Fantastic Five Friday!

Last Friday I did a post about five great feminist books in the non-fiction realm. Then in my comments I was asked about some FICTION titles so I figured that would make a good post today. Now, in all honesty, I just started to get into my fiction literature craze about a year ago, so I don't have too many titles to even look at and pull from here. But I still think the selection I've chosen is a good one to start. I can't revisit after I've read more and make a new list of course, nothing is set in stone...yet. Please, if you have any good ones I need to get to reading, TELL ME! I love reading a good feminist fiction book. But there is something to be said for having no idea that said book you're reading is going to have a feminist theme and then being utterly surprised. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :) So here you are: five fantastic feminist fiction novels!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Who hasn't read this one? My mother read it to me when I was a little girl. Ah memories! And of course I identified with writer and tomboy Jo.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

My favorite novel of all time. There have been debates on the feminist aspects of this book but I believe it is definitely in the feminist camp. Jane is a woman that follows her own voice and makes her own way, even when it goes against her heart. Read it for yourself and decide.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

The only Austen novel I have read thus far but it won't be the last. I was very pleasantly surprised at the feminist themes throughout the book and I have discussed in particular a very interesting quote about men being in control of the written word that I found enlightening!


Washington Square by Henry James

I did not know what to expect when I opened this, being my first James novel. And what a treat! The protagonist evolves throughout the novel into a shining feminist role model in my opinion.


The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

This is probably THE feminist dystopian novel. Not a full-on classic yet, but it surely will be in time. I've discussed this book before so I'll refrain from getting carried away again, but really...you should read it! 


What are yours? Please share!

A Quote to Ponder

From Persuasion by Jane Austen:

“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.”

I was a history major in college and I cannot tell you how true this is. I’m also reading Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen and the evidence is obvious. It seems the only really important people in history, according to most textbooks, are white men. Throw in a few comments about Sacajawea (of course not her whole story because we wouldn’t want to get carried away) or Helen Keller (but leave out that whole Socialism thing, gosh would that put a bad spin on things!) and you’re good to go!

And of course it’s not just women that get left out of the conversation. Other races and ethnicities weren’t allowed to tell their own story much either and are also left out of many history books today, unless it’s in that little sidebar pop-type window Ah what fun those were. They gave you an entire biography of someone in just a few short sentences (and a picture of course, we’re all very visual people). Did you know Crispus Attucks was the first casualty of the American Revolution? The end.

Thankfully by the time I got to college (and also a bit before thanks to some pretty awesome history teachers in high school) those textbooks were a thing of the past and primary source material became much more important, as did essays written by real researchers that seemed to care to try to get as much of the story as they could. Yet still, as people say, the conquerors are the ones that write the history books, not the conquered. So when it comes to actually finding a lot of primary source material from, oh let’s say African American slaves in the 1800s, it’s trickier than one would expect since many slave owners didn’t want their slaves to be able to read or write. They kept these specific tools out of their hands so they couldn’t tell their story.

So, that was my quote to ponder for the day. Trust me, I could ramble on and on about this topic. How women not too long ago were not supposed to go to college. Higher education was for men. But they were expected to learn all the ways to manage a proper household and paint pretty pictures or play piano. That was how women became accomplished. Not by writing their own histories.

Darnit…I started rambling…

The Bechdel Book Test

So my work has decided to be extra nice this week and give me two days off because of the massive blizzard. Woohoo! Except now I’m getting a major sense of claustrophobia…not woohoo. What to do about it? Blog post time!

Has anyone here heard of the Bechdel Test for movies? Well essentially it’s a checklist of three important factors to look out for in movies in regards to women (and you’d be surprised how few times the goal is met).

And the checklist goes:

1. It has to have at least 2 women in it (and the women have to be named);

2. Who talk to each other; and

3. About something besides a man.

Now this checklist seems simple enough but really once you start thinking about the popular movies out now it becomes surprisingly difficult to check off all three of these. Just take a look at the link I provided up above! Although, I must say, I looked at this list about a year ago and it is looking better…

Anyway, I figured, on this lovely snowy day, that I’d try to apply this to the last 6 books I’ve read and reviewed. Just for a fun little test.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

1. Does it have at least 2 women in it?

Most certainly yes. Many many female characters.

2. Do they talk to each other?

Constantly!

3. About something besides a man?

While they do talk a lot about men, they also talk about other things, such as Mary’s crabbing about not being able to go to dinner because her son is sick and then shoving him off on Anne. And of course Anne and Mrs. Smith’s conversations.

So Persuasion, I would say, passes the Test with flying colors. Next!

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

1. Does it have at least 2 women in it?

That's a negative! At least not named women to my recollection

Whomp whomp. Failed right out of the gate. Next!

Catching Up on Reviews...Reviews in Twos!

Alright, well the way I think I'm going to run this blog is I'll post my reviews of books very shortly after I've read them but since I’m starting basically a month into the year already I’m going to post a couple reviews at a time until I catch up to myself (I’ve already read 6 books since 2011 started, yay me!). I mostly read the classics but my tastes can vary a lot. And some books will elicit more of a passion for discussion in me than others (it’s usually the ones I DON’T like, haha). I try to give a little summary of the book before I describe my response to the story and what I thought of it but the formula doesn't always work, such is life! Don't worry though, I'll warn you ahead of time of any spoilers.

So without further ado (yes I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath), here are the reviews for the first two books I read this year: