Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    Lord of the Rings by Tolkein (sp?)
    
    A trilogy about the ultimate triumph of good over evil.  Anyone
    who has ever read Tolkein will not forget his incredible way of
    making you live his stories.  It was "totally awesome"!
    
    

    With as enthusiastic a supporter as Mark Twain, how can it lose?
    
    --- jerry

    
    	It's hard to pick a single favorite, but oh well...
    
    	"The Kin Of Ata Are Waiting For You" by Dorothy Bryant.
    
    		Alan.

    My vote would have to go the greatest American novel ever penned,
    The Scarlet Letter.
    
    The way Hawthorne writes about Puritan values and shows how sin
    and guilt are part of every man/woman's life, is truly spectacular.
    
    Also, anything written by Edgar Allen Poe.
    
    Tony S.

    by Aldous Huxley.
    
    I can't say why, except that it's beautifully written, but that's
    just a contributory factor, not the main reason.
    
    Joana

    by Marion Zimmer Bradley
    
    memorable for the hauntingly sad loss of old ways and values with
    the coming of the new...
    
      Ann

    
    Humor, grace, and a sharp eye for the small absurdities of life.
    

    One of my most favorites was "ILLUSIONS : The Reluctant Messiah"
    by Richard Bach. An interesting aproach to "reality".
    

    
    The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery.  It's for kids (of
    all ages).

    Just one-?
    
    I guess it would be WATERSHIP DOWN as I keep finding myself buying
    copies and giving them away to people!
    

Either of the Winnie-the-Pooh books (slight preference for the second one:
"House at Pooh Corner", I think). My 2nd grade teacher used to read us a
chapter each day, it's the first real book that I remember reading, and it
got me hooked on books. I still read it now and then.

    by James Thurber - a fairy tale that I have read at least 30 times,
    and will probably read 300 more - if I can ever find a copy of it
    (the one I read was my father's).

    I can't think of just one.  But Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
    and Om, The Secret of Ahbor Valley by Talbot Munday are two of my
    favorites.  
    
    				Dondi

    
    Anything by May Sarton. She could write a check, and I'd read it.
    
    The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. 
    
    Anything by Marge Piercy. Especially Small Changes and Fly Away
    Home. And her poetry. (She reads in the Boston area every few years;
    see her if you can.) 
    
    

    "Love"
         by Leo Buscaglia

    It's really hard to come up with one favorite book, but if I had
    to I guess my current favorite would be "The Color Purple" by Alice
    Walker, because of it's movingly written affirmation of the dignity
    and worth of human life.
    
    Other runners up are:
    
    "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
    "Gone To Soldiers" by Marge Piercy
    "Mr. Bedford & The Muses" by Gail Godwin
    The Children of Violence Series beginning with
    "Martha Quest" by Doris Lessing
    "The Provincial Lady" series by E.M. Delafield
    "Told By An Idiot" by Rose McCauley
    "Ethan Frome" by Edith Wharton
    "My Antonia" by Willa Cather
    "Ragtime" & "World's Fair" by E.L. Doctoreau
    
    
    Lorna
    

    Re: .9
    
    >The way Hawthorne writes about Puritan values
    
    Hawthorne's view was extremely biased.  Don't think you understand
    Puritans because you've read _The Scarlet Letter_.  (Sometimes I
    think Hawthorne has a lot to answer for.)
    
    Re: .0
    
    I can't pick just one.

    My favorite...
    
    It was only given to me recently, but I would recommend anyone reading
    it... it gives insight to what many others have gone through, and
    helps deal with them, and your thoughts...
    
    Its by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis and is a guide for womem survivors
    of child sexual abuse.  The title is:
    
    
	    		THE COURAGE TO HEAL
    
    
    It a thick book, but well worth getting to the end of...
    
    Gale

    My family always liked "The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde.
    
    
    di.

    Anything by Elizabeth Lynn.  (She's a not very prolific
    fantasy/SF writer.)  I can narrow it down to the "Chronicles
    of Tornor" series (_Watchtower_, _The_Dancers_of_Arun_, and
    _The_Northern_Girl_), and my current favorite is probably the
    second book.  (They each stand alone reasonably well.) One of
    the things I like best about the second and third books is
    that people are just *people*, it doesn't seem to matter
    whether someone is a man or woman for them to do a particular
    job or whatever.  But she doesn't beat me over the head with
    it--the real story in all three books is about someone
    growing up a little bit and learning more about his/her
    world.

    -- Linda

    James Michener's "Hawaii".
    John Steinbeck's "East of Eden".
    
    /d
    

    re. 11  another vote for "Mists of Avalon"
    
    could reread again and again...
    
    t.

    "Other Women"  by Lisa Alther
    
    Nancy

    When I was a child ....
    
    "The Little Princess" by Frances Hodgeson Burnett
    
    And now            
    
    "The Count of Monte Christo" by Alexandre Dumas
    
    Because it has so many stories within one story, and because it's
    such a good story!
    
    Also ... 
    
    Favourite children's authors:
    
    Noel Stretfield (Ballet Shoes, etc)
    Laura Ingalls Wilder
    
    Favourite adult authors:
    
    Thomas Hardy
    Evelyn Waugh
    John Le Carre
            
    And lots, lots more !!
    
    - Janet

    It was great, brought tears to mt eyes, I keep reading it over and
    over I feel like I know the characters like family.
    

    Another vote for "The Count of Monte Christo" and anything else
    by Dumas 'pere'.
    
    "Sometimes A Great Notion" by Ken Kesey. 
    
    (And how have we made it thru 32 entries without an Ayn Rand
    novel ? My vote for "We The Living")
    
    Dana

    "The Tree Workers Manual"
    
    Published by Ohio Agricultural Curriculum Materials Service, The Ohio
    State University.  They have made a commendable effort to portray women
    as able and qualified to work in the tree care profession. 
    
