Since I'm procrastinating, yous get a meme
It's about women writers. The usual rules (bold if you've read the book, italics if you'd like to, question mark if you're thinking "who the hell is that?" and regular if you're disinterested).Here're my results:
Allcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Allende, Isabel–The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Seriously lacking in American lit reading history. Should really try to read more of it.
Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye: I've read others of hers and liked them. Never read this.
Austen, Jane–Emma: Am a sucker for Austen. Have the entire collection and BBC TV serials/films of most of them.
? Bambara, Toni Cade–Salt Eaters
? Barnes, Djuna–Nightwood
de Beauvoir, Simone–The Second Sex
Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre: Always thought (still do) that Jane was a bit of an idiot for returning to Mr. R.
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession
Cather, Willa–My Antonia
Chopin, Kate–The Awakening
Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
?Cisneros, Sandra–The House on Mango Street
Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History
?Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South
?Danticat, Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory
?Davis, Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
Desai, Anita–Clear Light of Day
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
Eliot, George–Middlemarch
?Emecheta, Buchi–Second Class Citizen??
Erdrich, Louise–Tracks
Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate
Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper
Gordimer, Nadine–July's People
Grafton, Sue–S is for Silence
Hamilton, Edith–Mythology
Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley
hooks, bell–Bone Black
Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
?Jackson, Helen Hunt–Ramona
?Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House
Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying
Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them)
Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees
Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy
Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible
?Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
?Larsen, Nella–Passing??
L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time
Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger
?Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals
?Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series
?McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding
McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts
?Markandaya, Kamala–Nectar in a Sieve??
?Marshall, Paule–Brown Girl, Brownstones
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables
?Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost??
Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji
Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women
Murdoch, Iris–Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria–Mama Day
Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller's Wife
Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys
O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find
?Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
Picoult, Jodi–My Sister's Keeper
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar
Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools
Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
Rand, Ayn–The Fountainhead
?Ray, Rachel–365: No Repeats
Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea
?Robinson, Marilynne–Housekeeping
?Rocha, Sharon–For Laci
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
?Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie–White Teeth
Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna–Heidi
?Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle??
Steel, Danielle–The House
Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
Tannen, Deborah–You're Wearing That
?Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale
?Urquhart, Jane–Away
Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar
Welty, Eudora–One Writer's Beginnings
Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
?Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own
Upon looking over the list, I realise how many authors I just don't know of. There's the next hour or so of procrastination right there (Hello, Google!).
I got the list off here. There're some more recommendations in the comments over there but I'd like to add a few:
Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South--both the book and the BBC TV series--is a particular favourite of mine. There're not many books written during that time which end--sorry, folks!--with the man accepting a woman's money and help in order to make a living. Oh, and it also helps that the BBC TV series guy has a marvellous Northern accent. Yes, well, we all know all planets have a North)
Helen Garner
Oh, and why not J.K. Rowling? Yes, she's just got one series out but considering the number of people who have read her books, I reckon she should be on the list.
Christina Stead
Ann Radcliffe (yay for Gothic novels!)
and, finally, an author who, as one of my siblings put it, "probably inculcated what is called morality into all of us since Mum and Dad thankfully never bothered. Why can't I ever lie without feeling like I should confess about it?": Enid Blyton. Yes, she had terrible books. Yes, it was all about impossibly adventurous children in post-war Britain (or during WWII). But, they were still enjoyable, in my opinion. Along with Biggles and Tintin, they formed childhood/young adulthood reading in my household and in many other households through South-east Asia that I know of.
posted by Priya @ 7:39 PM
3 Comments:
Surprisingly, these are the ones I have read:
Allcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye
Austen, Jane–Emma
de Beauvoir, Simone–The Second Sex
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre:
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Chopin, Kate–The Awakening
Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History
Davis, Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
hooks, bell–Bone Black
Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible
Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables
Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys
O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find
Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar
Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
Rand, Ayn–The Fountainhead
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
?Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie–White TeethSpyri, Johanna–Heidi
Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale
Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own
I think I have read quite a bit of this list, and some other books by some of the other authors listed, just not the books listed. ah well..
