Fozzie wrote:Should we read Inheritance of Loss in January and The Tiger's Wife in February?
If you (and Melissa) are game for it, that might make sense for Danielle, since it will be closer to her having read it. I am willing to borrow or buy a copy and participate -- I'll finish it IoL I agree with Danielle on its worthiness, may not if I don't! 
Melissa_W
That sounds good to me 
Peppermill wrote:
Fozzie wrote:Should we read Inheritance of Loss in January and The Tiger's Wife in February?
If you (and Melissa) are game for it, that might make sense for Danielle, since it will be closer to her having read it. I am willing to borrow or buy a copy and participate -- I'll finish it IoL I agree with Danielle on its worthiness, may not if I don't!
Don't know enough to recommend these yet, but a few to put on our radar screens?
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki, Edward G. Seidensticker (Translator) (Author is not a woman, so won't do as a selection here, but found it of possible interest.)
Peppermill wrote:Don't know enough to recommend these yet, but a few to put on our radar screens?
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki, Edward G. Seidensticker (Translator) (Author is not a woman, so won't do as a selection here, but found it of possible interest.)
All these look like wonderful selections to me. I own Finding Nouf but haven't read it yet. I didn't realize there was a second book out that follows it! I may have to read Finding Nouf soon.
Melissa_W
Two cents are always welcome
Adding male authors was a suggestion that quietly came and went - obviously, none of us felt it terribly necessary for drumming up more participants! We did do a book of short stores (Runaway by Alice Munro) but none of the others have made it through our voting rounds.
elaine_hf wrote:Hi. I haven't been a participant in this particular club - yes, you may label me a lurker - but I do participate in Deb's fiction group. That group has also dwindled down to just 3 participants or so; I chalk that up, at least partially, to the oncoming holiday season. I thought I'd poke around over here, because you seem to do a good job of book selection, and was thinking about joining you. Like many others here, I participate in several groups and have my hands full, but would definitely be willing to give it a go. A few thoughts here - if you're going to remain a 'literature by women' group, I wouldn't delve into the world of 'literature by men' - I guess that idea came up with the discussion on the 'classics' board, on page 1. And I'm wondering if the idea of short stories has any appeal, or any applicability. It may not be practical, but they can make for lively conversation! I love books by middle eastern women, there is such an interesting shift in perspective. The international idea has a lot of appeal to me.
Just my two cents' worth, feel free to ignore if you like... ;-)
Melissa_W
Instead of doing 4-6 months of scheduling at once we'll do maybe two months ahead. That being said, our re-boot schedule will be:
January 2012:
Melissa_W wrote:Two cents are always welcome
Adding male authors was a suggestion that quietly came and went - obviously, none of us felt it terribly necessary for drumming up more participants! We did do a book of short stores (Runaway by Alice Munro) but none of the others have made it through our voting rounds.
elaine_hf wrote:Hi. I haven't been a participant in this particular club - yes, you may label me a lurker - but I do participate in Deb's fiction group. That group has also dwindled down to just 3 participants or so; I chalk that up, at least partially, to the oncoming holiday season. I thought I'd poke around over here, because you seem to do a good job of book selection, and was thinking about joining you. Like many others here, I participate in several groups and have my hands full, but would definitely be willing to give it a go. A few thoughts here - if you're going to remain a 'literature by women' group, I wouldn't delve into the world of 'literature by men' - I guess that idea came up with the discussion on the 'classics' board, on page 1. And I'm wondering if the idea of short stories has any appeal, or any applicability. It may not be practical, but they can make for lively conversation! I love books by middle eastern women, there is such an interesting shift in perspective. The international idea has a lot of appeal to me.
Just my two cents' worth, feel free to ignore if you like... ;-)
We also read Flannery O'Connor's short story collection.
Fozzie wrote:
Peppermill wrote:Don't know enough to recommend these yet, but a few to put on our radar screens?
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris
I own Finding Nouf but haven't read it yet. I didn't realize there was a second book out that follows it! I may have to read Finding Nouf soon.
I read Finding Nouf! Here's my review from my reading journal:
What made this book interesting to me was that it takes place in Saudi Arabia and it gave me the opportunity to learn about and understand life there. The book’s plot is the investigation of a mysterious death, which, in and of itself, would not have drawn me to the book. The setting and the characters made the book for me. The author has another book out, with a couple of the same characters, which sounds very similar to this one. I don’t plan to read it. While I enjoyed this book very much, it is not something that needs to be read twice, so to speak.
Melissa_W wrote:After re-reading the posts and doing a great deal of thinking, I think we've got a group decision.
Instead of doing 4-6 months of scheduling at once we'll do maybe two months ahead. That being said, our re-boot schedule will be:
January 2012:
February 2012:Thoughts? Discussion? I plan to ask for thoughts on a March book at the end of January so keep all the good ideas brewing. I will keep many of our strictures the same - must be available in a paperback at minimum (this maximizes the chances that it will be available and affordable for the majority of participants) and written by a woman - but I would also welcome a slight widening of genre. We can sprinkle a little mystery, SF/Fantasy, Romance (strangely, we've never done any Georgette Heyer), biography, even a little YA in amongst our lit fic/classics preferences.
This sounds good to me.
Personally, I don't care for YA books, but I won't rule anything out and am open to suggestions.
Melissa_W wrote:Thoughts? Discussion? I plan to ask for thoughts on a March book at the end of January so keep all the good ideas brewing. I will keep many of our strictures the same - must be available in a paperback at minimum (this maximizes the chances that it will be available and affordable for the majority of participants) and written by a woman - but I would also welcome a slight widening of genre. We can sprinkle a little mystery, SF/Fantasy, Romance (strangely, we've never done any Georgette Heyer), biography, even a little YA in amongst our lit fic/classics preferences.
I think that widening the genres is a good idea. I read this the other day just after having read that the great SF author Anne McCaffrey had passed away, and she might be a good candidate. I couldn't wait until March, and am half-way through the first Pern novel, Dragonflight, but I have a couple of short story collections on my TBR shelf. I think that she is the only female SF author I have read.
Of course, I love mysteries! And most of the authors I read are female.
Another genre I enjoy is historical biography (mainly royalty), and my favorite author in that is Allison Weir. I have read many of her books, and she has a real knack for making history interesting. On my TBR shelf are several more of her books, including biographies of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
My only concern is whether others will want to read these alternate genres.
Melissa_W
Pepper reminded me that the group had settled on The Inheritance of Loss for January, then The Tiger's Wife for February. My bad on the schedule mixup!
Melissa_W wrote:
After re-reading the posts and doing a great deal of thinking, I think we've got a group decision.
Instead of doing 4-6 months of scheduling at once we'll do maybe two months ahead. That being said, our re-boot schedule will be:
January 2012:
Thoughts? Discussion? I plan to ask for thoughts on a March book at the end of January so keep all the good ideas brewing. I will keep many of our strictures the same - must be available in a paperback at minimum (this maximizes the chances that it will be available and affordable for the majority of participants) and written by a woman - but I would also welcome a slight widening of genre. We can sprinkle a little mystery, SF/Fantasy, Romance (strangely, we've never done any Georgette Heyer), biography, even a little YA in amongst our lit fic/classics preferences.
