Tag: Classic

11..., Lifestyle

11… Books for Women’s History Month

RaeAnna
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Hanging out in the Iowa State Law Library in Des Moines, Iowa. | Skirt | Sweater | Shoes |

Every year, I like to read books dedicated to a few of the heritage months. Last month, I did not read as much for Black History Month as I’d hoped, oh well. I use the heritage months as a way to educate myself. 

The one month I don’t celebrate through my reading list is Women’s History Month. I don’t need to. Not that I’m the most educated person on the topic, most of the books I crack are written by and about women. I find them more interesting. Gender studies is one of my favorite topics to read about. I tend to have to go out of my way to read books by and about men in the fiction genre – history is another story altogether. I just don’t care as much about the protagonists when they’re men. Sorry, but not actually. I have always thought a woman’s story, no matter who she is/was, is far more engaging to me than those of men. Men are great, sure, but I’d rather spend my time reading about my people. 

I completely and full-heartedly support Women’s History Month, but I don’t make a point of dedicating my reading list to it. My entire reading list, all year long is a devotion to women, our history, our issues, our future. If you want to read more books about and by women, here are eleven of the books and authors who opened my mind and enthralled me as a young reader, as a student, and as an adult!

  1. Rose in Bloom Louisa May Alcott
  2. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Harriet Jacobs
  3. The Awakening Kate Chopin
  4. Funny in Farsi Firoozeh Dumas
  5. All The Single Ladies Rebecca Traister  
  6. Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  7. Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi
  8. Homegoing Yaa Gyasi
  9. Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  10. The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir
  11. To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Books, Fiction

A Christmas Carol

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 112
Quick Review MUST if you live in the Western Hemisphere and/or celebrate Christmas. It’s referenced for one month every year. A ton of Christmas movies are adaptations or inspired by this classic. 

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Even if you don’t like Dickens, do yourself a favor and devote one week to starting, reading, and finishing this novel; it’s not long like a majority of Dickens works. For one month every year, you can be the person in the room who has actually read A Christmas Carol and therefore knows the actual story instead of having the gist of it from all the different adaptations and the like. Hey, you might like it, and it could become the book you return to every Christmas season to enjoy again and again for the rest of your eternity.

A Christmas Carol is the iconic tale about a grumpy, rich, white guy who hates everyone was visited by ghosts helping him to become a better person and epitomized the spirit of Christmas in a mere 150 pages if the typeset is big. Dickens’ inspiration came from his impoverished childhood full of hardship, like much of his other works. I don’t want to give any of the plot away, but you probably know it already.

Anyways the language Dickens uses flows. There are moments of subtle humor in a sea of seriousness. It is easy to see why he is regarded as a master of the English language through his descriptions and narrative.

I was lucky enough to read a beautifully illustrated edition, which makes it an even bigger pleasure to read.

My favorite movie version of this classic story is A Muppet Christmas Carol. Full of humor and nontraditional characters, it really does stick with the original story. A great deal of the narration is pulled right from the text.

Memorable Quotes
““And what is that upon your cheek?” Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in his voice, that it was a pimple.”

Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens