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Tag : Feminist Books
June 25, 2020 by admin
Girls Who Thought about Sex
As a child, my reading material was mainly Little Women, The Bobbsey Twins, and other stories about good Christian girls. Then I started to dip into the adult books behind the locked glass doors in the secretary desk. There I discovered The Old Bunch by Meyer Levin, that bawdy (for the Thirties), irreverent look at a Jewish neighborhood. I don’t remember the details of the plot.
My sense is that it was totally inappropriate for an eleven-year old. But it was the first book I had ever read about Jews and girls who thought of sex. This book was about me. I loved it.
Barbara Brenner has written more than 70 books for children and adults. A Year in the Life of Rosie Bernard is based on her experiences as the orphaned child of a religiously mixed marriage. Her latest work is Chibi (Clarion).
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January 24, 2019 by Chloe Rose Stuart-Ulin
5 Classic Novels for Jewish Feminists
The distinction between female and feminist stories seems to blur sometimes. “Strong female leads,” while catchy, aren’t as important as complex, well-developed protagonists.
For your reading pleasure (and edification), I’ve selected fiction written by women of different feminist eras, all of whom set out to depict women in historical moments ranging from Biblical to 70’s suburbia. Their visions of womanhood are honest and thoughtful, and I bet that even the ones you don’t like at first will prompt fierce thought and discussion. Don’t see your favorite books here? Tell us what they are in the comment section!
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November 14, 2018 by admin
12 New Books About Contemporary Jewish Identity — All by Women!
The cover of the New York Times Book Review this weekend features a review of 5 recent books detailing the American Jewish experience — all of which were written by men. As illuminating as each of those books may be individually, and as deeply as the review engages with them, their aggregation egregiously leaves out the experiences and perspectives of approximately half of American Jews (if not more!).
Critics on Twitter immediately noted how unfortunate it is that the piece didn’t at the very least call attention to the cutting-edge academic scholarship and writing by many Jewish women, including feminists.
But the debate goes beyond academic (specialized) vs. trade (general audience) dichotomies. In 2018, it’s simply not enough to throw up ones hands and say, “There aren’t enough trade books by women!” The critic’s job is, in part, to wrestle with why trends in an industry exist, and to therefore, in this case, ask what truths five books by white Ashkenazi men might all be missing about contemporary Jewish identity.
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June 14, 2018 by Sarah M. Seltzer
Dana Schwartz on Humor, Rejecting the “Guilty Pleasure” Label and Terrible Jews
Dana Schwartz has a knack for getting the internet’s attention. Whether it’s impersonating the pretentiousness of the aspiring male literati for her wildly popular “Guy in Your MFA” fictional Twitter account or taking on Jared Kushner for enabling anti-Semitism—while he was her boss at the New York Observer—Schwartz knows how to harness the zeitgeist by being herself.
Next week, she’ll release her memoir disguised as a personality quiz, “Choose Your Own Disaster.” At the seasoned age of 25, Schwartz plumbs the depths and heights of her college and post-college life to bring us poignant hilarity about travel, angst and eating disorders–as well as finding romance and the elusive adult self. She spoke to Lilith recently about stereotypes around women’s writing, where her sense of humor comes from, and the worst Jews in public life.
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