Ten Books by Women that Stayed

Several months ago, there was a literature meme making the rounds on the internet. Folks were asked to list 10 books off the bat that impacted their life. It was supposed to be quick and dirty. This wasn’t about showing off. It was just putting books down that stick with you.

I was reading a fantastic post on Melissa Potter’s Gender Assignment blog about the meme. She found that the majority of books mentioned were by men. So she decided to list 10 books all by women in response. Other writers did the same. So I decided that I had to contribute my list of 10 books. It was hard at first but then it became really easy when I thought about books that shaped me as a person. So here’s my list in no particular order:

1.     The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood

2.     Relish, Lucy Knisley

3.     God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

4.     A River Sutra, Gita Mehta

5.     House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

6.     The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein

7.     Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

8.     Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

9.     Where’d You Go, Bernadette? Marla Semple

10.  Persepolis, Marhane Satrapi

11.  Bonus: “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” – This was one of the hardest articles to read but I seem to keep returning to it.

Check out her post here: http://genderassignment.tumblr.com/post/97607356625/a-feminist-response-to-list-ten-books-that-stayed

And speaking of Sandra Cisneros, there is an exhibition inspired by her work at the National Museum of Mexican Art. I have yet to go but I will soon. Check it out here: http://www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/exhibits/house-mango-street-artists-interpret-community