badass women in literature (part 2)

Read part 1 here 

More inspiring ladies from literature...

WOW 2015

Hope everyone had a fabulous International Women's Day yesterday!

picture source

I sure did. I went to the WOW festival this weekend and had a brilliant time. 3 days of talks, debates and performances celebrating women and discussing the challenges we face, just had my little feminist heart singing with glee. 

Bernadette Barton, Stripped

I always thing I need to read more non-fiction. I listened to a fair number of pod-casts, and watch a lot of documentaries so feel I expose myself to a decent range of opinions, facts and debates, but I really need to step up my game when it comes to reading about topics that interest me. 

 With this mind, I've just finished Stripped an investigative look at the lives of exotic dancers. 

Rating: 2.5/5

the problem with fantasy

I've been reading a fair bit of fantasy recently, and though the issues of racism and sexism are not exclusive to the genre, I've noticed a repeated pattern that these sagas are predictably full of white, straight men swinging swords. Women, and People of Colour are rarer than dragons.

Brienne, Maid of Tarth. George R.R Martin, Song of Ice and Fire 
Artwork by Rory Phillips
source

*warning small spoilers for Song of Ice and Fire/ Game of Thrones 
see after the cut for my opinion on the problem with fantasy

Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

Yay more feminist literature! I  was shocked to see that so far this year my reading list has been many male, to rectify this, this month (with the exception of two books) every novel I've read has been written by a woman.

I first read The Robber Bride years ago, so though I could remember the gist, the ending was a nice surprise. I don't think I can say it enough, I adore Margaret Atwood, without fail her novels are full of wit and insight.

The Plot: As three woman share a companionable lunch, an old enemy comes back from the dead. Zenia, beautiful, capricious and utterly merciless was thought to have been killed in a bombing, she is however very much alive. Having once already destroyed the lives of Tony, Charis and Roz, Zenia proves she's lost none of her venom and capacity to harm.

Rating: ««««« (5/5)

I detest the masculine point of view

"I detest the masculine point of view. I am bored by his heroism, virtue and honour. I think the best these men can do is not talk about themselves any more"

Virginia Woolf

Kate Manning, My Notorious Life by Madame X

I picked up My Notorious Life by Madame X in a huge library haul the other week, and I'm so glad I did. It's been a while since I've been really enthusiastic about a novel, last month's reads were all a bit meh, but this novel was gripping. I stayed up late and got up early to read it, plus my mum kept stealing it for herself.

The Plot: Axie Muldoon is the feisty daughter of Irish immigrates, growing up in poverty in nineteenth century New York. Rescued by a philanthropist, Axie and her siblings are sent West to be adopted by childless couples, but when the family is split up Axie returns home without her brother and sister. Back in New York Axie is taken in as an apprentice by a doctor, who teaches her the trade that will one day make her notorious.

Rating: ««««« (5/5)

If you enjoy historical fiction or would like to know about the history of abortions and contraception in America I highly recommend you pick up My Notorious Life of Madame X. Though a work of fiction, it is partly based on the life of Ann Trow Lohman, also known as Madame Restell, who practised midwifery for forty years. 

If you're looking for the next novel for your book club, this is it. Madame X is a book that you can't wait to talk about and it is guaranteed to provoke a reaction. 

For my full review see under the jump *warning may contain spoilers*

bitch

"Usually when a man calls a women a bitch [...] it's because she's doing something right." 

- Patrick Ness, Monsters of Men

Patrick Ness, Chaos Walking Trilogy

After finally convincing my mum to read The Hunger Games (which she loved by the way) I fancied reading some YA fiction of my own. I spotted the first of Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking Trilogy for a mere pound on Amazon kindle, which I quickly devoured, before scooting off the the local library to pick up the other two.   

The Plot: A month away before becoming 13 and officially a man, Todd is the youngest resident of Prentisstown - a town in which all the women are dead, and the men are plagued by Noise, a telepathic disease which means no thoughts are private. When Todd stumbles upon a silence in the Noise, his discovery has far-reaching consequence which threaten the survival of the entire planet.

Rather than reviewing the books separately, I'm going to lump them all together, so I'm going to put spoilers under the cut. However, in brief, if your perhaps looking for a book for adolescents/teenagers Chaos Walking is not a bad idea. In my opinion, it lacks the brilliance of  His Dark Materials or The Hunger Games, and isn't as a successful as them for YA/adult crossover, it's not without merit though. The initial premiss, pioneers to a new world and the complication of Noise, is clever and imaginative. My main gripe is with the main protagonist Todd, but like I said spoilers under the cut:-
 

She wants the D(estruction of the patriarchy). Gifts for feminists

Ok, slightly specialised, but still here is a list of gift ideas for the feminist reader in your life.