    Someday I hope I can hang from a climbing rope pruning trees like
    the woman in Figure 6.15!
    
    Nancy

    All the "myth" books by Paul Asprin(I think thats his last name?)
    and the Xanth books..  I can never remember authors off the top
    of my head, but put me in a book store and I know exactly what I
    am looking for :-)
    
    vivian

	...because noone's mentioned it yet...

	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (all FOUR of the books!)

    Re: .35
    
    "Myth" series is by Robert Lynn Asprin.  Xanth series is by
    Piers Anthony.  Both series have their good books and bad.
    
    				Steve

and The Secret Garden

    leaves of grass, after 20 years of rereading my copy is
    falling apart...
    
    linda

by Wm. Shakespeare

It's got slavery, cynicism, power, family love, young love, slapstick, revenge,
and more.

And lots of famous quotes.
	Mez

    
    1. Dvorak in Love - historical novel on a fictional love affair
                        the composer has while in America.
    
    2. Field Guide to SW US Reptiles and Amphibians - so I can be
                        knowlegable about my son's favorite critters,
                        snakes.

    re:.40	-< The Tempest >-
    
    And it was even made into a great science fiction movie! :-)
    
    (FORBIDDEN PLANET)
    
    --- jerry

    Since "Lord of the Rings" has already been mentioned, ...
    
    "All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren.
    
    It's a novel, but is based on the life of Huey Long.  The story
    itself is fascinating, but it's Robert Penn Warren's literary style
    that makes me read this book over and over.

Currently reading Sissele Bok's biography/memoir of her mother Alva Myrdal
(economist, peace activist, Nobel Prize winner), "Alva, Ett Kvinnoliv."
[Alva, a woman's life] I'm reading it in Swedish, and I don't know whether
an English translation is available (a short extract appeared in the Boston
Globe a few months ago.)

Alva was brought up on a farm at a time and place where women didn't
go to school.  She worked her way through high school, then more or
less ran off with Gunnar when he and some friends slept in her father's
barn on a bicycling vacation.

At the close of her life, Alva suffered from aphasia, which was a disaster
to someone accustomed to expressing herself.  The discussion of her
relationship with her daughter makes fascinating reading.

Professor Bok is in the Philosophy department at Brandeis University,
in case anyone wants more information about an English edition.

M.

    My favorite books are written by May Sarton.

    All Creatures Great and Small  James Herriott
    To Kill a Mockingbird  Harper Lee
    

    a favorite:
    
    	WEST WITH THE NIGHT
    	Beryl Markham
    
    
    
    
    Karen

    For those days when *nothing* goes right
    
    	Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
    		by Judith Viorst

    re: .48
    
    Bingo!  (We can always move to Australia!)
    
    jimmy
    

    SF:
    
    Stranger in a Strange Land     Robert A. Heinlein
    Dune                           Frank Herbert
    series by Roger Zelazny
    Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust
    
    General reading:
    
    Robert Ludlum
    Lawrence Sanders
    
    Weird and wonderful:
    
    Steven King's books (Best 2 to date were "The Stand" and "It")
    
    Bill

    In no particular order:
    
    Solaris by Stanislav Lem;	the human race encounters a sentient
    				planet that is, for all intents and
    				purposes omniscient, omnipotent, and
    				utterly incomprehensible.  Despite all
    				efforts of years of Earthly study, all 
    				efforts to understand this being in 
    				human terms fails.
    
    The Left Hand of Darkness  the same species encounters a race whose
    by Ursula LeGuin (*)	beings live much of life in a neutral
    				(sexual) form but from time to time
    				take on either female or male sexual
    				identity
    
    
    Both remembered fondly from a Sci/fi course (taught by a remarkable
    woman) at UMass/Boston in '75; o.k. kids, time to stre-e-e-tch those
    frames of reference. . .
    
    Steve
    
    (*) & thanx, Bonnie for the memory jog - I *knew* I had it wrong
    but had a "block" on the correct title; and naturally my copy has
    looong since gone out to the ubiquitous "on-loan". . .  :-}

	The Bridge at Andau

	James Michener's account of the 1956 Hungarian revolution
	opened my eyes toward the true nature of Communism, and
	played a large role in changing me from a disciple of the left
	to a middle of the road way of thinking.

					Tom_K

	The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

    
    Some of my favorites have already been mentioned but I'd like to
    add a few more.  Forgive me if the list is rather long but I love
    to read and I recommend these (and many others) to all of my friends.
    
    Huck Finn:  Twain
    Letters From the Earth:  Also by Twain...I'm not sure where you'd
    find it.  I read it in HS and it's a must especially for people
    who sometimes question God for whatever reason.  It'll either convince
    you that God doesn't exist or strengthen your faith.
    
    Everything Which Rises Must Converge:  Flannery O'Connor...Short
    stories...They're rather depressing but there is something about
    them that really moves me.
    
    In Memoriam A.H.H.:  Tennyson...It's a poem which I have in my Norton's
    Anthology of Brit Lit...It's very good especially for someone who
    has recently experienced the death of a loved one.
    
    Beowulf:  Unknown...Tolkein was a Beowulf scholar at Oxford and
    anyone who likes the Hobbit should read Beowulf to find the Hobbit's
    origin.
    
    Canterbury Tales:  Chaucer...It's tough to read in its true form
    but worth it.
    
    The Great Gatsby:  F.Scott Fitzgerald....my favorite of all his
    books.
    
    The Death of Ivan Ilych:  Tolstoy...It's a short story and it also
    helps with death.
    
