As seen at Andrea's
Decomposition and
Phantom's, among others (they drew it from
Turtlebella, a nice new-to-me blog, and she drew it from
My So-Called ABD Life) : A book meme
Instructions: Bold the ones you've read. Italicize the ones you've been wanting/might like to read. ??Place question marks by any titles/authors you've never heard of?? Put an asterisk if you've read something else by the same author.
*Alcott, Louisa May--
Little WomenAllende, Isabel--The House of Spirits
is there a special category for books you've learned tons about via supervising students in independent studies but haven't actually read yourself? This one falls there for me.*Angelou, Maya--
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*Atwood, Margaret--
Cat's Eye*Austen, Jane--
EmmaBambara, Toni Cade--Salt Eaters
Barnes, Djuna--Nightwood one of my best friends in college read this and loved it. It's been on my to-read list ever since.Beauvoir, Simone--
The Second Sex *Blume, Judy--Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
Phantom's version of this post references a great post by Dani about whether or not this book should be updated, and I felt really, really old reading the posts about how it was other people's mothers who used sanitary napkin pads and belts. My own mother was so sheltered that she didn't really know much about tampons, and consequently I didn't learn about tampons until I went to college in the fall of 1980. Very odd.Burnett, Frances--
The Secret Garden*Bronte, Charlotte--
Jane Eyre*Bronte, Emily--
Wuthering HeightsBuck, Pearl S.--
The Good EarthByatt, A.S.--Possession
another book on my to-read list, although I have to confess I was comforted by Phantom's confession that she's been bored silly by other Byatt books, as I've not been able to get into her other work very much.Cather, Willa--
My Antonia I didn't enjoy this, though; I read it in a grad seminar I wasn't having fun in*Chopin, Kate--
The Awakening*Christie, Agatha--
Murder on the Orient ExpressCisneros, Sandra--The House on Mango Street
*Clinton, Hillary Rodham--Living History
Does reading political speeches count as reading other stuff by same author???Cooper, Anna Julia--A Voice From the South??
??Danticat, Edwidge==Breath, Eyes, Memory
Davis, Angela--
Women, Culture, and Politics
I only bolded part becasue I've only read excerpts??Desai, Anita--Clear Light of Day??
*Dickinson, Emily--
Collected PoemsDuncan, Lois--
I Know What You Did Last Summer I can't believe this book is on a list! That said, I spent a lot of time in high school reading Victoria Holt novels, so I do appreciate a good gothic thriller, and that's not so far removed.*DuMaurier, Daphne--
Rebecca There is a street on the north side of my city named Manderly Drive, and I have got to assume that the developer who named it hasn't ever read this book.*Eliot, George--
Middlemarch??Emecheta, Buchi--Second Class Citizen??
*Erdrich, Louise--Tracks
I took a class in college with her sister, and an aerobics class with her husband--brushes with greatness!Esquivel, Laura--
Like Water for ChocolateFlagg, Fannie---
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe The book is way better than the movie, and the movie is very goodFriedan, Betty---
The Feminine MystiqueFrank, Anne--
Diary of a Young GirlGilman, Charlotte Perkins--
The Yellow Wallpaper*Gordimer, Nadine---July's People
*Grafton, Sue---S is for Silence
Why start with S when the series has been going downhill since sometime earlier in the alphabet?Hamilton, Edith---Mythology
Highsmith, Patricia---The Talented Mr. Ripley
I thought the movie was way too bleak. I like happy things in fiction and film.*hooks, bell---Bone Black*
*Hurston, Zora Neale--Dust Tracks on the Road
Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my favorite novelsJacobs, Harriet--Incidents in the Life of a Slave GirlJackson, Helen Hunt--Ramona I have a real fondness for 19th century women's fiction. Anyone else love The Wide, Wide World?*Jackson, Shirley--The Haunting of Hill House
The Lottery--a great short storyJong, Erica--Fear of Flying
Keene, Carolyn--The Nancy Drew Mysteries of course! and Cherry Ames, and Trixie Belden. I loved series books when I was a kid. Still do, come to think of it.
Kidd, Sue Monk--The Secret Life of Bees*Kincaid, Jamaica--Lucy
Kingsolver, Barbara--The Poisonwood BibleKingston, 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
Mitchell, Margaret--Gone with the WindMontgomery, Lucy Maud--Anne of Green Gables ??Morgan, Joan--When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost??
*Morrison, ToniĆ¢--Song of Solomon*
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu--The Tale of Genji
This is another one of those books I've read a lot of essays about without ever reading, and having read enough essays feel that enough of the plot is revealed that I don't want to read it.Munro, Alice--Lives of Girls and WomenMurdoch, Iris--Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria--Mama Day
Niffenegger, Audrey--The Time Traveller's Wife
*Oates, Joyce Carol--We Were the Mulvaneys
I've tried to like Oates, but just can't get into her work.O'Connor, Flannery--A Good Man is Hard to FindPiercy, Marge--Woman on the Edge of Time As you can tell from my Friday poetry blogging, I'm a Piercy fanPicoult, Jodi--My Sister's Keeper*
Plath, Sylvia--The Bell Jar*Porter, Katharine Anne--Ship of Fools
Proulx, E. Annie--The Shipping NewsRand, Ayn--The Fountainhead
*Ray, Rachel--365: No Repeats*
Why on earth is this book here? The Rombauer's Joy of Cooking is a far better cookbook--and Susan Leonardi's 1989 PMLA article "recipes for reading" makes a great introduction to what's so fun about reading cookbooks. Yes, I really am using "fun" to modify "PMLA article"--check it out yourself if you don't believe me!Rhys, Jean--Wide Sargasso Sea And I also love Jane Eyre
Robinson, Marilynne--Housekeeping A book I want to like, but never do.
?Rocha, Sharon--For Laci?
Sebold, Alice--The Lovely Bones
This just sounds too sad for me.Shelley, Mary--Frankenstein Smith, Betty--A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
I love, love, love this book.?Smith, Zadie--White Teeth?
Spark, Muriel--The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Spyri, Johanna--Heidi?Strout, Elizabeth
--Amy and Isabelle
*Steel, Danielle
--The House
for all I know I have read this one--her books run together for me. I've read some on vacation but couldnt say which one(s). Tan, Amy--The Joy Luck Club*Tannen, Deborah
--You're Wearing That*
Ulrich, Laurel--A Midwife's TaleUrquhart, 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 (plus her fiction, too, of course)
The discussion at Phantom's is utterly wonderful and has great suggestions for people who have been omitted from a list of interesting women writers, including some I'd have added if I'd been more on the ball with commenting of late: Margaret Laurence, Dorothy Sayers, P.D. James, Georgette Heyer (not high culture but I sure loved those books when I was in high school and junior high), Aphra Behn, Adrienne Rich, Susan Cooper.