Book Review: This Will Be My Undoing

TITLE: This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
AUTHOR: Morgan Jerkins
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays
PREMISE: A series of essays by Morgan Jerkins diving into things like feminism, racism, pop culture and so much more.
MY REVIEW: Lately I've found that I really enjoy essays. Particularly I like listening to them via audiobook. Which is what I did with this one and I highly recommend it. The author does the narration herself and she's pretty good at it.
I personally really liked this one. As with most essay collections, some are better then others. One or two go a little too long for my taste, but she still makes her point. The subjects raised are interesting ones that not many people talk about. For instance, she talks about a trip to Japan and the differences between how she was treated there, versus the United States.
I think it was a pretty solid collection. I hope we see more from this author in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that like essay collections, Roxane Gay fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting essays

Book Review: When They Call You a Terrorist

TITLE: When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
AUTHOR: Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: January 16th, 2018
GENRE: Memoir
PREMISE: One of the leading voices in the Black Lives Matter movement tells her story and uses stories from her life to talk about racism and other important subjects.
MY REVIEW: If you read the title of this book and your first thought is "ugh, ALL lives matter" or some such nonsense....This book will not be for you. Also, honestly, my blog will probably not be for you. So...bye. This is a very niche sort of book. It is probably going to appeal to very specific type of people. Namely activists, those interested in the Black Lives Matter movement, or allies such as myself trying to educate ourselves more etc.
Memoir wise, this is pretty typical stuff. The author shares multiple stories about her family and helps you understand the motivations driving the Black Lives Matter movement. It also sets some records straight on the movement itself and some very common misconceptions people have about it. Seriously guys, it's not a terrorist group. Get the hell over that idea, please.
Memoir wise, it's pretty average. It does however give a lot of insight to helping understand the motivations around the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested, people who are curious about learning more about the Black Lives Matter movement
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting reads

Book Review: Divided We Stand

TITLE: Divided We Stand-The Battle Over Women's Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics
AUTHOR: Marjorie J. Spruill
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: February 28th, 2017
GENRE: History, Politics
PREMISE: A non-fiction book delving into the 1977 National Women's Conference and how what happened there was a glimpse of future politics to come...
MY REVIEW: I have so many mixed feelings about this book. I do think it's an important thing to read and many people today could stand to read it. But I have issues with the way the author went about presenting the information because it's clear from the way she presented it, that she is biased and wanted you to feel a certain way about things. I HATE when non-fiction history authors do this. If there's something that doesn't have a lot of info and you do have to guess, then okay I get that. But stuff like this? No, just give us the information and let us come to our own conclusions, please.
Namely, she seemed to want you to sympathize with conservative women and admire Phyllis Schlafly. About eighty percent of this book is spent presenting Schlafly and her group as some amazing united force. Meanwhile, she presents the feminists as an unprepared group that spends too much time in-fighting and whatnot. I thought this was weird and then I went and looked up the writer. She's from the south. And most of the books she's written has to do with southern white women and their great deeds. Which, explains a lot.
Look, feminists are not perfect. I am the first to tell you that. But seriously don't sit there and tell me that Shclafly and her group was better. They did everything they could to undermine progress for women simply because they felt they knew what was best for every woman. That is not something to be admired. And I don't think it's very surprising or admirable they were able to organize very well. They all just had one goal. It's easy to agree and get everyone on board when you have one goal. Feminists, have more then one goal, and everyone wants their goal to be at the fore front and focus on that. So of course, we're not all going to agree on everything. Also, I would like to point out, Shclafly's group is also responsible for a lot the negative and frankly untrue stereotypes you hear about feminists today, such as that lie about how feminism is about hating men.
But one thing this book does do well, is it explained the switch of the political parties that took place during the seventies. It does draw very good links between politics now and politics back then. I just...am not pleased with how biased the author clearly was and how she tried to get you to sympathize with people who were actively trying to take away women's rights.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those interested in political history
MY RATING: Three out of Five flawed takes on history

