Conference turris::womannotes-v1

	    If you're into textbooks, the best one I've ever found is
	_Women_and_Sex_Roles:_A_Social_Psyhchologial_Perspective_, by
	Frieze, _et_al_.  (Frieze's first name is Ira or Irma or some-
	thing along those lines.)  It's available in paperback.
			<_Jym_>

   You might try "The Women's Room."  It is very powerful.  For about three
   months after I read it, I hated all men, including myself.  I Forget who
   the writer was, though...

   JP

    _The_Women's_Room - by Marilyn French.
    

    I read an excellent novel last winter called "Other Women".  It
    was available everywhere.  I think the author's last name was
    Alther--send me Vaxmail if you need more information.
    
    I especially liked it because the story was built around the
    relationship between a woman and her therapist.  The therapist,
    Hannah, is drawn very beautifully by the author, and the reader
    is allowed to see her struggles outside of her therapy practice
    as well as those of her client, Caroline.  
    
    The book addresses many themes which are considered current "women's
    issues" including power, abuse, parenting, gay vs. straight
    relationships, non-monogamy, pain, personal change, political change, 
    sexism at work.
    
    It would seem that a book which tried to do so much would be wooden
    and contrived, but not at all!  The book is very funny and very
    enjoyable to read.  I closed the back cover, and opened the front
    cover and read the whole book through again, something I don't ever
    remember doing.  
    
    The book is set in southern New Hampshire and the greater Boston
    area, by the way.
    
    A favorite!  

    
    I recently read a novel called, "Told By An Idiot" by
    Rose McCauley.  It was written in the 1920's and is out
     in paperback by Vintage (I think).  It's full of interesting
    thoughts about women, life, religion, etc. and is funny in
    parts.  Considering when it was written, it shows that 
    women's rights isn't a new idea.
    
    I'm also reading a book (which some of you may have read in
    the past?) called "A History of Women In America" by Carol
    Hymowitz and Michaele Weissman.  It reads like a novel that
    you can't put down and is particularly interesting to me since
    I have never taken any courses in this area.  It's a great
    beginning book for people to get an overview of the past -
    who really may not realize how recent it was that married
    women had no legal right to their own paychecks.  (I realize
    that the people who read this file DO know all this.  It's
    other people out there who need to be enlightened.)
    
    Lorna
    

Hoo boy....  I finally got my home terminal fixed and can answer this
question without bringing all the books in.  You should probably know I'm a
great hater of literary realism finding it self indulgently bleak, and have
been known to say when excited that nothing (with exceptions for John
Steinbeck, Willa Cather, and a few others) worthwhile or new has been
written since T.S.  Eliot wrote "The Wasteland".  I was a professor before
I came to DEC and so am a great believer in the value of second hand
experience. It's one of the things that permits me to participate in this
notesfile.   Here goes in no particular order.  .  .  Each bit is separated
by a form feed. 



BEYOND POWER On Women, men, and Morals:  Marilyn French 

    This is not light reading.  Philosophy, Anthropology, Religion. . .
pick your topic Marilyn French probably weaves it into this very thoughtful
and very stimulating book.  Buy it because you'll never get through it
in an library's lending period.  Sometime difficult to read (in the vein
of the THE WOMEN'S ROOM) but worth the struggle.

  On the back cover of this a sequel to THE WOMEN'S ROOM is mentioned.
Called THE BLEEDING HEART is mentioned.  I haven't read it.


WOMEN'S REALITY An Emerging Female System in the White Male Society
    Anne Wilson Schaef (Spelled her name wrong elsewhere in this notesfile)

    Anne Wilson Schaef is a psychotherapist (PhD from Washington U in St
Lou) with a private practice in Boulder Co.  Some quotes from the preface

"This book is about a reality -- a reality perceived, explored, and
expressed by women whenever they are free to do so without fear.  It is
about who we are as women.  When we understand and accept who we are, we
become in turn more understandable and accepted."

"[This book] is intended to communicate in the female idiom"

"[This book] expresses a reality of which many women know but are not always
aware--that of being in in a culture but not of it."

"I have spent 10 years listening to women--and--men. . ."

"The material. . .has become an affirmation to women--and men--of their
experience in this culture and what it means."

I like this book a lot.  Not always pleasant reading but always challenging
and sometime delightfully wry.

More From this book in another note perhaps.


IN a DIFFERENT VOICE   Carol Gilligan
  Carol Gilligan is an Associate Prof of Education at Harvard

From the Introduction 

"I have been listening to people talking about morality and about 
themselves.  I. . . hear a distinction in these voices, two ways of
speaking about moral problem, two modes of describing the relationship
between other and self.  Against the background of the psychological
descriptions of identity and moral development which I had read and taught
for a number of years, the women's voices sounded distinct.  It was then
that I began to notice the recurrent problem in interpreting women's
development and to connect these problems to the repeated exclusion of
women from the critical theory-building studies of psychological research."

She goes on to examine what the impact of this exclusion might be and to
elucidate gender specific developmental theory.  Very readable.

GYN/ECOLOGY The Metaethics of Radical Feminism  Mary Daly

Hmmm.  From the back cover.  
"Mary Daly is a Revolting Hag who holds doctorates in theology and
philosophy from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.  An associate
professor of theology at Boston College, this Spinster spins and weaves
cosmic tapestries in her own time/space."  Mary Daly in this and one other
book (BEYOND GOD the FATHER) sets about laying bare the patriarchal
underpinnings of Christianity and building up a feminine replacement.

Jeez.  I hate this book.  Were she familiar with the idiom Mary Daly would
SET FLAME/NUCLEAR_AMAGEDON with the first few words and turn the heat up
from there.  The scary thing is that this women is a scholar and an
intellect and not easily dismissed as a crank.  If you felt bad after
reading THE WOMEN'S ROOM, don't read this book alone.  You'd probably kill
yourself halfway through.  STRONG STUFF!  (I'd like to see Mary Daly and
Dave B. in discussion.  Oooooh Lordy :-)  )  Lisa and I take turns making
each other put this book down "Before you hurt something."

WOMEN'S DIARIES of the WESTWARD JOURNEY  Lillian Schlissel
LETTERS of a WOMEN HOMESTEADER Elinore Pruitt Stewart

Both of these are non-fiction records of the "Old West." Kind of like
watching 3D movies without the glasses.  You know you've seen these images,
but not quite like this.  I found LETTERS more readable but both are
engaging and revealing books.


IN SEARCH of OUR MOTHERS' GARDENS Womenist Prose by Alice Walker.  

A series of non-fiction essays by the authoress of A COLOR PURPLE.  Most
if not all predate that book, those the collection has just recently been
put together.  Especially intriguing for the parallels and distinctions it
makes between being a racial minority and being dispossessed because of gender.

THE COLOR PURPLE Alice Walker

Pulitzer Prize winning novel about growing up Negro(as opposed to Black)
and Female in the South.  Read it if you haven't.

Several other books of hers are listed on the flyleaf of GARDENS.  She's a
great writer and an o.k. poet (As far as moderns go :-) ).


ON LIES, SECRETS, and SILENCE  Adrienne Rich.

