Women Unbound Reading Challenge

The Women Unbound Reading Challenge

Celebrating Women in Literature

I've joined another Reading Challenge! This is the Women Unbound Reading Challenge and revolves around the reading of books related to "women's studies". You may ask, "What is 'women's studies'? Merriam-Webster defines it as:

the multidisciplinary study of the social status and societal contributions of women and the relationship between power and gender

In plain language this would include history books focused on women, biographies of women, memoirs by women, essays by women and cultural books focused on women (body image, motherhood, etc.), and fiction that examines the place of women in society. I read a lot of books about women, their struggles and triumphs, so this is a perfect way to share, discover and read more books... Hey, I'm a Chick... I get it!

The beginning of this reading challenge asks the participants to answer a few questions...

1. What does feminism mean to you? Does it have to do with the work sphere? The social sphere? How you dress? How you act? Feminism to me has to do with equality. Being true to yourself and having the freedom to express yourself without prejudice or fear. Feminism isn't just about work, or how you dress etc, it's about all of it collectively. Be a plumber, a stripper, dress sexy or conservatively, speak your mind, have an opinion, whatever without having a stigma attached...

2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not? I don't like labels, so I would

not call myself a feminist per say, but if being a feminist means "the belief of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes" guess I would be a feminist because I do believe we as women should enjoy the same opportunities as men without favoritism... on either side.

3. What do you consider the biggest obstacle women face in the world today? Has that obstacle changed over time, or does it basically remain the same? I would say the biggest obstacle women face today is faith in our abilities. We are tough on ourselves, and this may come across as doubting our abilities to others. We can share our emotions easily, but it doesn't mean we can't be president. We fought hard for opportunities to be well educated, to vote, to have our voices heard... we are resilient....

Now for the Challenge...

Women Unbound Reading Challenge dates are November 2009 - November 2010

There are three catagories to choose from:

*Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction.

*Bluestocking: read at least five books, including at least two nonfiction.

*Suffragette: read at least eight books, including at least three nonfiction.

I would love to be a Suffragette! But I'm going to start slow here and be a Philogynist! So, I'll be reading at least two books, including a least one nonfiction book.

My Challenge Books:

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi... Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagu

ed by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up. This is a 'Graphic' Memoir... a memoir in black & white line drawings. The story is amazing and so is the artwork! This is my nonfiction choice. (Probably one of a few since I have a whole year to read!) Here's My Review...

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin... Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.

But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful? Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories... That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war. For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey. The blending of fact with fiction in Alice I Have Been is wonderful and seamless. It's a love story, and a story of heartbreak. The love & hate between sisters, jealousy, and an undercurrent of something a bit improper. Melanie Benjamin does a great job of portraying the restrictions of the victorian woman in society- how every action is judged, and how rumor and speculation, however unfounded, can ruin a woman's reputation. But this isn't some dry victorian piece of fiction, Alice is a vibrant wonderful character that will entice you to turn those pages. This is my choice for fiction for "The Challenge". Here's My Review...

Would you like to participate? Having a blog isn't necessary! You can read and review your book on the Women Unbound Blog! Also at the

Women Unbound Blog you'll find lots of great book recommendations, so follow the link to check it all out! And a special thanks to the girls who are hosting this, Aarti of Booklust Blog, Care of Care's Online Book Club, and Eva of A Striped Armchair.

The Sunday Salon... Readers celebrate The Tree with The Green Book reading challenge, Balancing Out Your Books, and The Tree Museum

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

In Connecticut the weather is a little crisper, the trees are losing their crimson leaves, and we are readying our wood stoves for the colder weather... It's a beautiful time of year, the air seems fresher, the sound of the rustling leaves under your feet is the special music of Fall, and the deer and birds seem to spend more time visiting us... I saw an interesting campaign that will take place this Tuesday Nov. 10th at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. It's the 100 Green Books Campaign. Organized by Eco-Libris, this campaign is aiming to promote “green” books by reviewing more than 100 books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper. Over 100 bloggers will take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of more than 100 such books. I read about this reading challenge too late to join in, but thought as I was enjoying the fall weather and the beauty of my surroundings, that I would take a moment (and today's Sunday Salon) to share with you what Eco-Libris is all about... along with a few other "green" tree related sites and a fun "tree" exhibition going on in New York...

