getting out of hand, check out www.bookmooch.com. It's a free book trading site (you pay for shipping on books you send out, which earns you points to get books sent in). One of these days I'm going to get rid of all the books I don't LOVE LOVE LOVE in order to get in some new reading material.
http://www.bookswim.com/temp_index.php
It's the Netflix for books (and the server is down because there are so many people discovering it!)
Yeah. I just came in my nerd pants.
http://www.librarything.com is my crack. I spend hours browsing it, I'm trying to will myself to part with the money to get a lifetime account.
Check me out! http://www.librarything.com/profile/MoxieHart
My book recommendations....Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy is my favorite feminist sci-fi of all time. It's just a stunning view of how wonderful or terrible the future could be. I also enjoyed The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guinn.
Other faves.; Atlas Shrugged, An American Tragedy, The Bell Jar, Billy Budd, Sailor & Other Short Stories, Carrie, I could go on....
Oh, I forgot to add, two of my favorite books: The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould & The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.
oh, i needed to thank you, Moxie Hart, for introducing me to my newest addiction the last time you rec'ed librarything here!
Off topic, but I wanted to respond to these comments:
When I read the first ad, it struck me as one of those generic fill-in-the-blank type ads which are usually useless and often offensive. I remember when Anna Nicole Smith's son dies, and a contextual ad for Target popped up offering 10-20% off Smiths, for example.
When I saw the second one, I figured it was for some kind of documentary about sexual abuse (The title means "a view from the shadows"), and it is. It looks like an ad it makes sense to people who are reading a blog that talks about sexual abuse and how to end it. Here's some info I found about it, for anyone who is interested.
EG, you asked if there's a way to get rid of the ads. I use AdBlock Plus, and I don't see the ads. I only know about them through references folks make to them in the comment threads.
ObOnTopic: Yay, books! I'll be back to check what we're reading, and I'll see what recommendations I can come up with.
Ack. To clarify what my bad typing made confusing, the ad for the doc/educational film is one it makes sense to target to people who read this blog.
And Daniel Smith died, not "dies."
Sorry.