Stand back.  Prose by the Angry Women Poetess.  Some of her poems are included.
Another hard book.  Makes no attempt to spare any feelings.  As hard and 
tough as her poetry.  I don't hate this book like I do Mary Daly's but
sometimes I want to.


A LOST LADY
SHADOWS on the ROCK
MY ANTONIA          Willa Cather

Fiction from the first half of the twentieth century.  All very, very good.
Perhaps not directly feminist, but still a woman writing about women.  If I
get started I'll write screens full and prejudice whatever credibility I 
might have.  

Recently spent $90 for a signed first edition of SHADOWS and feel like
I got a steal.



TOWARD  a NEW PSYCHOLOGY of WOMEN  Jean Baker Miller MD

"Authenticity and subordination are incompatible, and humanity without
authenticity is a contradiction in terms...[Read] this short book; it may
help to change your life, not without risk, but without despair." From
the back cover.  A short book directed at women.  Read it like I try (try
and fail sometimes) to read this notesfile;  Talking once in a while but mainly
listening.



THE COMPLETE POEMS  Elizabeth Bishop.

Not directly feminist.  But poetry is the heart and soul saying what the
brain hardly even realizes much less speaks.  A clearer shot perhaps than a
lot of logical rational discussion.   I would say the same of Adrienne Rich's
stuff if it didn't scare me too bad.



Others I haven't read (and like much of the above probably weren't actually
written for me either)

SISTERHOOD IS GLOBAL The International Women's Movement Anthology
SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL  - The precursor (successor?) to the above
WOMEN: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE  ed. Jo Freeman  (A Textbook from Lisa's 
    Women in History class.
 Also Novels by Edith Wharton, short stories by Joyce Carol Oates

I know there's more, but my brain is fried.  I love to read but must
remember the books and the words are not the reality.  As I may have said
elsewhere, my bleakest but most persistent insight is that there are
irreducable voids between each of us individuals.  I don't know whether
that void is broader between individuals of different gender.   But true
community and understanding (for me) begins with the acknowledgment of
that void.  That is not all there is in this delightful world, but that is
the beginning.

-Byron

    gee...I don't have any intellectual / academic readings to suggest,
    but if you're into sci fi at all, have a look at Marion Zimmer
    Bradley's series about Darkover.  Basic premise, big slowboat colony
    ship crashes on planet with the climate of northern Minnesota, and
    over a couple thousand years evolve from 200 or so egalitarian,
    hi-tech types into a sort of feudal society, with heavy emphasis
    on personal responsibility and freedom.  Dominated by men, though;
    after some millennia a Guild of Renunciates, or Free Amazons, comes
    about thru the revolt of some of the more heavily exploited women.
    Later still, lost colony rediscovered, so add culture conflict and
    stir.  Seriously, much of the series has a creditable examination
    of the role of women in a male-dominated society.  Suggested order
    of reading, if you want to know about the Renunciates:
    	Darkover Landfall
    	Two to Conquer
    	Hawkmistress
    	The Shattered Chain
    	Thendara House
    If you get thru all those, you may be hooked and read all the others.
    I read the last two first (first Chain, then TH) and recommend that
    as the quick method.  My opinion, they are the best of the series.
    

    
    RE .6, or anybody else for that matter, I'm curious what your opinions
    are of Marge Piercy, Doris Lessing (Particularly the "Children of
    Violence" series), and May Sarton.
    
    Has anybody ever read The Provincial Lady series by E.M. Delafield?
     There are five volumes in all but so far the fifth is still out
    of print.  They were written, in diary form, in the 1930's by an
    English novelist whose real name was Elizabeth Monica Dashwood.
     She was, according to these books, an upper-class English woman
    trying to be an independant person, and writer, who is married to
    a boring English businessman whom I always pictured to look like
    John Cleese.  She records her daily life in a sarcastic, witty style
    contrasting the dreariness of everyday life with her thoughts about
    life.  It's not for everybody, but I fell in love with her style.
     It seems to me that if anybody ever enjoyed the subtle humor of
    Barbara Pym they would love the more cutting style of E.M. Delafield.
     E.M. wrote these books back in the 1930's and she often referred
    to herself as a feminist.  (She never writes about clergymen like
    Barbara Pym either)  So far, I don't know anybody else who has read
    these four books but it's difficult to believe I'm really the only
    one who has!  (Actually, I guess I don't really know that many people.)
    
    
    Lorna
    

For something a little more modern, try Louse Erdrich's _Love 
Medicine_.  It's a novel mostly about American Indian women, suffering, loving, 
growing up in North Dakota in the 1980's.  It's very well written.  
She's also just published a sequel (of sorts), called _The Beet Queen_.

-Rob

.8 Haven't heard of Marge Piercy (or maybe have and forgot her name, I
remember titles more than names and sometime not even those. . .sigh),
could you name a few titles?  I haven't read Doris Lessing, though Lisa has
suggested her.   If my reading list was a cancer they'd call it malignant;
it just grows and grows.  I stumbled across May Sarton two years ago in a
hole in the wall book store in Keene N.H.   Poetry is the most tenuous art,
but when she connects, no one delves deeper and she connects a lot.  I
courted Lisa with "Halfway to Silence" and "Beast at Black Rock".  From the
same book (_Halfway to Silence_) is a longer poem called, I believe,
"Winter Diary" which is a favorite to read and reread.  I was delighted to
find out she has something like 16 books of poetry, a couple of novels, and
a few other efforts.  Hmmm there goes the reading list again. 

-Byron

    
    Re .10, one of May Sarton's novels that I really enjoyed is called
    "Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing".  The main character is
    a woman author in her seventies whose work had been popular years
    before and is currently receiving a revival of interest from younger
    people.  The entire (slim) novel takes place on one day and concerns
    the thoughts of the author as she waits for two young reporters
    to arrive at her home to interview her.  It's beautifully written
    and expresses some, well I thought, deep reflections on life.
    
    Marge Piercy has written a number of novels and volumes of poetry,
    usually with a feminist slant.  (She supposedly lives somewhere
    in Wellfleet, Mass. now.)  I have mixed feelings about her novels.
     I really enjoyed a couple of them, especially "Braided Lives".
     But, had trouble getting interested in "Vida".  I much prefer her
    poetry and, personally, consider it be of a higher caliber than
    her novels.  But, I have no idea if any critics would agree with
    me or not.  "Circles On The Water" is a book of her collected poems,
    and since then she has published another volume, "My Mother's Body".
    
    I would recommend Doris Lessing to anyone who likes to read AND
    is interested in women's issues.  There are some aspects of her
    work that really like and some that I don't.  What I don't like
    is that she is the type of author who writes very believably for
    three quarters of a novel and then in the last quarter of the story
    she gets less and less realistic and strange.  She writes a lot
    about what's going on in her character's heads which is interesting
    as long as the characters are somewhat sane.
    
    I loved the first two volumes of "The Children of Violence" series,
    "Martha Quest" and "A Proper Marriage".  I also enjoyed the first
    half of "The Golden Notebook".
    
