Rotten Reading List
Here at Rotten Little Girls, we are big fans of reading. Books have played a major role in our childhood and formative years. Similarly, we find ourselves reading more than we ever expected in college — and yet we still somehow find time for outside reading. We’ve decided to start writing book reviews, in order to share what novels we find stimulating, challenging, and meaningful. In return we hope to hear about books you would like to recommend.
This Land is Their Land by Barbara Ehrenreich
One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead
Smashed by Koren Zailckas
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost by Joan Morgan
Do It Anyway by Courtney E. Martin
Please Don’t Bomb the Suburbs by Billy Wimsatt
Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters by Courtney E. Martin
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Bitch by Elizabeth Wurtzel
The Dart-League King by Keith Morris
Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Native Son by Richard Wright
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Towards a Feminist Theory of the State by Catherine A. MacKinnon
Twin Studies by Stacey Richter
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson
The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Anathem by Neil Stephenson
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore
The Lolita Effect by Gigi Durham
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs
Shopgirl by Steve Martin
Reefer Madess by Eric Schlosser
Not a Genuine Black Man by Brian Copeland
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
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Photo Credits (c) 2007 Paolo Roversi. We adore his photographs and hope he doesn’t mind us using them!
hey! i’m a new fan of rotten little girls, and i LOVE that you are adding this reading section!
Some of my suggested reads are:
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy – this book seriously challenged me to ask “what is my purpose in this world?” it is a narrative novel set in new orleans, but a truly beautiful story
ShopGirl by Steve Martin – at first I thought this was a little weird, because Steve Martin is that goof who is so into himself, but honestly this book is beautiful. It has recently been made into a movie with jason schwartzman, claire danes and steve martin. a truly lovely realistic story.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins – although I found this to be an intellectual and reassuring read, if you are a religious person my advice would be to avoid this book. it is about denouncing the existence of a god.
Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs – this is a hilarious collection of personal memoir essays. It’ll keep you laughing!!
<33 mermaid
Thanks, Mermaid! I’m pretty excited about this reading section too. First of all, I read Shopgirl recently…it truly is beautiful. The rest I haven’t read but am adding to my reading list as we speak.
Later today I’m going to fill out this page more, add more suggested reading books and probably a compilation of reader’s suggestions.
P.S. Thanks for the link on your blog :)
<333!! of course!
[...] to this picture on The Rotten Little Girls, I just discovered Paolo Roversi. He’s a fashion fotographer, who works mostly with [...]
OMG! What a fab idea guys! I totally second The Handmaid’s Tale and Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, and I’d like to recommend another few: Charlotte Perkins Gilmore’s “Herland,” Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple,” and Gigi Durham’s “The Lolita Effect.”
Hi,
I’m new here but I’m currently reading Neil Stephenson’s new book “Anathem”. It’s thoughtful and exciting. Highly recommended.
Hi Klipper! Welcome to RLG. I’ll add your book to the list (and P.S. I googled it…it seems really cool!)
@dollyann Thanks for the suggestions :-) I’m glad you like this project
[...] Rotten Reading List [...]
[...] Rotten Reading List [...]
I’d like to suggest ‘Rubyfruit Jungle’ by Rita Mae Brown. It’s been one of my favorites ever since I can remember. It’s about a girl who grows up in rural Ameria in a poor white trash environment. She’s a lesbian, smart beyond belief, and the book is about her struggles in a male dominated society with fixed ideas on what girls and women are and are supposed to do and be, her growing up, going through college and graduating as a film maker.
Another one of my eternal loves are ‘The Female Man’ by Joanna Russ. I simply love this book beyond belief. It’s a witty, sharp, sarcastic, to-the-point exploration and depicting of the degrading of women (and much more) set in a kind of a sci-fi framework and written kind of like an anti-novel (I’m not sure if that’s the correct word in English).
And last but not least: I don’t know if it’s actually been published in English (it’s Norwegian or Swedish originally), but it’s a great experiment: Daughters of Egalia (original title: Egalias Døtre) by Gert Brandenburg. It’s a story where all the gender roles and the gendered language of today is turned the opposite way around. When you’ve been numbed by a lifetime of confrontation with women being oppressed, used, raped and so forth and your’e so used to it that it’s become kind of like a small annoying rash (your emotional reaction, I mean), this brings you in touch with the real awfullness of what is going on. By reversing it the appaling nature of what girls and women are told, what they experience and so forth is blown right into your face – if you reverse the story back your self.
I’m Danish and my English is a bit rusty, so you must excuse me if my writing isn’t very clear.
And if you’re into biographies I can recommend Elanor Flexners’ on Mary Wollstonecraft (titled ‘Mary Wollstonecraft, Penguin Books, 1972). It’s really well-written, very detailed, offers interesting insight to this pioneer and it feels almost like reading a novel.
I’m on a roll: Try Jean Rhys, ‘Voyage in the Dark’. Kinda depressing but a good read. It’s set in late 1800/early 1900 England (London) and depicts a young woman who is left to take care of herself, without money, connections, skills or friends. She eventually becomes some kind of prostitute but this part is blurred – what the reader is invited to follow are her own sentiments and reflections on her situation and the choices she is forced to make, – which are all in conflict with what she’s always been taught that young women of the better society are ought to do, feel and so forth.
“Reefer Madess”, Eric Schlosser…If you’re trying to read some depressing, but true shit about our corrupt world; includes controversy over mari j., and farm labor in CA.. its one of my most favorite books of all time!
“Not a Genuine Black Man”, Brian Copeland.. Awesome sf bay area author and radio show host on KGO… This book made me cry, its about racism today and during the 70′s in the bay area and his experiences being young and black to the realities he faces today. I read it in 2 days it was sooooo good.
“The Breif Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao”, Junot Diaz… An enthralling story that I couldn’t put down, about boy that lives in New Jersey and the Dominican Republic, its about cultural myths, love, and ordinary struggles we all go through, very entertaining!
Does anyone know of any feminist sci fi books??
Liz — Awesome recommendations — I’ll add them to the list!
As for feminist sci fi authors — try Ursula Le Guin. Anyone know of any others?