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Original poster

Would we like a fiction Book Club?

162 replies

Unrulysun · 15/02/2011 13:00

So that we could do some feminist analysis of fiction I mean? I was thinking maybe some classics but possibly we all know that Rochester has to be emasculated before Jane blah blah and we'd prefer to do others?

Would anyone be up for it? Would it work? What would we read? Other questions I haven't thought of?

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HoodedCrow · 15/02/2011 19:46

Have never read Vilette and would look forward to doing so

HoodedCrow · 15/02/2011 19:45

Or mayor of casterbridge - wife selling etc. and weak male lead - not mayor, you know the weak one fooroofrr....

ladyofthehouseoflove · 15/02/2011 19:44

Another vote here for Vilette Smile

Also, maybe Angela Carter?

HandDivedScallopsrgreat · 15/02/2011 19:39

I'd go for Northanger too. It is a realtively short book and easy to read. Only read Under the Greenwood Tree by Hardy and that was about 25 years ago and I barely remember it! So happy to be led on that score.

HerBeX · 15/02/2011 19:32

Given the other thread, we have to have Tess, don't we?

Ooh ooh and Jude the Obscure if we're going in for Hardy

Rhadegunde · 15/02/2011 19:28

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Blackduck · 15/02/2011 19:27

If its between Vilette and Northanger I vote the latter......

Original poster
Unrulysun · 15/02/2011 19:25

'Beloved' is such a good book. Not an easy read but amazing.

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Original poster
Unrulysun · 15/02/2011 19:23

Oh yes FB that would be the point - to come at it from a feminist angle :)

lots of suggestions - we can easily fill a year already! I would suggest we start in a month or so to give everyone time to read. Do we want Villette or Northanger Abbey?

Rhadegunde how does the other book club work practically? How do you decide onbooks and timings I mean? We should probably do this two weeks after that tbh so that if people want to do both they have a chance to read them.

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HerBeX · 15/02/2011 19:01

Maya Angelou

Jean Rhys

If we want wider audience, what about I don't know how she does it

Rhadegunde · 15/02/2011 18:56

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darleneconnor · 15/02/2011 18:51

that sounds like a good idea.

The Women's Room by Marilyn French would be a good place to start.

I know that Andrea Dworkin wrote some fiction but know nothing about it.

Virginia Woolf...

Historical fiction would be good too, to discuss how things have changed (0r not) over time.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

Margaret Atwood...

As for classics I'd suggest Anna Karenina, Moll Flanders, Madame Bovary.

Are Toni Morrison's novels feminist. I've heard of her but not sure if it's suitable.

Alice Walker...

I think there should be a range of places/ times/ themes etc.

The yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterspoon- I've not read the book but saw the tv series repeated recently.

Although it doesn't have to be all serious. Doing a chick lit book would make the discussion more accessible to a wider audience.

FlamingoBingo · 15/02/2011 18:32

yes please - just tell me what and when Smile

ps. Could we not just have a 'book club' but be actually critiquing them with a feminist slant? IS that what you mean anyway? I kind of thought you might mean books that have an obvious feminist/anti-feminist theme, but I'd really like to get practised at seeing sexism/misogyny in everything, and being able to understand why it is sexist/misogynist IYSWIM

Rhadegunde · 15/02/2011 18:23

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HoodedCrow · 15/02/2011 17:51

I'm in Grin

Just don't get me started on Tess...

Original poster
Unrulysun · 15/02/2011 17:46

X post - rather than ignoring overwhelming support for Vilette. :)

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Original poster
Unrulysun · 15/02/2011 17:44

Ooooh good. Have been out for afternoon and just checked this page and I-phone hadn't refreshed so saw 1 reply (mine starting the thread) and was about to get Middlemarch down from the shelf sobbing quietly and try to get past the first chapter read it alone.

Fantastic!

I agree with everything everyone has said (including that we might not all get to read all books). In the spirit of inclusivity shall we start with something many of us have read, segue into the modern (One Day or similar), then do the suggested more off the beaten track Brontes and I lurve the idea of 'celebrating' international men's day by vivisecting Seb or something like him.

So what do we know well enough to start with? I could do most Austens and Shakespeares (no not Pericles obv). And could get my head round Hardys and Brontes quickish.

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Prolesworth · 15/02/2011 17:34

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vezzie · 15/02/2011 17:18

Can't read Mary Barton. Had to put it away. Can't bear all the clemming children [sobs]

Blackduck · 15/02/2011 17:04

How about The tenant of wildfell hall (Anne Bronte)? Interesting read and plenty to get your teeth into...

Hullygully · 15/02/2011 16:49

Villette.

That is one weird book.

Rhadegunde · 15/02/2011 16:45

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sethstarkaddersmackerel · 15/02/2011 16:35

great idea.

I would like to do the occasional biting feminist critique of a bloke's book though, it would be such fun. Maybe once a year to celebrate International Men's Day or something.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 15/02/2011 16:30

If we are starting with a classic may I suggest Villette? Familiar Bronte territory but not done to death in the way that WH and JE are.

EngelbertFustianMcSlinkydog · 15/02/2011 16:24

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