Eco-Libris believes in providing people with easy and affordable ways to take responsibility for their actions and go green. They don’t believe in preaching doom and gloom. It’s not their style. They believe in taking action and in the power of small changes to make a big impact... "Once upon a time there was Ex-Libris (a Latin phrase meaning ‘from the books’), a label people used to paste on their books to indicate ownership. We see Eco-Libris as the new, green version of Ex-Libris. In our vision people will balance out their books by planting trees and will indicate their commitment to sustainability by putting an Eco-Libris sticker on the sleeves of these books. As people once showed their love for books with Ex-Libris, we hope to see people show their love for books and the environment with Eco-Libris."

Reading about the reading challenge and the organization Eco-Libris made me think about my reading habits and the trees that are used to feed that habit. Eco-Libris states on their website that "More than 30 Million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone." Their sensible approach is to encourage the use of recycled paper or virgin paper from certified forests, and planting trees to help sustain the sources we use when we read. I know I'm not going to stop reading books and I have a Kindle which you'd think would help the environment, although there's some debate about the Kindle and its actual "carbon footprint"... another story for another time (here's a LINK to some of that debate), but I can do some simple things to be a little greener... one of which is sponsor the planting of trees...

A program Eco-Libris is promoting is Balance Out Your Books, where you make a donation to have a tree planted for every book you read. Eco-Libris has 3 planting partners that are non-profit organizations working in developing countries where deforestation is a crucial problem. They have partnered with various publishers, bookstores, and are promoting this with book clubs as well. If you are a member of Book Mooch, which is a book swapping community, they have a program called Green Mooch, a special incentive to BookMoochers to balance out their books, and to Eco-Libris fans to start mooching some books. You can read more about Green Mooch HERE, and you can learn all about Book Mooch there too!

There are other ways to plant a tree too! The Arbor Day Foundation has a tree planting program. With membership, which is $10 or $15, you can get 10 free trees that will grow well in your area, or 10 trees will be planted in your honor in a U.S. National Forest. Plant a tree in Israel. Since 1901 there have been over 240 million trees planted in Israel. You can have a tree planted in honor of anyone by going HERE. Or you can simply plant your own tree! Here is a list of 29 reasons to plant a tree from Treelink.org too!

Want to just celebrate the tree? As readers we love trees, right?! Katie Holten created the TREE MUSEUM to celebrate the communities and ecosystems along the Grand Concourse, a 100 year-old boulevard in The Bronx. Visitors can listen in on local stories and the intimate lives of trees offered by current and former residents: from beekeepers to rappers, historians to gardeners, school kids to scientists. She has marked out 100 diverse trees along the Concourse, which is about four and a half miles long. Each one will have a sign that gives a phone number and a code to listen to short recordings of people speaking about the Bronx, their lives and their work. The tree museum opened on June 21st of this year and will be around until Jan.3rd, 2010. Of course after the signs are taken down, the trees will still be there! Here is a google map of where all 100 Trees are located. And here's a link to a great article in the New York Times about the "Museum of Trees".

Hope you found something interesting here today! Let me know how you feel about being "green"! Do you do anything to help the environment? Do you think about the trees that are cut down to make the paper our books are made of? Do you think it matters? And are there any New Yorkers out there that have walked the Tree Museum? I'd love to hear about that!

Happy reading...

Suzanne

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist... A Review

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist is compelling and disturbing. For days after I finished reading The Unit I couldn't shake the feelings it left behind. From the first turn of the page I was drawn into the world of Dorrit Weger and her life in the Second Reserve Bank Unit for Biological Material, or The Unit for short.

In Dorrit's world at the age of 50 all childless women and all childless men at age 60 are "welcomed" into The Unit... The luxurious spa like place where the weather is always beautiful, there are beautiful gardens, amazing food, entertainment, medical experiments and vital organ harvesting...

This futuristic world seems so "normal" at first. Our protagonist is an independent woman and writer, living in a dilapidated home that she owns with her loyal dog Jock. She never felt the need to become a mother, and as society changed Dorrit was nearing 50 and it was too late... So she gave her up her home, her best friend Jock, and her independence as she became one of the "dispensables" of her society and took 'the ride' to The Unit at age 50.

