Friday, January 18, 2013

Resolution: Less White Guys Books

One of my resolutions for 2013 is to read more books written by authors other than white, English-speaking, middle-class men, or about them. Part of engrained patriarchy, which I see as a big problem generally, is the willingness of the public to continue to consume media put out and focused on the main players in that patriarchy. Anyway, I've read enough books written by WASPs.

Largely I will be focused on reading books by women, but I will also try to read books from other cultures besides Western Europe and Russia. I've always wanted to read more books coming out from the Middle East, which is a really great source of quality literature. So bonus points for books written by women in an ethnic minority in a Arab country.

I'm also really looking for recommendations. I'm going off a few lists:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/index.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1336.Best_Middle_East_Fiction (not sure if you have to log in to see these goodreads lists)
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1337.Best_Middle_East_nonfiction (this one has some Western men writing about the ME, I will likely not read those)
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/852.Jezebel_s_Books_All_Women_Should_Read (also some Western men on this list)

So, any other essentials? I would love some help forming a good list.

14 comments:

  1. I enjoyed The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Jewish-American). Also, Home, Toni Morrison's newest, is quite good.

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    1. That's my favorite book, Alyssa :)

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    2. Seems like we have very similar taste in literature! :)

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    3. Yeah, I really liked History of Love. Definitely worth a re-read.

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  2. I confess, I did not look at your lists. But I did read a book called "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi last year. Very interesting perspective.

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    1. Yeah, no need to look at the lists. That is only for the curious.

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    2. That is a good one, if a bit biased. Tim and I talk about how reading Infidel to understand Islam is like reading a book by a feminist ex-Mo to learn about Mormonism

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  3. Anything by Leila Ahmed is a must-read in my opinion.

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  4. Funny. Most books I read are by white women. I will try to read more books written by men. :)

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  5. "The Complete Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi It's a graphic novel that I read when I first came to USC. You should look it up.

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    1. We've both read those. They are so informative, and fun.

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    2. Maybe fun wasn't the right word since they are about the Iranian revolution.... Beautiful, artistic, poignant?

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  6. Thanks for those lists! Good stuff.

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