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I’m really excited about this challenge so I can read everyone’s reviews and recommendations. I have a feeling my tbr is going to get ever higher. The challenge lasts until November 2010, and more information can be found at the Women Unbound Challenge site.
There are three options:
- Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.
- Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction ones.
- Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction ones.
I’m going with the Suffragette option. I’ll first list the titles I’m interested in reading for the challenge, and then I’ll give some recommendations of some great books that I think are great reads for this endeavor.
Fiction:
- A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey (Amazon info)
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Amazon info)
- A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (Amazon info)
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Amazon info)
- Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Amazon info)
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Amazon info)
- The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer (Amazon info)
- Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte (Amazon info)
- The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein (Amazon info)
- Out by Natsuo Kirino (Amazon info)
- The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Amazon info)
- The Waiting Years by Enchi Fumiko (Amazon info)
- ?? by Nawal El Saadawi (Amazon info)
Nonfiction:
- Expat: Women’s True Tales of Life Abroad by Christina Henry De Tessan (Amazon info)
- A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe by Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick, and Christina Henry de Tessan (Amazon info)
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Amazon info)
- A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (Amazon info)
- Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Lauren Ulrich (Amazon info)
Books I recommend for the challenge:
- So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
- The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
- Unless by Carol Shields
- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Property by Valerie Martin
- Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall
- Purple Hibiscus by Adichie
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
- Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo (this is a light read, but it does examine how women’s expectations are sometimes based on the literature we read)
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- probably a few more but I had to stop somewhere!
And two non-fiction titles:
- Wild Swans by Jung Chang
- Persepolis I and II by Marjane Satrapi
Love your list. A Thousand Acres and The Yellow Wallpaper are great reads. Enjoy!
I am looking forward to this challenge! Great lists.
Well, i m not doing this one. i m in no position to buy more books
I’ve got my list ready but I don’t think I’ll make a hard and fast one as it’ll depend on what I can get out of my library. I psyched for the concept, though!
Jane Austen Ruined My Life was a really fun read.
Great lists there!
Great list! I second Vasily on A Thousand Acres and The Yellow Wallpaper. Reading Lolita in Tehran is wonderful as well. And I’m hoping to read Persepolis, so thanks for the suggestion!
I am currently 30 pages into The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki for the Women UnBound Reading Challenge-I also have Out on my list-I did today my first post for the challenge, on Anita Brookner’s Leaving Home-your selections are all very interesting
I am so excited for this challenge. I have Speak on my list as well. I love the suggested reading list you created–so many fantastic books!
I’m thinking about doing this challenge too! I think I have challenge fever…I seem to be signing up for a lot of them!
I have an award for you:
http://thetruebookaddict.blogspot.com/2009/11/kreativ-blogger-award.html
Great list! Can’t wait for all of your reviews. I am intrigued to see what you think of “The Ten Year Nap”.
That sounds like a good challenge I will have to keep it in mind.
Happy Reading!
Great lists! I’ve added some of your titles to my to-read list.
Of the books you’re planning to read, I’ve read just four – A Woman of Independent Means, Memories of a Geisha, Speak, and The Ten-Year Nap. I think you’ll enjoy them all. Happy reading!
That’s such a great list! Many interesting titles in there; Im thinking more and more of joining too. I was hesitant at first, especially for the non-fiction part, but it seems there are more books that suits that category and that I am interested in than I first though.
Enjoy your reading!
Thanks for this post! I’m thinking about the challenge too. I like your list, and you reminded me I want to read the Expat book too.
Good to see you are also joining this challenge, Michelle…you have listed some great books!
I’m really going back and forth on doing this challenge. I think what was giving me pause was trying to pick the nonfiction book, but I do have Wild Swans, which you recommend, so maybe I should just bite the bullet and at least sign up as a philogynist.
I have added your blog to my list of “Other Book-Bloggers” on my blog. I hope that’s ok with you! Thanks- Michelle G.
http://thenext100books.blogspot.com/
I’ve joined this, but I haven’t yet made my list … your list is fantastic, and gives me some ideas from my TBR