Feminist Coronavirus book club

[EmpressAlexandra]

Hi, I’m wondering if there is any scope for us to improve our minds, while so many of us are stuck at home, by setting up a book club. We could perhaps do this via zoom (I say this merrily, being completely useless at IT). So we could actually speak!

I’m thinking this might be the ideal time to get to grips with something long or hard (excuse me for that unfortunate phrasing). Maybe The Second Sex. Or women in Jane Austen. Or women in Hitchcock (this would involve watching lots of TV). Or women in the bible or Greek mythology. Or anything, really. What do people think?

Lovely idea OP. I'm still on Invisible Women and I've got The Woman's Room lined up afterwards so I can't join in (also childcare) but hope someone else comes to join took soon.

Hello I’m in. I’m open to a couple of suggestions. Would quite like to read letters from the war zone by dworkin. What do you have in mind for Greek mythology? Gerda lerners creation of patriarchy very good. Happy to read again.

Great! I will think about this and work up some ideas.

Take a look at Difficult Women by Helen Lewis? Damn fine book for feminists. Not quite finished it yet (onto Abortion chapter) but listened to the pod cast where Lewis apparently talks about launching the fifth wave, we've got a lot to do...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3849048-Anyone-read-Helen-Lewiss-new-book-Difficult-Women

Can I recommend Marion Zimmer Bradley? I’m a history, sci-fi and fantasy reader. She not only covers all these really well but from the woman’s perspective. Grass is one of my favorites, and I’m just listening to Mists of Avalon. All 50 hours of it, after reading it when I was 18. Not pure feminist literature- but it was my doorway.

Great idea op. I haven't read Marian Zimmer Bradley for years FeckTheMagicDragon but used to be a huge fan. I'm just about to start Difficult Women. Glad that it's been so well received and would love to discuss this or anything else.

Marion Zimmer Bradley was a pedophile so thats a no from me.

yes, great idea. I mostly read novels but happy to tackle anything.

Yes maybe it is finally time for me to read The Second Sex!

The Beauty Myth is a very powerful book which still has much relevance. Fiction - Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy is a favourite of mine, in fact lots of her books are worth a read and explore a lot of perennial feminist issues.

Thelnebriati Have just googled this - I had no idea. Her poor daughter.

I will not be revisiting her books.

Oh no, that’s awful - I had no idea!

That's a great idea, but you may need to limit it to books you already have or that are available electronically, the delivery times on amazon are very slow right now.

I'm in.

I'm in the ME & currently teaching by zoom (schools are closed) - in fact our local book club were just musing the possibilities of carrying on using it.

Will read anything!

There’s From The Beast To The Blonde by Marina Warner if you have time on your hands.

I'm reading a fascinating book by a feminist lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, called Nobody's Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs And Trolls. What she has achieved is truly admirable. I got it for my kindle quite cheaply.

Wow this is all really interesting. I’m going to be slow though because my youngest has now developed a nasty cough. He seems ok in himself but needs a lot of looking after.

If you want to convert a PDF to audio, most web browsers have a 'text to speech' add on you can download that lets you open a PDF and will then read it out. You could record it using a free utility such as Audacity.

Gollanz, her publishers, are giving all royalties from the e-book sales of her works to the Save the Children charity. So you can safely buy them.

If you want to convert a PDF to audio, most web browsers have a 'text to speech' add on you can download that lets you open a PDF and will then read it out.
You cna already do that with Adobe Acrobat Reader, which most people already have installed. Select the page you want, go to the View menu and select Read Out Loud.

On a tip from here I listened to Invisible Women afternChristmas and following on have just finished Difficult Womem. Both read by the authors, so you get their emphasis on what they want you to understand from the text. Depressing that we are so far off èquity but uplifting in equal measure that we have such straightforward and accessable analysis avaliable from these passionate women. I haven't a degree in anything so can be intimidated by some academic writing. These, whilst robustly making the case for feminism don't baffle with word salad. Now, any reccomendatons on what to read next?

Also, I was an avid MZB reader as a teen. I'm aghast to find out about her dispicable behaviour.

I'm not interested in reading feminist theory but I would reccomend

The Five - particularly as the Jack the Ripper industry is mentioned on the cult thread.

www.waterstones.com/book/the-five/hallie-rubenhold/9781784162344.

Ms Rubenhold's perspective is entirely from the point of view of the women, their families and the reason why they came to be victims- which in the case of 4 were poverty and homelessness, not that they were prostitutes. It's also a fascinating account of life in that period.

Re Marion Zimmer Bradley, I read and quite enjoyed The Mists of Avalon years ago although I wasn't that keen on some of the Goddess /woo stuff. Looking at her wiki entry "woo" seems to have featured prominently in her life and went well beyond the laughable woo to the genuinely nasty and dangerous level.

Octavia Butler would be an excellent fiction choice.

Sherri Tepper’s Gate to Women’s Country is an interesting novel from both a feminist and political perspective.