Book Review: Sex Object

TITLE: Sex Object, A Memoir
AUTHOR: Jessica Valenti
PUBLISHED: June, 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays, Feminism
PREMISE: A collection of essays from columnist Jessica Valenti that center around the ways in which sex has effected her and other women.
MY REVIEW: Jessica Valenti has been around for quite awhile, but I confess...I've never read her books. I've been meaning too, it just never happened until now. After reading this one, I'll definitely be looking into her other books.
For those trying to wrap your minds around Weinstein, Moore, Franken etc. I definitely recommend picking this one up if you are wondering how exactly we got here. There is a lot of stuff in here that is pretty timely and some of these essays were written quite a few years ago. Oh and FYI, women have actually been calling out sexual harassment stuff for quite awhile now. Stop acting like the news that there's a rape culture out there is somehow brand new information. We've been telling you about it for years now. You're just now finally forced to acknowledge it because the media finally decided to pay attention to it.
I should get back to the book...anyway, there are a lot of great essays in this one. The most notable ones for me are the essays titled Subways and Grilled Cheese. If you want to really get angry at people, Valenti ends the book with some of the comments she's received online from people about the essays. All I can say is...wow.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those reading up on rape culture
MY RATING: Four out of Five thought provoking essays

Book Review: Moxie

TITLE: Moxie
AUTHOR: Jennifer Mathieu
PUBLISHED: September 19th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A girl gets fed up with the rampant sexism in her school and starts a feminist zine to fight back.
MY REVIEW: When I heard the premise for this book I was both very nervous and very excited for it. I was excited for it because we are now actually in a place where YA is bluntly talking about and embracing feminism. That is amazing to me and I'm very happy about it. I was wary about it because I was afraid it was going to be what I call faux feminism (or White Feminism depending on the situation): it would be all about empowerment to an extent. I will give the author credit: she did try to emphasize that feminism should be inclusive.
For the most part I liked this book. It is a very basic introduction to feminism. If this is what it takes to get girls to realize feminism doesn't mean hating men and is not the evilness their friends have probably assured them it is, I'll take it. Seriously that conversation the main character has with her friend where the friend is all "I just like...don't hate men. I'm into like, equality! So I'm not a feminist"? Yeah, I've had way too many conversations like that. Guys, if you're into equality, congratulations: you're a feminist. Because that is what feminism is. Do some research, okay? A lot of the stereotypes out there about feminists are in fact bullshit made up by anti-feminists. Not to say the movement is perfect, it isn't, we need to work on our crap same as everyone else. But a lot of the stereotypes you hear are usually not even remotely true.
I just have two issues with this book. One: it's not subtle at like all. The sexism in this book is very in your face and easy to spot. Which, okay, I get it. But here's the thing: a lot of the sexism nowadays? Is not easy to spot. It's subtle and done in little ways so that the person can go "oh that's not sexism, you're making a big deal out of nothing!" It's like racism: it got coded and is done such away so that people can hand wave it away if they feel like ignoring it and don't want you calling them out on crap. I really wish the book had gone into more of the subtle ways sexism gets perpetuated in our society today.
The second issue I have is it does try to say your feminism needs to be inclusive...but it sort of does it as an afterthought. Like there are token characters of representation here and there and the character goes "oh yeah, inclusiveness is important!" and then goes right back to focusing more on the straight white females of the story. Perhaps if there's a sequel, the author can focus more on that bit.
So it's got issues. I wish the author had done a little more then what she did. But at the same time I appreciate that we're even getting this book at all. The plot is a solid one. It definitely gets the message across. In short it did its job. So...all in all I'm satisfied with it.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, contemporary fans not scared off by feminism being in their books
MY RATING: Four out of Five Moxie Girls

Note about Notable Releases: Here's the thing about November and December in book world: there are usually no really big releases during those months. For the next few weeks or so there are only about one or two books I'm mildly interested in during this month so it's not really necessary for me to do notable releases right now. So it's on a brief hiatus until the beginning of 2018 and you get all the January releases. And there are so many books in January guys. SO. MANY.

