photo via sarah.of.a.lesser.god
This feature (for now in the custody of sarah.of.a.lesser.god) is our way of sharing those book titles, both fiction and nonfiction, that have been standouts in recent reading, and hopefully getting some from our readers in return. The focus is primarily, but not necessarily exclusively, on books concerning women and feminism, and/or written by female authors.
My Pick: The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890 – 1914 by Barbara W. Tuchman. After a long semester that featured a ton of (generally enjoyable) fiction reading, I’m thrilled to have the time to return to my recreational non-fiction reading! Tower was first published as a series of essays in the early sixties and then released in a book form in 1966 (a paperback reissue was published thirteen years ago). Each chapter is devoted to different aspects of Europe and the United States in the twenty-five years that preceded World War I, dealing with subjects such as the Dreyfus Affair, turn-of-the-century anarchist movements in America, and the culture of Berlin.
Tuchman does a wonderful job of tying everything together and never allowing the sheer volume of information to become overwhelming. Unlike other works of history that are decades old, the writing is clear and never in an antiquated or fussy style; the book draws you in and leaves you able to clearly envision the period that is being written about. What is most impressive is that Tuchman deftly illustrates the gathering storm that would erupt into a World War, so that the reader gets a sense of dread as layer upon layer of events pile up to inextricably lead Europe into a deadly conflict.
Tuchman won the Pulitzer Prize for another one of her books The Guns of August — which is on my birthday gift wish list –about the beginning of WWI, and I have her book A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century lying unread on my bookshelf. A completely self-trained historian, Tuchman once said, “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” I have to agree.
What say you? Have any titles to share with the Harpies and your fellow readers? Note: while I tend to focus on books, your input does not strictly have to be a literary recommendation if you have something extraordinary that is in another medium such as music or film that you would love to let us know about.
I’ve been on an odd ignored/ marginalised or generally called insane at some point female novelists kick recently. So I can recommend Angela Bourke’s Homesick at the New Yorker, a biography of Maeve Brennan, which actually I lent to your fellow harpy. And which is an excellent look at a woman writer who has too often been ignored. Then you should track down her haunting short stories which are excellent. Also Bourke is a great writer and feminist historian and her work on the murder of Bridget Cleary (who was accused of witchcraft and burnt to death in rural Ireland in the 18th century) is also worth reading.
After that i’ve just finished Lilian Pizzichini’s biography of the very wonderful albeit often terrible Jean Rhys, and i also recommend this as it’s a compelling study of alcholism, despair and outsider writer. Rhys was utterly ahead of her time in terms of her subject matter and treatment of women and everyone should read her early fiction such as Quartet and After Leaving Mr McKenzie as well as the novel she’s best known for, Wide Sargasso Sea.
@emilyanne: Those Bourke books sound absolutely terrific. I will have to hunt for them, especially the one on Bridget Cleary. I must confess that my book-buying pace has slowed to less than a crawl now that I don’t have a paying job, but I may make an exception for that.
@sarah.of.a.lesser.god: Would you all like to pick one and lead a forum in a couple of weeks? I think that would be fun. I like my friends and all, but my current book club is inconsistent, so I wouldn’t mind a supplement.
If you like WWI as a subject, try Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. It’s written by Lloyd George’s great-granddaughter, who teaches history at Toronto if I’m not mistaken. It came out a few years ago.
I am currently re-reading Virgil’s Aeneid and then I will read Ursula Le Guin’s Lavinia (a minor character from The Aeneid).
I haven’t read this in years and forgot how evil Virgil is towards his women characters… *sigh* Which is exactly why I can’t wait for Ursula’s take on it.
I just read “Reading the OED” by Ammon Shea, which wasn’t half bad. My only fault was that it tended towards elitism.
I HIGHLY recommend “Black Earth: A Journey through Russia after the Fall” by Andrew Meier. It’s a travelogue of Russia after the fall of communism through about 2002. It’s truly a fascinating study on the lives of Russians after Communism.
el-toro, I’ll second the Meier, it’s an outstanding book (I actually read it on my honeymoon, which probably sounds weird but we went to St Petersburg and Moscow so it was sort of fitting…)
@Bear Down: I would love to but, alas, my summer classes will be starting in ten days, and I’ll have class four nights a week in addition to my internship. No rest for the weary! At this point it’s an accomplishment if I can do a book per month. However, I do want to get that book and I’d love to compare notes with you later in the summer!
And I have that book by Lloyd George’s granddaughter! It was fantastic!
@el-toro: Thank you for the rec! I have a few books on modern Russian history, but not that one.
@emilyanne: I think that book is totally honeymoon appropriate. But then I also bring biographies of Stalin to family picnics, so I might not be the best judge
@sarah.of.a.lesser.god: I love modern Russian history. I would be welcome to any book recs that you’ld like to pass on.
The advice about weighty honeymoon/picnic reading made me laugh…
This isn’t necessarily “standout” literature, but it sure fits, by women/for women. Power of Women United started out as the authors’ attempt to teach about networking for business, and instead turned into 22 women’s stories of how they achieved success. This isn’t just for business women, really — it’s for any woman who wants to build up dreams or goals and is looking for tools to get there, AND for women in business, of course, and for women who are looking for a little help on finding what they really want to do with their lives. Much better than just networking!
I recently finished four novels in Octavia Butler’s patternist series, published together in a collection called Seed to Harvest, and they were all fabulous. I think Wild Seed was my favorite one. Yes, I know I’m way behind the times (these books were published in the late 70s and early 80s) but thought I’d mention them for those who have not read them. I’m not very good at book reviews but I will mention that they deal with issues surrounding power/slavery and gender.
Now I’m in the middle of Unless, written by Carol Shields, an author whose work I’ve always enjoyed.