What books should a budding feminist read?

[kickassangel]

As I get more back in touch with my feminist side, what would be the 'top ten' books on feminism to read?

I have just bought Beauvoir's 'the Second Sex' which looks interesting, if a little demanding.

I once tried The Female Eunuch, but found ti too dense (or maybe I was).

So, what are the BIG feminist texts to read? Or lesser know, but make good points etc. Is there a 'top ten' that I should read to 'really' know about feminism?

Germaine, even.

"Beloved" is such a powerful book. Tony Morrison is another one of my favourite authors.

I'm going to have to give "Woman on the Edge" another go. I remember railing against, and loathing her 'Utopia' when I first read it 15 years ago. Thinking more about it, I suppose that was the point. It was flawed, but infinitely better then the alternative.

I'm reading Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. Fascinating.

From my bookshelf -
'The Women's Room', Marilyn French
'The Second Sex', Simone de Beauvoir
'The Sceptical Feminist', Janet Radcliffe Richards
'Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter', Simone de Beauvoir
'Out of the Doll's House', Angela Holdsworth
'A History of Their Own' Anderson and Zinsser (two volumes)
'The Wife of Bath's Tale', Chaucer
'Jane Eyre', Charlotte Bronte
'A Vindication of the Rights of Women', Mary Wolstonecraft

A bit heavy going, some of them - and a fairly eclectic mix. There are some I haven't read for years and years, I really should revisit them now that it's '20 years and two husbands later'.

The most interesting, I think, is Chaucer, writing in the late 14th century (that's over 600 years ago. Let's count them. 600), who made the point that what a woman wants above all else is to be held in the same esteem as her husband.

there'll be a lot for you to chew on re:women/poverty/mental healthy system on Women on the Edge of time, saf. I thought that side of the book was stronger than the "utopian" aspect.

Delusions of Gender is also v good, debunks the neuroscience supposedly underlying gender differences.

The Female Man by Joanna Russ is a good read, though the feminist ideas it presents are not exactly groundbreaking.

And yet another vote for the Women's Room (which I think is fiction rather than non-fiction, technically anyway). And another good, thought-provoking novel is Meg Wolitzer's The Ten Year Nap.

Women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

A magical ,mystical and deeply thought provoking book which discusses the power of myth and storytelling within our society and it's impact upon the female psyche from a Jungian perspective.

Sounds deep and intense, and it is, but it's also wise and joyful.

I highly recommend it.

I am now putting in orders from my local library, and searching amazon to get started on this, thanks everyone

Martha Quest Trilogy and The Golden Notebook -by Doris Lessing