Author Review: Rebecca Solnit

TITLES OF BOOKS: Hope in the Dark
Men Explain Things To Me
The Mother of All Questions
AUTHOR: Rebecca Solnit
PUBLISHED: 2004, 2014, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays, Articles, Feminism
PREMISE: In three of her books, Solnit discusses various issues surrounding politics, feminism, and activism.
MY REVIEW: Over the past few months I've been reading through these three books by Rebecca Solnit. For those who have no idea who Solnit is, you probably know or have used a term she coined: Mansplaining. That term is credited to her essay Men Explain Things to Me. She's also a frequent columnist on many websites, including LitHub.
I specifically want to talk about Men Explain Things to Me though, because mansplaining has been a thing getting a lot of flack lately around the internet. Mostly from men, but not always. First, I'd like to point out, Solnit herself is not altogether pleased by how much the term has been overused. She says as much in some endnotes after the Men Explain Things to Me essay. So maybe put your misandry claims away, okay? Second, I think people frankly deliberately misunderstand what the term means. No, it does not mean men can't explain stuff ever. If a woman actually asks for your opinion and you are actually educated and know a thing or two about the subject, go ahead and talk about it! We won't care. Because that's not mansplaining.
Mansplaining is a man making the assumption that a woman can't possibly know this one brilliant thing they know and so proceed to condescendingly explain the thing to us. Yes, sometimes females do this to people too (geeks of all shapes and forms tend to do this to new fans I've discovered and guys, seriously, cut it out). But it is not quite at the same rate as men do it to women. I see you men going "well wait, then how do I know if I'm mansplaining or not?" It's very simple: did the woman ask for your opinion and do you actually know a thing or two about the subject? No to both or one of those questions? You are probably mansplaining. Stop.
Men Explain Things to Me is probably the best of all the essays. But there are a whole lot of really good ones. Hope in the Dark is also incredibly interesting to read at times because it features essays written during the Bush years and it's like a peek back in time to what was going on then. I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that it's been over a decade since some of the early Bush years.
WHO SHOULD READ: feminists, those interested in social justice issues or politics
MY RATING FOR ALL OF THE BOOKS: Four out of Five satisfied nods

Book Review: Wolf Whistle Politics

TITLE: Wolf Whistle Politics
AUTHOR: various, edited by Naomi Wolf
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: May 23rd, 2017
GENRE: Essays, Feminism, Social Commentary
PREMISE: A collection of essays, articles written in the past year or so that center around sexism and wolf whistle politics.
MY REVIEW: So this is yet another essay collection. This one is a very quick read, it's less then two hundred pages so it shouldn't take long too read. It's like most collections where some things in it are better then others. This one had a lot of good ones, but also one or two that...where honestly kind of reaching and not really written well.
But there where two that stood out for me. One was the essay where the book gets its title from. That one described what Wolf Whistle politics is and went even further into coded language which I think is something we all need to take a long hard look at. Personally, I feel like coded language is one of the many reasons sexism/racism etc. has managed to survive despite our many efforts to get rid of it. Bigots and sexists got smart and realized they couldn't be up front about their crap anymore and so they started getting more subtle in the way they did things. They do it in such away that lets them go "no no, that's not bigotry/sexism! Because like I'm not directly saying I think you're inferior to me!" but they are heavily implying it. The subtlety also allows for other people to look the other way and pretend it doesn't exist. See all the "Ugh SJWs are so over-sensitive" comments.
The other essay that stood out was one that went into the history of conservative politics and how the Democratic Party and Republican Party basically switched policies/interests in the sixties/seventies. I kind of wish everyone would read this, especially Republicans who like to brag about how they got rid of slavery. Sorry, you didn't. The Republican party in Lincoln's time was incredibly different then the Republican Party of today. Also please don't go acting like this means your party wasn't racist. there were Republicans very much against the abolition of slavery. Just because people didn't want to own slaves, didn't mean they weren't racist.
So this one was a bit of a mixed bag. There were several good essays/articles in here though and I do think the good far outweighs the bad. So if you're looking for some essays to read, this is an interesting one to look into.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those interested in current events
MY RATING: Four out of Five

Reading Through The Classics: A Doll's House (note: there are spoilers for the ending)

