Read Women discussion

Hello members,

This will be our thread for May 2025 group read selections. In May, we will be reading a Dystopian Fiction, and a Non-Fiction themed Science, Nature, and/or Environment.

You may nominate in both fiction and non-fiction.
One nomination per category.
No books that have been read in the previous three years.
Please use the ‘add book/author’ tab to avoid confusion.
Written by an author who identifies as female.
Please indicate whether you will be leading the discussion.

Nominations will close in about one week.

Nominations so far:


Fiction
-The Bees by Laline Paull, GailW
-Hum by Helen Phillips, Hannah
-Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, Lindsey

Non-Fiction
-The World We Once Lived In by Wangari Maathai, GailW
-Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez, Anita
-Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl, Jen
-Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon, Carol

For non-fiction I nominate The World We Once Lived In by Wangari Maathai. The author is the founder of the Green Belt Movement in Africa and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. The book is very short, only 70 pages, but I found reading about her fascinating.
I can lead.

For Dystopian Fiction I nominate The Bees by Laline Paull. I found that I had not a single dystopia in my 172 books listed as "maybe reads" for this year. Real life is currently dystopian enough. As I'm researching what I could read in this genre I swear I started to hyperventilate -they were all about crushing or already crushed women. Except this one. Because it's about bees. Sounded weird and maybe "doable" to me.
I can lead.
P.S. it's available on the nook or kindle for $1.99

I feel you on the dystopian, Gail! Everything seems a little too timely with my reading this year. There are some cozy post apocalyptic books I wouldn’t say no to if someone nominated one though, just putting that out there :) Or maybe something YA that doesn’t revolve around the station of women specifically. I know we have our sci-fi peeps out there!

For me, l I’ll nominate Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez for non-fiction

I personally dislike dystopian fiction altogether, but right now it is too much like reading the news. It's getting hard to tell the difference between dystopia and reality, unless the fiction includes robots running the world. No wait. Scratch that.

So I don't have nominations, and I doubt I'll even try to join this read. I often don't succeed in joining either because I'm swamped or because I can't get the book, but I usually intend to, but of course that doesn't mean I think the group shouldn't read dystoptia.

I'm feeling all these sentiments and loving Gail's work-around- the bee story idea.

For nature nonfiction, I'll nominate Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl, which I believe ended up on my radar because of our member Tamara's rave review :)

GailW wrote: "For Dystopian Fiction I nominate The Bees by Laline Paull. I found that I had not a single dystopia in my 172 books listed as "maybe reads" for this year. Real life is currently dystopian enough. As I'm researching what I could read in this genre I swear I started to hyperventilate -they were all about crushing or already crushed women. Except this one. Because it's about bees. Sounded weird and maybe "doable" to me."


I recently came across this one (The Bees) while looking for a nomination for an in-person Spec.Fict. book! I really like this option :)

Jen wrote: "I'm feeling all these sentiments and loving Gail's work-around- the bee story idea.

For nature nonfiction, I'll nominate Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by [aut..."

I was thinking of nominating The Comfort of Crows by the same author! (Renkl)

I'll be back later today with my nominations hopefully...

Here are a couple of links to some articles with lists of dystopians by women.

Women’s prize.com:
https://womensprize.com/six-dystopian...
Lithub.com:
https://lithub.com/30-dystopian-novel...

Thanks for this Anita. I toyed with Children of Men, I actually have it. I'm fascinated that P.D. James wrote a dystopia!

For nonfiction, I nominate Cat Bohannon's Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. I can lead.

I love dystopian novels. I can understand the avoidance, especially for American group members atm. For me though, even though they can be scary, especially when they hit close to home, they also usually show some hope. A way forward, even from the worst hell.
I'll nominate Hum by Helen Phillips

Carol wrote: "For nonfiction, I nominate Cat Bohannon's Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. I can lead."

I was eyeballing this one! So glad someone nominated it

And I also generally love dystopian, Hannah but I am loving “A way forward, even from the worst hell.” I hope we see some of that in these noms!

For Fiction, I'd like to nominate: Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson. I can lead.

I'm not a reader of dystopia usually, but I second The Bees by Laline Paull, a brilliantly conceived novel.

I was very interested to learn that Laline Paull was inspired by a Bronze Age Minoan Palace.

“The Cretan Minoan civilization dates from 1700BC, and was very sophisticated and sexually egalitarian, if not biased towards women. It was an inspiration for translating a real beehive into a fictional landscape.” Laline Paull

I do read a wide variety of books but like some other members dystopia is not usually one of them. But as Hannah mentioned - sometimes dystopian books gives us hope. Right now reading about real life stories both non-fiction and the news....it feels more depressing than most fiction, including dystopian fiction, could ever be.

I was surprised when reviewing my historical reads, that there have been a few dystopian books that I have enjoyed…....so am curious to see which book the group chooses and perhaps joining in.

Many nominations look interesting but my current preference is Lindsay's nomination of Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson as it has been on my possibility list for some time. Nalo was bom Jamaica and has taught in the Caribean, US and Canada, where she lived for some time. She is the first Black queer woman as well as the youngest person to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She has also spoken about how speculative friction has allowed her to find her voice and courage as a queer, Black woman writer.

https://www.arts.gov/impact/liter
ary-arts/creative-writing-fellows/nalo-hopkinson

just highlight the above 2 lines and click oper link to see a short bio about and personal statement by the author

Last call for nominations

Oh cool. Thanks for sharing, Mj. That nom got me curious too. That’s interesting info on the author. I’m glad to learn of her.

Nominations are closed and the polls are up. Thank you everyone who nominated. Voting ends 4/7.

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

I nominate Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time - it's classed as a Utopian science fiction novel - does that qualify? It's considered a classic and may form a good basis for further dystopian fiction reading. I read it a long time ago - at Middlesex University for a Feminist Texts course - and I would love to re-read it.

Oh - just seen that I have missed the polls -I will leave the nomination - maybe it will be of interest to someone.

Non-fiction on the environment by a woman? It has to be "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. Yes, I'll lead if it gets the most votes.

It is a WONDERFUL book and yes I would highly recommend. Unfortunately there have already been some votes, so I won’t add it to the poll. Thank you though.

I came across the most interesting post that pairs dystopian fiction with non-fiction that can combat/address the themes in the fiction. I just saw it today but really want to share some of the pairings with the group because of the response here to dystopian and the world right now *gestures vaguely at everything* (perhaps will move this comment somewhere else when time permits)

If you’re on TikTok, the post was from @girlsschoolbooks who I do not know or follow but I want to give credit where credit is due. I am not endorsing or promoting. Only one (1984) is not written by a woman. Here are the pairings:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis.

1984 by George Orwell and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler and Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown

Severance by Ling Ma and Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe

The Power by Naomi Alderman and Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici

Anita wrote: "It is a WONDERFUL book and yes I would highly recommend. Unfortunately there have already been some votes, so I won’t add it to the poll. Thank you though.

I came across the most interesting post ..."

I love this list, Anita - thank YOU!

Yea! The pairing concept is awesome. Gotta read up on these

The winners are The Bees and Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Thank you everyone who nominated and voted

Hi everyone,

GailW will not be able to lead next month’s discussion of The Bees, so we’re reaching out to see if anyone else would like the opportunity and step in for her.