March Book Club

Photo by Saltygal, used under Creative Commons.

Greetings Sibeal members and fans – now that our newly designed website has launched we’ve decided to add some regular features. We’re pleased to announce the first in a series of bi-monthly reviews, which you’re all welcome to participate in. This month we are reviewing and recommending our favorite feminist fiction (and one memoire)! Consider this the first ‘Sibeal Book Club’ post, and we look forward to hear what you’ve been reading.

Being a student means there is often very little time for “reading for pleasure”, yet one must make time, nothing inspires more creativity, academic or otherwise, than a really good read. Whether it’s a recent pick or an old favorite do share with us which feminist work of fiction is your top recommendation. Here are ours;

Aisling O’Connor recommends Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

This postcolonial text is a masterfully written feminist re-writing of Bronte’s Jane Eyre. As a work of feminist re-visioning, it offers the reader an insight into the life of the literal and metaphorical ‘mad-woman in the attic’. Rhys centralises the marginalised and allows the voice of the other to emerge.

Melanie Hoewer recommends Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman

Feldman re-animates the drama of Scottsboro boys in a compelling and timely novel that powerfully interweaves violent racism in the South with anti-Semitism, sexism and a contempt for poor whites. She artfully articulates the uneasy relationship between two women, creating in Ruby a memorable character that stands in line with the best of Alice Walker’s women.

Aura Lounasmaa recommends Reading Lolita in Tehran: A memoir in books by Azar Nafisi

An inspired blend of memoir and literary criticism, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a moving testament to the power of art and its ability to change and improve people’s lives. In 1995, after resigning from her job as a professor at a university in Tehran due to its repressive policies, Azar Nafisi invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly study of great Western literature in her home. Since the books they read were officially banned by the government, the women were forced to meet in secret, often sharing photocopied pages of the illegal novels.

Marja Almqvist recommends Baby Zero by Emer Martin

In an unheard of country, each successive Taliban-like regime, turns the year back to zero, as if to begin history again. An Irish born woman, Marguerite, imprisoned for fighting the fundamentalist government, is pregnant. To retain her sanity she tells her unborn child the story of three baby zeros- all girls from a family  that has been scattered across the globe, some to Los Angeles and some to Ireland, all born at times of upheaval. Despite its unflinching portrayal of extreme oppression, Baby Zero constantly bubbles with humorous incident and characters, presenting a compelling and entertaining satire on both east and west.

Amiee Curran recommends: The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In this collection of 12 short-stories Adichie addresses the institution of marriage – arranged marriage, infidelity; same sex desire, sibling rivalry and the consequences of subordinating female children; she then intersects these with immigration and migration and interracial relationships. Each story is complete yet you feel it could also form the basis for a longer novel. The female voice is very strong in each narrative, and her use of language is beautiful and succinct.

* The artwork attached to this post is available for purchase on Etsy.