I was surprised to see the cover of the 2nd printing of Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. Both versions were published by Crossing Press, which has published a long list of books that I want to read – all about natural healing, sexuality, spirituality…good stuff! The old cover (left) is certainly dated. The picture could [...]
Filed under: books on November 25th, 2010 by Anna Lisa | No Comments »
I read Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider to find some wisdom regarding women-only spaces, and of course I found both support and suspicion. Many of the essays and speeches in this collection are focused on the constructive power of difference. Women in a space of their own can explore the differences between them, but also must [...]
Filed under: books on November 23rd, 2010 by Anna Lisa | 4 Comments »
Continuing an investigation of women-only spaces Formation In the book Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, the ranch is a women-dominated space, though not a women-only space, as there are male workers on the ranch. While the De La Garza family is comprised only of women at the beginning of the story, Pedro is [...]
Filed under: books on November 1st, 2010 by Anna Lisa | No Comments »
Elizabeth Berg’s The Handmaid and the Carpenter was a shocking disappointment. I have been reading Berg’s novels for 15 years, beginning with the sorrowful, inspiring Talk Before Sleep. I was excited to read this “Christmas book” exploring the human drama of Mary and Joseph. I credit Berg with much of my emotional education, and was [...]
Filed under: books on October 19th, 2010 by Anna Lisa | No Comments »
Sue Monk Kidd’s The Dance of the Dissident Daughter has been a feminist repose in my summer. Thanks to Elizabeth, I’ve been reading it, one chapter a week, and discussing it with brilliant, creative women. I read Kidd’s later novel The Secret Life of Bees years ago, and loved it. Reading Dance shines so much [...]
Filed under: books on June 28th, 2010 by Anna Lisa | No Comments »
As of this time, Chinese writer Wei Hui’s second offering, “Marrying Buddha,” is not yet banned in China. Her first novel, “Shanghai Baby,” earned notoriety after its release in 1999. The Chinese authorities put it on their watch list, declaring the author’s penchant for “Western decadence and debauchery” and her novel a bad influence to [...]
Filed under: books on December 20th, 2009 by Elen Farkas | No Comments »
Alice Ogden Bellis collects a variety of womanist and feminist interpretations of the Hebrew Bible in Helpmates, Harlots, and Heroes, specifically focusing on the women in these stories. She traces this tradition of biblical interpretation to 19th century suffragists, a movement whose mainstream was made up of white women. Similarly, white Bellis’ first edition of [...]
Filed under: books on January 6th, 2009 by Anna Lisa | 2 Comments »
Kate Jacob’s The Friday Night Knitting Club is a delightful novel about community building among women. The story is inspiring – single mom creates successful business, and influences other women to go after their own dreams and overcome deep fears, as well. If the book had pushed a couple of sociological issues a bit further, [...]
Filed under: books on September 26th, 2008 by Anna Lisa | No Comments »
Two years of Etty Hillesum‘s diaries have been gracefully collected into a fabulous book by J. G. Gaarlandt. Etty was a Dutch Jew of Russian descent who died in Auchwitz in 1943. Her diaries from 1941-1943 are filled with brave mysticism, bold social values, and bright philosophy. While Etty did not ignore the horrors of [...]
Filed under: books on August 17th, 2008 by Anna Lisa | 1 Comment »
!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –> Fatema Mernissi follows the harem into Western literature, art and psyche, sharing fascinating insights on misogyny in Middle Eastern and Western culture along the way. During her book tour for Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood, she was [...]
Filed under: books on June 20th, 2008 by Anna Lisa | 2 Comments »