TITLE: A Doll's House
AUTHOR: Henrik Ibsen
PUBLISHED: 1879
CATEGORY: Play
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: A wife's life starts to come down around her and then she realizes she was perhaps trapped all along...
MY THOUGHTS: I continue through my new obsession with plays. This recent one has been on lots of feminism lists and...I suppose in a way it is. If you go by first wave feminism rules. Nowadays...I personally have issues with the way the wife left (she could have at least taken her kids with her...). But I notice everyone has different takes on that ending so...
This is a very slow character piece and honestly the realization Nora goes through seems to come out of no where as the first half and midway through the second half, she seems perfectly fine with how things are. It's not terribly subtle in making you the viewer see that this marriage was not okay though.
Honestly, like most classics, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. At the time it was released, it was probably very gutsy as divorce/leaving your husband was just not seen as an option back then. Nowadays...I feel like the pacing is awkward and there could have been a much better lead up to Nora leaving. I have to say I'm very curious about the new play on Broadway that is apparently a sequel to this about what happens when Nora comes back.
WHO SHOULD READ: those interested in first wave feminist literature (who don't mind how dated said literature can be), theater nerds, feminists

Book Review: Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

TITLE: Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
AUTHOR: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
PUBLISHED: March 7th, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essay/Feminism
PREMISE: Author/activist Adichie goes into her ideas of feminism in a letter to her friend.
MY REVIEW: A couple of weeks ago, my review of this might have been very different. What happened a couple of weeks ago, you ask? Well, Adichie gave an interview where somehow trans issues came up and she said some pretty transphobic things. There have been more detailed articles about it. This review of the same book goes a bit into what happened.
 I'm conflicted about how to approach this because while I definitely sigh at yet another feminist saying transphobic things (even if it is perhaps said in ignorance, which...I really hope is the case here). I also don't want to suddenly discount all the things she says about issues that she is informed about, such as race/gender etc.
This has clouded my reading of this somewhat and I will freely admit that. There are parts in here I liked and parts in here that...I just kept thinking about those comments in the back of my head and they really contradicted some of this book. So yeah...lots of mixed feelings. I do think I will still read Adichie...I just am going to probably be much more critical of her stuff now then I might have been before.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, fans of We Should All Be Feminists
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five conflicted feelings

Your Syllabus For: Modern Feminism Reads

So we've come to the most recent years of feminism. There's been a lot of change these past few years, to say the least. I still don't know whether it counts as a new forth wave or not, but it has been exciting to watch. Thanks to this change, there have been a LOT of feminist books published these past five years. Here are just some of the highlights to read to get a good view of modern feminism:

I Am Malala: The Story of a Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

Honestly, just read this one regardless of whether or not you're interested in feminism.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

There are issues surrounding this one, but it has been a big part of feminism for awhile now, so...

Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive by Julia Serano

Daily reminder: feminism is like all movements and not perfect. Read this book to learn how to make things better.

Angelou's Autobiographies: Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Anything by Kiersten White

Anything by Courtney Summers (particularly All the Rage)

Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

Otherwise known as the book that coined the term mansplaining. Which, is a real thing (seriously just spend ten minutes being a female in a geek space, you will get mansplained at least something), but has kind of gotten misused more and more recently, I feel.

Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do About It by Kate Harding

You Don't Have to Like Me by Alida Nugent

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future (and other books) by A. S. King

Bitch Planet graphic novel series by Kelly Sue DeConnick

We Should All be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This tiny book explains feminism perfectly. Unfortunately the author just recently said some rather transphobic things so...her intersectional feminism definitely needs a lot of work. But that doesn't change the fact that the things said in here are important.

Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Politt

Asking for It by Louise O'Neill

The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig

Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski

I Call Myself a Feminist: The View From Twenty-Five Women Under Thirty by various authors

The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, and So Much More by Janet Mock

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

Lean Out: The Struggle for Gender Equality in Tech and Start-Up Culture by Elissa Shevinsky

Lumberjanes graphic novel series

Ms. Marvel graphic novel series by G. Willow Wilson

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Also check out basically everything else she writes because Gay is awesome.

