The World Beyond BetterMost > Women Today
Essential Books for Women
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: sopylicious on December 27, 2008, 12:42:11 pm --- Bell Hooks, is my suggestion. It is an african-american women who writes about thinking about how it is to be a women, and what is love. In her books she gives you new perspectives about life, marriage, love and being a women. My favorite book by her is All about love.
--- End quote ---
Interestingly enough, a poster on another board I went to (he was male) wondered if there were any movies or books written about women that were not about men or love relationships with men or family or children. He said you could find many books/movies about men that are about men (war/action/political) where such issues - if they were present at all - were a side item but not the overall focus of the book. I have to say I agree. I am a woman, but not really interested in marriage or family or children, so I am always thrilled to find a book/movie about a strong woman who is engaged in other situations.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on December 27, 2008, 05:34:00 pm ---Interestingly enough, a poster on another thread I went to (he was male) wondered if there were any movies or books written about women that were not about men or love relationships with men or family or children. He said you could find many books/movies about men that are about men (war/action/political) where such issues - if they were present at all - were a side item but not the overall focus of the book. I have to say I agree. I am a woman, but not really interested in marriage or family or children, so I am always thrilled to find a story/movie about a strong woman who is in other situations.
--- End quote ---
Interesting point, Del. Of course there is plenty of nonfiction by women authors that deal with subjects outside the domestic sphere. And there is lots of juvenile fiction featuring girl protagonists who are involved in other things (Nancy Drew, for example!). But not as much adult women's fiction, and women writers (as a group) have been criticized for this.
Here's a famous essay about this issue that Francine Prose wrote for Harper's 10 years ago. It's a pdf, and fairly big to download, so I'd advise opening it only if you're interested. She's defending women writers against criticism by Norman Mailer.
http://f02.middlebury.edu/AL260A/Readings/_notes/Scent%20of%20a%20Woman%27s%20Ink.pdf
I'm going to try to think of some exceptions to this women's fiction rule, and will post them as they come to me.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on December 27, 2008, 05:42:48 pm ---Interesting point, Del. Of course there is plenty of nonfiction by women authors that deal with subjects outside the domestic sphere. And there is lots of juvenile fiction featuring girl protagonists who are involved in other things (Nancy Drew, for example!). But not as much adult women's fiction, and women writers (as a group) have been criticized for this.
Here's a famous essay about this issue that Francine Prose wrote for Harper's 10 years ago. It's a pdf, and fairly big to download, so I'd advise opening it only if you're interested. She's defending women writers against criticism by Norman Mailer.
http://f02.middlebury.edu/AL260A/Readings/_notes/Scent%20of%20a%20Woman%27s%20Ink.pdf
I'm going to try to think of some exceptions to this women's fiction rule, and will post them as they come to me.
--- End quote ---
The only two that instantly spring to mind and even they are not free of relationships with men or family are Sue Grafton's series of Kinsey Milhone mystery novels and the novel (written by a man) Smilla's Sense of Snow. In these books, the female characters do deal with family and relationships with men, but they are a side item and not the real focus of the storyline. The only movies that fit similarly are action movies "Lara Croft" and "Alien" (the first one).
serious crayons:
I read Smilla a long time ago and liked it. But if it was written by a man (I'd forgotten who the author was) and just has a woman protagonist, I don't think we can count it in this question.
But Sue Grafton is a good example. And aren't there other female mystery authors?
Lynne:
--- Quote from: sopylicious on December 27, 2008, 12:42:11 pm --- Bell Hooks, is my suggestion. It is an african-american women who writes about thinking about how it is to be a women, and what is love. In her books she gives you new perspectives about life, marriage, love and being a women. My favorite book by her is All about love.
--- End quote ---
Hi there, sopylicious. Welcome to BetterMost and thanks for posting! I don't know anything about Bell Hooks, but I went over to Amazon and here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about All About Love:
Taking on yet another popular topic in her role as cultural critic, hooks blends the personal and the psychological with the philosophical in her latest book--a thoughtful but frequently familiar examination of love American style. A distinguished professor of English at City College in New York City, she explains her sense of urgency about confronting a subject that countless writers have analyzed: "I feel our nation's turning away from love as intensely as I felt love's abandonment in my girlhood. Turning away, we risk moving in a wilderness of spirit so intense we may never find our way home again." With an engaging narrative style, hooks presents a series of possible ways to reverse what she sees as the emotional and cultural fallout caused by flawed visions of love largely defined by men who have been socialized to distrust its value and power. She proposes a transformative love based on affection, respect, recognition, commitment, trust and care, rather than the customary forms stemming from gender stereotypes, domination, control, ego and aggression. However, many of her insights about self-love, forgiveness, compassion and openness have been explored in greater depth by the legion of writers hooks quotes liberally throughout the book, such as John Bradshaw, Lucia Hodgson, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton and M. Scott Peck, among others. Still, every page offers useful nuggets of wisdom to aid the reader in overcoming the fears of total intimacy and of loss. Although the chapter on angels comes across as filler, hooks's view of amour is ultimately a pleasing, upbeat alternative to the slew of books that proclaim the demise of love in our cynical time.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version