I
have kind of completed a reading list. It was a long one, that kept growing so
it ended up requiring a spreadsheet. That led to me using the spreadsheet to
start grouping other things that I want to read, so that I now have ten other
reading lists waiting.
(They
range from 2 - 14 books, except for the one that will be over 100, but they
will probably all have their own blog posts in due time.)
This
one was only 31, kind of, but it is so nebulous and there was so much mission creep,
that I think today I just need to list the books with a little information, and
then tomorrow I will try and explain how it all goes together. I'll link to two
posts at the bottom that should kind of help.
1.
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath - This covers depression, mental illness, and
suicidal thoughts. Very good.
2.
Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip,
Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence, Rosalind Wiseman - This is
for the adolescent social order, especially for girls. It was okay, but I ended
up finding Odd Girl Out more helpful.
3.
Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher - This was for suicide again. I thought
it was really helpful.
4.
You Are Not a Gadget, Jaron Lanier - This was for how the internet and
the way we interact with it affects us. It was interesting, but not really what
I had been looking for. It's a little dull.
5.
The Plague, Albert Camus - A friend had mentioned this book a long time
ago, about how there were healers and carriers and the ill. That actually just
comes up at the very end, but it was still a pretty good book.
6.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein - This one was great. It's
about how marketing targets young girls and affects them, which is a big
subject, but it moves at a good pace and doesn't get you bogged down.
7.
In Search of Fatherhood: A Mother Lode of Wisdom From the World of
Daughterhood, Kevin Renner - This was the most disappointing, because I
thought my biggest issue might be in here somewhere, and have a solution. The
author said he could listen to any woman talk about her relationship with her
father and predict her current relationship. That may be true, but you can't
tell it from the book.
8.
Behind the Mask: Adolescents in Hiding, Dennis Rozema - This was okay. I
think it would work best for a teenager to read and go through the questions
like a workbook. A parent might find it helpful, but they might find it to be
really familiar group.
9.
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,
Ntozake Shange - This is not that much about suicide, but it is different sides
of the female experience women of color. It is probably more useful to see it
performed, but that's not always an option.
10.
Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism, Suzanne Pharr - Very enlightening. This
was for sexism, but it works for knowing more about the prejudice and the
obstacles that can be out there.
11.
The Colossus and Other Poems, Sylvia Plath - Basically after reading The
Bell Jar I wanted to read everything by Sylvia Plath ever, and I do still
want to read more, but it did not necessarily fit in with the rest of the list
after reading it.
12.
Slut! Growing Up Female With a Bad Reputation, Leora Tanenbaum - Pretty
good. One of the most important things, though it did come up in other books,
was seeing how the word is used for reasons that have nothing to do with
promiscuity.
13.
Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson - This was for eating disorders, and
because some people I care about referenced it a few times. It's pretty good.
14.
Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, Melissa Mohr - Excellent book. I
wanted to read it to understand better how language is used in that way, and
why, based on some things I had seen and heard.
15.
Odd Girl Out, Revised and Updated: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls,
Rachel Simmons - This is the social order of girls again, but I thought it was
much better in terms of both the writing style and the practicality of the
information given.
16.
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry, Jon Ronson
- This was a really interesting book. In terms of the mental issues that are
described, I am not sure that they relate that much to the project, but as
there are factors that can increase narcissism and decrease empathy with the
internet and gadget use that is quite common today, it seemed relevant.
17.
Columbine, Dave Cullen - This was for a different side of teen feelings.
Well-written, and it is also important because what people remember and think
they know about Columbine is wrong.
18.
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground,
1981-1991, Michael Azerrad - Based on the title I thought it might have
more about how devoted fans, especially young fans can get, but it was really
more about the bands. Still, it helped me understand Nothing Feels Good
(which does not appear on this list) better. It was on the music list too.
19.
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Female Beauty Are Used Against Women,
Naomi Wolf - Well, attitudes about female beauty have been a key factor in this
whole thing, and this book is excellent.
20.
The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan - This makes so much sense. I read
it and The Beauty Myth concurrently, and they work really well together.
I know that as old as this is, it should be less relevant, but it is not.
21.
Her Mother's Daughter: A Memoir of the Mother I Never Knew and of My
Daughter, Courtney Love, Linda Carroll - As I was getting to the next one,
it was Mental Health Awareness month, and I thought together they could really
help. One thing this book really reinforced, along with another book I was
reviewing around the same time, is how not having a sense of self leads to
passivity, especially sexual, which is not healthy.
22.
The Day the Voices Stopped, Ken Steele - I needed to be able to tell
people that it is possible for the voices to stop, and that would have been
enough, but this is also a great window into what it is like to have
schizophrenia.
23.
Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas, Jane Mayer and Jill
Abramson - This was for sexual
harassment, and there was good information, though it is probably more
interesting for the political aspects.
24.
The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age,
Astra Taylor - I read this hoping that it would fill in some of what You Are
Not A Gadget missed, but it was really slow going, and a lot of it felt
unnecessary.
25.
Fat is a Feminist Issue 2, Susie Orbach - I hadn't realized that I
ordered the second one until it came. This mainly meant that there was more of
a focus on support groups and exercises, and that was pretty helpful.
26.
Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes,
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown - This covered similar themes to Cinderella
Ate My Daughter, but in much greater detail. They may have overdone it, but
at the same time it covered a lot of things I had never heard of.
27.
Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children,
Michael G. Thompson with Lawrence J Cohen and Catherine O'Neill Grace - This considers
friendship from the point of cognitive development, and was really interesting.
28.
The Vertigo Years: Europe 1900-1914, Philipp Blom - It
feels like we are in a similar type of world to the one in the time period
covered, and maybe on the verge of disaster. I wanted to explore that. The book
had a lot of interesting information, but I didn't really feel like it cohered
well.
29.
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert D.
Putnam - This was more for seeing how society is going in terms of relating to
each other, and there was some good information but it was terribly dull in the
execution. It was overly academic, but there is lots of data if that's your
thing.
30.
Amsterdam: A History of the
World's Most Liberal City, Russell Shorto - A lot
of the people that I was thinking about are Dutch, and they say their society
is really superficial, and as an American seeing other people call their
country more superficial is kind of weird. It was a really good book, though I
am still not sure about the superficiality thing.
31.
Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher - I had read this before, but I promised
to do a refresher before I had teenage daughters. It's really good.
Anyway,
that's what I had been working on. Tomorrow I will try and make it all make
sense.
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