The Unit is at both a haven and a hell. Dorrit and the people around her feel a close bond, and these undesirables find a place where they fit in. Deep friendships and love is found, as people go thru medical experiments & surgeries. Ninni Holmqvist makes you feel these deep friendships! You want Dorrit and the others in The Unit to realize they are worth more than their body parts! You want them to survive! But there's always the final "donation" lurking around the corner...

What makes a person a contributing member to society? Who is to say whether a person is dispensable? How does motherhood define who we are? What makes a person give up on life?. How did this futuristic world become what it was? There are lots of questions to ask as you are turning those pages. And here is a Reading Group Discussion Guide! This would make a great Book Club selection. And is my pick for November's Reading Group Pick!

Sad, disturbing, heartfelt, and at times humorous, The Unit is a book that will haunt you after the last page... How can you say a dystopian society that takes childless people away and harvests their body parts is a good read? Something must be said when a story stays with you way after you've put the book down... Put this on your list of must read books of the year, because the writing of Ninni Holmqvist is engaging and worth every moment you're reading.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner... A Review

You wake up in a lift, can't remember a thing except for your first name... When the doors of the lift finally open you are in The Glade, a large piece of land enclosed by tall stone walls. You wish it were a dream, but you can't seem to wake up... and soon it turns out to be a nightmare.

That is what happens to Thomas. He wakes up in a lift. He can only remember his first name. Images flash in his mind, but he can't put names to faces, and he can't even remember his parents. When the lift finally stops and the doors open, he is surrounded by a group of boys, all teenagers, all young kids. He is welcomed into The Glade, where there are rules to be followed and a hierarchy that he'd soon learn. How he got there he didn't know, but none of the Gladers knew. All they knew was that every month for the past 2 years a "Newbie" would arrive in the lift. Supplies mysteriously arrived in the lift as well. And in order to survive, the boys created a society, with jobs and industry such as farming that gave them purpose as well as sustenance.

The Glade itself had a rickety building where the boys could sleep, although most of them slept outside. There was a kitchen and a boy assigned to cook. There were farm animals and a slaughter house. A vegetable garden and a graveyard. The Glade was surrounded by tall stone walls that mysteriously opened during the day and shut by themselves at night. Outside the walls was a mysterious maze, and in that maze roam horrible bloodthirsty creatures that are a combination of animal and machine. No one was allowed outside of the walls except for The Runners. The Runners run thru the maze during the day, taking notes about where paths ended and turns continued. They would run the maze all day and before the walls close they come back and record their findings on maps. The paths in the maze changed every day, and for 2 years they still could not find the clue to escaping... until Thomas came... and then "the girl". Who were The Creators? Why were they there? How could they get back to their real homes?

The story is YA fiction, but was so well written I couldn't put it down. The futuristic world James Dashner has created is fascinating. The boys quickly adapted to their circumstances, formed friendships, created their own language, and learned to work together to survive. Things aren't so perfect in The Glade... There are conflicts, and suspicions. And there are glimpses of how young these boys actually are... how frightened they are as things start to fall apart. I kept turning those pages to find out what happened next and totally immersed myself in surviving that world along with the other Gladers, and trying to figure out how to get out of the maze once and for all. It was intense, gripping, suspenseful with bits of humor thrown in. I loved The Maze Runner until the very end... until the epilogue...

This book is the first book in a trilogy, and I though the book could have happily ended just before the epilogue and still be ready for book 2. The epilogue is a page and a half that sets up the next book, but I would have preferred to have discovered what is in the epilogue in the next book. But even with that minor difference in opinion I can't wait for book 2!

Have you read The Maze Runner yet? Since starting the Dystopian YA Fiction Challenge I've found some great books! Have any other suggestions for dystopian reading? Share them here and let me know what you thought about The Maze Runner if you've read it!

This book is part of the DystopYA Reading Challenge! Dystopian fiction is generally fiction about a world that is attempting to be perfect but contains a fatal flaw. It's the opposite of a utopia. This can take the form of a fascist government, a failing environment, corporate rule - anything. In it, life is miserable and people have to strive to rise above.

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

The Giver by Lois Lowry... A Review

In a World of Sameness, there is Hope to be found in the Memories of Our Past...

Imagine a “perfect” world... perfect because it is filled with sameness... There is no sunshine, no cold, no color... each family has 2 children, a boy and a girl, and everything, and I mean everything, is planned out and accounted for. Who you marry, what your profession shall be, what clothes you can wear growing up... There is no fear or pain, or feelings what so ever...

