Tag Archives: gender studies

Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Thistle

I hardly know what to say about this book. I’m not even going to try to describe the plot. A plot description really doesn’t tell you anything. Each moment of this book illuminated nothing but the moment before it, nothing … Continue reading →

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Beneath My Mother’s Feet, by Amjed Qamar

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Thistle

Nazia lives in working class Karachi, Pakistan. Her family is not rich, but she and her siblings are still able to go to school, and her mother does not have to work outside the home. However, when Nazia’s father is … Continue reading →

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Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Thistle

Margaret (age 11) has just moved from NYC to New Jersey, and is trying to cope with the change and to fit in at her new school. Already she’s different: Her parents do not have any religion and so Margaret … Continue reading →

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Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Posted on June 14, 2009 by Thistle

Melinda has become selectively mute. Because she called the cops on the end-of-summer party right before her freshman year, no one wants anything to do with her. Her old friends abandon her, and it becomes impossible to make new friends. … Continue reading →

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The Meaning of Consuelo, by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Thistle

Set in the 1950s in rapidly-modernizing Puerto Rico, this is a coming of age story similar to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Consuelo Signe is growing up in a four-person home, with parents who cannot get along and a younger … Continue reading →

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A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Thistle

This book is about two women, Miriam and Laila, who are married to the same abusive man, Rasheed, in Kabul. The two women are about twenty years apart in age, and the book explores their lives prior to, during, and … Continue reading →

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The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Thistle

Minor spoilers. Rather than post a plot summary of this book, I’d rather take you through my thoughts about the story as I went along. This book blew all my expectations out of the water, simply put. I expected to … Continue reading →

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Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden

Posted on November 16, 2008 by Thistle

All I can say is – wow. This book is utterly amazing. Considering it came out in the last decade or so, that’s really extravagant praise from me. Nearly every word was perfect (though I thought the “translater’s note” at … Continue reading →

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In the Land of Invisible Women, by Qanta A. Ahmed

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Thistle

I hardly know what to say about this book. I’ve been trying to read it for the last two weeks, and though it’s only 437 pages long, I struggled to get through it. I don’t want to say it’s a … Continue reading →

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The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

Posted on October 13, 2008 by Thistle

Spoilers. Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some. This book comes so highly recommended that I feel bad saying the dreaded words: I didn’t like it. I wanted to like it. But I … Continue reading →

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