I know! I had a similar issue with a few authors in that I'd read a few of their other books, just not the ones listed. I still hadn't heard of loads of them, though.
This is definitive evidence that I spent far too much of my childhood reading rather than learning things like social skills. The ones I've read:
Allcott, Louisa May–Little Women (not my favorite, but I can see why it's the one they use)
Allende, Isabel–The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Meh. I never really got why this was supposed to be so great.)
Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye (As a kid, I wanted to grow up to be Atwood.)
Austen, Jane–Emma
Barnes, Djuna–Nightwood
de Beauvoir, Simone–The Second Sex
Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It's Me Margaret (I read this too early, I think. By the time I was the right age for it, I didn't see the point.)
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden (I still reread this when I think about it.)
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre (I read my first copy of this until the covers fell off. Same thing with the second copy. I first read Jasper FForde because I love Jane Eyre.)
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession (I really don't get the appeal of Byatt.)
Cather, Willa–My Antonia
Chopin, Kate–The Awakening (Loved this book as a child. Loved it even more when I read it as part of an undergrad class on Women and Suicide in Literature.)
Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros, Sandra–The House on Mango Street
Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South
Danticat, Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory
Davis, Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
Eliot, George–Middlemarch (Another old favorite)
Erdrich, Louise–Tracks
Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate
Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (I was so disappointed in the movie, but I've grown to love them both for being totally different entities.)
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique (I've talked about my encounters with this before.)
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper (Herland is better.)
Gordimer, Nadine–July's People
Hamilton, Edith–Mythology
Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley
hooks, bell–Bone Black
Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Jackson, Helen Hunt–Ramona
Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House
Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying
Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (most of them)
Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees
Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy
Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible (This was better than some earlier essays of hers led me to expect.)
Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
Larsen, Nella–Passing
L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time (DIdn't everyone read this?)
Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird (I begged my mom to let me dress as ham for halloween. Never worked.)
Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger
Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals
Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series (I read these. I admit it.)
McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding
McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind (This is my sister's favorite book. Or at least, it was when we were kids.)
Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables (I preferred the Emily series, because she wasn't such a goody-two shoes, wishy-washy, sweet young thing. Emily had real ambitions.)
Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji
Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women
Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller's Wife
Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys
O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find (My love of O'Connor knows no bounds. I blame it on a copy of Everything that Rises Must Converge thta I found in a box in the attic.)
Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar (Again, no covers. Rereading it now, I can see the flaws.)
Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools
Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
Rand, Ayn–The Fountainhead
Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Another favorite)
Smith, Zadie–White Teeth
Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna–Heidi (And again with the covers falling off. I'm beginning to think I was just really hard on books.)
Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle
Steel, Danielle–The House
Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
Tannen, Deborah–You're Wearing That
Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale
Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar
Welty, Eudora–One Writer's Beginnings
Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods (Meh. These were my mother's idea, because she liked them.)
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own
There weren't any that I hadn't heard of--although several of them were books I started and then forgot to finish for various reasons. I'm assuming those don't belong on my list.
A lot of these were books that, as a kid, I actually sat and read through. One of the few things that I can spend huge amounts of time on is well-done fiction, and several of these are the sort of thing that the local librarian pointed me toward in early grade school, once she was sure that my parents thought I should be allowed to read whatever I wanted.
Especially fun was the summer after second grade, when I read my way through all of Flannery O'Connor's stuff and then moved on to all the available history on Lizzie Borden. I took breaks with Piers Anthony and Loiusa May Alcott.
It was the year I got glasses, so it was suddenly a lot easier to sit and read for literally hours. I'm very pale in my third grade class photo, so obviously I didn't spend much time outside.
In retrospect, my childhood reputation as a bit of an odd duck was probably deserved.
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