Set in a futuristic world, the story centers around Jonas, who at age 12 is singled out to train to become the new Receiver of Memory. There is only one Receiver, and this person holds all the memories of the pain and pleasures of life from way way back, before there was sameness. And so, Jonas is to receive all the memories one at a time from The Giver...

Up to the point where Jonas is named the new Receiver we learn about the community where Jonas lives... Everyone is extremely polite, no one is ostracized or highly praised, people can apply for a spouse and are assigned a person deemed compatible by a panel. Then the couple is assigned a boy and a girl from a pool of "newchildren", born from birthmothers who have exactly 3 births, never see their birth children and then are assigned heavy labor for the rest of their lives. Children at the age of 12 are assigned a job in the community based on their skills and interests that have been carefully observed as they volunteer in different community areas.

When the children are grown, the family unit dissolves and the adults live out there lives with other childless adults until they are too old to function in society and then go to "The House of Old". From there they are eventually "released" from society.

Of course none of this sounds too bad, until you see the glimpses of the rules in black & white. When people (children included) don't measure up to the rest of society, such as not learning proper behavior, they are given a few chances to correct their ways, but if they don't conform they are "released". Babies that don't develop at a measured rate are "released". If twins are born, one is "released" based on weight, because you simply can't have 2 of the same people walking around. The community seems pretty normal until some of these quirks start popping up. But this is all the community has known, until Jonas starts receiving the memories...

The red of an apple, the blue of the sky, the coldness of a snowflake against your face, the feeling of love... these are the memories Jonas starts to receive and it changes his world forever. What follows is heartbreaking at times, such as when Jonas asks his father "Do you love me?", and is given a lecture on a love being a generalized and meaningless word. But Jonas is changed by these new feelings and in a final act of desperation and love breaks out of his "mold" and becomes a loving, caring, individual...

The Giver is haunting... Even 15 years later, the writing is fresh and contemporary. Words used such as newchildren instead of newborns, "releasing" versus murdering, Assignments, Precision of Language, The House of Old, are subtle phrasing with very serious connotations. The Giver has been on the banned books list almost since it's publication in 1993. Some of the themes found objectionable are suicide, sexuality, and euthanasia. The theme of euthanasia was disturbing... But watching Jonas bloom as an individual was wonderful. It is a powerful novel, deceptively wrapped in a small 179 page package with simple language, but sometimes good things come in small packages and this is one of those times....

Have you read The Giver yet? I'd love to hear what you thought about the book! Instead of banning this book, why not take the opportunity to discuss the topic of suicide or euthanasia? How about the value of individuality? Dealing with peer pressures? Let me know how you feel!

This book is part of the DystopYA Reading Challenge! Dystopian fiction is generally fiction about a world that is attempting to be perfect but contains a fatal flaw. It's the opposite of a utopia. This can take the form of a fascist government, a failing environment, corporate rule - anything. In it, life is miserable and people have to strive to rise above. This book certainly fits that bill!

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!

Memoir Mondays... Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado

"A former Hollywood insider trades the Hollywood Hills for Green Acres—and lives to tell about it in this hilarious, poignant treat of a memoir"

Gesine Bullock-Prado gave up the designer clothes, the Red Carpet walks and life as a Hollywood schmoozer (almost all of which she hated) for her true calling- Baking! Gesine comes out of the closet in her book Confections of a Closet Master Baker to share with us her journey from unhappy Hollywood insider to life as a baker in Vermont and it is simply delicious!

The writing, the recipes, and Gesine Bullock-Prado's wry sense of humor is all delectable! Chapters are arranged by hours, as we weave our way through a typical day as a baker with Gesine, starting at 3:30am, the witching hour. Sprinkled between the stories of Gesine's adventures in baking and the interesting cast of characters that make up her world, are the the wonderful recipes for treats such as Apfelkuchen and Raspberry Meringues, Devil Cream Pie and her signature Starry Starry Night cookies! Along with tidbits for baking perfection! We spend tender moments with her mother, share glimpses into her complicated relationship with her father and we learn about Gesine growing up. And of course there is the occasional knife sharp word here and there about the Hollywood left behind. This is a memoir, a recipe journal and the story of one woman's journey to finding passion and peace in her life. The writing is engaging and light. We find out there's a purpose behind the baking, and it's not just to eat!

