Home Sweet Own Book 14

For Feminist I reread Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan. It was her first book and I really enjoyed it the first time and read it and this time. It follows four women who become close friends while at Smith College and how they deal with real life and their own brands of feminism.

Most ‘women’s fiction’ is just a slightly smarter version of chick lit like The Devil Wears Prada. Sullivan’s characters gave life and depth to many things that are part of the feminist dialogue: date rape, the privilege of white feminism, prostitution and sex trade in the U.S., and transgender causes. The characters also deal with the same issues as most twenty-something women: dating, marriage, pregnancy, death, and the weight of choice.

The feminism never felt preachy to me. One of the characters is a bit extreme and devoted to the cause but that’s integral to her. Some of the other characters think about feminism as it pertains to their own life. One barely thinks on it at all. Each was a well developed and interesting character.

They agonized over some of their choices and made mistakes and over analyzed things like most of my friends. These weren’t women who were concerned with shoes, fashion, and finding prince charming. They have depth and think about feminism, literature, friendship, and marriage as something other than an end game. I wish more writers had characters like these.

1) Fiction 

2) Nonfiction – The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

3) Sci-Fi – Redshirts by John Scalzi

4) Fantasy 

5) Mystery 

6) Horror 

7) Memoir/Biography – Data, A Love Story by Amy Webb

8) Chick Lit – Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter

9) Feminist – Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

10) Teen – What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

11) Holiday 

12) Essays – What Was I Thinking? ed. by Barbara Davilman & Liz Dubelman

13) Short Stories 

14) Library 

15) Animal 

16) Book about Books – Judging a Book By Its Lover by Lauren Leto

17) New – Pitch Perfect by Mickey Rapkin

18) Old – Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P. N. Elrod

19) Pop Science 

20) Near 

21) Far 

22) Graphic Novel – Love and Capes: Do You Want to Know a Secret? by Thomas F. Zahler

23) Reread – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

24) Wild Card 

25) Otherworldly Creature 

26) Free – Point Your Face at This by Demetri Martin

27) Noteworthy 

28) Bestseller 

29) Themed Anthology 

30) Steampunk 

31) Movie-Book 

32) Media  

33) Travel 

34) Food 

35) Classic 

36) Humor 

37) Poetry 

38) Past – Stasiland by Anna Funder

39) Future 

40) Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic 

41) Zombie 

42) Sports

Music: Analog or Digital by Wildlife Control