Women Unbound Challenge

I am so excited to participate in the Women Unbound Challenge. This is a challenge that starts this month and runs until November 2010. When I started blogging, I hoped that there would be a challenge like this. I minored in Women's Studies in college and I'm ashamed to say the number of "feminist" books I have read since graduating has significantly dropped. I am so excited to see what everyone else is reading and to hear their thoughts.

I will be participating at the Suffragette level, which means I will be reading at least 8 books of which at least 3 must be nonfiction. The hardest part for me is definitely going to be narrowing down the 8 books that I will read. I am going to take some time sifting through the books on my wishlist and checking out some other lists before I finalize my reading list but I do have a list of some books I have read and really enjoyed.

I do love all of these but I am going to start with some of my favorite. Since I just started my blog and don't have reviews for any of these books, each will have a link to Amazon and some of the reviews there.

Fiction:

The Moths and Other Stories by Helena Maria Viramontes
This is an collection of stories about the struggles women are often faced with in various aspects of their lives. This quickly became one of my favorite books.

Mother Tongue by Demetria Martinez
A story about a young woman's fight to help a political refugee from El Salvador.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
A wonderful collection of stories about the obstacles in life.

Vintage Cisneros by Sandra Cisneros
A collection of excerpts from various works by Cisneros, including The House on Mango Street (also a great book), Carmelo and various poems.

Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes
This is a collection of poems based on Cervantes' Chicana heritage.

Nonfiction:

Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics by Cynthia Enloe
A look at how globalization and international politics effect the lives of women around the world.

Feminist Theory: From Margin To Center by bell hooks
A comprehensive look at the core issues of feminism.

Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering by Marita Sturken
Sturken's thoughts about how we deal with tragic events and how we remember them (movies, memorials, focus on men vs. women).

Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born by Tina Cassidy
I came across this book in a bookstore and really enjoyed it. I don't have kids so I don't have any personal experience but it is interesting to know how it was done back in the day.

Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis
Discusses the ties between the between the anti-slavery campaign and the struggle for women's suffrage as well as the differences that divided them.

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog
The Autobiography of Mary Brave Bird. A look at growing up Native American in 1960s/70s America.

Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards
A look at the different types and generations of feminists as well as what that means for the fight for women's empowerment.

Feminism on the Border by Sonia Saldivar-Hull
A look at feminism by analyzing three Chicana writers: Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, and Helena María Viramontes.

The Struggle of Women's Rights: Theoretical and Historical Sources by George Klosko and Margaret G. Klosko
A fantastic breakdown of the key people who fought for women's suffrage: what they did and why it matters.

Insecure at Last: A Political Memoir by Eve Ensler
Eve Ensler is the author of The Vagina Monologues. Insecure at Last touches on her personal experiences as well as the experiences of women oppressed by various political systems.

Promises Not Kept: Poverty and the Betrayal of Third World Development by John Isbister
A look at various factors affecting the increase of world poverty.

Final book of ideas:

A Bookshelf of Our Own: Must-Reads for Women by Deborah G. Felder
This is a great book that I came across one day, which highlights books that changed women's lives. This is a great book if you need ideas for books to read, explaining why they are so important and why we love them.