Roll up your sleeves and crack the spine to enter the world of flour, puff pastry, and Hollywood! Gesine shares the perfect recipe on how to follow your passions and her secret Golden Eggs recipe!

I want to thank Catherine P. of Broadway Publishing, a division of Random House, for sending me a review copy! This book was a delight to read! And my baking will never be the same!

The Sunday Salon... Reading Adventures and "Books with Buzz"

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake...

All week long I've lived inside a dystopian world. First I took this strange elevator to this place called The Glade avoiding these mechanical blobs that were trying to kill me and everyone else there and finally entered the maze surrounding the Glade in an attempt to escape... Then once I was out of there I wound up in another futuristic world where I had to think fast as I approached age 5o without children to avoid "Paradise" and the use of my vital body parts... Watch for my reviews for the places I've been this week... The Maze Runner by James Dashner and The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist. The Maze Runner was part of my reading for The DystopYA reading challenge. The Unit is another Dystopian selection, but it's not YA, and it's one of the Reading Group Selections for National Reading Group Month... But I didn't just have my head in books this week, I was also on the lookout for Books with Buzz and here's what I found...

An fun release this week was Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris. Charlaine Harris is well known for her Sookie Stackhouse southern vampire books, but Charlaine Harris has a few other series going on too! One of those other series is the Harper Connelly mysteries. This past tuesday Grave Secret, the fourth book in that series, was released. Grave Secret is the continued story of Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver as they venture out of their normal story line of hunting dead people for a bit of a family reunion. In the first book in the series, Grave Sight, we are introduced to Harper Connelly who has the uncanny ability to find dead people and live the last moments of the dead person's life. Tolliver is her manager and bodyguard. This series is a fun enjoyable series, with likeable characters. If you're looking for something a little less serious to read try Harper on for size. And if you like her, there are 3 more books to read!

Another book that grabbed my attention because it's gotten some interesting buzz is Waiting For Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk. A man arrives at an insane asylum in contemporary Spain claiming to be the legendary navigator Christopher Columbus. Who he really is, and the events that led him to break with reality, lie at the center of this captivating, romantic, and stunningly written novel. Found in the treacherous Strait of Gibraltar, the mysterious man who calls himself Columbus appears to be just another delirious mental patient, until he begins to tell the “true” story of how he famously obtained three ships from Spanish royalty. Time shifts back and forth between modern day and the time of Columbus, which some people may not like, but I find stories like that fascinating. Described as part adventure, romance and tragedy, I bought this book this weekend after glancing thru the pages to read some of Thomas Trofimuk's writing and enjoyed what I read. Another book I thoroughly enjoyed that shifted in time similar to this book, in the telling of "stories", was The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Here's my review of The Gargoyle from this past summer. If you haven't read The Gargoyle yet, put that on your TBR list!

Finally for this weeks Books with Buzz, a book that was shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers and helped the author win a Whiting Award, Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun. In Mun's debut novel, we read the electrifying and heartbreaking story of a teenage runaway on the streets of 1980s New York. Teenage Joon is a Korean immigrant living in the Bronx of the 1980s. Her parents have crumbled under the weight of her father’s infidelity; he has left the family, and mental illness has rendered her mother nearly catatonic. So Joon, at the age of thirteen, decides she would be better off on her own, a choice that commences a harrowing and often tragic journey that exposes the painful difficulties of a life lived on the margins. Joon’s adolescent years take her from a homeless shelter to an escort club, through struggles with addiction, to jobs selling newspapers and cosmetics, committing petty crimes, and, finally, toward something resembling hope. In raw and beautiful prose, Nami Mun delivers the story of a young woman who is at once tough and vulnerable, world-weary and naive, faced with insurmountable odds and yet fiercely determined to survive. Nami Mun's writing is sparse and direct, but there is a kind of beauty in her writing that has gotten a lot of attention. It is a odd size book, not quite a trade paperback and a bit larger than a mass market pb, with large margins surrounding the text on all 4 sides that seem to draw your attention into the words and what you are reading...

Hope you've found something to put on your reading list! Have anything I should put on mine?! What books have you been reading?! Share the books that kept you up all night turning pages!

Happy reading... Suzanne