Even though reading challenges sometimes stress me out and I still find them a little strange, I decided I wanted to do the Women Unbound Challenge this year. Feminism or feminist themes is one way I get hooked on books, and I can do the challenge with books I already have in my apartment (therefore forcing me to read through my very full to-be-read shelves).
As a prerequisite to reading the books on my list, I want to re-read Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman, the book that first convinced me to think more carefully about the idea of feminism and what it might mean to be a feminist. I haven’t read the book in like four years, maybe, so I want to revisit it. I guest posted on the Women Unbound site about this book, so please go check that out if you’re interested.
Once I’m done with that, I’ll move on to my official challenge reads. I chose this particular set of books because, in addition to loosely fitting the requirements of the challenge, they are also all memoirs — a genre I love and I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.
- Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend
- Baghdad Diaries by Nuha Al-Radi
- “Socialism is Great”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China by Lijia Zhang
- Not That Kind of Girl by Carlene Bauer
- Honeymoon in Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni
As you can see, I’m only signed up at the lowest level, but I figured that would be manageable — I hate signing up for things I don’t finish!
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Ohhh-I’ve had my eye on several of your selections but haven’t actually read any of them. So I’m looking forward to your reviews!
Eva: That’s exciting! I’m looking forward to all of them — I didn’t realize how many memoirs by women I had until I started putting together my list.
Not That Kind of Girl is intriguing and the desc is not what I expected. The socialism book would be good for World Citizen Challenge (I think this would be good perpetual challenge for me.)
Care: Yes, I’m sure it would. I read a memoir a few years ago about living in Communist China, but I can’t remember what it was called. I’m optimistic this one will be good too.
Your challenge list is going to be dangerous to my books I want to read list!
softdrink: That’s the point, isn’t it?
I’m sure you’ll totally blow this challenge away!
Kathy: Fingers crossed. I suck at challenges
It’s such a great challenge and I’m getting a little excited about which books to read for it. Your picks look excellent, I’ll have to read more about them and looking forward to your reviews.
Michelle: There are tons of awesome books that I’ve seen listed for this challenge. I can’t wait for all the reviews.
Great choice of novels. Have you read Reading Lolita in Tehran? I just finished that one, and if you like Memoirs, that one is a great choice!
Michelle: I have read Reading Lolita in Tehran, it’s one of my favorite books of all time! It would be a fantastic addition to this list though.
Yay for participating in Unbound! I have realized while reading since signing up that some books really lend themselves to the challenge. Some I didn’t anticipate including in my list made it to the challenge just because they so spoke to me on a feminist level.
Aarti: That’s sort of what I’m expecting. I read a lot of books written by women and about women that seemed to speak to some interesting aspects of feminism. I just finished The Blind Assassin, and there’s lots of stuff in there about feminine power and what it means to tell one’s story that would be fascinating for this challenge.
I haven’t read any of these, so I’ll sit back passively and see if your reviews get me interested in reading them.
Jeanne: I hope I like them enough to write good reviews and get you interested
Great choices! An early-for-me feminist book I read in my 20s and loved then was Rosalind Miles’s Who Cooked the Last Supper? A Women’s History of the World. I loved it then, and I’m very curious if it would stand up to a re-reading. Enjoy your choices!
Andi: Sounds like a great book! I have to admit, I’m a little hesitant to re-read Hypocrite… because I’m worried it won’t be as great this time around. I have such fond memories of the way the book changed the way I think that I hope I won’t lose. Fingers crossed!
I wanted to suggest the novel The Lost Daughter by Daralyse Lyons. It is the most incredible novel I’ve ever read, rich in both plot and character.
Becky: Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll look into it.