Friday, April 21, 2006

Women Writers Meme

BOLD those you’ve read. Italicize the ones you’ve been meaning to read and ??? the ones you have never heard of (or wish you had never heard of? Or the ones you wonder, "why is this book on this list?". I left the ones that I've heard of but don't really have an interest in reading, plain--that is, neither bolded nor italicized.

Alcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Allende, Isabel–The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Atwood, Margaret–Cat’s Eye
Austen, Jane–Emma
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
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession
Cather, Willa–My Antonia

Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros, Sandra–The House on Mango Street

Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History????????? There aren't enough question marks in this universe.
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, Geroge–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? Try all 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


It's as interesting to see what's on the list as what's not. I'm taken back by how many I've never even heard of. I do recognize a number of authors, but associate them with other books or don't know what they've written, e.g., I've heard of Danielle Steele, but I don't know what she's written.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Time, A Luxury?

I would love to weigh in on the recent "wretchedness" posts by Kate, Writing in Apathy, and Odious, and Jack at The Pumpkin King, but time doesn't permit me to do so right at this moment.

Recently having finished Eldest, which is the sequel, or, more accurately, the second in a trilogy by Christopher Paolini, I realized the frequency of my posts has declined. And since I enjoyed it much better than the first installment--namely, Eragon, it seemed the right time to start posting again.

Its main character isn't in the dreaded teenage-angsty stage anymore. Whenever I think of teenage angsty characters, Luke Skywalker's simpering "But I don't wannna" comes to mind. Paolini'story is aided by the fact that his main character is easier to write, as an adult than a teen. I don't know much about fantasy literature, but his tales of elves, humans, and dwarfs seems like standard fair. It was fun, but light.

Bill can't believe that I read what he has deemed "inferior imitation" before having read Lord of the Rings. Oh well. I'm not saying it's a substitute for the king of all fantasy novels, but it maybe a good introduction to the genre. Plus, I have a sneaking suspcision that I will catch him reading Eragon anyday now.

This Takes the Cake

Are you kidding me?

No.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Famous

It seems that all my talented friends are being published at this point. JOE: Congratulations to having another article published!

Joe are you working on any more fiction, or are you transitioning into editorials only? And, NO..to your inquiry about us having a football themed wedding. :)