    Doris Lessing seems to have three main themes - the roll of women
    in society, the racial problems of South Africa (where she grew
    up - actually Rhodesia I think), and Communism.  All of these are
    pertinent issues today.
    
    She also wrote a large collection of short stories called "African
    Stories" which are very good reading, about the lives of white people
    living in the southern part of Africa.  I think it's interesting
    that she wrote about the racial problems in the 1940's with the
    hope that they would soon improve.  Obviously 40 years later they
    really haven't, which seemed sad to me as I read the stories.
    
    If anyone else has an opinion, or has read any of the above mentioned
    books, I'd love to hear what you think of them.
    
    Lorna
    

Gee, Byron.  I had no trouble with THE WOMEN'S ROOM by Marilyn French.
It didn't seem hard at all to me...

After I had bought the book and devoured it, I was talking to my Mom about
it and she politely expressed an interest in it (her attempts at establishing
some mother-daughter communication started in trying to become understanding
about my then-militant feminist tendencies.  She tried her soft-spoken "you
can get more flies with honey than you can with vinegar" tactics, to which
I replied," I don't want flies, Mom...")... Anyway, I put in on top of her 
pile of gold-titled romances (her weaknesses) and went to bed.

The next morning she was bleary-eyed as she handed it back to me and
whispered "Do you have any more of these?"

Rosabeth Moss Kanter's MEN AND WOMAN OF THE CORPORATION is an excellent
representation of the power struggles between men and women as we try to
even up the sides of business.  I saw myself in a couple of the situations
and it gave me alot of insight into WHY things happened the way they did
and WHY it got so difficult to get my managers to take me seriously as
anything but a secretary.  Good reading for women trying to make the grade
at DEC.  As a matter of fact, I have a copy in my office that I'd be willing
to give you... just send me mail on RSTS32 and let me know if you're interested.

Bugsy

    I liked Marge Piercy's first book, Small Changes.  It came out back
    in 1976 or so, and reflected a lot of changes that I was going through,
    mainly a transition to feminism, the end of a marriage, and on a
    smaller scale, vegetarianism! (not a main theme of the book though...)  
    I didn't like Braided Lives at all.  It started out to be quite interesting,
    but (to me) it bogged down so badly in the middle, I never finished
    reading it.  I thought the story started to get very convoluted and 
    repetitive.
    
    I love May Sarton.  The Small Room is a book about a young college
    professor and her integration into the political world of a women's
    college. It must be modeled after Mt. Holyoke or Smith.  I also
    loved The Fur Person, such a sucker for cats I am.  I liked Journal
    of a Solitude, too.  
    
    I've never read anything by May Sarton I didn't like and there are
    many novels and books of poetry.
    
    Doris Lessing's work is interesting.  I liked the Martha Quest series
    quite a bit (4 books).  They are set in South Africa, and Martha
    is an interesting kind of "anti-heroine".  She is not given
    to noble or heroic or stellar behavior; in fact she is quite human,
    lazy at times, and has rather strange ideas and strange motives.
    (I read those over 10 years ago, though, and would be hard put to
    quote chapter and verse.)  The fifth book in that series is called,
    I think, The Four-Gated City.  It moves from the very realistic
    tone and setting of the previous four books to a futuristic, almost
    science fiction tone.  I found that particular transition a little
    jarring.
    
    A friend lent me an interesting book, "Surpassing the Love of Men".
    I can't remember the author's name, but it is a fine bibliography
    of literature by and about lesbian women.  I thought it was very
    scholarly and well-researched. (It's not just a bibliography, but
    is written in such a way that it makes interesting reading by itself.)
    It is a large book and very extensive.           
    

I have just finished a book by Lillian Rubin entitled "Intimate Strangers, Men
and Women Together".  I found it quite interesting and was often reminded of
male/female discussions I've had at various times.  *Very* basically, she
attributes our differences (emotions, attachments, dependencies ...) to the
fact that most of us are first nurtured by a woman and the impact that that has
on our gender identity and ego boundaries.  Her conclusion is that shared
parenting/nurturing is the way to resolve the differences between men and women
for future generations.  In spite of some references to psychological theory
and use of scientific terms, the book is an "easy read" ... short, anecdotal,
clearly written for the general population. 
 

	    I'm reading "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.
			<_Jym_>

re: .15
    I read "The Handmaid's Tale" a couple of weeks ago, and was quite
    astounded by the book.  Atwood has created an environment that is
    entirely within the realm of possibility.  So close, in fact, that
    it's downright scarey --- makes you sit back and think about where
    our society is going!
    
    I'd highly recommend it --- I couldn't put it down!
    
    thanks,
    bob.

    Short stories and novellas are my favorite genres. Two of the best
    authors in these genres are Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers. They
    write mostly about human beings and relationships. I also recommend
    Raymond Carver. 
    
    McCullers' best two novels are probably The_Ballad_of_the_Sad_Cafe 
    and The_Heart_is_a_Lonely_Hunter. I've read various stories of
    Carver's, and his anthology What_We_Talk_About_When_We_Talk_About_Love
    has some seriously insightful moments that require careful reading.
    No napping during these.
  
    Lisa

    A couple of years ago I reviewed a book called "Precious Bane",
    by Mary Webb, in DSSDEV::BOOKS (note 18, if you're interested).
    I then found several more of her works, which are being reissued
    by Virago (love the name!).
    
    This woman could write! Her books are lyrical descriptions of life
    in remote English villages and farms, with the grit and the
    bone-breaking labor mentioned side-by-side with the beauty. Her
    characters are well-drawn and human, and their trials are wonderfully
    told.
    
    Webb didn't receive public acclaim for her works until after her
    death, and I believe she only published six or seven novels altogether.
    I think they're worth seeking out.

    -b

    I have been thinking for some time about starting a book discussion
    group for the purpose of reading and discussing women's literature.
    By that I mean literature by women.  I wonder if there is any interest
    from others in this conference to do this.
    
    I've never participated in an adult book discussion group, so I'm
    not sure exactly how it would work.  Here are my thoughts anyway
    - the group would read a book that we all (or a majority) agreed
    on and meet once a month to discuss it.  If we found that one month
    is too short of a time to get the book read (I know lots of people,
    women especially, are very busy), then we could meet every two months
    instead.
    
    I'd kind of like to start with a classic or two that I either read
    a long time ago in high school or was supposed to read back then
    and didn't think it was worth reading.  I'm thinking of something
    by Jane Austen or one of the Brontes.  From there, we could work
    our way up to the present.
    
    Where and when to meet?  I don't know.  Maybe we could take turns
    at people's houses.
    
    If people are interested, send me some mail.  Any ideas and comments
    are appreciated.
    
    	-Ellen G.

    
    Re -1, Barnes & Noble Bookstore at the Downtown Crossing location
    in Boston has had a large selection of Virago books (including Mary
    Webb and including Rose McCauley's "Told By An Idiot" which I very
    much enjoyed) marked down to $1.98.  These normally sell for about
    $8.98 so it's a good deal.  They have been on a table upstairs for
    the past few months.  All the Virago books appear to be novels written
    by women authors of the past that the publisher apparently feels
    deserve to be back in print.
    
