Hi all! This is kind of random but this last month my mom and I started a book club of sorts. It’s just her and I, she is retired and I drive a lot for work (good for audiobooks!) so we have decided to go back and forth picking books. We don’t do a certain number per month, we just breeze through them and whenever we finish (usually within a day or two of each other) we move on to the next.
Well I’ve been thinking lately — you see, my mom has been unfortunately influenced by my alt-right stepfather over the last decade. She is not nearly as radicalized as he is, but she does make many excuses for him and has adopted some questionable leanings and beliefs. Growing up, she taught me about empathy, feminism, environmentalism, etc. and really influenced who I am today because of it. That is why it is so disheartening to now be at political odds with each other. We both do our best to “agree to disagree” because I love my family, but sometimes I wonder if she were to be exposed to other media as much as she is Fox news, things would be different.
That’s where my idea comes in. She loves to read, always has, and I think this is the perfect opportunity to re-introduce her to what she used to teach me. I’m not talking anything crazy. I’m not asking to swing her from one side of the spectrum to the other, nor do I expect change overnight. But I think exposure to other people’s stories, both fictional and non-fictional, is a great way to help broaden her perspective (and mine as well!).
To give some ideas of what we’ve read: We began with Atmosphere by Taylor Reid Jenkins (my choice), Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (her choice), and we just started Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (my choice).
I’m looking mainly for recs (of any genre, although ideally fiction) that have themes of acceptance/empathy, environmental consciousness, feminism, and/or equality/equity, etc. I know that’s really broad but also kind of the point since we will read lots of different things!
Hope you guys don’t think I’m silly for this idea lol. Thank you!
by hatsuuuunemiiku
5 Comments
Invisible women – non fiction makes you angry
The handmaid’s tale. Fiction.
Search on here for feminist books. There was a post with recommendations for fiction and non fiction
Earthseed! (Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler)
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer!
I came to say thank you, you got me curious and had me diving into the rabbit hole when you mentioned environmental consciousness, and I found a very interesting title -“We Are Nature Defending Itself: An Anthology of Women on Bodies, Borders, and Place”, edited by Cordelia E. Barrera. It’s an anthology, so plenty to pick from , and might be available at a local library.
(I think this is a great idea btw. Kudos to you !).
I am currently reading [The Angry Women’s Choir](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157926150-the-angry-women-s-choir) by [Meg Bignell](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18656502.Meg_Bignell) which is an Australian novel set in Tasmania (the little triangle island off the main land for those who are unfamiliar). You could 100% sell it as a humorous story about female friendships in a choir. I think every woman over 30 should read it.
My god it has got me angry again about how much women are taken for granted, how much care giving and domestic responsibilities we do for no reward, how much we hollow ourselves out to be a Mum that kids don’t believe we ever had a life or sense of self before they existed. There are some very militant feminist characters, but there are lots of backgrounds and stories, and gentler chars to balance out the in your face ones.
TW: sex, rape, cohesive control, eating disorders, LOTS of swearing (I’m mean, it’s Aussie. Of course there fucking is). And I have 100pp to go so not responsible for the end.