summer reading

[rivendellrose]

My summer reading so far has been pretty... umm... unique.

So far, I've read one book on prostitution, about half of one called "Courtesans," about 18th century courtesans of England, and then a book called "Bare," detailing the stripping scene in Seattle in the 1980s and 90s, from the view of a woman who worked in it during school, and went back later after finishing a degree in journalism.

Now, I'm reading two books at once by Geraldine Brooks, the author of "Year of Wonders," which I read last summer - the current books are her most recent, "March" (a semi-historical novel about the Civil War experiences of the absent character of the father in "Little Women"), and her first book "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women." I also checked out "The Harmonious Universe" by Keith Laidler, for my long-weekend reading and jury duty on Tuesday. And I'm still slogging through "London: The Biography" at intermittant moments. I'm totally stuck on "Kite Runner" - I can't seem to get into it, whereas all the rest of this has pretty much grabbed me by the shoulders and demanded my attention.

Right now, "Nine Parts of Desire" is completely eating my brain - Brooks is such a clever and insightful writer, with such a talent for expressing all the ambiguous and terrifically human angles of any subject. She doesn't preach, she doesn't forgive unconditionally, she doesn't pretend that people are saints or sinners, she just tells the stories, with all the warts and thorns right along with the beauty. I think I've found a new writing hero.

Comments

[gurny.livejournal.com]

Nine Parts of Desire sounds really good, I am going to have to check that out.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's really interesting - there've been a few fascinating little bits that go completely beyond what I've learned in classes on the religion.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Did you read Reading Lolita in Tehran? You got it for me, but I don't think you ever read it did you? I can bring it up next time I'm over.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I read most of it. It was okay, but I got bored toward the middle and never picked it up again.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Nine Parts of Desire sounds fascinating ... I'd heard of it, but no descriptions have tempted me until now.

Care to share more about Bare and/or the book on prostitution? Having just digested several essays on stripping and prostitution in my last book, I'm interested in seeing other perspectives, especially from the women who do them.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It really is, and I can't recommend Geraldine Brooks' writing highly enough. She's absolutely wonderful. If you've read about women in Islam (or even just generally on Islam) before there'll be a lot of repeated information, but it's still very worthwhile.

I think the most significant thing about those two books was that they seemed at the start to have completely opposite takes on stripping. The woman whose case was being profiled in the book on prostitution started out in stripping, and the portrayal in that book was really disturbing and dark. The woman who wrote Bare worked entirely in The Lusty Lady, to begin with, and she really liked her work. Later in the book she starts getting into the worse aspects of the industry, but she also spends a lot of time at the beginning concentrating on it as a feminist kind of profession, which was interesting. It's feminist in the sense of being misanthropic (in a literal sense) though - she concentrates a lot on the ideas of men that are instilled by her work, and on her own concerns about their ideas of women that she might be encouraging.

I'm still trying to digest all of this into my own opinion - it seems like it really depends on the circumstances, and the personalities of the women involved.

Could I get the titles of some of the books of essays you've been reading? I seem to be on a spree of feminist books at the moment, and I'd like to keep up with that and get some different ideas involved.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

The only experience I've had with Islam in my reading has been sort of indirect -- I've read Reading Lolita in Tehran and some feminist essays that mention Islam. So I don't think I'd find that part superfluous.

Your description of Bare reminds me a lot of the essays I just read on stripping -- illuminating the power it can give to women, but also acknowledging the persistent damage it can cause. I find the general ideas presented in both to be unexpectedly convincing, and really interesting.

And OMG I WOULD TOTALLY GEEK OUT ABOUT FEMINISM AT YOU. XD Seriously, though -- ever since I took that philosophy of feminism class last year, I've been drawn more and more into feminism and gender theory. I would highly recommend the two books I just read, and could tell you more about them so you can decide if you're interested. And ... hmm. If you're feeling up to it, I could bring you some of my readings from that class. Most of my reading on feminism so far has been in the form of individual essays, not books, so I could give you better recommendations from those, I think.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

The religion itself is fascinating from a feminist studies angle, in that it's just so damned contradictory - the first wife of the prophet Muhammad was a rich widow several years his senior who started out as his business partner and effectively supported him through his early career, before she died, and early on his later wives went to battle with him, serving as nurses and the like, and worked outside the home to make money for the household. But as increasing scandal and domestic strife between his wives kept causing problems, he had a series of 'revelations' that pulled them further and further back from the rest of society, closeting them away in what was eventually expanded to all Muslim women. It's weird, when you actually start looking at the specific history. Like most religions, it was very pro-feminine at the beginning (when women are useful to the cause of the new faith), and then turned horribly on them later, once it was centralized and no longer needed the sort of grassroots efforts that active, independent women could provide. All major religions seem to go through those two phases.

Exactly. It really is a profoundly mixed field, and I think a view of stripping that doesn't take into account both sides of the coin is not fully understanding the phenomena or the culture.

That'd be awesome. I feel kind of idiotic, because even though I'm fascinated by women's studies, I've never actually taken a class in it aside from that medieval class Cora and I took, and that was more history than anything else, and the bits and pieces you run across in English classes or linguistics or whatever. I'm up to whatever you want to throw at me, really - I tend to prefer something with a lighter and less academic bent, but either way is good. And I'd love to have someone to talk the theories over with, once I start getting a more solid groundwork; it's no fun to read this sort of thing without someone to discuss it with!

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

I love finding out about how culture and politics and personal experience can shape the development of a religion. It's just another way of seeing how human the worship of God can be, you know?

That's how I feel!! Even though I've taken a (good, but very introductory) class on feminism, I sometimes feel so clueless. But my instructor really through a wide variety of writers at us, so at this point I have a general grasp of the most famous names and what their positions are, so I know who to look for when I want to read about a particular topic. Maybe, for dabblers like us, that's the best you can do in the way of 'expertise' for such a wide field.

When I go back to my parents' house this weekend, I'll pick up my class readings. *excited* I've only gotten to discuss this with Sean so far, and he's too far away for me to give him actual books or articles. Are there any particular topics you're most interested in? My class was divided into the sub-movements, like liberal, lesbian/radical, or multi-cultural feminisms; I can focus on a few to pick out for you.

I would actually be interested in hearing about the historical aspect you've studied -- what I read in class was mostly second-wave feminism (from the 1970s), and what I pick up on my own is third-wave/postmodern/whatever you want to call the past decade. I'm not really interested enough to look for the history on my own, but I'd certainly like to hear you tell some of it to me. :P

Yeesh, what a long comment. We have to talk about this in person very soon!

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

I had read Year of Wonders, I knew it sounded familiar.
They didn't have any copies of Wicked, so I ended up getting Bev Year of Wonders, and Ravenstein by Saul Bellows. Have you ever read anything by him? I started reading this after they talked about him on NPR. So far it's really good. Bev luckily had not read either of them and was very happy! She's reading Maid Marion, I can't remember who the author was, but she said we could read it when she's done. She said it's really good! YAY!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I haven't read anything by Saul Bellows, but I've heard of him. I can't wait to see what the book Bev's sending is like!

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

The Maid Marion? She's not quite done with it yet, but she says it's really good, but totally not fact. I read the back, it does sound good. Elanor of Aquataine (spelling) is in it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I love Eleanor of Aquitaine soooooooooooooooo much. ♥

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

By the way, pardon my typo, it's Ravelstein. Doh!