Challenges 2012
FEMINIST CLASSICS
February – Feminism is for Everybody, by bell hooks (Amy)
SUB: Ain’t I a Woman and Feminist Theory
March – The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine De Pizan (Jean)
April – Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, by Julia Serano (Cass)
May – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë read alongside Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys (Iris)
June – Stone Butch Blues, by Leslie Feinberg (Emily)
July – Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (Nancy) [REREAD]
August – The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison (Lauren) [REREAD]
September – Borderlands/La Frontera, by Gloria Anzaldua (Melissa) [REREAD]
October – The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan (Jodie) [REREAD]
November – Beyond the Veil, by Fatema Mernissi (Ana)
December – Women, Race, and Class, by Angela Davis (Emily Jane) [REREAD]
January – Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practising Solidarity, by Chandra Talpade Mohanty (Eva)
AFRICAN READING CHALLENGE
Map of Love Egypt
Women of Algiers Algiers
The Bride Price, by Buchi Emecheta. Nigeria
Scheherazade Goes West
Women and Gender in Islam, by Leila Ahmed. Egypt and the Middle East
Half a Yellow Sun.. Nigeria
Border Passage, by Leila Ahmed.
Changes, by Ama Ata Aidoo.
Arab and Arab American Feminism,Edited by Rabab Abdulhadi and others.
Living, Loving and Lying Awake South Africa
July’s People South Africa
And They Didn’t Die South Africa
AUSTRALIAN WOMEN WRITERS CHALLENGE
My Place, by Sally Morgan.
Auntie Rita by Rita Huggins and Jackie Huggins.
Bite your Tongue, by by Francesca Rendle-Short.
Wright, Alexis. by Alexis Carpentaria.
Kick the Tin, by Doris Kartinyeri.
Spaces in Her Day, by Katie Holmes.
Lady Bridgett in Never Never Land, by Rosa Praed.
The Secret River, by Kate Granvilee.
A New Map of the Universe, by Amamda Smith.
Remember the Tarantella, Finola Moorhead.
READ AND RESIST TUCSON
500 Years of Chicana History
Ten Little Indians
So Far from God, by Ana Castillo
Borderlands/La Frontera, by Gloria Anzaldua
Let Their Spirits Dance, by Stella Pope Duarte
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, by Rudolfo Acuña
SOUTH ASIAN READING CHALLENGE
Gupta, Memories of Rain.
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, by Farhada Zama.
Cresent, by Abu-Jable.
Unaccustomes Earth, by Lahiri.
The Twentieth Wife, by Sundaresan.
Sister of My heart, by Divakaruni.
GENDER IN FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
Sheri Tepper – Beauty
James Tiptree Jr. – The Starry Rift
Nicola Griffith – Ammonite
Ursula K. Le Guin – Left Hand of Darkness RE-READ
Anne McCaffrey – The Ship Who Sang
Octavia Butler – Wild Seed RE-READ
Virginia Woolf – Orlando RE-READ
PEOPLE OF COLOR READING CHALLENGE
Most of the books I plan to read for various challenges are by and about people of color so I think I will be able to meet the challenge of 25 books.
BLOGGERS ALLIANCE OF NONFICTION DEVOTEES
REAL HELP
The Real Help: Helping Put The Help in its Historical Context
The Real Help is a reading project co-founded by Amanda and Amy to read the books recommended by the Association of Black Women Historians. Their selecttions were chosen to correct the shallow, stereotypical presentation of African American women on the book and movie, The Help, by by Kathryn Stockett.
A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight.
Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family, from Slavery to the Present by Jacqueline Jones.
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James.
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody.
Like One of The Family: Conversations from a Domestic’s Life by Alice Childress.
Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by Thavolia Glymph.
The Street by Ann Petry.
To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors by Tera Hunter.
Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely.
Living In, Living Out: African American Domestics and the Great Migration by Elizabeth Clark-Lewis.
Me, you, and books 
Wow – I know where to come when I want to broaden my reading! I’m particularly curious about the books recommended by the Association of Black Women Historians.
The Black Women’s Historians’s list is a great introduction to both history and fiction. When I found the group, it was almost over. The list is focused somewhat on women in domestic service since that was what the major problems with the book/movie were about. Since most black women (90% in some times and places) worked as domestics at some point, you get a good overall picture. I’d especially recomment Tara Hunter’s book. She does a fine job of teasing and interperting wonderful information out of sources that might seem unpromising. Her response to issues you raise about library silences. And she writes well.
A question for you. I knew almost nothing about Australian history before I discovered AWW and started reading novels. I’d really like to read a recent overview of Australian history or Australian women’s history if you can recommend one. I’d like something that helps me understand where the non-English stories fit.
Part of what has intrigued me with the fiction and autobiographies I have been reading is the differences and similarities cross-culturally–especially in racial relations.
Marilyn, I wonder if Yvonne subscribed to your comments? I’ll tweet her to mention your question about Aust. histories.
A quick note, in your list above, you’ve misspelled Annabel Smith’s name (A New Map of the Universe), also it the text, but not title, of your review.
Have you seen the AWW blog for Indigenous Literature Week postd yesterday? There are more recommendations for books by Indigenous Australian women appearing inthe comments section.
Yes. Yvonne and I are in contact. She and I share the same veiw of what historians need to be doing, and I lave her posts and reading suggestions.
Sorry about my misspelling. I will make the correstions. Thanks for alerting me.