So what do modern women want?

Everyone wants the answer to that question - from men to marketing companies, there are plenty of people who would pay big money for the answer. I don't have it but this summer I've been reading through a whole bunch of feminist, modern-womens books in the hope of finding the answer to this and other equally important questions. And I think there's a book I will need to have for my journey, a guide books of sorts. Namely "The Feminist Bestseller: From Sex and the Single Girl to Sex and the City" by Imelda Whelehan. 

This is what it says on amazon.co.uk: 
Imelda Whelehan provides an overview of popular women's writing from the late 1960s to the present, looking at how key feminist texts such asThe Women's Room, Kinflicks and Fear of Flying have influenced popular contemporary fiction such as Bridget Jones' Diary and Sex and the City. Whelehan reconsiders the links between the politics of feminist thought, action and writing and creative writing over the past 30 years and suggests that even so-called 'post feminist' writing owes an enormous debt to feminism's second wave.

Have you read it and can you recommend it? 

Survival Kit for the Confused Reader

Today I am not reading a book but the Sunday Times  - it is Sunday after all and there is something about lazing indoors with a newspaper and a cup of coffee when it is raining outside. In the "Culture" section I came across a really interesting article about books; an author named Sandra Newman has written a book called "The Western Lit Survival Kit: How to Read the Classics without Fears". 

What is this, you now ask?

Basically, it is guide to all of the greats and goods of Western literature from a women who has read them all. Not only does she give you an idea of storyline and context but she also grades the books out of ten! Yes. Grades. Them. Proust, Austen, Dante. They all get a (fair) trial and are awarded points based on level of humour, importance and accessibility and some of them get a fair bit of criticism thrown in - Kipling, apparently, is irritating. 

From the interview in the Times, Sandra Newman sounds like a breath of fresh air. She tells it how it is, even when it comes to her collaboration with editors who apparently weren't that keen on a book about literatur: “They stubbornly wouldn’t believe that anybody was interested in literature. They thought we should do a book comparing literature to celebrities, or television...” 

Book bloggers of the world unite and prove them wrong. This sounds like a fascinating book and it will go straight on my TBR. Actually, if wasn't Sunday and it wasn't raining, I'd be heading straight for the book shop now!

Read the article here. 

TBR Thoughts: Kafka on the Shore

My to-be-read list is long... as in really long. And it is really difficult for me to prioritise what to read next. I usually just go with whatever feels right, not really having any system. However, now I want to improve my selection process - I will write my thoughts down on some of the books on my TBR and then hopefully you wonderful people out there will comment and help me prioritise my list!

"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami has been living the quiet life on my shelf for about a year now and I can feel that it is about time that I get around to reading it.
This is what it says on www.amazon.com:
"Joining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world¹s toughest fifteen-year-old." He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, in a second, wilder narrative spiral, an elderly Tokyo man named Nakata veers from his calm routine by murdering a stranger. An unforgettable character, beautifully delineated by Murakami, Nakata can speak with cats but cannot read or write, nor explain the forces drawing him toward Takamatsu and the other characters."

I like the sound of it! So I think this is one book that I will read sooner rather than later - have you read it? And what are your thoughts on it?

All I want for Christmas is... "A Good School"

This is a weekly meme that's hosted by A Tapestry of Words -www.atapestryofwords.blogspot.com - where every week up until Christmas, you choose a book that you would like to see under your tree! You also have to say why of course.

So this week I will be wishing for "A Good School" by Richard Yates. The story is set in a boarding school on the evning of America's entry into WWII and features a range of characters - from a nervous teenager to teacher's daugther with a schoolgirl crush. It has been called a masterpiece and I really really want to read it. So Santa, please put this one under the tree for me. What are you dreaming of finding under your tree?

Dreaming of these books...

Some books are fine to borrow from the library or from friends but there are some books that I simply must own. Books that I need to have on my bookshelves where I can enjoy the sight of them and pick them up whenever I feel like reading them. Smoe of the books that are high on my list of "must buys" are these:

"A Good School" by Richard Yates



"The Leopard" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa



"The Master and Margarita" by Mikail Bulgakov

"Those Barren Leaves" by Aldous Huxley

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov

"Nightwood" by Djuna Barnes



"Save Me the Waltz" by Zelda Fitzgeral