    Lorna
    

    re Lorna's .11
    
    I didn't have much enthusiasm for May Sarton's "....Mermaids Singing".
    I found the characters flat, especially the young couple, and the
    writing didn't knock me over, either.  Because of this book, I
    have never read May Sarton again.  Maybe I should try something
    else.  Oh well.  To each his/her own.
    
   I liked Lessing's The Golden Notebook.  I understand it caused quite
    a commotion among women when it first appeared in the 60's.
    
    For some excellent writing, try Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale Horse,
    Pale Rider", a novella.
    
    -Rob

    
    Re -1, to each his/her own indeed, since I really did enjoy "..Mermaids
    Singing" by May Sarton!
    
    I just finished reading two more of the Virago books by women writers.
     I enjoyed both quite a bit.
    
    The first is called, "Together and Apart" by Margaret Kennedy, which
    explores the feelings of upper class English people going though
    a divorce in the 30's and 40's.  It started out kind of slow but
    turned into a very good story.
    
    I just finished "The Soul of Kindness" by Elizabeth Taylor.  This
    is a story of middle class English people during, I think, maybe
    the 1950's.  It explores the way people deal with feelings of
    loneliness and relationships that aren't quite as fulfilling as
    had been hoped.  This also has some nice humor in it as well.
    
    Lorna
    

   Oh boy, this is beautiful writing, and from a perspective only a
    woman (I think) could acheive: "A Fanatic Heart" by Edna O'brien.
    It's a collection of short stories, mostly about love and sex. 
    And some of them are really quite powerful.  A woman friend of mine
    agrees (actually I'm agreeing with her).  She's also written a few
    novels, which I haven't read.
    
    -Rob

    A lot of my favorites have shown up here.  I particularly second
    any recommendations of the early Doris Lessing stuff especially
    the Martha Quest series and African Stories, as well as anything
    by May Sarton.  I don't think anyone has mentioned Rita Mae Brown
    yet.  She has written several books, but the one I liked best is
    Six of a Kind.  It is a wonderful book about people, who just happen
    to be women, and also just happen to be gay.  It's an easy-going
    sort of book full of warmth and laughter.

	    Gee, I only read Rita Mae Brown's first book, _Rubyfruit_
	_Jungle_.  I didn't enjoy the story much, since it featured a
	manipulative protaganist.  The writing wasn't very good either.
	    On the other hand, I've heard nothing but good about all
	her other books, and I'm tempted to read her latest one (which
	appears to have quite a convoluted plot).

	    I finished "The Handmaid's Tale," and it was very good.  At
	the end of the book, it listed ten other novels written by Mar-
	garet Atwood.  Discovering that was something like discovering
	a goldmine.

	    My mother, who doesn't really go for all this feminist
	stuff, nonetheless enjoys the exploits of the independent woman
	who stars in Jean M. Auell's "Earth's Children" books. I found
	the first book - _Clan_of_the_Cave_Bear_ - interesting, if not
	extremely well written.  Auell has quite an imagination.
			<_Jym_>

                           by Rachall Ingalls
    
    I think I've got the author's name right.  This short novel (just
    over 100 pages) was voted by some British Book Group as being one of
    the best post WWII novels.  Others have said that Ingalls is the
    new Barbara Pym.  I'm not sure about either claim, but the book
    is strange.  It's about a woman in an unhappy marriage who takes on
    a lover; the lover is a green-skinned sea creature who has escaped
    from a scientific institute where he was being studied/tortured. 
    The writing is not the greatest, but the dialogue is pretty good;
    it provides some interesting points of view (women's) about
    relationships.  This is not science fiction, but a story about
    relationships, unhappy marriages, and racial barriers.  Again, it
    is strange, and left me wondering---about what, I'm not quite sure.
    
    -Rob

    From my "popcorn" book list (that is, I can read these books like
    I can eat popcorn - voraciously :-) ).
    
    ANNAPURNA - A Woman's Place, by Arlene Blum.  The whole story of
    the 1978 Annapurna all-women's expedition.  It reads like any other
    piece of mountaineering literature with an important exception.
    It's all about women and it's by a woman.  Blum also gets into the
    interpersonal relationships of the people at hand.
    
    WOODSWOMAN, by Annie LaBastille.  A autobiographical account of
    building a cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate NY and her
    simple, natural life there after her divorce.
    
    WOMEN AND WILDERNESS, by Annie LaBastille.  Interviews and brief
    synopses of a collection of women associated with the outdoors - a
    kayaker, a caver, a naturalist, an outdoor instructor, an hunter,
    an environmental lobbyist, a writer, etc.

    PADDLINE MY OWN CANOE, by Audrey Sutherland.  Sara lent me this
    one.  It's about a woman (who is now in her sixties) who canoed
    and swam along the rugged backcountry Hawaii coast, carrying all
    her supplies, in a series of trips during the sixties.  Not bad for a
    divorced woman who was raising four little kids.

This is more likely to be shelved under "karate" than "women," so it
might not turn up in a search for books on women:


                 <<< MSEE::USER$1:[NOTES$LIBRARY]ARTS.NOTE;1 >>>
                     -< Martial Arts: Karate and Kung Fu >-
================================================================================
Note 47.8                  Women in the Martial Arts                     8 of 11
SUPER::MATTHEWS "Don't panic"                        16 lines  27-MAY-1986 22:47
                           -< A book recommendation >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Women in the Martial Arts: A New Spirit Rising
    by Linda Atkinson
    
    Dodd, Mead & Co., 1983
    $13.95 hardcover
    
    This book tells the stories of eight leading women practitioners of
    different arts. Some began to practice because they were already
    natural fighters looking for an extra challenge, and some to overcome
    feelings of weakness and inferiority, so the book points out the
    difficulty of generalizing about women's (or anyone's) reasons for
    training in the arts. Starting as early as 1954, all of these women had
    to overcome sexist barriers that have since begun to break down. You
    can borrow it from the Nashua Public Library as soon as I return it... 
    
    					Val

    I discovered New Words bookstore in Inman Square in Cambridge.
    It's on Hampshire St.  (Thanks to Mez for pointing the way.)
    Apparently, it's been there for at least seven or eight years.
    
    It's got books by and about women (and tapes and records by women).
    That's all it has!  Every subject matter that exist - with respect
    to women.  Yeah!!!

    	-Ellen

 		   		-< This Place >-
    
    				By Andrea Freud Loewenstein
    				Pandora Press
    
	    Paraphrased from the back cover:
    
    		"Andrea Freud Lowenstein weaves together the intricate
    strands of four women's lives with extraordinary power. Set over
    a period of four months in a women's prison, the novel takes shape
    through the alternating voices of Ruth, a therapist working at the
    prison; Candy, a street-wise young inmate; Sonya, an art therapist;
    and Telecea Jone a life prisoner.
    		The novel raises fundamental questions about freedom
    and imprisonment, race and sexual identity; and the meaning of loving."
    
    "This Place" is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever
    read. 
    
    							rjb
    time

    THE FAR PAVILLIONS dipicts the strength of one woman in a culture
    that supresses women....The setting is India...Highly recommended.
    
