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Hordes Of Scribbling Women
Feb. 22nd, 2015 04:16 pmI've finished Between Planets and my review is here. It's not March yet, but this novella concludes the only reading what's on my shelves 2014/15 reading project, although there are still more than ten unread books, including Anna Karenina, which I bought in 1995.
Anyway, last year, Badaude, a.k.a. Joanna Walsh wanted to make 2014 the year of reading women. There were bookmarks and everything. But I only read three lady novelists: Rose Tremain, Lorrie Moore and Hilary Mantel.
So, always behind the trends, in 2015/16 I'm only going to read female authors off of my Goodreads to-read list. I'm not sure this division means that much – I'd rather read, say, Martin Miller or Ben Richards for well rounded female protagonists than the oeuvre of E.L. James. It's not entirely true that men just write about their own experience – even in ye olde days, Patrick Hamilton and Alexander Baron were very sympathetic to women and their place in society, and didn't write in the misogynistic ways of their times. To split the genders like this means that we're saying that men and women are intrinsically different, which I don't really believe. I wouldn't spend a year reading only black and Asian writers or listen to only female produced music, although I did know someone who went to see every woman-directed film released in cinemas in a year.
However, there are 393 books on my list and even at a book a fortnight, that's still fifteen years worth of reading and I'd like to make a start in some kind of structured fashion.
It will probably mean that I will read less non-fiction, as I like pop-sociology/history/etymology/travel, the Bryson/Maconie school of light reading, whereas women tend to write on more serious subjects. It'll also mean that I will read more modern books – not only because women in the past had less access to writing their experiences, but because women’s fiction tends to get airbrushed out of history, leaving only Jane, Emily, and Charlotte to represent female writers before the 20th century. Even if there's a Guardian Review lost novels article about a specific writer, it's hard to get hold of the books:- Hackney library does not have The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, the book Hitchcock used as the basis for the ever popular The Lady Vanishes.
But I am looking forward to reading Deborah Levy, Eleanor Catton, Rebecca Solnit, P.D. James, Lauren Beukes, Jennifer Egan, Gillian Flynn, Barbara Kingsolver, Lottie Moggach, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Pym, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, none of whom I've read before, as well as some of my faves: Atwood, Diski, Moore, Highsmith, Tartt, de Beauvoir, Lessing, and some sci-fi and detective novels.
First up is Gone Girl, because I ordered it from the library thinking that, due to its popularity, it wouldn't be available for several months, but it popped up straight away.
Anyway, last year, Badaude, a.k.a. Joanna Walsh wanted to make 2014 the year of reading women. There were bookmarks and everything. But I only read three lady novelists: Rose Tremain, Lorrie Moore and Hilary Mantel.
So, always behind the trends, in 2015/16 I'm only going to read female authors off of my Goodreads to-read list. I'm not sure this division means that much – I'd rather read, say, Martin Miller or Ben Richards for well rounded female protagonists than the oeuvre of E.L. James. It's not entirely true that men just write about their own experience – even in ye olde days, Patrick Hamilton and Alexander Baron were very sympathetic to women and their place in society, and didn't write in the misogynistic ways of their times. To split the genders like this means that we're saying that men and women are intrinsically different, which I don't really believe. I wouldn't spend a year reading only black and Asian writers or listen to only female produced music, although I did know someone who went to see every woman-directed film released in cinemas in a year.
However, there are 393 books on my list and even at a book a fortnight, that's still fifteen years worth of reading and I'd like to make a start in some kind of structured fashion.
It will probably mean that I will read less non-fiction, as I like pop-sociology/history/etymology/travel, the Bryson/Maconie school of light reading, whereas women tend to write on more serious subjects. It'll also mean that I will read more modern books – not only because women in the past had less access to writing their experiences, but because women’s fiction tends to get airbrushed out of history, leaving only Jane, Emily, and Charlotte to represent female writers before the 20th century. Even if there's a Guardian Review lost novels article about a specific writer, it's hard to get hold of the books:- Hackney library does not have The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, the book Hitchcock used as the basis for the ever popular The Lady Vanishes.
But I am looking forward to reading Deborah Levy, Eleanor Catton, Rebecca Solnit, P.D. James, Lauren Beukes, Jennifer Egan, Gillian Flynn, Barbara Kingsolver, Lottie Moggach, Iris Murdoch, Barbara Pym, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, none of whom I've read before, as well as some of my faves: Atwood, Diski, Moore, Highsmith, Tartt, de Beauvoir, Lessing, and some sci-fi and detective novels.
First up is Gone Girl, because I ordered it from the library thinking that, due to its popularity, it wouldn't be available for several months, but it popped up straight away.
