Educate me!

[TheABC]

Inspired by a few other threads, I want to broaden my reading material (to go with gin). If you wanted to recommend one feminist book off your shelf that gave you the "aha" moment, what would it be?

I am currently working my way through "Invisible women", but it's slow going as I have to frequently stop and rant at DH about the topics it brings up.

From the beast to the blonde by Marina Warner.

I loved Helen Lewis, Difficult Women

@TheABC

Inspired by a few other threads, I want to broaden my reading material (to go with gin). If you wanted to recommend one feminist book off your shelf that gave you the "aha" moment, what would it be?

I am currently working my way through "Invisible women", but it's slow going as I have to frequently stop and rant at DH about the topics it brings up.

Get the books on audio if possible and use the frustration to motivate you while exercising. 🙂

Not exactly an 'aha' moment, but I'm currently reading a great joint biography of mother and daughter Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, 'Romantic Outlaws' by Charlotte Gordon, for a bit of early feminist history.

It's not quite what you're asking about, OP, but I really love the book Many Roads, One Journey by Charlotte Kasl. It's basically a feminist critique of traditional 12-step programmes for dealing with addiction and trauma recovery, and a very non-preachy look at how you can develop a recovery approach that fits you better if you are female. If you or a loved one are dealing with recovery in your life, it's a really refreshing approach.

am currently working my way through "Invisible women", but it's slow going as I have to frequently stop and rant at DH about the topics it brings up

Oh god. This was me. Took me bloody ages to read it. I want to read it again but I’m getting all cross just thinking about it.

Some great suggestions here - I am compiling the list on Kindle as we speak. I love fairytales, so the Beast to the Blonde will be fascinating, as will the "Romantic Outlaws" bio.

@CousinKrispy, I am thankfully not dealing with addiction (unless chocolate counts?), but Many Roads still looks worthwhile - thank you.

@BrandineDelRoy, I agree audiobooks seem like a brilliant timesaver but as I am profoundly deaf, it's not something I can easily do. A pity - I can just imagine stamping off down the South West Path with a pair of headphones and backpack...

@TheABC

Inspired by a few other threads, I want to broaden my reading material (to go with gin). If you wanted to recommend one feminist book off your shelf that gave you the "aha" moment, what would it be?

I am currently working my way through "Invisible women", but it's slow going as I have to frequently stop and rant at DH about the topics it brings up.

7 necessary sins for women by Mona Eltahawy. I devoured it!

@TheABC

Some great suggestions here - I am compiling the list on Kindle as we speak. I love fairytales, so the Beast to the Blonde will be fascinating, as will the "Romantic Outlaws" bio.

@CousinKrispy, I am thankfully not dealing with addiction (unless chocolate counts?), but Many Roads still looks worthwhile - thank you.

@BrandineDelRoy, I agree audiobooks seem like a brilliant timesaver but as I am profoundly deaf, it's not something I can easily do. A pity - I can just imagine stamping off down the South West Path with a pair of headphones and backpack...

I'm sorry for my assumption. I took hearing for granted. I listen with one ear pod in to listen for rattlesnakes here! 🙂

I was able to do a bit of SW Coastal Path from Tintagel to Boscastle in 2006 by my lonesome. One of the best walks of my life.

Don’t know if it’s still in print, but The Women’s Room by Marilyn French was an eye opener for me in 1978, when it was first published.

I'm going to send you back to the 70s when I read The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer and suddenly a lot of my confusion and concern made sense. Greer's complex and awkward and doesn't play nice, but she's always been ahead of the game. She resigned from Cambridge's only remaining all-women college when a transwoman was appointed years ago, before most of us had any idea of what was going on. The Female Eunuch is a relatively easy read: it'll go well with gin.

The Descent of Woman by Elaine Morgan. She was an engaging writer, and I loved the way she neatly showed me how easy it is to think of men as default and centre everything on men's needs.

Misogynies Joan Smith. Perfect companion to Greer's statement about women not realising just how much men hate them.

Some of my favourites are:

• Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
• The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
• The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula LeGuin

These are all fiction, but all three have really shaped the way I think about gender and womanhood.

In non-fiction:

• Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman
• When I got you by Meena Kandasamy

I second The Female Eunuch

Debbie Cameron's writing is great - The Myth of Mars & Venus and her book Feminsm (from Ideas in Profile series) are both worth reading. The latter is a good introduction if you want to go back to basics OP, a short and easy to read walk through feminist theory.

Also Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber which turns female fairytale archetypes on their head. One of the most startling books I've ever read. Carter was a real eye opener for me.

Marge Piercy - Woman on the Edge of Time.

Gendered Brain, Gina Rippon.

Oohh! Thanks, everyone.

I am getting in extra gin and this will make a "good" summer reading list. I may need to buy extra whiskey for DH to cope...

I do love a reading list thread. Always new books to discover. Thanks OP.

The Grumpy Guide to Radical Feminism by Andreia Noble is an entertaining read.

www.google.com/amp/s/bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/the-grumpy-guide-to-radical-feminism-andreia-nobre/amp/

One of the first books which made a big impression on me is Significant Sisters by Margaret Forster
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0099455579/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_X4Z1T11WSDRXAPRQQY1W

Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to post. I really appreciate it.