For me, I'm a man. I am part of the problem, and I always have been. I think Rachel Klein states it succinctly and accurately here:
I'm a professor and administrator at a university. I do my best to conduct myself as a decent human being, but there's more at stake than that. I benefit from the patriarchy whether I'm a decent human being or not. And that benefit comes at the expense of women. It's not enough for a man to be a decent man, a good man. He has to find his own ways to resist and undermine the patriarchy. I do mean ways in the plural form. For the purposes of this blog, I'm a reader. I love literature and the act of reading to educate and enrich myself. I want to better understand the world, the people in it, and myself. Reading connects me to things I often wouldn't be connected to otherwise in my life and thus it makes my life better for it. In return, I give back to the world in all the ways I can. I teach. I mentor. I tutor. I donate to charities. I vote. I call my senators and representative. I sign petitions. I promote friends and colleagues on social media. I speak out against injustice and oppression and cruelty. I try to be a good person to everyone in my life and to the people I share the world with whom I never meet or see. This is not enough.
I've set a goal for myself next year. In 2018 I plan to read 100 books, but not just any 100. I plan to read 100 books written by women. I think about all the books I've read in my life, and while many have been written by women, and some of the best I've read are written by women, the imbalance of which I've read more by is shamefully tipped onto the male side. I read the Western Canon in college, and sadly even in the 1990s and 2000s it was still heavy on the dudes. It doesn't help that most of recorded history was recorded by the patriarchy. And truth be told, I favored many male authors over the years. Joyce, Nabokov, Vonnegut, Wallace. It's pretty bad. Sure, I've read many books by authors such as Woolf, Morrison, and Atwood. Things have gotten a little better, after all. But it's not enough. This goal isn't a sacrifice by any stretch of the imagination. There are thousands of women writing (present tense) brilliant, important, needed books. And thousands more writing good books, fun books, and entertaining books. And there are the tens of thousands of books already written by women offering more of the same brilliance, importance, and necessity; the same fun and enjoyment. More than I can ever read in a lifetime. So it's time to get started.
Below's an incomplete list (from memory) of all the unread books I own written by women. Many of the books I will read next year will come from this list, but I'll be visiting the library, too. I'm willing to bet there are more books written by women being published now than ever before. I'm also willing to bet the number doesn't match the number of books written by men being published now. So it's time to get started. Time for one more reading blog to bring attention and support to women authors and the work they are producing for all of us. I'd love it if you'd read along with me and share your experiences on this blog as we go.
Portrait of an Eye by Kathy Acker
Literal Madness by Kathy Acker
My Mother: Demonology by Kathy Acker
Pitch Dark by Renata Adler
In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett
Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett
Park City: New and Selected Stories by Anne Beattie
Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
The Great Man by Kate Christensen
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
The End of the Story by Lydia Davis
Run, River by Joan Didion
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Democracy by Joan Didion
The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Marguerite Duras
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Stories (So Far) of Deborah Eisenberg
All Around Atlantis by Deborah Eisenberg
Twilight of the Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg
Tracks by Louise Erdrich
The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fischer
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald
Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
Ayiti by Roxane Gay
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
Hunger by Roxane Gay
Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories by Ellen Gilchrist
Three Junes by Julia Glass
AM/PM by Amelia Gray
Threats by Amelia Gray
Gutshot by Amelia Gray
The House on Coliseum Street by Shirley Ann Grau
The Ghostly Lover by Elizabeth Hardwick
Seduction and Betrayal by Elizabeth Hardwick
Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
Stray by Sheri Joseph
Where You Can Find Me by Sheri Joseph
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken
If You Could Be There Now by Jen Michalski
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Anagrams by Lorrie Moore
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore
A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
Friend of My Youth by Alice Munro
Selected Stories by Alice Munro
Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
The Caprices by Sabina Murray
Tampa by Alissa Nutting
Made for Love by Alissa Nutting
them by Joyce Carol Oates
Because It Is Bitter, Because It Is My Heart by Joyce Carol Oates
Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
Take Her Man by Grace Octavia
His First Wife by Grace Octavia
Something She Can Feel by Grace Octavia
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer
The Collected Stories of Grace Paley
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
Blue Angel by Francine Prose
Postcards by Annie Proulx
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Lucky Bones by Alice Sebold
Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber
The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
On America by Susan Sontag
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta
Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French
A Little Friend by Donna Tartt
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins
Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty
Losing Battles by Eudora Welty
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