    The Brothers Karamozov:  Dostoyevsky...Probably my favorite book
    of all time.  It's about a man who dies and how his sons handle
    it.  One is accused of murder and he tries to extricate himself.
    The brothers are all vastly different...(1 religious, 1 intellectual,
    1 natural and 1 very strange(he was born out of wedlock and was
    not recognised as a true son))  It looks long but it reads well.
    
    A Very Easy Death:  Simone de Beauvoir...One more that helps with
    a death in the family.

    
    Pagans and Christians, by Robin Lane Fox, a professor of History
    in the New College, Oxford.
    
    This book is about religion and the religious life from the second
    to the fourth centuries CE, when the gods of Olympus lost their
    dominion and Christianity, with the conversion of Constantine, 
    triumphed in the Mediterranean world.
    
    An interesting anecdote in the book comes when a strange new god
    is discovered in an Egyptian archaeological excavation. This god,
    Bes, turns out to have been a commercal venture invented by 
    Egyptians intent on getting a piece of the oracle buisness..
    (oracles were big buisness in the ancient world)...
    
    Jimmy and Jerry are merely the latest in a long line...

    The Ship That Sang by Anne McCaffrey (beautiful story)
    
    Lorna
    

    Speaking of science fiction, my favorite is The Book of the New Sun
    series by Gene Wolfe.  Wonderful prose and he doesn't hammer you over
    the head with the plot, you have to think a bit to understand what's
    going on. 
    

    Just about everything that Ray Bradbury has written...

    Andersons series of the Adept.
    
    states with the Apprentice Adept and the last is Robot Adept.
    combine magic and s.f.  good mixture.
    
    Dave

    For those of you whose favorite books tend towards Science
    Fiction, are you aware that there is a conference for discussing
    SF?
    
    Bonnie

    
    I just read a wonderful book called
    _Oranges_are_not_the_Only_Fruit  by Jeannette Winterson.
    
    I heard an interview with the author on NPR, so I bought the book.
    It's about a woman who grows up in a fundamentalist Christian home
    in a working-class neighborhood in England and then comes out
    as a lesbian.  She tells a great story.  I highly recommend this
    book.
    
    Justine  

    re:.59
    
    Anthony, not Anderson.
    
    re:.61
    
    No! You're kidding, aren't you? :-)
    
    --- jerry (Co-moderator of SF)

	I like anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley. One book of hers that
       doesn't get a lot of notice is "The Ruins of Isis". It's a SF
       story set in a universe of many planets and many cultures. It
       deals with a research team (who happen to be lovers) going to
       study a planet where the society is matriarchal. The man (who was
       really the reseach leader) has to pretend the woman is the team
       leader as the society would not accept them otherwise. It goes
       into a lot of the feelings that all the characters have about the
       situation. There are also a few plot twists just to make things
       exciting. It's been awhile since I've read it but I remember it
       with fondness. liesl
      

    in re .63
    
    Kidding about what?
    
    in re .64
    
    I liked Ruins of Isis also Leisl...I'd almost forgotten about it.
    
    Bonnie

    Trinity by Leon Uris
    

    	RE: 70.66
    
    	I agree. I feel the same about some of his other works, too,
    	such as QB VII, EXODUS.
    
    	Scott (Was looking at Trinity just the other day)

I saw this at the Harvard Square bookstores -- haven't read it, though.

Real Rape by Susan Estrich. $7.95 (paper)

Estrich is a professor of law at Harvard and is Mike Dukakis' campaign
chairman.  The book discusses, among other things, date rape and the
experiences of victims in the legal system.  I suspect it is Estrich's
thesis (or a revision).

Estrich can speak from experience: she was raped while in law school.

Martin.

    I read a wonderful short story last night called "Alopecia" by Fay
    Weldon (author of the novel, "The Life and Loves of A She-Devil").
    
    It takes place in London in the 1970's and is about a group of women
    who work together in a small clothing design shop which one of them
    owns.  The story is about their reactions to discovering that an
    acquaintance of theirs claims that her husband (a well respected
    man) is abusing her.  The reactions of these women, all of whom
    consider themselves to be very enlightened and modern, to this abuse
    shows what women have been up against in the past when trying to
    make claims of abuse and get out of these situations.
    
    There are some great lines in the story, and the best line of all
    is the very last line.
    
    Lorna
    

    Definitely my favorite: Chesapeake
    

    This is not a read-for-pleasure book.  It's the kind that _CAN_
    hit you between the eyes when you come upon yourself in it.  (It
    did me!)
    
    Non-fiction; sort of a combination psychology/literature/religious
    philosophy...

                           
    
    V.C Andrews is my favorite author--she wrote the "Flowers in the
    Attic" series (the movie was a huge dissappointment) and the "Heaven"
    series.  I find all her books very hard to put down!!!

    Anybody interested in art would enjoy Tobin Fraley's
    "The Carousel Animal"--a book that has beautiful pictures of old
    hand carved carousel animals--since I am a fan of the wooden beasts-
    I found it very enjoyable.
    
                                       Lynne Sigel
    

    
    by the late Dr. Richard Feynman, Nobel-laureate theoretical physicist
    and a fine and funny human. 
    
    (For those who don't know, shortly before he died of the cancer that
    he'd been fighting for ten years, he sat on the Rogers Commission that
    investigated the Challenger disaster.  It was he who made that simple,
    devastating test on national tv with the glass of ice water and the bit
    of o-ring.) 
    
    I'm rationing myself thru it, because although I know I'll be able to
    enjoy it again and again the first time is ever the best. 
                                                   
    						=maggie

re .74

Maggie, you have a *whole* new Feynman book to look forward to! I think
it just came out. It's called What do _You_ Care What Other People Think.

It was published posthumously, having been prepared by Feynman and
a close friend in the last few years before his death. The last
half of it is his account of the Challenger investigation.

It's published by Norton, ISBN 0-393-02659-0. It's currently in
hardcover for 17.95, less 15% (?) at Wordsworth.

