The F-word discussion

As far as I can tell, we don't have any 2017 group reads planned, but Alexa or Anita can shoot me down if I've overlooked something. But this is my favorite part of this group, really, so I would love to know what members here would like to read and discuss. Any classics? Any newer novels? How about non-fiction?

We'll open this up for both Fiction and Non-Fiction, so throw out some ideas for each!

If you're not sure of any ideas, you can check out the bookshelf that has a very extensive To-Read section.

nope! I've been wondering this myself lately because it seems like we are usually set up like six months ahead in this group, right? I'm throwing this out there because it came up when we were discussing birth control, remember? Taking Precautions: An Intimate History of Birth Control.

Here's the link to the book suggestions/read suggestions thread from the group's main page if anyone wants to look through it or grab any suggestions they tossed out for later. Don't worry, I'll be back with so many more

How are the books selected from suggestions received? Is there a vote, or do the administrators/moderators choose from the list? I am up for anything... Mostly, I'm interested in reading the titles or titles most likely to generate disparate opinions and lively discussion among the group.

Here are a couple titles for your consideration, all non-fiction:

Sex Object by Jessica Valenti
https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Object-Mem...

Why have Kids Jessica Valenti
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Have-Kids-...

Manifesta by Jen Baumgardner
https://www.amazon.com/Manifesta-10th...

Backlash by Susan Faludi
https://www.amazon.com/Backlash-Undec...

Thanks, Anita and lisa, for your suggestions. I'll be putting up some ideas of my own a little later today. (Way too lazy to move off the couch at the moment. Comfy.)

Lisa, to answer your question, I think in the past we've done a couple polls (one poll for Fiction, one poll for NF) with all the titles listed, and people then vote.

If I remember correctly, then, the top six voted upon titles are the books we read for the first six months - the highest vote is the one we read in January, the next highest vote is the one we read in February, etc.

Alright, I like to try to nominate books I currently own, so with that in mind:

Fiction:
-Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson
-Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia E. Butler
-The Demeter Flower, Rochelle Singer

Non-fiction:
-The Secret History of Wonder Woman, Jill Lepore
-The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer
-Goddesses and Monsters: Women, Myth, Power, and Popular Culture, Jane Caputi


I may be back more once I hit some other shelves in my place.

I'm having a heck of a time separating what I want to read from what we've already read in this group or another group, or what has been polled already. So forgive me if I suggest something that's been done already... also my feminist reading tends to lean towards the non-fiction so I don't even know what would be good fiction for this group, but I'll try

non-fiction:
From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers
Me, My Hair, and I
In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women
The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual Arrangements and Human Malaise

fiction:
All Over Creation
The Hourglass Factory
The Round House
Binti
The Penelopiad

Great options, Anita! I think it's okay to suggest something that has been polled but didn't make it onto our reading schedule. Maybe they'll get more votes a second time around. I have a few of those I'd like to re-nominate, but we actually seem to have a good selection going now already. :)

Last call for nominations! I'll be putting up the polls tonight, but you have a few more hours if you want to check your own bookshelves and see if anything fits either the fiction or non-fiction categories.

Alright, everyone, the polls are open here for both the Fiction and Non-fiction reads to kick off 2017.

Please vote and join us to discuss the winner! We have a lot of good things to choose from!

ETA: Polls will close at the end of the day tomorrow: Saturday, December 31. Sorry to rush this, but we'd like to get something chosen for January.

Hey all, nominations for the next few months of group reads should be considered open here. We rushed the first one to get our January reads going, but will open another round of polls soon, so get those fiction and non-fiction nominations in here. Probably we will add any nominations to the previous ones (minus the January group reads)

Hi all,
I would like to nominate Difficult Women for sometime in 2017.

Thanks, June, I want to read that too. I'll be seeing Gay talk in March and I'm really looking forward to it.

Will add that to the list of nominations!

El wrote: "Thanks, June, I want to read that too. I'll be seeing Gay talk in March and I'm really looking forward to it.

Will add that to the list of nominations!"

Great -thank you. I'm going to her book reading in LA on Jan. 18!

Some suggestions:

Problems by Jade Sharma
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
Somebody with a Little Hammer: Essays by Mary Gaitskill

Not sure when Gaitskill's book is coming out, though.

Kay wrote: "Some suggestions:

Problems by Jade Sharma
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
Somebody with a Little Hammer: Essays by [au..."

Thanks for your suggestions, Kay! Yeah, according to GR, anyway, it looks like the Gaitskill has an estimated release date of mid-April. If there's interest in that come poll-time, we could always arrange to read that one later in the year to allow everyone to be able to get a copy.

El wrote: "Alright, I like to try to nominate books I currently own, so with that in mind:

Fiction:
-Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson
-Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia..."

I'd second The Secret History of Wonder Woman! My bookclub is reading it next month

Alright, everyone, thank you for your suggestions!

The poll for non-fiction reads is open here.

The poll for fiction reads is open here.

Please go cast your votes so we know what our next reads will be!

Polls will be open until Sunday night.

Thanks for everyone who came out and voted! We are going to try to keep the previously arranged schedule of reading one Fiction and one Non-Fiction book each month from now through June. The top winners of the polls are the ones we will read.

Nominations for June-December will be posted probably in May.

Since we are currently in mid-January, the following will be our schedule for Feb-June:

Feb:
F: Difficult Women (Roxane Gay)
NF: The Secret History of Wonder Woman (Jill Lepore)

March:
F: Written on the Body (Jeanette Winterson)
NF: In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom (Yeonmi Park)

April:
F: Problems (Jade Sharma)
NF: The Female Eunuch (Germaine Greer)

May:
F: The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood)
NF: Taking Precautions: An Intimate History of Birth Control (Shyama Perera)

June:
F: The Round House (Louise Erdrich
NF: Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (Susan Faludi)

Nice! Great line up. So much enlightenment in such a short time!