    
    Jeffery Archer has many good books, Kane and Abel, The Prodical
    Daughter, and First Among Equals...these are not strong womens books
    but enjoyable reading.
    
    

{RE .29} - The New Words bookstore is a haven for misandrogeny.  Men are made to
 feel unwelcome.  I've heard of three (three!) cases where women have been made
  to feel unwelcome for bringing a little boy in with them!!!
   <_Jym_>

Re: .32
When I was in there I'd have to say I didn't have any problems.  
(I asked for some information and bought a magazine without any 
hassle.)  Maybe it's little boys they don't like. ;-)

/chuck

    re .32:
    
    My boyfriend said he went there and he didn't have anything
    negative to report.  However, it's been six years or so since
    he's been there.
    
    	-Ellen

    re .32:
    
    I typically go into New Words every two months or so.  There are
    almost always men in the store while I'm there and they don't
    look uncomfortable.   Perhaps you or your friends have
    had the bad luck to be in the store when women who
    have the (incorrect!) perception that it is women-only space
    were there.  It is a lovely bookstore.  I would encourage
    anyone to patronize/matronize it.   

	Beth

Readers may be interested to know that both Margaret Atwood's "The
Handmaids Tale" and Ursula LeGuin's "Always Coming Home" are now
available in paperback.

Martin.

    If anyone likes science fiction/fantasy literature, I recommend Marion
    Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series.  She is a fabulous writer and in
    the context of the planet Darkover, she explores a wide range of
    women's and human relations issues.  In addition, the stories and
    characters are exciting, intriguing and entertaining.  In addition, she
    is quite prolific, so if you are like me and you get hooked on a
    particular author, she has written enough to get a fix for months. 

Another recommendation for "The Handmaiden's Tale" -- the most extraordinary
book I've read since "The Color Purple."

Don't read it if you're depressed, though.

Martin.

    
    This might not be very pertinent but, the hero of the book is a
    girl!
    
    The book is Firestarter by Stephen King.  Its an excellent book
    and isn't gore like other stories by him.  Its very very good.
    
    Paul

  The book is "How to Say NO to a Rapist -- And Survive"  but for the 
  life of me I can't remember the author's name -- can anyone help out?

  It provides a lot of good information about keeping out of trouble
  and getting out of trouble, once in.  Most of the techniques are
  non-violent, but the author provides some very good recipes for mayhem 
  for life-threatening situations.  (It was here that I learned that
  a kick in the crotch is not a good technique because it is too chancy. 
  If you fail to incapacitate an attacker, you're in worse trouble
  than before.)

  JP

    
    _Outrageous_Acts_and_Everyday_Rebellions_  (G.Steinem)
                       
    This is mainly a collection of articles & notes Steinem has written
    over the last 25 years or so.  It's generally uplifting, but the
    article on genital multilation is agonizing.  I still haven't read
    it through. 
    
    Most interesting for me was notes written on campaign (for McGovern,
    et al).  I grew up in this era, but was not what you would call
    aware.  In fact, for those who feel they've missed something (born
    early to mid-60s), this book will fill in some blanks.
    
    

    Gifts from the Sea  by Anne Morrow Lindberg
    
    She compares "life" with sea shells.  My therapist suggested this
    when I was going through my divorce 4+ yrs ago, and I still sometimes
    pick it up and read it.
    
    Mary-Lynn
    
    BTW it sounds corny, life/sea shells, but it isn't at all!

    _Goddesses_In-Every_Woman_  by Jean Shinoda Bolen
    
    Ms. Bolen is a Junigan analyst who builds a lovely case for the
    different facets of the anima in a woman, rather than just lumping
    them all together.  She represents these facets with the images
    of the Greco-Roman pantheon and divides them into three major groups:
    The Virgin Goddesses (Artemis, Hestia, Athena), the Vulnerable
    Goddesses (Hera, Demeter, Persephone) and the Alchemical Goddess
    (Aphrodite).  I found the book wonderful, in that I "resonated"
    to the archetypes she described, and came away seeing which ones
    were already strong and which could become stronger to develop a
    more complete soul.
    
    Marcia
     (aka Hera, Athena & Hestia with an occasional smattering of Aphrodite)

    My favorite book of all time:  Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
       Fairly "heavy" reading, and very long (over 1,000 pages), but
       fascinating reading... I've reread it many times.
    
    My favorite "love stories":  Anything by Kathleen Woddeweiss (sp?)
    
    Good, light suspense:  Anything by Mary Higgins Clark
    

    
    I've recently been blown away by Susan Brownmiller's two books:
    "Against Our Will: Men, Woman and Rape" and "Femininity".  Both
    were enlightening.
    
    Right now I'm reading Maggie Scarf's "Intimate Partners: Patterns
    in Love and Marriage."
    
    Pretty soon it'll be time for some true crime (my "escape" reading).
                                                       
    CQ

    
    	Chilton's Auto repair.  Very informative.  ;-)
    

    Finally read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.  It *is*
    really good.  I couldn't put it down.  I liked the excerpt from
    Playboy on the inside cover, "read it and then go out and make a
    donation to your favorite liberal cause."  Margaret Atwood has also
    written some good short story collections, among them, "Dancing
    Girls" and "Bluebeard's Egg".  As the saying goes, her writing just
    flows.
    
    Also, just finished "Fly Away Home", last year's Marge Piercy novel.
     It's an engrossing story of a messy divorce between a fictional
    Boston lawyer and his cookbook author wife.  The main idea is the
    woman in her mid-forties struggling to achieve an independent and
    happy life after her world has been turned upside down.
    
    Another good collection of short stories I recently read is "Where
    You'll Find Me" by Ann Beattie.  
    
    Lorna
    

    Other good 'uns from Ann Beattie include :-
                                                          
    _The_Burning_House_       (short stories) 
    _Chilly_Scenes_in_Winter_ (made into a film circa 1980) 
                                                           
    Just finished _The_Clan_of_the_Cave_Bear_ by Jean M. Auel -- 
    definitely a good read.                                                    

    I would recommend anything by Robin McKinley.  She writes juvenile
    fantasies, and I love them.  She writes about gawks (awkward,
    out-of-it feeling girls, who mature into strong, graceful, ageless
    women).
    
    _The_Blue_Sword_ won the Newberry, and has as its prequel, _The_
    _Hero_and_the_Crown_.  Her retelling of the legend of Beauty and
    the Beast (_Beauty_) is charming, funny in places, and very appealing.
    
    							Ann B.
    
    P.S.  Other good "Mac"'s in the sf field are Anne McCaffrey, R.A.
    MacAvoy, and Patricia McKillip.

_Elements_of_Style_ by Will Strunk and E.B. White.  
                                                        
This is not a book specifically for women.  It was written by
two men and it advocates (unfortunately, some think) the use of
the masculine pronoun for general references.       
                                                        
I am continually amazed at the standard of English used in Notes (I
know a conference exists on the subject, no pointers please).   The
saddest thing of all is that bad grammar makes a large contribution to
misunderstanding.                                   
    
My own copy of this book is well worn (and I'm *still* not perfect ;-)). 
                              

