Our Shared Shelf discussion

I came here purely (well, primarily) for Handmaid's Tale, since Margaret Atwood's novels keep popping up and getting recommended to me as prime examples of dystopian and dark speculative fiction (my bread-and-butter).

Most of the stuff on this group's reading list strikes me as feel-good, comforting, and/or "empowering" stuff that doesn't vibe much with me as a person (and not just because I don't have a vagina), so I might not stick around for next month's pick, but...

I like literature that's challenging, disturbing, and uses extreme subject matter to make you think about things (social issues, philosophy, life in general), so this one's right up my alley.

For people like me who have that fascination with the edgy side of things, what books (with or without a feminist bent) would you recommend, especially stuff similar, or in parallel to, Handmaid's Tale - by the same author or another?

Orwell is obvious, and has already been mentioned on this forum quite a few times, but I've also recently been reading books by the Marquis de Sade recently, which are abhorrent, cynical, and deeply, darkly philosophical, and which contain examples both of some of the first and most extreme feminist literature (Juliette) as well as some of the most extreme examples of violence against women ever written (a good bit of it committed by women - the moral of the story usually being that the women who submit and make peace with the status quo necessarily are, and deserve to be, tortured to death; while the women who value their freedom and individuality to the point of lawlessly shrugging off an oppressive system are the ones who end up, and deserve to end up, as successful, powerful, and happy).

The contrast between the eponymous heroines of his novels Justine and Juliette, which both contain examples of empowered, liberated women who fight for and take the world, as well as weak, unhappy women who meet horrible fates because of their passive submission to the status quo, exhibit an extremist sort of anti-morality and a cheerful rebelliousness that directly criticize and contain potent (if somewhat sociopathic) antidotes for the sorts of totalitarian, sexist, sexually repressive societies and fundamentalist religious ideologies that stand at the forefront of Handmaid's Tale.

De Sade was so provocative in his day that Napoleon Bonaparte had him hunted down and imprisoned for life because of the amoral and lawless nature of Justine and Juliette... so you know the bastard was doing something right.

If anyone wants to read those and needs an ebook copy, PM me; copyright's long past expired, and I have some good formats/translations.

Oh, I also highly recommend Francesca Lia Block's Pretty Dead. Might be my favorite novel of all time. That one's basically the anti-Twilight, with a strong female lead character and an utterly and unapologetically nihilistic disposition - though it's more of a middle finger to soft vampire literature and the weak female characters that populate them than some kind of serious social commentary.

Um... I've also heard that some of Atwood's other novels are awesome, but haven't gotten around to any.

Anyone else have thoughts on, or recommendations for, this brand of literature?

(Secondarily, I came here...
(view spoiler)[ ...probably like most people, out of mild curiosity about Emma Watson. I loved the Harry Potter books, disliked the one movie I saw, and only vaguely know who Emma is from the many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many... many... pornographic photoshops of her on 4chan. Which didn't do much for me, personally, my own tastes being somewhat more... depraved... but.

From what I've read, Emma has a decent handle on feminism, in a time when half the movement's gone insane... and I, too, would be concerned for my gender if I were photoshopped into even half of those pictures. Ha. So, good luck, I guess.) (hide spoiler)]

Oryx and Crake. Another dystopia by MA.

I would suggest that the recommendations here do have a feminist bent, given that we are, after all, in a feminist book club. ;)

That being said, I have none, sadly, because this is not my favourite genre. Let's see what others have to say about it.

Have you read the Road by Cormac McCarthy? I also second the recommendation of Oryx and Crake

I would recommend looking at the reading list again, all of the items interest listed in your second paragraph are there Jack.

Why not hang around for the next selection Emma may surprise you yet :)

I recently read The Power which just won the Bailey's Prize - it is feminist, and Alderman is Atwood's mentee so it is very like her in style. The basic premise is that overnight women develop an ability which gives them more physical - power than men, obviously toppling the world order.

However, it is far from being a feminist utopia and brings up some really controversial and challenging ideas - for example how women abuse their power, how it facilitates widespread male rape and violence against men, but also how it doesn't eradicate gender based violence towards women.

It is basically really complex - which is the whole point of the book, to show that gender and power is complex and that there isn't an easy solution.

It is an amazing book, and is probably one of the best things I have ever read.

I haven't read any but I've also read that Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler are brilliant authors in this genre - as well as being women of colour so you can read something that is feminist and intersectional.

I'm keen to read The Parable of the Sower by Butler in particular.

I agree with Ana above that we should keep suggestions feminist - this is a genre which women are underrepresented in so it would be great to collate a good list of recommendations.


I have to say I'm a bit concerned about your flippant comments about the violation of Emma's privacy, your own use of those sites and your remark that half of the feminist movement has gone 'insane'. If you are here to learn more about it and understand it then that is cool, but this isn't an appropriate forum to be throwing around phrases like that, and if you aren't here for the feminism then phrases like that are pretty likely to be seen as trolling.

I'm totally up for having an open conversation about any aspect of feminism and I believe there can be multiple, coexisting versions of it as long as we accept and respect each other so please don't label any potential views I may have as 'insane'.

I would assume that if you're into dystopian novels and dark speculative fiction that you've already read A Clockwork Orange. In the slight chance that you haven't, it's a must.

Someone above already recommended Ursula K. Le Guin, and if you're willing to give sci-fi a try, I would agree. I've only read The Left Hand of Darkness, but it gets pretty dark.

I would also suggest Blindness.

Ellen wrote: "I haven't read any but I've also read that Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler are brilliant authors in this genre - as well as being women of colour so you can read something that is feminist and..."

You stated what I was thinking, thank you (your last couple paragraphs.