2013 women challenge

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5

[Scheherazade]

1. Marina Lewycka ~ A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian 7/10

2. Joanne Harris ~ Gentlemen and Players 7/10

3. Amy Tan ~ The Joy Luck Club 6/10 Started this book with great expectations but lost my interest half-way through. Her style seemed somewhat clunky and her stories seemed like all extreme cases.

4. Muriel Spark ~ The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ~ 8/10 Quite an enjoyable book, exploring education, influence and fate from different angles.

5. Margaret Atwood ~ Oryx and Crake ~ 7/10 I was expecting this to be a rather tragic love story but Atwood has no time for romance, tragic or otherwise. And in a post-apocalyptic world, there is no time for romance either, anyhow... Only for memories.

6. Ann Patchett ~ State of Wonder (W6/S6) ~ 8/10 As good as Patchett's other book Bel Canto. A search for a missing colleague turns into a discovery of self in the middle of Amazon.

7. Carson McCullers ~ The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories (W7/S7) ~ 10/10 Breathtaking.

8. Zadie Smith ~ White Teeth 7/10 Smith tells wonderful stories but I felt this one, being her first no doubt, could have been tidied up some more.

Re. Goon Squad> I did enjoy the way she structured her stories but I felt there was not much of a story at the end. I did not care much about the characters or what might they do to themselves.



I love Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It is "Carson", isn't it?

[TheFifthElement]

I love Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It is "Carson", isn't it?

It is Carson. Dur. I have corrected, thanks. It is a lovely book, but so so sad

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5

Next up...moving onto the Brontes

[islandclimber]

Update *

1. Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book ~ Maxine Hong Kingston 4.25/5
2. The Slynx ~ Tatyana Tolstaya 5/5
3. Grotesque ~ Natsuo Kirino 4/5
4. Phosphor in Dreamland ~ Rikki Ducornet 4/5
5. Wasted Morning ~ Gabriela Adamesteanu 4.5/5
6. The Male Cross-Dresser Support Group ~ Tama Janowitz 3.5/5
7. The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice as Chronicled by Her Minstrel Laura: A Novel in Thirteen Books and Seven Intermezzos ~ Irmtraud Morgner 4.5/5
8. The Piano Teacher ~ Elfriede Jelinek

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4.5/5


And now, on account of the fact that John Self is whipping up a Coetzee storm on Twitter, I'm actually going to read a book written by a man.

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4.5/5
10. Swimming Home - Deborah Levy 4.5/5 - a short, terse and destructive novel. Very beautiful.

[Dark Muse]

1. Mrs. Dalloway by Vrigina Woolf 3.75/5
2. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell 4/5

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4.5/5
10. Swimming Home - Deborah Levy 4.5/5
11. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 4.5/5 - not a misplaced word.

[qimissung]

A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan 5/5
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 4/5
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 4/5

[Dark Muse]

1. Mrs. Dalloway by Vrigina Woolf 3.75/5
2. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell 4/5
3. The Bone People by Keri Hulme 4/5

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4.5/5
10. Swimming Home - Deborah Levy 4.5/5
11. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 4.5/5
12. Darkmans - Nicola Barker 4/5 - barking!

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4.5/5
10. Swimming Home - Deborah Levy 4.5/5
11. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 4.5/5
12. Darkmans - Nicola Barker 4/5
13. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston 4.5/5

[TheFifthElement]

*Update*

1. The Purple Shroud by Stella Duffy 3.75/5
2. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt 10/5
3. Chérie by Colette 3.75/5
4. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 4.5/5
5. Almost Innocent by Sheila Bosworth 4.5/5
6. Gorillas in the Mist - Dian Fossey - 4.75/5
7. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 4.5/5
8. The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright - 4/5
9. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4.5/5
10. Swimming Home - Deborah Levy 4.5/5
11. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 4.5/5
12. Darkmans - Nicola Barker 4/5
13. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston 4.5/5
14. Mr Fox - Helen Oyeyemi 4.5/5

I am beginning to feel like I am the only person here who reads books written by women.

[kasie]

........I am beginning to feel like I am the only person here who reads books written by women.

No, Fifth, I've read a few books by women authors this year, not so much by design as by chance.

Claire Tomalin - A Life of Dickens

Tea Obreht - The Tiger's Wife

Alice Steinbeck - Without Reservations

Salley Vickers - Miss Garnett's Angel

Aminatta Forna - The Memory of Love

I don't rate books (I feel it says more about my tastes than the quality of the books) but if you have never come across Aminatta Forna, I would urge you to try her: her writing moves me so much. I went straight out and bought Ancestor Stones because I just wanted to read more writing of this quality.

Also on my pile of 'To be Read - Soon' books are:

Joanna Trollope - Brother and Sister (for a Book Club - I've read Trollope before so perhaps this title doesn't count?)

Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Rose Tremain - The Road Home (have read her before, too)

Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin (ditto)

Kate Atkinson - Life After Life (again not a new author for me but I so like her books!)

Sara Maitland - Gossip from the Forest (about the roots of myths and fairy tales, a subject I find so interesting.)

J J Franklin - Urge to Kill - this is a new writer: she was in the shop promoting her book and the poor lady looked so nervous, I bought a copy. The opening chapters are promising.

Now - have you ever read a book where you suspect the author may be a woman? I recently read The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan. I didn't choose it, it was for one of the Book Clubs but it was unexpectedly good, imaginative, sensitive, well-written and not at all sensational or speculative and, as far as I could tell, well-researched though the learning sat lightly on the fictional writing. I had not heard of the author but part way through began to wonder if 'Jude' was 'Judy/Judith' as somehow, the writing seemed 'feminine'. I looked 'him' up and discovered that 'he' wrote under two other noms de plume, one male with 'masculine' subjects (pig-rearing'?), the other female, detective stories. There were no pictures of the author available...... I borrowed another Jude Morgan from the library, A Little Folly, which is turning out to be a delightful, tongue-in-cheek pastiche of a Georgette Heyer Regency Romance. I know, I know - men write these sort of books - I remember being devastated in my History/Saga days, to discover 'Jessica Stirling' was a man. There's just something about Morgan's style.... Does anyone know anything more?