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Recent reading
May. 30th, 2016 10:27 pmOkay, I have a backlog now, so here are a bunch of books at once.
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
A collection of short stories set in the same world (but in different times) as Malafrena. I am not a huge fan of short fiction in general since it can take me a while to engage with the characters and story. But these stories are lovely--Le Guin gets me engaged every time. Although sadly I don't think any of these stories pass the Bechdel test, even though there are actually a fair amount of women in them.
No Surrender by Constance Elizabeth Maud (Librivox audiobook)
Suffragette fiction from 1911. This is not exactly a subtle book, but I liked it. Read if you want impassioned speeches about women's rights, creative political actions, and a feel-good ending, complete with the (rather marginal) male love interest at last converting and supporting the fight. Also, sooo much Bechdel-test passing.
Mujeres Libres - fria kvinnor för en fri värld by Albert Herranz [Mujeres Libres - free women for a free world]
From suffragettes to the Spanish anarchist women's movement in the '30s. This is just a 100-page introduction with some general history, some biographies, and some translated newspaper articles. Quite interesting.
Mary: a fiction by Mary Wollstonecraft
For book-club-at-work. An early novel, or rather novella; sadly I found it quite boring. Okay, it's about a woman who thinks for herself and it passes the Bechdel test, but there are a lot of religious reflections which I skimmed over, and the writing is just not very engaging. Her introduction says: In an artless tale, without episodes, the mind of a woman, who has thinking powers is displayed. The female organs have been thought too weak for this arduous employment; and experience seems to justify the assertion. Without arguing physically about possibilities—in a fiction, such a being may be allowed to exist. That sounds...a bit defensive? But I haven't actually read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, so I don't know what she says there. And I guess this is an early work.
My last three books seem to fit a pattern...
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
A collection of short stories set in the same world (but in different times) as Malafrena. I am not a huge fan of short fiction in general since it can take me a while to engage with the characters and story. But these stories are lovely--Le Guin gets me engaged every time. Although sadly I don't think any of these stories pass the Bechdel test, even though there are actually a fair amount of women in them.
No Surrender by Constance Elizabeth Maud (Librivox audiobook)
Suffragette fiction from 1911. This is not exactly a subtle book, but I liked it. Read if you want impassioned speeches about women's rights, creative political actions, and a feel-good ending, complete with the (rather marginal) male love interest at last converting and supporting the fight. Also, sooo much Bechdel-test passing.
Mujeres Libres - fria kvinnor för en fri värld by Albert Herranz [Mujeres Libres - free women for a free world]
From suffragettes to the Spanish anarchist women's movement in the '30s. This is just a 100-page introduction with some general history, some biographies, and some translated newspaper articles. Quite interesting.
Mary: a fiction by Mary Wollstonecraft
For book-club-at-work. An early novel, or rather novella; sadly I found it quite boring. Okay, it's about a woman who thinks for herself and it passes the Bechdel test, but there are a lot of religious reflections which I skimmed over, and the writing is just not very engaging. Her introduction says: In an artless tale, without episodes, the mind of a woman, who has thinking powers is displayed. The female organs have been thought too weak for this arduous employment; and experience seems to justify the assertion. Without arguing physically about possibilities—in a fiction, such a being may be allowed to exist. That sounds...a bit defensive? But I haven't actually read A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, so I don't know what she says there. And I guess this is an early work.
My last three books seem to fit a pattern...