    Strunk and White! Yeah! I asked my sweetie for a copy last Christmas.
    Her reply was: "What's Strunk and White?" Now "our" :-) copy is in *her*
    office... what a wonderful little book. I used to loathe English
    class, and I refused to learn grammar. Strunk and White makes
    good writing *fun*.
    
    A MUST for anyone who would like to write better, or would just
    like to be entertained while reading about how to write better.
    
    Another good book is "Fowler", anyone out there know the title?
    I can look it up if no one knows it off the top of their head.
    
    	-- Charles

    Just started "Gallicenae : The King of Ys" by Poul and Karen Anderson.
    The second in a series, it deals with a fourth century roman
    legionnaire sent to "advise" and nominally rule the hidden city/
    kingdom of Ys. He becomes king in mortal combat, and thus weds the
    nine queens of the city - the Gallicenae. Good elements of history,
    fantasy, magic and an excellent cast of charachters. If you can't
    find the first volume - "Roma Mater" - don't fret, the synopsis
    in the second book is excellent.
    
    Aside, the birthing scene in the first book is the most terrifying
    thing I ever read. Cringe....
    
    Dana

Some books that I've recently read and have found to be interesting,
exciting, etc....
    
1)	THE CINDERELLA COMPLEX -- Colette Dowling

	Am about 3/4 of the way through this book.  I have found it to be 
	powerful, insightful reading.  A positive book about controversial
	issues affecting women today.

2)	THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE -- Gloria Naylor

	This book is one of my all time favorites.  Written by a black author,
	it addresses the lifestyle, culture, and experiences of 7 
	different minority women.  Strictly novel format and fictional.

3)	REINDEER MOON -- Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

	I found this book to be much more realistic than "Clan of the Cave 
	Bear" (although I also liked Auel's style in the Clan).  Thomas is 
	a cultural anthropologist.

4)	CO-DEPENDENCE -- Anne Wilson Schaef

	This book is about a disease which the author feels is infiltrating our 
	society today.  It addresses dysfunctional relationships (external 
	and internal to self).  'Quiet time is needed to digest the content of
	this book.
    

    Obviously, I'll have to recommend:
    
    _When_God_Was_a_Woman_ by Merlin Stone
    
    _The_Chalice_and_the_Blade_ by Riane Eisler
    
    Not so obviously, I recommend
    
    _The_Birth_Project_ by Judy Chicago, and although I haven't read
    them, her other books, _The_Dinner_Party_, and her autobiography,
    _Through_the_Flower_.
    
    							Ann B.

    THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS by Isabel Allende
    
    I worked in a bookstore when this first came out, and was astounded
    by several aspects of how this book was packaged/presented: 1) that
    any book was coming out of Chile (currently one of the more repressive
    countries in the world), 2) that a _woman_ from Latin America ever
    got published in the first place, 3) that no where on the original
    hardcover was her relationship to Salvador Allende (President, Social
    Democrat with communist tendencies, assassinated in 73 when Pinochet
    came into power with the assistance of our own friendly CIA, he
    was her uncle) mentioned, and 4) that an _Allende_(!!) living in
    Chile would be permitted to get a single word into print (what is
    she doing still _alive_, I would have thought Pinochet would have
    done in the whole clan).
    
    The book is available in paper back, and seems more political than
    I would have expected to be permitted.  But mostly it is about some
    of the most wonderful female characters I have ever seen in print.
    It has a fantastic and magical tone -- time for me to read it again
    I think.
    
    Faulkner's THE SOUND AND THE FURY -- very difficult reading, told
    from three points of view (one of them, the retarded adult, is
    amazingly well-done).  By the end of the book, I realized Quenttin
    was a female name and read the whole thing through a second time
    right away.  The women in this story are enigmatic, strong-willed,
    and the focus of the story.  The voice of the retarded adult ...
    very powerfully written; he sounds like a very young child.
    
    Lee

    Watch it, Lee: there're two Quentins--the one who's a freshman at
    Harvard (also see _Absalom,_Absalom_), and his niece (who's named
    after him).
    
    					Lisa the Faulkner junkie

    A wonder ful book I just finished was given to me by my aunt for
    christmas.  It's called "Writing Down The Bones", by Rachel Goldberg
    (foreward by Judith Guest) and it's kind of a living, breathing,
    attitude towards writing...with some hints of Zen philosophy and
    how writing is part of many peoples' lives...
    
    I'd recommend it for anyone who likes to do creative writing, even
    in their spare time
    
    -Jody
    

    re .58  two quentins
    
    Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........
    
    Well, no _wonder_ I was confused.  Sheesh!  Comes of reading "difficult
    books" without a professor to explain the stuff I miss [usually
    the most obvious parts, I suppose :)].
    
    Time for that third reading, I guess.  I'll bet I still like that
    book on the fortieth reading...
    
    Lee

    re .60  Think what it would have been like if Benjamin's part was
    printed in multiple colors, like Faulkner wanted--different colors
    for different times.  I was lucky: MIT used to have some of the
    most marvellous literature professors, and I was shown Faulkner
    by someone who'd retained a strong sense of wonder, and I'd never
    have gotten anything from The Great Gadsby without Leo Marx.  
    Well, there are always Cliff Notes.                  
    
                +    +    +    +    +    +    +    +    +
    
    I bought myself a great book: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by
    Chris Van Allsburg.  It's wonderful, I keep it by my flowers to
    cheer me.  You'll find it where you find some of the finest books:
    in the children's section.  (Or you can drop by LMO4 and see mine.)

    By Trina Paulus..."Hope for the Flowers".
    
    Made me feel like a little kid again and focus in on life's simpler
    beauty, if even for a moment.
    
    My favorite passage from the book:
    
    	"And in pain he continued
    	down searching for those
    	eyes which would let him
    	whisper,
    		"I saw a butterfly -
    		there can be more
    		to life."
                                 

    
    RE: .61
    
    I never thought of mentioneing books written for children!
    
    Chris van Allsberg is one of my favorite writer/illustrators.  I've 
    only got one of his books, though, "Jumanji".  Another children's
    author/illustrator that I like is William Steig.  Two good ones
    by him are "Gorky Rising" and "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble."
    
    CQ

    my fave kids authors/illustrators:
    
    Hilary Knight
    Maurice Sendak
    (ages v. young - 7 or 8)
    
    Zilpha Keatley Snyder
    (for slightly older)

    -Jody
    

    
    
    I am in the process of reading "Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and
    the Cult of the Virgin Mary" by Marina Warner.  The book is out
    of print but can be found in public libraries.  Anyone intrested
    in the evolution of the role of women in society should get a copy
    and scan some of the chapters.  I have not finished it yet.
    
    _peggy
    

    I am  almost finished reading "Eyes on the Prize" a book about the
    civil  rights  movement  from  1954  till  67 or so. It covers the
    history of the era, but more importantly gives you a good feel for
    who  the  people  were  and  why they got involved (as well as the
    price they paid.) It's relatively easy reading, but very moving. I
    recommend it highly.