I'm a third of the way through and really enjoying it. This book
includes the story of his first wife, who was terminally ill when
they married.

reg

    Is the second as good as the first, Ruth?  We *really* lost someone
    fine when he died!  
    
    						=maggie

    All of Ann Tyler's books are my favorites!
    
    Just completed "Her Mother's Daughter" by Marilyn French. 
    I plan on keeping this book and refer back to it--it was
    very meaningful to me in regards to feelings, misunderstandings,
    etc.  
    
    Maria
    

    Anything by:
    
    		Stephen King
    		VC Andrews
    		Mary Higgins Clark
    		SE Hinton
    		Erma Bombeck
    		Dave Eddings (!!!!!)
    		Laura Ingalls Wilder (Still after the years; I am keeping
    		my collection to give to the daughter I hope to have
    		some day.)
    		Peter Straub
    
    K.C.

I'm sorry to be so long replying to your question, Maggie. I've
been too busy to have been back here for the past 4 weeks. You've probably
forgotten by now you asked me if I liked Feynman's 2nd book better
than the 1st.

I do, although as I recall it, the 1st maybe hangs together better.
The second one was put together by a good friend of his (the man 
featured so prominently in the recent Nova about Feynman. He may,
in fact, have helped a lot with the first.) This man, whose name 
escapes me at the moment, says that he wrote down stories which 
Feynman told him and Feynman proofed them.

I recall the first book as being more the kind of stories that Feynman 
enjoyed telling about himself, the ones that showed off his
mischief, rebellion against authority, etc.

My presumptuous judgment is that a couple of the stories in the
2nd book are more *real* than those in the 1st. They seem to go
deeper and to be stories that were harder to tell, like the
one about his first wife.

And, as a troubleshooter, I really loved the account of his work on the 
committee to figure out what went wrong with the space shuttle. 
That story had the ring of real truth, how different people tried to
learn, how the politics and relationships among people worked, lots
of interesting details...

swamped, but coming up briefly for air,
reg

       I have many "favorite" books, but three of the ones that I return
    to like old friends are
                     
    		Freckles (a children's book) by Gene Stratton Porter
    
    		White Banners by Lloyd C. Douglas
    
    and when I *really* need romance, it has to be
    
    		Jane Eyre  by one of the Bronte sisters

    
    I have read ALL of Sidney Sheldon's novels.  My favorites:
    
    Bloodline
    Rage of Angels
    
    I like to escape into someone elses problems everyonce in a while.
    
    I have just started reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (you 
    remember the miniseries on TV)
    
    Louise

From the fml/femail mailing list on some network "out there" <grin>


February 15, 1989		Message 1887 
 
Subject: Booklist
 
The following are suggestions of feminist reading as made by the
readers of soc.women.  This is not to be construed as volunteering
to be Keeper of the List  :-).
 
Small Changes	- Marge Piercy
Lesbian Nation  - Jill Johnson (I think, it has been a long time)
Mary Wollenscraft
Gone with the Wind - (I said this is a strange list, but it is one of the
                      books that I think help girls become women.)
The Female Man   - Joanna Russ
Alix Kates Shulman's second book (I don't remember it's name, but the heroine
                                  is named Zane Indiana)
Shulamith Firestone's book (again, it is packed, so no name)
Living my Life - Emma Goldman
 
Sexual Politics, by Kate Millet
	a classic book from the feminist movement of the early 70's
	
Gyn/Ecology, by Mary Daly
	very much a radical feminist tract, but a real eye-opener
	nonetheless.
 
Dreaming the Dark, by Starhawk
	women's spirituality combined with social action and ideas for
	new, non-hierarchal social patterns
 
Women in Sexist Society
 
The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan
The Second Stage, by Betty Friedan
Sexuality:  A Reader, edited by _Feminist Review_ magazine
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, by Gloria Steinem
 
Against Our Will, by Susan Brownmiller
Take Back the Night, ed. by Laura Lederer
Pornography, by Andrea Dworkin
Dominus, by Natalie Gittelson
Going Too Far, by Robin Morgan
Family Politics, by Letty Cottin Pogrebin
 
[Books on men...
The New Male, by Herb Goldberg
The Hearts of Men, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Unbecoming Men, by a New York 1971 men's collective]
 
Male and Female, by Margaret Mead (not very feminist, but
  interesting nonetheless)
 
Ann Jones, _Women Who Kill_
    This is a sociological study of why women murder.  Jones was
prompted to do the research for it when she was teaching a class on
women's literature and a student asked her if there wasn't any other
ending than for the heroine of a story to commit suicide.  Jones
answered, "Well, she could kill someone else" and began to think
about whether the oppression of women has led to different patterns
in murder committed by women.  It is readable and entertaining but
also provides a lot of material for thought.
 
Oriana Fallacci, _Letter to a Child Never Born_
     Fallacci is, of course, best known as a political journalist
and one of the great interviewers of our times.  In this essay she
presents the journal of an unmarried woman who decides to bear the
child when she discovers she is pregnant.  It consists largely of
conversations with the child about what life is like.  It is
particularly interesting in light of the fact that Fallacci is an
ardent supporter of abortion rights.  I am not sure whether the book
is fictional or not since her American publishers seem to get a bit
confused over what the definition of a novel is.  (One blurb says
it's a novel while another says it's a journal and the bookstore had
it under nonfiction.  Then again, they list her biography of Alekos
Panagoulis as a novel also.)
 
Margaret Atwood, _The Edible Woman_
     All of Atwood's books belong on a feminist reading list.  I
singled out this one because it seems to me to be the most direct.
It is a powerful novel dealing with what men expect from women and
how women react to those expectations.
 
