You know, erika, I think you could do any of Laura Lippman's last three stand alones and find a lot to talk about (especially Every Secret Thing which has a whole passel of complicated women characters). They are very well written and move along nicely. Plus it would be fun for you!
Zoe: My man would never fall for that. Wash: Most of my head wishes I had.
'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
lisah - Nov 01, 2007 1:14:59 pm PDT #4233 of 28239
Punishingly Intricate
flea - Nov 01, 2007 1:15:01 pm PDT #4234 of 28239
information libertarian
If your book club hated Possession, I think you need a new book club.
Signed, possibly irrational with the love.
Rationally, I suggest "Little Women."
erikaj - Nov 01, 2007 1:20:47 pm PDT #4235 of 28239
Always Anti-fascist!
I'm guessing they're impatient, flea. It took some investment, but I liked it a lot when I took the time for it. Lisah, good idea. Might as well work with my crime-junkie proclivities, but I'll be keeping track of the other suggestions as well because we're a smallish group.
Scrappy - Nov 01, 2007 1:25:38 pm PDT #4236 of 28239
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
I'd suggest Margaret Atwood'd Cat's Eye [link] which is a fucking great book. Or Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, [link] which is slighter, but a good read.
Jars - Nov 01, 2007 1:46:15 pm PDT #4237 of 28239
The Wide Sargasso Sea? Although I don't know if that's feminist so much as postmodern...
Ginger - Nov 01, 2007 2:48:09 pm PDT #4238 of 28239
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a classic feminist work, although certainly not cheery. For something different, there's Louisa May Alcott's Work, which is a semi-biographical adult novel that talks about the difficulties women had trying to make a living. Another possibility is Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night, which focuses on the choices women have to make.
Connie Neil - Nov 01, 2007 4:22:08 pm PDT #4239 of 28239
brillig
Another possibility is Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night, which focuses on the choices women have to make.
One thing to keep in mind with Gaudy Night is that it is very much a product of its time. I have a hard time reading it because of some of the assumptions that are made.
Ginger - Nov 01, 2007 4:56:44 pm PDT #4240 of 28239
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I think those assumptions are things you can talk about in terms of feminism. The basic questions haven't changed: Do we choose the life of the mind or of the heart? Do marriage and children limit what women can accomplish? Do men have to make the same choices?
Strix - Nov 01, 2007 5:34:17 pm PDT #4241 of 28239
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
I have to second Cat's Eye. It is dead spot-on about girls and how they treat each other, and has some fabulous observation about women and how they are perceived by each other and by society.
It's really all about women and how they treat other women. Oh, and some stuff about art and how men see women. It's a novel I consistently re-read.
-t - Nov 01, 2007 5:40:47 pm PDT #4242 of 28239
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I pretty much love all Margaret Atwood's stuff because it makes me all thinky, and Cat's Eye is the one that randomly pops into my head with someting new to think about the most. Should make for excellent discussion.