    It is  the  companion  to the TV documentary of the same name that
    WGBH-TV  (public  television in Boston) will be airing in February
    Monday  nights  (I  think at 8:00). I saw the series last year and
    recommend  it  as well. It's certainly worth both reading the book
    and watching the show.

--David

All Things Bright and Beautiful
All Creatures Great and Small		all by James Herriot
All Things Wise and Wonderful
The Lord God Made Them All

    These are  4  books  by a Scottish(I think) veterinarian about his
    practice  in  the  Moors. They are really about the people and his
    interactions  with them which are often funny and always told with
    great warmth, even for those farmers who make his life miserable.

    When I  just  can't  deal  with  the  world  anymore or am feeling
    isolated  and  alone,  I  read  from  these  books and bask in his
    warmth.  Cheaper and faster-acting than a psychiatrist.

--David

    Me too! My copies of those books are just about worn out..
    my other favorite for rereading is The Lord of the Rings"
    I have gone through about 4  sets of that one.
    
    Bonnie

    Well, just lately the biggest chunk of my reading is of _Grey's
    Anatomy_ and the like. (Plot's kinda thin. I'd rather wait for the
    movie) :-|
    
    But I *did* just finish a book called _The Flame Bearers_ and would
    *love* to hear from anyone else who's read it, to see what they
    thought about it...
    
    --DE
    

    James Herriot has also written several books for children
    (can't recall the names off-hand) which are wonderful!
    I've never had kids areound before, but now I have a nephew, 
    age 2, and can't wait to share these with him!
    
    Cynthia
    
    - btw, James Herriot is from Yorkshire, England (near where my mother
    grew up!)
    

    	Murder mysteries by P.D. James, the "Queen of Crime".
    	Intelligently written, great reading.

    There is an excellant short story called "Bathing with Women"
    in the Boston Globe magazine for Sunday Jan 31st.
    
    

    re: <.73> Bathing with Women.
    
   	It was a really, really good short story.  Has the author
    written anything else?

    I clipped a review from the NY Times book review section a few weeks
    ago. The book is called "The Grounding of Modern Feminism." I seem to
    have saved only the basic information (by Nancy F. Cott, Yale
    University Press, $30).

    Has anyone read it?

    					-- hs

For people who think that being a man is such a great things, I offer "The
Hazards of Being Male: Surviving the Myth of the Male Privilege" by Herb
Goldberg, PhD.  I have put some interesting parts in a recent topic in
HUMAN_RELATIONS.

Jim. 

    by Margaret Atwood, the author of @i[The Handmaid's Tale].
    

I started "My Mother's Daughter" by Marilyn French this past Friday
morning while the storm raged wild around me.  As I also read her
"The Women's Room" when it came out, the two keep pointing out what
a woman's place has been and what frustrations are involved in getting
out of that place.  I am 3/4 of the way through the new book and can
practically tell what she is going to say next about the various
situations that she writes about.  I would recommend to the "younger
people" to read "The Women's Room" first and then this new one.  They
are not a continuation of each other but do explain the mindset at the
time they were written.  Progress is being made but.....the struggle is
difficult.  

To be fair.....I am a fast reader and this is a very long novel for 
those of you planning on reading it.  It has yet to hit paperback, so
if you can borrow it from a friend by all means do (I borrowed it
Thursday night and have three weeks to return it for the next one in
my "Stitch 'n Bitch" group to tackle).

Hope this encourages you to pick up these two and settle in for the rest
of the short winter nights!

justme....jacqui

I recently read 'Handmaid's Tale' by 'Margeret Atwater', and found it to be a
good "1984"ish story.  If you are worried about life after Pat Robinson becomes
President, read this book.  I found the situation in the story to be oppressive
to both men and women, a very strictly authoritarian society where everybody is
pigeonholed by the authority.  Even one of the society leaders who's personality
shows admits that 'it was supposed to work out better then this...' 

Jim.

    Yesterday I picked up a new copy of Our Bodies and Ourselves which
    I had first read about 20 years ago. This is a really excellant
    book! I had forgotten just how valuable a reference it was and am
    very pleased to see how it has grown. I would recommend that any
    woman who hasn't seen it get a copy. It is well worth the price
    (about $14). I plan to leave mine 'lying around' so my teenagers
    will take a look at it.

    I would recommend it for men too. I have a copy and I love it.
    
    Since that was off topic, I'd like to recommend a little book I recently
    bought. It's "The Tao of Programming" by Geoffry James. It's a lot
    of fun.
    
    Here's an excerpt:
        
                                       4.2
        
        The novice asked the master: "I have a program that sometimes
        runs and sometimes aborts. I have followed the rules of
        programming, yet I am totally baffled. What is the reason for
        this?" 
        
        The master replied: "You are confused only because you do not
        understand Tao. Only a fool expects rational behavior from his
        fellow humans. Why do you expect it from a machine that humans
        have constructed? Computers simulate determinism; only Tao is
        perfect. 
        
        The rules of programming are transitory; only Tao is eternal.
        You must contemplate Tao before you receive enlightenment." 
        
        "But how will I know when I have received enlightenment?" asked
        the novice. 
        
        "Your program will then run correctly," replied the master. 
    
        -- Charles

    <--(.81)  <snicker> 
    
    Sounds more like Zen t'me.  Lao Tze would have said "Don't work at
    making the program run correctly, just let it alone and concentrate on
    the Way.  When your program's ready, it'll run correctly all by
    itself."
    
    						=maggie 

    RE .81 AHHAhahahaha  Reminds me of why I gave up Taoism and Zen
    both. 

Well, my favorite Tao book is "The Tao of Pooh", Benjamin Hoff,
published by E.P. Dutton. An excerpt from the forward:

    "What's this you're writing?" asked Pooh, climbing on to the writing
    table.

    "The Tao of Pooh," I replied.

    The *how* of Pooh?" asked Pooh, smudging one of the words I had just
    written.

    "The *Tao* of Pooh," I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil.

    "It seems more like the *ow!* of Pooh," said Pooh, rubbing his paw.

Well, you get the idea.

    Vicki Hearne's _Adam's_Task:_Calling_Animals_by_Name_   (non-fiction)
    
    A wonderful book.  She deftly describes our relationships with animals,
    and uses this as a mirror to reflect our relationships with other
    humans.  This is a book of heroics and morals.  Oh, and love.
    
    (There's even a chapter on cats!)
    
    It's so readable, I about forgot to do anything else on Saturday.

    Piet Hein: Grooks, Grooks 2, Grooks ...
    
    Piet Hein was a Danish Mathematician turned (and) poet. He is the
    inventor of the "Soma Cube" and the author of a number of WONDERFUL
    little books of short poems with little line drawings called "Grooks".
    
    I should type one in, but all my Grook Books are at home, I spend
    part of Sunday re-reading them.
    
    	-- Charles

Yea Grooks.  Worth learning Danish to read in the original.  A few
samples:

		ARS BREVIS

		There is
		one art.
		no more,
		no less:
		to do
		all things
		with art-
		lessness.


		CONSOLATION GROOK	[This was written during World War II.
					 when Denmark was occupied.]
		Losing one glove
		is certainly painful,
		but nothing
		  compared to the pain
		of losing one,
		throwing away the other,
		and finding
		  the first one again.


