500 Great Books By Women discussion

I am not reading any. Boo. I am, however, reading 500 GBbW author George Eliot's (Mary Ann Evans) The Mill on the Floss.

I read Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner and Kindred by Octavia E. Butler earlier this month. No reviews at the moment--I've been lazy this year.

I keep nearly starting Nightwood by Djuna Barnes and briefly started Eliot's Middlemarch last week but couldn't quite focus. Also, going on a camping trip w/ family next week and I'm trying to decide between Kristin Lavransdatter and The Tale of Genji to hold me over, although the latter isn't on the list.

KL sounds like it'd have more woods in it, what with 14th century Norway.

Yes, but do I want to go woods-themed, or try to distract myself from my woodsy surroundings by going not-woods-themed? Can't quite decide, and won't be gone long enough to read both.

From what I remember of hearsay, KL is a Norwegian Middlemarch and TToG involves a great deal of describing how pretty the protagonist is, if that helps the decision any.

I'm starting Copper Crown - chosen completely by random off of the list.

Have started with Runaway by Alice Munro.

I recently finished reading Three Novels by Agota Kristof.

Weird that Genji isn't on the list, huh?

I have Uncle Tom's Cabin scheduled for this month. Yup. Never read it.

The good thing about this group, Alex, is if you read and write a review for Genji, you can submit it successfully for the list. Simple as that.

It may also not have been in print in the US as of January '94. That's a constraint that limited the selection a great deal.

Well, it is on my list. Not exactly sure when, but hoping for this year.

I finished Miss MacIntosh, My Darling: Volume One and posted a review just recently: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also read/reviewed Agota Kristof's trilogy this year:
The Notebook : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Proof: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Third Lie: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Fionnuala wrote: "I finished Miss MacIntosh, My Darling: Volume One and posted a review just recently: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also read/reviewed Agota Kristof's trilogy thi..."

Hi Fionnuala. If you'd like to submit MMMD to the database, please check out the Submissions board for how that works.

Sorry - I just presumed..
Will mosey over there in a minute...
How do we search the bookshelf? When I tried, because I wanted to check if A L Kennedy's Day is included, I was just sent into a general gr list of titles with Day in them, like One Day, aargh....
So I searched a title I knew was on your bookshelf but I still ended up in a general list.....
I know I could search the 500 one by one but......

Hi, Folks.

Thank you, Aubrey. Great Idea.

I will likely mostly be a lurker, since I read at a pretty slow pace. But I love to learn about new authors and books.

Is there an on-line link to the 500 books list?

My remote rural location (and fixed income) means I must shop for an affordable (used?) copy on-line.

But in the meanwhile, an on-line list will help to determine which are the Official 500 books.

Thanks again, Aubrey.

Fionnuala wrote: "Sorry - I just presumed..
Will mosey over there in a minute...
How do we search the bookshelf? When I tried, because I wanted to check if A L Kennedy's Day is included, I was just sent into a gene..."

Every book title is inputted into a discussion post, so typing the title into the 'search discussion posts' will bring up a post if one exists.

As for the bookshelf, if you search for a title and the appropriate book is greyed out, that means the title's been added. Otherwise, you can go down to the bottom of the shelf page and change the book per page count from '30' to '200', and then search through the three pages that result with ctrl-F.

Mosca wrote: "Hi, Folks.

Thank you, Aubrey. Great Idea.

I will likely mostly be a lurker, since I read at a pretty slow pace. But I love to learn about new authors and books.

Is there an on-line link to the 5..."

Welcome, Mosca. I have been meaning to put my Excel sheet of the list online in a Google doc that anyone can access, so I'll do that and post the link here and other appropriate places.

As for physical copies, there's a 'Trying to Find a Copy?' discussion in the General folder that I hope to make into a directory of all sorts of ways people can quickly and cheaply acquire a book of their own. Right now, though, it only has a link to paperbackswap.com, but that might work for you.

I just started Tracks by Louise Erdrich.

I will be starting The Mill on The Floss on the 1st.

Oh cool, Sue - Mill on the Floss is on my list for this year too. Maybe September.

A GR friend sent me a copy of This Bridge Called my Back some months ago - today I finally read it!

I just started 500 GBBW author bell hooks' Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism.