Amanda Cross, _Death of a Tenured Professor_
     I couldn't possibly list suggested reading without including a
murder mystery.  The heroine of this one (and several others by the
same author) is Kate Fansler, a professor of English who all too
often has to deal with the sexism of academic life.  She is quite
moderate yet her strong convictions show through.  It's not a great
mystery as far as the detective aspects but it works very well as a
novel of manners.
 
Ellen Goodman, _Close to Home_
     Goodman's essays are well written, fairly mainstream.  They
aren't all about feminism.  I don't always agree with her but she at
least presents her arguments in such a way as to provoke reasoned
disagreement.  That is, her writing is always lucid and she backs up
what she says.  (Would that more people on the net did that!)
 
_Hers_
    I don't remember who edited it, but this is a collection of
columns from the New York Times.  They cover a wide range of
subjects and I doubt that any given reader will agree with all of
them (I always find myself hissing at Joyce Maynard, for example)
but they provide a good introduction to the range of topics and
opinions which can be considered valid "women's issues."
 
 
"Silences", Tillie Olsen
 
"The Ms. Reader."
 
ANYTHING by Adrian Rich...poetry or prose. ESPECIALLY her prose book
on Mothering...very insightful, very useful in figuring out exactly
how the institution of motherhood destroys women, men, boys and
girls.
 
"The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory" - Marilyn Frye
   Pretty vanilla in content, but extremely well written and reasoned.
 
"On Lies, Secrets and Silences", "Blood, Bread and Poetry" - Adrienne Rich 
   Rich is a brilliant poet; these books are collections of her
essays on feminist thought, including a number on what it means to
be a lesbian in the patriarchy.  Being a poet, these essays are very
literate.
 
"In a Different Voice" - Carol Gilligan
   Gilligan talks about the differences that are socialized into
children on the basis of gender, and how they affect "world view".
Interesting stuff, but definitely not for those who have not
mastered the "different is different, not superior/inferior"
argument.
 
"A Room of One's Own" - Virginia Woolf
   The classic text in feminism - Woolf lays it all out.  Warning:
You can get *a lot* more out of this book if you read it in a lit.
class (or a women's studies course), where you have someone who can
point out some of the subtle threads that run through the work.
However, reading it on your own is feasible.
 
"New French Feminisms" - Marks & deCourtivron
   These editors translated ~20-30 essays from numerous French
feminists.  This book is a good antidote for provincialism, as it
addresses issues that American feminists normally don't (or don't
stress), particularly the significance of the structure of language
(or, "going beyond the s/he debate").  Some of the essays are pretty
straight forward, while others are rather subtle.
 
Any book by Ellen Goodman
   These books are collections of her columns that were published in
newspapers over the years.  Many deal with other topics, but most
are about women's issues, and *very* mainstream.  They are easy to
read.
 
What Is Feminism, A Re-Examination, edited by Juliet Mitchell and
	Ann Oakley, published by Pantheon Books, New York 1986
	A collection of essays by several women, mostly educators.
	Contains a lot of historical information.
 
Why We Lost The ERA, by Jane Mansbridge, published by University
	of Chicago Press, 1986
	Covers the arguments, strategy and mistakes made by both sides.
	Discusses legislature and court ruling that changed the status
	of women during the ERA effort.
 
Beyond Anger: On Being Feminist in the Church, by Carolyn Oseik, R.S.C.J.,
	Paulist Press, 1986
	Written for feminists who do not want to leave the church. I
	liked her section on practical survival, which included:
	know your history, know what you believe in, know what you
	want to spend your energy on.
 
No Is Not Enough, by Caren Adame, Jennifer Fay, and Jan Loreen-Martin,
	published by Impact Publishers, 1984
	I included this book because it discusses date rape,
	although only among teenagers.  The book looks at the
	pressures on teenagers, male and female, and the
	mis-information which makes date rape possible.
 
off our backs, monthly national feminist publication. trial
   subscription: 3 issues for $3, year subscription $15. Their
   address: oob, 2423 18th St. NW, Washington, DC  20009
 
Radical Feminism edt. by Anne Koedt, Ellen Levine, and Anita Rapone,
   publ. by Quadrangle/NY Times Book Co. A collection of feminist
   essays and manifestos written in the 1970's.
 
Dispatches From the Frontier of the Female Mind, edt. Jen Green and
   ?, publ. by Women's Press, 1986. Short science fictions stories
   by women.  I've been recommending this to feminists and sci-fi
   fans alike; if you're both (or want to be both :-), it's a must
   read.
 
Feminist Frontiers: Rethinking Sex, Gender, and Society by Laurel
   Richardson and Verta Taylor, publ. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.  This
   is the text used at Washington State University for their Intro
   to Women's Studies course. It has sections titled: Language,
   Images, and Ideas; Early Socialization; Religion and the Law;
   Science and Medicine; Institutionalized Violence Against Women;
   Explanations and Origins; The Politics of Intimacy; Occupational
   Inequality; Political Inequality; The Feminist Movement; Racism
   and Sexual Politics in the Movement; Spiritual Politics;
   Consequences for Intimate Lives; Feminism in the Future.
 
Sally Gearhart  "The Wanderground"
      I really  enjoyed reading this book - a "good read"
 
Braided Lives - Marge Piercy
 
The Dialectic of Sex - Shulamith Firestone
 
Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman  (a feminist utopia)
 
Daughter of Earth - Agnes Smedley
 
"A Door Into Ocean" - Joan Slonszewski(sp?) 
 
"On Strike Against God" by Joanna Russ - Great little book about an 
       English professor coming to grips with men being jerks.
[actually, anything by Joanna Russ is to be recommended]
 
"Hypatia's Heritage, A History of Women in Science from Antiquity
 through the Nineteenth Century"  by Margaret Alic,  Beacon Press,
 Boston, 1986.  [the person who suggested this sent along a fairly
 detailed description of the book - if you're interested email me
 and I'll forward. -Darci]
 

    I just searched through the titles, and didn't see this one  --
    my apologies if it's already been cited.
    
