Me? Meme?
I'm not big on memes - I'm intrigued by other people's answers, but I feel a little... I don't know... silly posting my answers here. (I mean, who *cares* about what I have to say?!?)
And yet, this one drove me to create my own reply. I'm surprised at the number of writers I read as a kid. I'm surprised that there are no books on the list that I started but never finished. And I'm surprised that there are none on my "life is too short" list - it seems to me, though, that anything on that list would also have to be on the "tried and abandoned" list, because if I haven't even *tried* it, how can I know it has no redeeming value for me?
Obviously, looking at my list, I should expand my reading of women of color...
And yet, this one drove me to create my own reply. I'm surprised at the number of writers I read as a kid. I'm surprised that there are no books on the list that I started but never finished. And I'm surprised that there are none on my "life is too short" list - it seems to me, though, that anything on that list would also have to be on the "tried and abandoned" list, because if I haven't even *tried* it, how can I know it has no redeeming value for me?
Obviously, looking at my list, I should expand my reading of women of color...
Instructions:
Bold the ones you've read.
Italicize the ones you have wanted/might like to read.
* Another book by this author read, but not this
??Place question marks by any titles/authors you've never heard of??
*** I’ve tried it and abandoned it
XXX Life Is Too Short
Alcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Allende,Isabel–The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
*Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye
Austen, Jane–Emma
??Bambara, Toni Cade–Salt Eaters
??Barnes,Djuna–Nightwood
de Beauvoir,Simone–The Second Sex
Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession
Cather, Willa–My Antonia
Chopin, Kate–The Awakening
Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros,Sandra–The House on Mango Street
Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History
??Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South
Danticat,Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory
Davis,Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
??Desai,Anita–Clear Light of Day
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
*Eliot, George–Middlemarch
??Emecheta, Buchi–Second Class Citizen
Erdrich, Louise–Tracks
Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate
Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (I'm guessing that watching the movie doesn't count)
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper
Gordimer, Nadine–July's People
*Grafton, Sue–S is for Silence
Hamilton, Edith–Mythology
Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley
hooks, bell–Bone Black
Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs,Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
??Jackson,Helen Hunt–Ramona
Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House
Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying (Does it count to have read the sex parts, by flashlight, when I was a kid?)
Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them)
Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees
*Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy
Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible
Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
??Larsen,Nella–Passing
L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time
*Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
??Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger
??Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals
Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series (any of them)
McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding
*McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts
??Markandaya, Kamala–Nectar in a Sieve
??Marshall, Paule–Brown Girl, Brownstones
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables
??Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji
Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women
*Murdoch, Iris–Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria–Mama Day
Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller's Wife
*Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys (does short fiction count, as "also read")
O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find
Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
Picoult, Jodi–My Sister's Keeper
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar
Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools
*Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
Rand,Ayn–The Fountainhead
??Ray, Rachel–365: No Repeats
Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea
*Robinson,Marilynne–Housekeeping
??Rocha, Sharon–For Lac
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie–White Teeth
Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna–Heidi
Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle
Steel, Danielle–The House
Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
*Tannen, Deborah–You're Wearing That (does attending lecture count as "also read"?)
Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale
??Urquhart, Jane–Away
*Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar
Welty,Eudora–One Writer's Beginnings
Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
*Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own
Bold the ones you've read.
Italicize the ones you have wanted/might like to read.
* Another book by this author read, but not this
??Place question marks by any titles/authors you've never heard of??
*** I’ve tried it and abandoned it
XXX Life Is Too Short
Alcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Allende,Isabel–The House of Spirits
Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
*Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye
Austen, Jane–Emma
??Bambara, Toni Cade–Salt Eaters
??Barnes,Djuna–Nightwood
de Beauvoir,Simone–The Second Sex
Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession
Cather, Willa–My Antonia
Chopin, Kate–The Awakening
Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros,Sandra–The House on Mango Street
Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History
??Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South
Danticat,Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory
Davis,Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
??Desai,Anita–Clear Light of Day
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
*Eliot, George–Middlemarch
??Emecheta, Buchi–Second Class Citizen
Erdrich, Louise–Tracks
Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate
Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (I'm guessing that watching the movie doesn't count)
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper
Gordimer, Nadine–July's People
*Grafton, Sue–S is for Silence
Hamilton, Edith–Mythology
Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley
hooks, bell–Bone Black
Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs,Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
??Jackson,Helen Hunt–Ramona
Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House
Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying (Does it count to have read the sex parts, by flashlight, when I was a kid?)
Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them)
Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees
*Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy
Kingsolver, Barbara–The Poisonwood Bible
Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
??Larsen,Nella–Passing
L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time
*Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
??Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger
??Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals
Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series (any of them)
McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding
*McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts
??Markandaya, Kamala–Nectar in a Sieve
??Marshall, Paule–Brown Girl, Brownstones
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables
??Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji
Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women
*Murdoch, Iris–Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria–Mama Day
Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller's Wife
*Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys (does short fiction count, as "also read")
O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find
Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
Picoult, Jodi–My Sister's Keeper
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar
Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools
*Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
Rand,Ayn–The Fountainhead
??Ray, Rachel–365: No Repeats
Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea
*Robinson,Marilynne–Housekeeping
??Rocha, Sharon–For Lac
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie–White Teeth
Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna–Heidi
Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle
Steel, Danielle–The House
Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
*Tannen, Deborah–You're Wearing That (does attending lecture count as "also read"?)
Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale
??Urquhart, Jane–Away
*Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar
Welty,Eudora–One Writer's Beginnings
Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
*Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own
I think the Rachel Ray book is a joke someone added -- She's a Food TV personality, and that's her latest cookbook. Not exactly literature, even if I do enjoy her recipes.
The holes on my list are clear to me, and I'm not surprised. Reading over other LJer's lists surprised me, because there were some titles that I thought *everyone* had read - and some of those were marked as never heard of! It's strange, the corners we push ourselves into :-)
I must say, I don't pay attention to what author's look like when I read them, and don't usually care about what gender they are. If they're good, they're good, regardless of gender, age or skin colour.
*hides*
I think that authors can be good, regardless of gender, age, or skin color (colour :-) )
I also think that there is value in diversity. I have loved some of the stories that I've read, written by authors from other cultures. THE NAMESAKE, by Jumpha Lahiri; MY NAME IS RED, by Orhan Pamuk; THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini.
I don't think that any of these authors speaks for all of her or his people (the major problem, I believe, with selecting literature by gender or age or skin color - there's a temptation to believe that the selection stands in for the whole). But I do know that each made me think about life experiences a little differently; each opened my eyes to other ways of being in this world.
Note: I wouldn't even try to make that argument for Nancy Drew books, or Judy Blume, or many other authors/books on the meme list! :-)
(Anonymous)
reading
I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU HAVEN"T READ ANNE OF GREEN GABLES!
Go read it! NOW!!
Beth
Re: reading
(Good to see you back here, Beth!)