The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future by various authors

The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

Some new releases from 2017 to check out:

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen and various authors

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

Why I am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto by Jessa Crispin-I've heard...very mixed things about this one, so I'd proceed with caution into it.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

Dear Ijeawele: Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nasty Women by various authors

We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere by Gillian Anderson and Jennifer Nadel

The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit

Book Review: Shrill-Notes From a Loud Woman

TITLE: Shrill-Notes From a Loud Woman
AUTHOR: Lindy West
PUBLISHED: May 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays/memoirs
PREMISE: Online writer Lindy West talks about various topics including how  being a feminist online has effected her.
MY REVIEW: I am somewhat familiar with Lindy West's work before this. I do occasionally read Jezebel (very occasionally, it sometimes gets a little too white feminist for my taste), and I remember one of the incidents that she talks about in this book. So I was a little interested in reading this.
For the most part, I liked it a lot. West is an engaging writer. It gets a tad repetitive in places. Sometimes she does repeat things a lot. But lets face it: a lot incidents with internet trolls tend to go about the same. So that's probably a large part of it. I had to put the book down because so much of the harassment she receives for basically voicing an opinion, just really makes you question whether there's any empathy left in the world at like, all. There is one story at the end that gives a little hope, but it is very little as it's just one person realizing what a colossal jerk they were.
At times this mostly just feels a bit ranty (I know, I probably shouldn't judge that). The stuff she's writing about is interesting (at least to me) so I don't mind that much. If you like memoirs dealing with subjects like feminism and weight issues and whatnot, this is a good one to look into.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Lindy West, feminists, people who like social commentary essays
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five essays to nod along at too

Your Syllabus for: Third Wave Feminism

Continuing on from last week's list of second wave feminism, here is your syllabus for third wave feminism. For those that don't know, third wave feminism started around the early nineties. Some say it's still going on, others say we've actually already entered into a forth wave around 2008 or so (some say it was around 2014ish. There's much debate). I have no idea if we are in the forth wave or not. I'm not in charge of deciding these things. I can tell you, I feel like there's been a bit of a shift of focus at least in books, these last few years. But I'm not sure if that means we're in a new wave of feminism. For the sake of this list I'm doing feminist books published between 1990 and 2011. I'm going to do a final list next week that wraps up all the more recent feminism books. I'm doing this because in the last five years or so, there has been a huge boom in feminist non-fiction and I don't want to miss any due to post length.

The Beauty Myth">The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi

Listen Up: Voices From the Next Feminist Revolution by Barbara Findlin and others

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Tortall series and the Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler

Women Who Run With Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archtype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes-Note, the Our Shared Shelf group is reading this now for book club, if you decide pick it up and need to discuss it.

Earthseed series (and other things) by Octavia Butler

Fun Home and The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins

Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought by Beverly Guy-Shefthall and others

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks (and honestly read all the rest of her books too.

Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism by Daisy Hernandez

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

In the Time of Butterflies (and others) by Julia Alvarez

Daughter of Fortune (and other books) by Isabel Allende

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardiner

Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Feminity by Julia Serano

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donaghue

Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti-Any Valenti book is probably going to be a good look into third wave feminist thought, but this is one that put her on the map.

Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape by Jacklyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti

Half the Sky: Turning Opression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine by various authors (Bitch is a great feminist magazine out there for those that don't know.

Persopolis comic by Marjane Satrapi

Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory: Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty

Feminism and Pop Culture by Andi Ziesler

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins

Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism's Work is Done by Susan J. Douglas

Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists by various authors

Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood, and Abortion by various authors


Some books published recently dealing with third wave feminism:

We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to Covergirl, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement by Andi Zeisler

This deals a lot with the 90s and 00s. If you're looking for a peak at what was going on in the world during this time, this is a good book to look into.

Next week: Modern Feminist Books

Book Review: Here We Are-Feminism For the Real World

TITLE: Here We Are-Feminism For the Real World
AUTHOR: Kelly Jensen and various authors
PUBLISHED: January 24rth, 2017
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Feminism, Essays/misc.
PREMISE: A variety of authors talk about feminism and their dealings with it.
MY REVIEW: This book is an interesting one. It has essays but also has author interviews, blog posts, even some fun lists out there that are all geared towards helping people understand what feminism is/how it relates to everyday life and so on. A lot of the information I knew. But if you're a person who is just getting into feminism or trying to make sense of the many ideas around it, this is a good book to pick up. Honestly, even if you have been in the feminist discourse area a while, it may be a good idea to read this as it deals a lot with making feminism more inclusive. Some feminists I know could stand to be more inclusive (looking at you, TERFs and White Feminists).
This is a wide variety of topics that it chooses to talk about. It deals with weight issues, mental health issues, transgender issues, faith, being male and considering yourself feminist, and so much more. It is quite possibly one of the most inclusive feminist collections I've ever read. Which, considering how many feminist books I've been reading lately....is a bit sad.
I basically loved this collection. It's perfect for those just dipping their toes into feminism, and also a good brush up for those of us who have been feminists for awhile. This was just a very well done collection. Most of it is basic stuff, but still, it was good.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists (particularly beginner feminists), anyone interested in actually learning about what feminism is beyond the stereotypes you've probably encountered
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five hell yes essays