		HINT AND SUGGESTION
		   (admonitory grook addressed to youth)

		The human spirit sublimates
		the impulses it thwarts;
		a healthy sex life mitigates
		the lust for other sports.


		GROOK ABOUT FAITH, HOPE, ETC.

		She gave me hope,
		she gave me love,
		  with bounty unalloyed.
		But what she had of faith,
		alas,
		  she gave to Freud.

    Yeah, Grooks!  A couple of my favorites (my books at home, from
    memory :-)
    
    		LILAC TIME
    
    	The lilacs are blooming
    	 sweet and sublime
    	With a fragance that goes
    	 to the head
    	And lovers are saying
    	 for the thousandth time
    	What's easier done
    	 than said
    
    
    	(I forget the title for this one)
    
    	It suits many a person's book
    	To be a bit smarter than they look
    	Observe that the easiest method, by far
    	Is to look a bit stupider than you are.
    
    
    	

    I'd like to repeat any recommendations for _Gyn/Ecology_ by Mary
    Daly.  I could not put this book down, and did nothing but read
    it (and eat and sleep) for one weekend.  And no, I didn't feel violent
    afterwards, although I was quite inspired and it made some noticable
    changes to my attitudes about erasing women in history.  I admire
    the way she treats horrors such as the burnings and foot-binding
    within their social and historical contexts.  I'd suggest you make
    sure there's a friend around to call to cheer you up while you're
    reading the horrors section.  The last section is well-worth the
    struggle--it encourages you to not only withstand the sexism 
    around you but also to go beyond it and not be held down by merely
    fighting it.

    After Daly's and Hearne's books, some of my most pleasant hours
    were spent in Stephen Jay Gould's _Ever_Since_Darwin_.  I recommend
    especially essay 30 "The Nonscience of Human Nature" and the section
    on sociobiology.  I have enjoyed Gould's way of dispelling the spooks
    of inherent racism and sexism in much of the literature of
    biological determinism ever since I first picked up
    _The_Mismeasure_of_Man_ (another good one!).
    
    A good quote from John Stuart Mill in one of the essays:
    
    	Of all the vulgar modes of escaping from the consideration of
    	the effect of social and moral influences upon the human mind,
    	the most vulgar is that of attributing the diversities of conduct
    	and character to inherent natural differences.

    _An_Edge_in_My_Voice_ is a collection of the 60 columns of this
    name that started in (the now defunct) _Future_Life_, then moved
    to _Comics_<something>, and ended in _L.A._Weekly_. Harlan Ellison
    is one of those writers who most people either love or hate. He
    speaks his mind and to hell with your opinion of it.
    
    I don't remember the dates of the original publication of the columns
    but the ERA expired roughly in the middle. The columns ranges from
    supporting the ERA, to gun control, to a eulogy for his beloved
    65 Mustang, to the superiority of Hydrox over Oreo. Sometimes
    offensive, sometimes hilarious, Ellison is never boring and always
    makes a point even when hiding it behind the trivial.
    
    ---
    
    re .91:
    
    I second the recommendation for _Ever_Since_Darwin_ as well as all
    of Gould's other books.
    
                                                   
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    I have just spent the past hour or so reading this entire file and
    I can't wait to get to the library/bookstore to start on my new
    reading list.  Thanks.
    
    Now, my time to contribute.  I took a course years ago "Intro to
    Women Authors" so I was very familiar with many of the authors.
    Did anyone mention Margaret Drabble?  Very Good. Also, Margaret
    Laurence, cannot recall the titles but they're all based in the Canadian
    provinces.
    
    	I am now reading "Hot Flashes" by Barbara Raskin.  Nice comments
    on the wonderful friendships that women have.  Very enjoyable.
    
    	Anything by Ruth MacDougell (sp)- "The Cheerleader", her first
    book (I think), it's deeper than the title suggests.  She's from
    Laconia, NH and I've enjoyed all of her novels.
    
    	Has anyone read The Beloved by toni morrison?  That's my next
    endeavor.
    
    	I've been a fan of Robert Parker's books (Spencer) for some
    time now, before the T.V. Series, and find that he has some interesting
    thoughts on Women and Relationships.  Good Reading.
     
    
    
    her books.  She hasn't written anything in awhile and I've missed
    her 

    While not exactly a feminist book (and that's how this note started,
    although many of us have contributed books that don't meet this
    criterion), I want to recommend a mystery book.  It's 
    _Sacred_and_Profane_ by Faye Kellerman, the second in a series about
    L.A. Detective Decker and Rina Lazarus, an Orthodox Jewish widow.
    The book is aptly titled--the sacred is the holy life and the profane
    is an extremely gruesome homicide case Decker is working on, and
    they come into conflict.  The backbreaking research and the stress
    of police detective work are well-depicted, and Kellerman doesn't
    allow the moral and religious choices of the characters lay flat
    and easy either.
    
    The jacket describes Faye Kellerman as a gifted novelist, dentist,
    fencer, musician, guitar maker.  With three kids.   Ack!

    The following is a handful of non-fiction books written on
    "topics of interest to women."  I found all of these in my
    local small-town library, except the last, which I bought.

    -- Linda

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The Secret Trauma
    Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women
Diana E. H. Russell, 1986

    I am one of the fortunate women who's never had any
    experience with incest.  I found this book appalling,
    enlightening, and frightening.  It seems to be quite well
    researched.

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Women as Candidates in American Politics
Susan J. Carroll, 1985

    I confess I've read only the introduction and conclusion to
    this one.  But it has some thoughtful things to say about our
    political system, the difficuly of changing perceived
    problems in it, and so forth, with primary emphasis on the
    problems women face getting into the political arena.

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Reproductive Rights and Wrongs
    The Global Politics of Population Control and Contraceptive Choice
Betsy Hartmann, 1987

    The jacket claims this is a well-reasoned, middle of the road
    discussion of the population control issue.  Well...I found
    it to be a scathing (and possibly justified) attack on
    institutions that have gotten used to thinking about
    population control in terms of statistics instead of in terms
    of people.  It also presents some thought-provoking ideas
    about why many women (not just in the third world) want
    contraceptive freedom, including some measure of control over
    their own bodies, but don't use contraceptives they feel are
    forced on them.

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Redesigning the American Dream
    The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life
Dolores Hayden, 1984

    This is a fascinating discussion about a topic I know little
    about--architecture.  In particular, the ways in which our
    cultural "norms" (middle-class married suburban couple with
    kids) are reflected by, and *encouraged* by, the architecture
    of our living spaces.  It explores some of the ways in which
    architecture reflects limiting cultural assumptions about
    acceptable roles, especially for women.

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The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense
Suzette Haden Elgin, date?

    I think someone else liked this too.  It's easy to read and a
    lot of fun.  I'm in the middle of it, and breathlessly
    waiting to get back to it.  If you like it, there's a couple
    more books in the "series" as well as a workbook.  It's
    painfully funny reading the descriptions of all the wrong
    ways to respond to a verbal "attack" and seeing myself in them!