    BETWEEN WOMEN:  Love, envy and competition in women's friendships
    
    by Luise Eichenbaum and Susie Orbach
    Penguin 1987  $7.95
    
    This book is a gem.  It can be read fairly quickly because the authors
    use anecdotes throughout to make their points, but there is no
    'filler'. Everything in the book is right to the point.  Reading
    it was like attending a workshop for me.
    
    I think it will be especially meaningful to anyone who participated
    in the women's movement in the 1970's and is now trying to reconcile
    the heady, empowered enthusiasm of the 1970's with the reality of
    the late 80's.  Where are we now in relationship to that early vision?
    Where did the idealism break down, and why?  How do we really feel
    about the success of other women?  And what do we do about those
    feelings towards other women that we consider to be unacceptable
    (especially anything that could be construed as needy or demanding).
    
    The authors' premise is that there are a lot of undercurrents in
    womens' relationships (both friendships and in groups) that get in the
    way of the kinds of relationships we would most like to have with our
    women friends and co-workers.  The chapters in the book discuss: 
    
    Bittersweet
    New Expectations
    Merged Attachments
    Abandonment
    Envy
    Competition
    Anger
    Speaking Up
    Friends and Lovers
    Separated Attachments/Connected Autonomy
    
    ...and a bibliography is provided
                                                                    
    The model is psychoanalytic, but feminist.
    
    My main complaint with the book is that although adult females are
    called 'women' throughout, adult female friends are often called
    'girlfriends'.  It's not a big issue, and doesn't get in the way
    of the message of the book, but was mildly annoying to me.
    
    The only other wish I had was that the authors had discussed the
    needs of lesbian women more.  They are certainly acknowledged, and
    presented positively, but 90% of the examples refer to women who
    choose to pair with men.
    
    I recommend this book highly to any woman, though.
    
    Holly

Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" has just been remaindered and
is available, in hard cover, at Lauriat's Bookstore in Burlington
Mall for $4.98.  (Probably in other bookstores, too.)

Martin.

I just finished reading "Moon Passage," a new novel by Jane LeCompte (her
first). This book is brilliant -- moving, funny, insightful, intelligently 
crafted, and stylistically superb. 

[A bit of a disclaimer: I knew Jane from my graduate student years in the
early '70s, although I can't say that I knew her very well, and she probably
wouldn't remember me. I didn't know she was a novelist or even lived in
New England until I came across an article about her and her book in the
"Concord [Mass.] Journal." I believe I'm being objective in my appraisal,
though.  If I didn't like the book, I'd simply not comment on it. And as an
aside, I consider myself pretty hard to please when it comes to books.]

"Moon Passage" deals with the relationship between two women. Anne, the
narrator, is the 45-year-old wife of Jay Ellis, a philandering poet-professor.
She's visited by the 20-year-old Ellen, the most recent in Jay's string of 
pretty, young students with whom he has had affairs. The emotional and 
intellectual interplay (sparring, probing, attacking, retreating, healing) 
is brilliantly rendered. We come to know and care about the characters; 
and both Anne and Ellen grow in their self-knowledge, and arrive at a 
genuine friendship in the end. 

I know the book is available in bookstores around Acton and Concord, Mass.
I'm not sure about bookstores in other areas; however, if you don't see it,
please ask the manager or clerk on duty -- this book deserves the chance to
be seen and read!

[Also posted in the KAYGEE::BOOKS conference]

    
    "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" by Barbara G. Walker
    Harper & Row ISBN 0-06-250925
    
    This book has been mentioned elsewhere, I believe (Ms. Broomhead?),
    and I just happen to have purchased it over the weekend. I simply
    cannot express how thought provoking this book is. Open it to any page
    and you will find an entry that will change the way you look at the
    world and our society; usually to say, 'gee, that stuff in sunday
    school/social studies/anthro 101 *seemed* peculiar at the time: this is
    the *real* explanation'.
    

    I just read a book my mother gave me.  It is exquisite.  It is painful.
     It is beautiful.  It is called "Spirals", and it is paraphrased
    on the cover as "a journey to the center of a woman's life".  And
    it is.  It is by Joan Gould, and it speaks of a woman whose life
    is crumbling and building around her.  The changes she goes through
    as daughter - watching her mother die, mother - watching her children
    grow, grandmother - helping her pregnant daughter, and wife - watching
    her husband die of cancer.  She asks a lot of questions...she finds
    a lot of ansers...she completes herself to the best of her ability.
    
    -Jody
    

    I'm not sure if it's been mentioned before (a DIR OF 70.* didn't show
    it) but....
    
    The Shell Seekers is one of the most lovely, warm books I've read in a
    long time. I've read it twice now and just thought of reading it yet
    again.  Wonderful story of a woman looking back over her full life.
    
    

    one book that always "stirs" my emotions is 
    "clowns of god"  being a non-christian, I first read it with my usual
    humph, until I noticed it had ensnared me completely.  It's  a novel
    about the second coming and all types of political intrigue that they
    use for the coming true portents from revelations. 
    one thing it teaches is that God doesn't pick the survivers of the
    armageddon from one relegion, but from atheisist, jews, catholics,
    moslems, lesbians and others.
    it was an amazing book.  I enjoyed it tremendously.
    it even inspires me!
    
    vivian

    Seems to me this may have been discussed in earlier incarnations of
    this conference, but I just ran across a tantalizing tidbit in, of
    all places, the Musical Heritage Society magazine.
    