Reading Americanah and the last of the Regeneration trilogy at the moment. I have also just started What Is Slavery to Me?: Postcolonial/Slave Memory in Post-apartheid South Africa and this looks really interesting; it's a well written academic piece which will also do my brain good as well!

I finished Americanah the other day, which is on the group's bookshelf.
Just starting Frankenstein in preparation for college starting soon, and it's nice to see some other books on the original list relevant to my studies - two birds, one stone is always good!

Mmm really looking forward to your thoughts on Ain't I a Woman, Aubrey

I am as well, Zanna.

In other news, as I am a notorious library sale stalker, I have modified this topic for this board to include just purchased 500 GBBW. Mine today are:

Daughter of Persia: A Woman's Journey from Her Father's Harem Through the Islamic Revolution by Sattareh Farman Farmaian
The Loony-Bin Trip by Kate Millett
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella L. Bird
After Henry by Joan Didion
The Confessions of Lady Nijo by Lady Nijō
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Daybook: The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

wow, you found that many of the 500 GBBW at one library sale? that's amazing (and awesome).

Yep. I even saw others that I remembered from the list that I wasn't interested in enough to purchase. It's the largest sale I go to, but still. It's nice to see these books are circulating well enough.

That's so cool :-)
I've got a feeling I'm going to like The Loony Bin Trip a lot...

Have you read any Janet Frame, Zanna? She's your woman for loony bin type things, what with her saving herself from a lobotomy by winning a prestigious literary prize and all. Her Faces in the Water is great, and her autobiography (Janet Frame: An Autobiography), which I'm currently reading, is phenomenal. There's also Owls Do Cry, which is an original 500 GBBW entry.

Aubrey I have not! And I missed Owls Do Cry somehow - I have added it now. I have certainly heard of An Angel At My Table. Thank you for pointing the way xx

Now I have started reading Patricia Hill Collins' book Black Feminist Thought

That work's a juicy looking one, Zanna. I look forward to your thoughts on it.

Beginning Awaiting Trespass this evening - chosen at random from the List. Given how spectacular Copper Crown was, I am very excited about another grab-bag choice off of this awesome assortment of books.

Acquired Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women and The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels at a sale today. Woo.

Excellent work! I picked up The Yacoubian Building at my local charity shop but that's totally irrelevant... Oh well

The buying of books is never irrelevant. I just happened to luck out on specifically related works.

I need a better way of keeping the list with me in potential book-buying situations... :-)

I've spent enough time with it that I've somewhat memorized it, but when in doubt, there's my phone and/or GR app.

Digging into this wonderful list with "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood. I also have Octavia Butler's "Kindred" on hold at the library. I'm a big sff guy, and it's gradually become apparent looking at my shelves that I need to read a LOT of female-written sci-fi to balance the scales.

Welcome, Greg. The original list has very little in the way of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, so you'll be our go-to person for women in that realm.

Speaking of which, it looks like none of Connie Willis' books are featured *whistles*

Going to start Jubilee by Margaret Walker soon. I keep coming across it in bookstores and adding it to my maybe-next-time list, but seeing it listed among the 500 inspired me to try it now.

I just finished The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels by Ágota Kristof.

I recently finished A Book of Common Prayer... Though I don't think this book is on the list, this author certainly is, so there is that. I really like Joan Didion. She writes in a no nonsense kind of way that appeals to me. This is the third Didion I've read but it's my first Didion fiction.

I also just picked up The God of Small Things which I'll be reading soonish. You know, too many books...

I've finished The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.

Aubrey wrote: "I've finished The Summer Book by Tove Jansson."

What's your next one, Aubrey?

Kristin Lavransdatter. It's been too long since my last 1k+ page tome.

I'm reading The Awakening by Kate Chopin right now, and I'm almost halfway through it. Edna is definitely a complicated character and there is a part of me that is definitely cheering her on now that she's decided she's done taking anyone's bullshit.

Neither of these two are on the list, but before The Awakening I read Oryx and Crake which was enough to give me nightmares (Don't read about being chased by pigoons before bed!). and Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion. This was the first book I've read of her and I agree with Sandra that there is something about Didion's exact, piercing writing that is very appealing.

Two Didion mentions in this board! I've been hearing good things about Didion for what seems like forever, but still haven't gotten around to her. I have her The Year of Magical Thinking and 500 GBBW entry After Henry on hand, so once my translation binge is done, the only question is which one.