1. If you're after a fiction book good authors to try (my favourites in brackets);

•  Margret Atwood (The Handmaids Tale, actually any of her books are winners, my review of Madaddam)
•  Angela Carter (The Passion of New Eve)
• Toni Morrison ( Jazz)
• Octavia E. Butler
• Sarah Waters (Fingersmith)
• Suzanne Collins (for your adolescent feminist, Hunger Games)     

This list is in no way comprehensive, and also there is plenty of non-fiction book on feminist thought out there. People worth checking out include, Judith Butler, Pat Califia and Patricia Hill Collins.

2. A Book from Persephone Book store (here) a specialised bookshop dedicated to neglected (mostly women) mid-twentieth century fiction and non-fiction. Organised by categories such a 'Suffragettes', 'A Woman's Place' and 'Gender and race'. The covers are also beautiful and simply designed.

If you don't want to get your favourite feminist a book, here are some other suggestions:

3.  Feminist Brooch (£9.00 from here). Also comes in a snazzy necklace.

4. Feminist Killjoy Banner (£8.63 from here)

5. Margaret Atwood Print (£9.58 from here)

6. 'she is too fond of books and it has turned her brain' Notebook (£7.95 from here)

7. Uterus Plush ($20.00 from here)

8. Feminist Embroidery Hoop (£14.93 from here)

9. 'well behaved women rarely make history' tote bag (£9.59 from here). A nice Christmas idea would be to buy a bag like this, and then pop a feminist novel inside.

10. NUWSS replica badge (£13.50 from here)

11. A Room of Ones Own print (£19.95+ from here)

Sylvia Pankhurst at the Tate Britain

The Tate Britain- it's undergoing a bit of a facelift at the moment. 

I am a proudly proclaimed feminist, but I wasn't aware that as well as being a major campaigner for women's rights, Sylvia Pankhurst was also an artist. Running until March 2014, the Tate Britain has a free exhibition on Sylvia Pankhurst's work.

Pankhurst's art mainly focused on the lives of working-class women, and was a usefully propaganda tool in arguing that women's working conditions and pay should be improved.

Sylvia Pankhurst- domestic servants 

 Pankhurst also designed badges, banners and flyers for the WSPU, often incorporating the 'angel of freedom'. Also on display is the various badges that would be awarded to suffragettes, for membership or for stays in the notorious Holloway prison.

suffragette tea set,  with the 'angel of freedom' in the WSPU colours of green and purple  

If you do pop in to have a look around the gallery and the exhibition, I also recommend you have a walk down by the river when your done, London really is the best place just to stroll around.

Vauxhall bridge and MI6 headquarters 

Margaret Atwood- MaddAddam

As I mentioned here I'm a big Atwood fan. Her dry wit, clever word play and vivid imagination all appeal to me. Plus she's a feminist hero and an environmental activist.

MaddAddam is the third in Atwood's apocalyptic trilogy is is preceded by Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. A man-made plague has wiped out most of humanity, but a small groups of survivors remain; the genetically manufactured Crackers, members of an eco-cult God's Gardeners, and vicious criminals known as Painballers. Genetically spliced animals roam the remnants of human civilisation, including Pigoons, pigs with implanted human stem cells.

In  Oryx and Crake, the story is told from the point of view of privileged compounds, which is controlled by the powerful and sinister CorpSeCorps (Corporation Security Corps). Set in the pleblands, a lawless area outside the jurisdiction of the CorpSeCorps, The Year of The Flood, introduces the God's Gardeners, a political religious cult with a growing following.  MaddAddam, ties the two previous novels together, expanding on why the plague, known as the 'waterless flood' occurred and the consequences of armageddon.      

If you like dystopian/ apocalyptic fiction such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road or films such as Children of Men, give this series a try.

I really recommend this trilogy, and I don't want to give a way any spoilers, so my opinions about MaddAddam are under the cut.

beauty is woman's sceptre

"Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round it's gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison"

-Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication for the Rights of Women  

distinguished women

"If we revert to history, we shall find that women who have distinguished themselves have neither been the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex"

- Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication for the Rights of Women