Women Unbound Challenge: A few more books and a request for a recommendation

I created my reading list for the Women Unbound reading challenge and, of course, I now want to add a few more titles to my list. Will I read everything on my list? Probably not by the time the challenge ends, but I like to create reading lists. It's always nice to have a reading list available to consult in those moments when I feel like reading a particular type of book.

So ... I woke up in the middle of last night and thought: "HEY! I have The Golden Notebook: A Novel by Doris Lessing on my TBR tower and it would be perfect for the Women Unbound reading challenge!" This thought then led me to mentally review my bookshelves and I came up with The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. Yup, the book geekiness just never quits. One of these nights I will not wake up and start thinking about books I want to read.

Then, while moving a pile of books this morning, I noticed Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons by Lynn Peril. Why I didn't put this on my initial list I will never know.

Now for my request for a recommendation. I recently watched the movie Frida (with Salma Hayek) and really enjoyed it. Now I want to read a book about her. I did identify one that looked interesting: Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera. What book about Frida Kahlo would you recommend I read? Have you read the biography by Hayden Herrera and what did you think of it?

I Am a Cat, Volume 1 - Discussion

I'm currently working my way through I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume along with a few other people. You can find links to the read-along (hosted by Tanabata at In Spring it is the Dawn) over on my sidebar. Tanabata has provided some very nice background information in her post for the discussion of volume one. She has also provided some questions to get the discussion going and I'm going to use those here.

What do you think of the story so far? The schoolteacher? The cat? The schoolteacher's 'friends' who are always telling tall tales?

I find the story delightful. I happen to love satire and have had so much fun "listening" to the cat's commentary on the humans.

The dyspeptic schoolteacher is amusing. So far we know that he is lazy and pretty focused on his digestive system, begins projects and then abandons them, tries to write haiku and prose (badly, I might add), and acquires many books that he never reads. I'm sure it is a part of the satire that we never see him in his teaching role.

The cat is likeable (sp?). I enjoy the way the author has softened the satirical edge by using a feline to comment on the humans. Toward the end of volume one I noted that the cat is becoming a bit more narcissistic and snarky in a human kind of way. I'm wondering if this progression will continue and if some of the "charm" in the telling of the story will be compromised by this.

The "friends" do tell some TALL tales with sometimes quite bizarre embellishments. I especially like the "culture vulture" who is always monitoring the cultural savvy of others when he is so very clueless and gauche himself. The obsession with "hanging" as either a suicidal event or a form of execution is peculiar to me. Not sure what to make of that one. I'm guessing this is something cultural.

Have you had any difficulties reading the first volume? Any burning questions? What impression do you have of Japan from this portrayal?

The book is not plot driven and is more appropriately approached as a succession of vignettes. It is also written in a very Western style which makes it highly accessible to current readers. I appreciate the satire even when I don't quite understand the cultural context. The commentary is universal enough to apply across cultures (at least it seems to cross over to Western culture as I've experienced it). No burning questions. I have already mentioned the curious obsession with "hanging." I'll be going back to more carefully explore the cultural references and links provided by Tanabata in her discussion of volume one.

As it's a satire, what do you think the author is saying about Japan, and this class of people? What name would you give the cat, if you could? Or do you like the fact that he remains nameless?

I LOVE the fact that the cat remains nameless. That the characters are so caught up in themselves they can't even be bothered to give the cat a name definitely fits the author's commentary. Leaving the observer/narrator nameless serves to take a bit of the personal edge off of the rather biting comments the author makes about certain classes of his countrymen.

I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume is a part of my reading list for the Japanese Literature Challenge 3 hosted by Bellezza.

Friday Fill-In

1. Plans and schedules are really not my style; I'm a little more free form by nature.

2. I'm happy when things are tidy at home.

3. The last thing I drank was hot herb tea.

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is my relationship with my husband.

5. I like sliced tomatoes and canadian bacon on my pizza.

6. Dear November, please let me have time to read a whole bunch of books!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sushi with my husband and SIL, tomorrow my plans include a spot of housecleaning and a trip to the library to pick up a book on hold and Sunday, I want to read some of my JLC3 challenge books!

A New Challenge: Women Unbound

Women Unbound Reading Challenge
"Participants are encouraged to read nonfiction and fiction books related to the rather broad idea of ‘women’s studies.’ "
November 1, 2009 - November 30, 2010

I've been thinking about the Women Unbound reading challenge ever since Eva first blogged about it. I try not to over commit myself with challenges, but I think I've got my reading commitments spaced out well enough to join in this one. Joy!

In order to make sure I retain my sanity, I'll commit to the Philogynist level and read two books, one of them non-fiction. By only committing to read two books I can feel super successful when I end up reading more than I committed to! Yeah, I like to play mind games with myself.

Here is a preliminary list of books. All of these books are on my TBR pile. How convenient is that?

Non-fiction
Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki (main informant for Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden)
Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations by Georgiana Howell (biography of a famous British traveler to the Middle East)
A Room of Ones Own by Virginia Woolf (a classic I never got around to reading)
Subject to Debate by Katha Pollitt (political essays)
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (a graphic memoir)
Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons by Lynn Peril
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera

Fiction
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Cheri by Colette
Purple Hibiscus by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

R.I.P. IV Challenge Wrap Up

I can't believe that this year's R.I.P. Challenge, hosted by Carl V., is over. It went too fast for me to get to all of the books I wanted to read. I only committed to read and review one book for this challenge, but I was having too much fun and ended up reading seven and reviewing three.

Here are the books I read:

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood [review] - I liked this one well enough, but what I really enjoyed were the ghost stories within the story.

The Seance by John Harwood [review] - Out of the two Harwood books, I liked this one best. The author seemed to do a better job developing and pacing the story with this one.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - Disturbing. Very disturbing. In a good way of course! I can't recommend this one enough.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, volumes 1 and 2 by Gordon Dahlquist - Total steampunk. Probably didn't need to be quite as long as it was, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I will forever have images in my head from this book!

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters [review] - Wonderfully atmospheric. I didn't really like any of the characters in this book, but that didn't keep me from enjoying it anyway.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley - McKinley manages to cover some new vampire territory with this one. Has one of the most tense human/vampire scenes I've ever encountered.


I only read part of this collection of short stories, but hope to finish it:
Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari (also reading for Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenge)


These are the books I didn't get to, but will definitely be reading in the future:
The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Vampyre by John Polidori
The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (re-read)