Your Syllabus For: Second Wave Feminism

Continuing off of last week, this week's syllabus is for Second Wave Feminism. Second Wave feminism is generally thought to have begun in the 1960s and go on into the early 1990s. For the sake of this list, I'm cutting it off at 1990. Thirty years doesn't sound like a lot, when compared to the last one, I know, but during this time there was a huge boom in feminist lit so there's a lot to cover. I can tell you right now, not everything is on this list. There probably will be some that I miss.

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

Often seen as a book that helped jump start second wave feminism. This one is a good one read if you're trying to understand where baby boomer feminists are coming from, because chances are high that this influenced a lot of their thinking.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Sexual Politics by Kate Millet

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

And honestly pretty much all her other things, including her fabulous poem Phenomenal Women

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer

Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century by Boston Women's Health Book Collective

The Black Woman: An Anthology by various authors

On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978 by Adrienne Rich

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

Woman Hating by Andrea Dworkin

The Women's Room by Marilyn French

Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach

Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape by Susan Brownmiller

The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution by Shulamith Firestone

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks

Honestly, read all of bell hooks' books.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ

This book is sadly still very relevant today as I see people do these steps Russ talks about all the time. Especially when it comes to talking about YA or romance.

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by various authors

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Expert's Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

Some books about the Second Wave Feminist era that weren't necessarily published during this time:

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

The Essential Ellen Willis by Ellen Willis

The Essential Feminist Reader by various authors

The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig

Book Review: The Geek Feminist Revolution

TITLE: The Geek Feminist Revolution
AUTHOR: Kameron Hurley
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: May 2016
GENRE: Essays/commentary
PREMISE: Sci-fi writer Kameron Hurley shares her insights and thoughts on being a geek and a feminist and various other subjects.
MY REVIEW: For the most part, I enjoyed this collection. I just....don't think it was completely what it advertised. From the title, I expected a collection more along the lines of Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist. Or something that frequently linked feminism and the geek world together. Now there were some essays here that did that and they were fabulous. But a lot of the essays...didn't particularly have anything to do with being a geek feminist.
After doing some research I realized why: a lot of this book is actually mostly just old blog posts from her popular online blog. That explains the one about the ACA (that feels bittersweet now thanks to the fact that it looks like there's a good chance it's getting repealed). A lot of the posts talk about her creative process and time in marketing and so on. It's very interesting...just not why I picked up the book.
As with most of these types of collections, some essays/blog posts are better then others. This did however make me very interested in picking up Hurley's books. I was interested in them beforehand, but now they're higher on the TBR list.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Bad Feminist. Kameron Hurley fans, geek feminists
MY RATING: Four out of Five social commentary essays

Reading Through the Classics: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

TITLE: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
AUTHOR: Mary Wollenstonecraft
PUBLISHED: 1790
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction, Classics
GENRE: Essays
PREMISE: Mary Wollenstonecraft writes a series of essays calling for education of women.
MY REVIEW: For those that do not know: Mary Wollenstonecraft was the mother of Mary Shelley (who got the name Shelley when she married). She was a writer, philosopher, and many other things. Some consider her one of the very early feminists in history.
So this is basically Wollenstonecraft saying "hey, women aren't as fragile as you make us out to be. Educate us and stop treating us like infants and we'll probably accomplish just as much as men do." To me, this seems pretty obvious and I think history has basically proven her correct. What really gets me is honestly...she wasn't even calling for anything huge. She wasn't saying women should run for office or defy gender roles or anything. She literally was just saying, hey we're people too. We deserve to get an education too. I doubt she was including PoC women in this, because racism in that time was normal. But still...it didn't seem all that radical to me. Yet...simply asking for education was enough for people to lose their shit. I can't help but think of all the trolls/MRAs who whine about little things like Star Wars having female main characters. The more things change, the more they stay the damn same.
Enjoyment of this work is...probably going to depend on how much you love your scholarly discourse. It's old-fashioned language so deciphering it sometimes takes a bit. So reading it can be sometimes tedious (I started this back during Christmas and just finished it last week to give you an idea of how long it can take). I highly recommend this for those looking into early feminist ideas.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those interested in scholarly discourse

