The F-word discussion

We've currently got group reads scheduled through December of 2015, so it's time to start gathering nominations for our upcoming group reads. What have you recently read that you would love to discuss with the group? What have you heard great things about and are intrigued by? What classics should we revisit? Nominations are wide open - what do you think we should read and discuss together? (And if you're looking for ideas, there are lots of great books on the bookshelf that we've never read.)

I did take a peek at the To-Read bookshelf, and came up with four that I've been wanting to read:

Nonfiction:
-Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, Angela Y. Davis
-The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer

Fiction:
-The Memoirs of a Survivor, Doris Lessing
-The Last Man, Mary Shelley


I'm eager to see if anyone else has other suggestion. I love nomination-time. :)

How many books are we allowed to nominate? Because I've overwhelmed myself with everything I want to nominate, so I don't want to overwhelm all of you! ;) (Oh, and does a book have to be seconded to get to the next stages of voting?)

We've never felt a need to put a limit on number of nominations, and no we don't require a second, so feel free to indulge yourself!

Oh dear, Alexa, you may have unleashed a monster!

Fiction:
Carol by Patricia Highsmith (this is coming out as a movie this month with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. I may not survive.)
Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin (this will be released February 2016 and I'm so looking forward to it!)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Women's Room by Marilyn French
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

I need some time to work on my nonfiction list. :) I think none of these were read by the group already but let me know if I missed one!

Nonfiction:
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
Daughter Of Destiny: An Autobiography by Benazir Bhutto
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq by Helen Benedict
Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz (I'm currently reading this and it's absolutely fantastic, but I'm sad that I have no one to share it with! I think we'd have great discussions with this one.)
Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire by Lisa Diamond
This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor by Susan Wicklund
Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body by Susan Bordo
Writing a Woman's Life by Carolyn G. Heilbrun

El wrote: "...I love nomination-time. :)"

Me too! It's so exciting to see all these great titles come up!

Everything looks wonderful! I think we need to postpone Symptoms of Being Human until it's actually published though, sometimes publication dates get delayed.

Alexa wrote: "I think we need to postpone Symptoms of Being Human until it's actually published though, sometimes publication dates get delayed."

Oh, ok, I was wondering about that! No problem!

Ohhhhh man so many good nominations! Assata and Sexual Fluidity both look great. Plus all the others ha.

I'm fairly new, has the group read Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World yet? It's one of my favorites!

Oh, that looks interesting! No, we've never read it. (Just for future reference, you can always check what we've read by clicking on "Bookshelf" in the upper right corner of the group's homepage. Once there you can look at "read" books, or at "to-read" books for some other past suggestions.)

The poll for non-fiction is up. Go vote! https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

follow the river wrote:
Carol by Patricia Highsmith (this is coming out as a movie this month with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. I may not survive..."

Is this true??? I haven't even read the book yet, but oh man, I'm ridiculously excited at the prospect of this happening.

I started reading Carol on Overdrive at work today... I'm about halfway through and loving it. Just found out the movie won't be released in Dallas until December 25, so now I have to go cry myself to sleep.

Miri, I have not read the book yet either, but am also ridiculously excited about the movie! A lesbian story set in the fifties (with all the gorgeous costumes) with my queen Cate Blanchett?!?! What's not to love? (Have you seen the trailer? Isn't it marvelous?) I'm planning on reading this book over the holidays because I am a stickler who must read the book before I see the movie. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it! Don't cry too much--just think, you have a Christmas movie to look forward to!

I'd like to nominate the book I'm currently reading: Asking For It by Louise O'Neill. I need more people to discuss this book with and this group would be the perfect place. It's already making me angry but in the way it's supposed to. The author has done a phenomenal job with the subject matter and she's written in brilliantly. It covers victim blaming and rape culture and it holds nothing back.

This is fiction, right? Good timing, as the fiction poll will be going up in just a couple of days.

Yeah, sorry, I forgot to specify that. It is fiction, yes.

Looooook at all the voters! So exciting!!

And the fiction poll is now up - come vote!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Looking at the way the votes lined up, a good case can be made for taking the top three books in each poll, but an almost equally good case can be made for taking the top six books in each poll.

So I'm curious how folks' preferences fall - would you rather have the next six months planned out and then do another round of nominating and voting in six months - or would you rather only plan for the next three months and have another round of nominating and voting in only three months?

It would be great to hear folks' inclinations!

Six sounds good to me! I can't wait to start all these good books!!!

Six sounds good to me too!

I'd also say six.

I highly recommend Womens Room by Marilyn French!!!

OK, six seems to be the consensus - here's the proposed schedule:
Jan Carol and This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor
Feb Asking For It and Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage
Mar The Women's Room and Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire
Apr Speak and Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body
May Kindred and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
June Stone Butch Blues and Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World

Just wanted to point out that Asking For It won't be released in the USA until April 5, 2016, and it's scheduled for February, so it may be difficult for American readers to get their hands on it.

SO MANY GREAT BOOKS!

Since Asking For It won't be published until April, could we maybe switch it with Kindred in May?
I've already read both May books. no big deal, but if they've gotta shuffle anyways...?

Anita wrote: "Since Asking For It won't be published until April, could we maybe switch it with Kindred in May?
I've already read both May books. no big deal, but if they've gotta shuffle anyways...?"

I'm cool with this swap as I, coincidentally, have also already read both May books :)

...but of the rest of the books I've only already read Stone Butch Blues so there's tons of new stuff that I'm really excited about! Good nominations everyone!

follow the river wrote: "Just wanted to point out that Asking For It won't be released in the USA until April 5, 2016, and it's scheduled for February, so it may be difficult for American readers to get their hands on it."

Thank you so much for noticing that!!! Otherwise it would have been a serious headache - so glad we've got observant members to pick up on those details!

OK, we'll put Asking For It in May and Kindred in Feb.

http://jezebel.com/marriage-changes-w...

This book looks great!

There are a couple new ones coming this year that look great!

All those look interesting, Taylor.

When will we have our next batch of polls to choose what we'll be reading the rest of the year? Too soon to ask? :)

Well, we're currently scheduled through June, so it would make sense to insure we've got the next batch scheduled by the end of May. Therefore it would make sense to start seriously gathering nominations at the beginning of May - but in the meantime there's no reason not to throw out titles that catch our eye!

Caitlin Moran also has a new one. TOO MANY BOOKS AHHH I can't pick haha

Just saw this on the new releases - girls who helped us get to space!!

I just heard about a book that came out last month that readers here might be interested in: Terrible Virtue. It's historical fiction based on the life of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood.

El wrote: "I just heard about a book that came out last month that readers here might be interested in: Terrible Virtue. It's historical fiction based on the life of Margaret Sanger, the found..."

This looks interesting! I recently read a graphic novel version of her life that was pretty entertaining.

follow the river wrote: "Just saw this on the new releases - girls who helped us get to space!!

"

Very cool!!