    In a letter by one Susan Donaldson, there's a reference to "Australian
    linguist and literary critic" Dale Spender. Prompted by a note in "The
    Rise of the Novel..." by Ian Watt, to the effect that most of the
    novelists of the 18th century were of the female persuasion, Spender
    went on a hunting expedition for examples. She found over a hundred
    works by women predating Jane Austen. The kicker is that (if I read the
    brief letter aright) the earliest known novel, at least according to
    Spender, is Lady Mary Wroath's "Urania" (1621).
    
    The literati may want to pursue this subject by checking out Spender's
    "Mothers of the Novel" (1986, Pandora, London).
    
    Cheers,
    Chuck

    Not that half-remembered Penguin Edition Introductory Notes are any
    real authority, but I'd thought that Miguel de Cervantes "Don Quixote"
    was considered the first novel.  No, I don't remember the date...Jerry?
    
    DougO

    Hmmm, my DEC Std dictionary says Cervantes shuffled off in 1616, so he
    must have written before Wroath.
    
    Chuck

    It's a topic that's open to considerable debate.
    
    In addition to the books already mentioned, some critics give
    credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) to Sidney's
    _Arcadia_, written in the 1500's, and others to  _La Roman de la
    Rose_, from about 1450 (and written, I believe, by a woman).  A
    few critics will even trace it back to some scandalous and racy
    Roman tale whose name I've forgotten.  By Suetonius (spelled
    wrong, I'm sure), perhaps?
    
    There are also several Icelandic and Orkney sagas from the 11th
    and 12th centuries that qualify as novels, except that all the
    evidence indicates that nobody in England, France, or Spain heard
    of them until the 1800's.  I think there are also Chinese and
    Japanese novels, though I'm on shakier grounds there.
    
    --bonnie

    I was taught that the first *English* novel was _Pamela_, written
    as a series of letters, and published as a serial.  (I read it.)
    
    						Ann B.

      I recommend "The Gate to Women's Country" by Sherri Tepper.

      This is about a post-holocaust society and it's goals as seen
      through the eyes of one of the women. A lot of the myths/beliefs
      we have about men and women are explored. The story is excellent
      and has a bit of a surprize ending. It also makes you think about
      just how much you can/should control a society and why. liesl

    Suzette Hadin Elgin has 3 books out on *The Gentle Art of Verbal
    Self-Defense* which are excellent.
    
    She deals more with the subtler forms of attack (if you really loved
    me, you wouldn't WANT to smoke; if this job really mattered to you,
    you'd get here on time) rather than outright attacks (you stupid
    -----).  Her philosphy is that you should never insult someone unless
    you intend to.  She covers family, friends, work, groups.
    
    I found them very helpful.
    
    Meredith
    

I just finished "The Mists Of Avalon", by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  What an 
delightful retelling of the Arthurian legend.  It told the story as experienced
by the women around the throne - Vivian, the Lady of the Lake; Morgaine,
Vivian's heir and Arthur's sister; Gwenhyfar, Arthur's queen; Igraine, high
queen and mother of Morgain and Arthur.  It's major theme was the conflict
of Christianity and the Old Religion, centered on the Isle of Avalon.  It gives
some very good insights into the role of women in the two religions, and how
the early Christian church so ruthlessly suppressed the roles of women in any
area of society outside of domestic life.  I have read numerous version of the 
Arturian legends, and this is my favorite, passing even "The Once And Future 
King".  9+ out of 10, IMHO.

/Mike

    I haven't read this one, but my mother has (and I plan to when I get
    time).  
    
    My Life 
    A Loaded Gun
     --- female creativity and feminist poetics
    By Paula Bennett
    ISBN 0-8070-6308-8
    Beacon Press, 1986
    
    (from the inside cover)
    A pathbreaking look at female creativity based on an exhaustive study
    of the role of anger in the lives and works of three gians in American
    poetry - Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, and Adrienne Rich...
    
    
    -Jody
    

     I just finished a book by Anne Perry called "The Cater Street Hangman",
    being part of a series of Victorian Mysteries which she has written. 
    
     As a mystery story, it is not bad.  However, the book is full of
    intense characterisations. This is one of the few books that I read
    where the characters "came out of the page at me"; I found myself
    getting emotionally involved with the story.  Part of the attraction is
    that the book deals quite brutally with the lot of women in Victorian
    England; the major protagonist is a girl/woman who rebels verbally and
    mentally at some of the social mor�s of the time (class discrimination,
    sexual discrimination, etc).
    
     This is one of the few books that I "could not put down"; I finished
    it at 02:00 this morning (sigh, yawn).  Nigel rates it a 9.5/10
    
    					Nigel

    I recently read Margaret Atwood's most recent (as far as I know)
    novel, "Cat's Eye," and I enjoyed it so much I hated having to put
    it down to continue with my own life!  It's the story of a girl
    growing up in Toronto in the 40's and 50's and basically "finding
    herself."  It has a lot of interesting detail about the intricacies
    of socializing in grade school.  (It made me glad I don't have to
    go thru that again.)  It's amazing that she has remembered so many
    details from what it's like to be a child.  (The book is fiction,
    but what she describes about life in grade-school is so true.) 
    The story is told through 1st person flash-backs of the now middle-aged
    main character.  It describes very well the way young people can
    feel who don't "fit in."  Another interesting aspect is that I realized
    that it also described how the main character gradually became a
    feminist.
    
    Another one I recently read is "Breathing Lessons," Ann Tyler's
    recent novel.  It was very good featuring the type of odd-ball
    characters she specializes in.
    