Book Review: The Vagina Monologues

TITLE: The Vagina Monologues
AUTHOR: Eve Ensler
CATEGORY: Play, Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: 1996 (I had the 10th anniversary edition published in 2006)
GENRE: Essays?
PREMISE: A print version of a play that features women telling stories related to their vagina.
MY REVIEW: So, I recently decided to join Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf. I half-heartedly did it last year because I had so many books on my list last year and I wasn't sure how much I would like what was chosen for the book club (the pitfalls of any book club, lets face it) and while one I will never read (Caitlin Moran is transphobic, I'm not giving her my reading time) I liked the inclusive variety of reads, so I'll be following along this year. Plus, it fits in nicely with my get the feminist reads done goal this year.
So...I heard about the Vagina Monologues. There's probably not a theater nerd or feminist who hasn't. I also knew the basic premise of it. I also get terribly amused watching the general public lose their collective minds every time some theater or stage dares to do this play. Man, people really are scared of the word vagina, aren't they?
If you're one of the people who gets super uncomfortable with that word...well, this probably won't be for you. Not only is it terribly blunt about the word vagina, it is blunt about sex. Sometimes explicitly so. It also is blunt about childbirth, abuse, rape, and a whole lot of other issues surrounding the vagina. Now, I have heard the claims about this play being transphobic. I'm...not sure about that one. I mean, yeah it does talk an awful lot about vaginas, but there is also a monologue in it from trans women so it does try to be inclusive. But I also suspect that was a late edition to this new version I got, because it's the only trans monologue in the bunch. Same with the one monologue from a non-white person. So...it tries to be inclusive...but I'm not so sure it succeeds.
This is one of those reads that I've found gets a lot of different reactions. I've seen some really positive reviews, some really negative reviews, and a lot of reviews that range somewhere in between. I think it's one of those things that whether you like it, will honestly just depend on you as a person. Me, I...like the intent of it. Some monologues were better then others. I suspect it gets more impact when you see it on stage. I'm smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt so the odds of there ever being a production here of it are...slim, to say the least.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, theater nerds
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five feelings about how vagina should not be a dirty word

Book Review: We Were Feminists Once

TITLE: We Were Feminists Once
AUTHOR: Andi Zeisler
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
PUBLISHED: May 3rd, 2016
GENRE: Pop Culture commentary/essays/feminism history
PREMISE: An examination of marketplace feminism and its effect on feminism itself.
MY REVIEW: This is one of those books that has a very niche audience. Basically, if you're not remotely concerned about feminism and its history/current popularity...you're probably going to be bored with it. This is a kind of book people have to actively want to read. It's not what I would call an entertainment sort of read.
As a feminist, I actually found this one interesting. There were a lot of topics here I was familiar with because I read things like The Mary Sue and they talk about pop culture and feminism a lot. But there were some interesting looks into the history of feminism and how our capitalistic society does effect it, for better or for worse. I've seen some complain that this book doesn't offer many solutions to the problems it brings up. I...do and don't agree with that complaint. The author does point out some things people can do but honestly...a lot of the problems here are things that can only be fixed by an entire industry deciding it needs to change and frankly the odds of that ever happening...are slim.
What this book is good at is making you aware of issues that the media often likes to gloss over or ignore completely. I'm all for people becoming more aware of issues. The more people who are aware things, the more chance we have of getting things changed.
WHO SHOULD READ: Feminists, those interested in feminism vs. pop culture/consumer society issues
MY RATING: Four out of Five let me burst your ignorance bubbles