Comment

Comment by Ramola D on November 27, 2009 at 12:08pm

Kamy, I admire your spirit and your energy. I too am always scrambling for time with my 5-year-old and my many writing and reading projects but I would like to join you in the National Book Award Reading group. I am just on the verge of starting my own personal book review blog so will add the new books to the list. To throw a little something in from the writing end to this discussion, over the years of writing and submitting to literary magazines, and, in the process, reading literary magazines and noting what is published, who is published, and what kind of writing is privileged, what kind is elided and marginalized, it is impossible not to notice there is also a bias in literary publishing toward "masculine" writing, subjects, and focuses and against "feminine" writing and focuses. The exaggerated buzz around many male writers seems generated by an industry steeped in a by-men, for-men approach even as women are sucked into it. This persisting phenomenon is not unnoticed by women writers and teachers. I wrote an article for the Writer's Carousel a few years ago on the subject of writing fiction in such an atmosphere where minimalism is valorized, and included the voices of various women writers on the subject, including Ursula K. Le Guin and Carole Maso--I would be happy to post it here on She Writes if I knew where to do so, but I will link to it on my web site, which is currently under construction and should be up next week. Best--Ramola

Comment by Renate Stendhal on November 27, 2009 at 10:47am

Kamy, I love your spirit of "churning butter" with fury, and then stepping into bold action! Love your process here -- a real investigation and study of a MYSTERY. A mystery though that may not be one at all. When you look at the list of Nobel winners of the last 100 years, say, you will be stunned that most winners are either utterly forgotten or bizarrely and grossly undeserving. This is the same old mystery. Fashion and politics of the day govern the choices, just like now -- with a maximum of input from the Old Boys Club. And as we know from our feminist education, women are token members of the club -- influenced, as we all are more or less, by the zeitgeist. And the zeitgeist has one simple name: backlash. Exceptions, as always, prove the rule.
So I admit I am not curious about the male winners of the present lists. But apart from reading book reviews (with X-Ray eyes) I tend to spend hours browsing through books, also bestsellers and list winners at my local, lovely bookstores to confirm what I believe I know already: that I won't waste my precious life time reading bad or mediocre fiction that is the fashion of the day. I find that mediocre fiction usually jumps off the page just by thumbing through a book. I feel there is so much to learn about our world today in terms of solid, exciting, provocative information that the tower of books next to my bed mostly holds non-fiction books and memoirs. But I can tell you, there was a time in my feminist life when I did exactly what you are proposing to do right now: study, in detail, what we are sold as "great", award-worthy, "top ten", "best book" fiction... And it sure was worth it!! :) Renate

Comment by Hope Edelman on November 26, 2009 at 5:30pm

Wonderful ideas, Kamy. You never stop amazing me with your energy, your sense of purpose, and your creative genius. I have just marked my trusty Google calendar to remind me to stop by a bookstore on December 18 and support the cause. The only challenge will be deciding which book to buy, since there are so many excellent choices. No doubt I'll come home with three or four.

Comment by LaTonya on November 26, 2009 at 12:33pm

Kamy,
That's what I'm talking about- action. I'm in. I don't have access during the day so I'll miss the chat but I'm in for the holiday gift post.