    I am currently reading "The Iron Rooster, By Train Through China"
    by Paul Theroux.  This is the 4th train travel book I have read
    by Theroux.  I don't know how many are familiar with Paul Theroux,
    but he is originally from Medford, MA, and I believe now spends
    his time between London and Cape Cod.  He has written several travel
    books specialing in traveling by train and writing his observations
    of people and places.  He has also written a lot of fiction, and
    wrote "Mosquito Coast" which the movie was made from.   I have
    previously read "The Great Railway Bazaar" (by train thru Europe
    and Asia), "The Great Patagonian Express" (by train thru Mexico,
    Central and South America), and "Kingdom by the Sea" (by train and
    foot around Great Britain).  Words cannot describe how much I have
    enjoyed his train books.  He makes me feel as though I'm inside
    his head seeing the world through his eyes.  He is very funny and
    insightful, and as one review said, "ever subjective" :-).  I find
    it particularly interesting, growing up in Mass. myself, that he
    often compares places to Boston or the Cape.  He can be halfway
    around the world and say that a row of houses look like houses in
    Medford.  Anyway, his travel books are a lot of fun to read.
    
    Lorna
    

    Kristen Lavransdottir is an astonishingly wonderful trilogy that
    follows a woman in 14th century Norway from earliest childhood to death
    in old age.
    
    The writer, Sigrid Undset, (a woman) was a history scholar and so the
    historical information is accurate.  I believe that Undset died within
    the last 20 years or so, so she was writing from a relatively
    contemporary set of preoccupations but with feeling for another age. 
    
    Not only that, it is a complex portrait of an early sister.  It covers
    many of the ideas discussed in this notesfile, marriage customs, early
    churches, witchcraft, the place of women in society, every-day customs. 
    In short, it read like real life.  
    
    The book is a classic in Scandanavia.  Available in paperback here in
    the States, in English, of course.  May have to special order it as it's
    not exactly a best seller but well worth the effort.
    
    The English titles of the books in the triology are:
       "The Bridal Wreath"
       "The Mistress of Husaby"
       "The Cross"
    

    Undset was awarded a Literature Prize of some sort (Nobel? I don't
    know) for some of her other work; I think it was a tetrology, but I've
    only managed to obtain one book of it ("The Axe").  The three books of
    Kristin Lavransdottir cover her entire life, from childhood through
    marriage and childrearing, widowhood and religious reflection (all as
    deeply significant parts of her life).
    
    I might be persuaded to loan them.
    
    DougO

    I'd like to second Lorna's recommendation in 70.101:
    
    CAT'S EYE by Margaret Atwood, is really very, very good. Lorna gives an
    		accurate description of the book, so I'd just like to add 
    		that you can read it even if you didn't like The Handmaid's
    		Tale: both books are completely different. I personnally 
    		didn't find THT exceptional - good reading, but not earth
    		shattering - while I thoroughly enjoyed Cat's Eye.
    
    Also read recently:
    
    THE DIETER by Susan Sussman - I commented on this book in the "dieting"
    		note. Moving and funny.
    
    NOT WITHOUT MY DAUGHTER by Betty Mahmoody with William Hoffman - the
    		true - at least I believe it - story of an American woman 
    		who, being forcibly held in Iran with her daughter by her 
    		Iranian husband, decides to escape and manages to do so. 
    
    Regards,
    Joana
    

    
    Has anyone out there read "Games Mother Never Taught You" by
    Betty Lehan Harragan?
    
    I've just started it, and I'm finding it compulsive reading!
    It's about corporate politics.......
    
    The basic premise is that business is a game.
    A game whose rules are known by men even before they enter the
    working world, but are not bred into or explained to women.
    
    It outlines the rules, and explains how to devise a strategy
    to win the game - not to "join them", but to beat them to a position
    where you can change the rules.
    
    I'm trying to read it with a pinch of salt, but it all sounds all
    too familiar. And the examples of women's careers and situations
    given are VERY familiar.....
    
    I'd welcome a critical view of this book if anyone has come across
    it.
    
    'gail

    'gail
    
    I've got it at home on my bookshelf but hadn't gotton around to
    cracking it yet.  Ypur note intrigued me so maybe I'll find the time
    for it now.  I'll let you know...
    
    Nanci

>>    The basic premise is that business is a game.
>>    A game whose rules are known by men even before they enter the
>>    working world, but are not bred into or explained to women.
  
Only some men...   

    No one mentioned Danielle Steel.....I could read an entire book
    in one sitting!!!
    

    I have read it, about 12 years ago when I was just starting in on
    my working career.  In retrospect, I think it was very helpful.
    Much of what she said is still applicable, but like *any* book on
    business strategy, it must be applied with care.  I feel fairly
    comfortable saying that with the increased emphasis on girls' sports
    in high school, that some of what she says will eventually be outdated.
    Changes in what is valued in management (and there have been some,
    however slow and small) will also outdate her premises.  But overall,
    it gives a paradigm that can be very useful.
    
    Alison

Sara Paretsky's "Burn Marks". Now out in hard cover. I enjoyed it as much as
the other 5 VI Warshawsky books.
	Mez

I wouldn't take every word as truth, but I found it a useful explanation
of why I didn't feel uncomfortable in some situations in which women of
similar temprement and background felt very uncomfortable for no reason
that they could name, except that they felt 'excluded' [their words].  I'm
a lifelong player of baseball, poker, and football [well, from before I
could read, anyway...] and many of the assumptions come naturally to me.

--bonnie

    
    Re .107
    
    Having run this book past my SO last night, and not been able to
    get it back of him for an hour, I guess it could also be of interest
    to a great number of men.
    
    What interested him was that he *consciously* began to see some
    of the rules he'd been playing by, and could therefore plan moves
    actively rather than by "instinct".
                             
    Give it a run - you may well enjoy it.
    You may find you want to open a topic to refute some of the ideas
    in it too ;-)
    
    'gail (still rivetted - had to tear myself away to Note!)
     
    
    

<                       -< GAMES MOTHER NEVER TAUGHT YOU >-

Somehow, reading the note on circle jerks, then reading this book title...

    Carol :-}