Girl Power List: Celebrating Women's History Month

For me, it's about girl power 365 a year and during March my fanaticism- eh, my passion is deemed appropriate. I wanted to put this up earlier but life with a female teen is uh, well, let's say, requires spending less time here.

With the exception of the adult sisters in the first title, the others have girl leads. Some show how girls from different cultures find a way to affect their own destinies within the culture they live in and the beliefs they hold while other main characters are openly rebels. Many of these books I have talked about previously and likely will be talking about again. Each title is followed by a brief annotation with the main genre identified. I've link to reviews when I readily knew who and where.

In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Three sisters rebel against a corrupt and oppressive regime. The fictional account of the real Mirable sisters is told in alternating voices of the sisters. The sisters were brave, flawed and committed to what they believed in. I recommend this book every chance I get. It made that kind of impression on me. Historical fiction.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. A young woman leads a small group out of a dystopian community to build a new one based on a new religion she reluctantly accepts as her destiny. Lauren is fifteen. To lead any group is a daunting task for any leader. Imagine being fifteen, the world is pretty close to hell on Earth and then you get visions that you are to start a new way of life in the middle of chaos. Butler is brilliant in how she challenges the reader with her critiques of our society. Science Fiction

Down To The Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole. A young woman grapples with her sexual orientation and identity.Laura is funny, honest and authentic. Her denial and missteps are frustrating but they also make her believable. Soli is kickass. And the food references- I was always hungry, wishing I was at their table. YA. GLBT. My review.

M+O 4EVR by Tonya Hegamin. Opal and Miriam have been friends forever. Marianne spins out of control while Opal attaches her dreams and hopes on a future life with Marianne. Interwoven is the story of Hannah, a runaway slave who chooses to risk her life for freedom, unexpectedly falls in love and ultimately loses her life on her own terms. YA. GLBT


A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott. Genna is fifteen. Life at home is rough. She's not happy with her looks or place in any group. Then she meet Judah and things are looking up. Life isn't suddenly perfect and that's why she makes a wish. She couldn't have thought a wish could transport to 1863 Brooklyn. Historical/sci-fi. YA. Read Neesha's review at Cynical, Ornery and Sublime.

Does My Head Look Big In this? by Randa Abdel-Fattah. Amal is Muslim. Home is Australia. When she decides to wear the hijab she has to contend with a variety of reactions. Amal is a teen and like most teen girls, she's concerned about her looks, how she is perceived and boys. Now balance all that and religion. YA. Multicultural. Read Allison's review at Read Into This.

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman. 15-year-old Vidya has plans: college and a career. Her progressive father supports her. Her family is very different from her father's conservative, tradition family in Madras. When tragedy strikes, Vidya's family has to move to Madras. It's 1941, the war is on everyone's mind and Vidya is determined to still realize her dreams even in a house where girls aren't allowed upstairs. YA. Multicultural. Read Natasha's review at Maw's books.

Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qamar. Nazia is pulled from school to help her mother find work when her father doesn't return to work after an accident. Cleaning houses compromises Nazia's marriage prospects. The setting is modern Pakistan. Ultimately, Nazia chooses a life for herself on her own terms. Highly recommend reading this and Wanting Mor. Both are modern stories with young girls who do not romanticize the West or its culture. Read review at Regular Rumination.


Mare's War by Tanita Smith. Octavia and Tali take a road trip with their colorful grandmother, Mare. Just before turning 18, Mare joined the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Told in alternating points of view from Mare, Talia and Octavia. YA. Read Ari's review at Color Online.

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith. Ida Mae has to make tough decisions like choosing to pass for white in order serve in Women Airforce Service Pilots. See Akilah's review at the Englishist.

Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan. A young woman in the wake of the conflict in Afghanistan has to grow quickly when her mother dies unexpectedly and her irresponsible father moves her to Khabul so he can find his opportunity to improve his lifestyle. He marries a widow and Jameela's life becomes even bleeker. Jameela, a conservative, religious girl learns to be less judgmental while remaining true to the religion and beliefs she shared with her mother. YA. Multicultural. Read Edi's review at Crazy Quilts.

What's on your girl power list?

2010 Challenge Update

I realize given the economy I should not complain about my job but it is seriously putting a cramp in my blogging life. The upside is that I ride the bus to work so I am reading. Here's a rundown of what I've read for my challenges. With an any luck, I'll spend the remainder of the weekend writing reviews and other blog posts in advance.



YA challenge
Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qama
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Say The Word by Jeanine Garsee
Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan

GLBT
Say The Word by Jeanine Garsee

South Asian
Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qama (Pakistan)
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman

Women Unbound
Grafitti Women: Street Art from Five Continents by Nicholas Ganz Nancy MacDonald, Swoon
Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qama (Pakistan)
Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman (India)
Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan (Afghanistan)

Reading The World Challenge
Faith by Maya Amjera
14 Cows Carmen Agra Deedy, Thomas Gonzalez, Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah

Social Justice
Faith by Maya Amjera

That's 8 books. Loved them all! Thanks to Edi at Crazy Quilts for turning me on to 14 Cows and Faith. Both books are beautifully illustrated. They inspire and remind us that we our faith and hope in our children is well placed.

Thanks to Akilah for When You Reach Me. I haven't read A Wrinkle in Time but Stead's book took me to a place I wanted to linger. I suppose time travel is technically sci-fi, but the book felt like magic and the writing caught me up;I refused to let go.

I was so frustrated with Shawna in Say The Word and every time I thought about why, I knew Jeanine had created realistic characters. A good read about how mixed up, complex and flawed we are and how we can draw on the good in us to do the right thing.

While reading Beneath My Mother's Feet, Wanting Mor (see interview with author, Rukhsana Khan at Paper Tigers.) and Climbing the Stairs, I couldn't stop asking myself how do we impart to our girls in this instance, a love for education, to get them to understand that an education not a man or fame is the means to opportunity, personal choice and freedom? The main characters, all young girls in each book, were desperate to complete their education and they knew their chances at a life beyond servitude, abuse and dependence were inscrutably tied to being educated. For so many women outside of our country, education means an independent life.


Graffiti Women is kickass. The writers are diverse. Their stories and perspectives vary but all the writers exude self-confidence, they are clearly are committed to their art and there is undeniable power in their messages. Each writer had a voice and she uses it not only to express herself but to encourage others to find their voices and speak up.

Women Unbound: Stealing Budhha's Dinner

Stealing Budhha's Dinner:a memoir
Bich Minh Nyguen
Viking
2009

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner is a good and uneven story of a Vietnamese girl who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the early 80s. Bich’s family escapes Saigon in 1975 and are sponsored by a Christian Reformed Church family in what Bich describes as a sea of blonde and blue-eyed people. The memoir chronicles how the narrator struggles to define who she is: a Vietnamese girl who left her native home so young that she only identifies with her culture through her grandmother and her grandmother’s food and faith. Bich desperately wants to be American and for her assimilation is fed by her obsession with American junk food.

I’ve read a few memoirs that use food as a way of showing how we relate to family and how our identities are in part shaped by how food is integral to our culture; a promising vehicle and I was excited to read this. What is most problematic with the memoir however is how tightly Bich binds everything in either lists of food, episodes of eating food or thinking about food. Still in a society that is currently suffering in mass from obesity and our own neurosis with food disorders, Bich’s obsession works for me. While our relationships with food vary, for most of us, food is comfort.

I was expecting what I thought was a typical immigrant story but early on it became clear this would be different. Bich was eight-months-old when her family fled Vietnam. When they moved to Grand Rapids, Bich's family was part of a small, but growing minority surrounded by a largely homogeneous Dutch-descent, CRC community. Because they were sponsored, there was work and the extended family was intact. Every immigrant experience isn't punctuated by strife though assimilation is common factor. Bich’s story is about creating an identity not holding on to one. The memoir isn’t linear and the jumping around can be a bit confusing but overall, the obsession with food and the desire to be accepted unifies the work. Bich’s reluctance to relay her feelings without food to help her is at times tedious yet just when I had had enough of the food, she’d share something personal and intimate like the time she spends with her grandmother while she prays or watching television with her.

In one review, the reader felt the Laura Ingalls Wilder passage was disjointed and unnecessary. I couldn’t disagree more. This passage provides the kind of clarity that was missing for most of the book. Sans the food descriptions, in this section the author describes with incredible clarity the internal conflict of alienation yet an undeniable desire to fit in with people who reject her, will always see her as a foreigner and who frankly are prejudice and unkind; they aren’t perfect. They are not ideal. The Ingall section was an acknowledgment I had been waiting for. I had grown impatient with the child Bich who up to then failed to acknowledge how she willingly glossed over the pain of alienation and prejudice and instead fixated on the fantasy she believed was key to her happiness. And while she didn’t overtly discuss it, her descriptions of the Cleaver homes in the 80s was a juxtaposition I couldn’t stop thinking about. Here’s a child growing up with a progressive though enabler stepmother, idolizing pop icons like Madonna and what this child craves most is a dated model of a mother in a starched apron baking cookies.

Some readers have remarked they wanted to know more about her parents' strained relationship and the author’s relationships with her siblings and uncles, but for me, I get the not sharing too much about her family. This is Bich’s story. Her family didn’t sign up for having their lives opened for examination and speculation. Could Bich have done better to show how she related to them, maybe, but I appreciate her respecting their privacy.

There are moments here that are memorable and well written. Yes, the book is uneven, it’s not a smooth ride but neither is real life. This is non-fiction not a screenplay. It’s one woman attempting to wrangle into words a girl’s tumultuous coming of age and her struggle to reconcile a hunger she couldn’t satiate while growing up. Despite its shortcomings this feels real to me. It feels honest and that is satisfying.

How do you feel about memoirs? Have you read this? If so, what did you think? After reading my take on the work, are you interested or you'll pass?

As I mentioned I have read other memoirs where food was central to family and identity. You might enjoy The Skin Between Us by Kym Regusa or Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee

South Asian Author Challenge

S. Krishna is hosting this challenge for 2010. She writes:

This challenge is to encourage people to read books by South Asian Authors – South Asia being India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Please not that it does not include the Middle East! The books can be from any time period, contemporary or classic.

There are four different commitment levels: 3, 5, 7 or 10. There will be prizes. Find details here. I'm in with 10. I've opted for mostly YA but would love some adult title suggestions. Would love to have women writers or titles that address social justice themes so I can have crossover with the other challenges I'm participating in. Any suggestions? Are you joining in challenges in 2010.

My reading list:
The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar
The Space Between Us: A Novel by Thrity Umrigar
bitter sweets by Roopa Farooki
Indie Girl by Kavita Daswani
Beneath My Mother's Feet by Amjed Qama
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos
Climbing The Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan
Shooting Khabul by N.H. Senzai

My recommended YA list:
Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger
Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
Sadika’s Way by Hina Haq

strike through= completed read.