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WHY WOMEN READ FICTION

THE STORIES OF OUR LIVES

A warm celebration of the power of fiction.

More than 500 women share their connection to stories.

Intrigued by women’s enduring love of fiction, Taylor (Emerita, English/University of Exeter; BFI Film Classic on Gone With the Wind, 2015, etc.), who twice directed the Liverpool Literary Festival, sent a detailed questionnaire to women she knew, worked with, or met at literary or bookshop festivals and events and conducted lengthy interviews with women writers and publishing professionals, all to answer her overarching question: “What does fiction reading mean to women?” Drawing on their responses, the author offers intimate revelations of how, where, and why women read fiction; what they read; and how women writers see themselves as “gendered (or not).” Although some findings are predictable—e.g., women read “not just for entertainment and escape, but to help us get through life’s daily trials and major challenges”—many readers convey, with clarity and sincerity, their deep emotional response to novels, characters, and authors. Reading, one woman said, “has taken me to places I longed to go and some I did not want to go.” Women’s most loved books also were unsurprising, with Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre high on the list and Jane Austen as most women’s favorite writer. Some readers from diverse ethnic, class, and racial backgrounds, a minority of Taylor’s respondents, sought out books they believed could improve “their life chances and social mobility.” Noting the popularity of romance novels, erotica, and mysteries, Taylor has found that evolving attitudes about sexual relations have made romance fiction “a dynamic form” that questions archetypes such as the young naïve heroine seduced by an experienced older man, and publishers of romance increasingly realize the commercial potential of attracting LGBTQ writers and readers. Women writers offer candid insights about the particular challenges they face. Some, for example, have been frustrated by publishers’ and critics’ assumptions. “There is still a disposition,” Hilary Mantel complained, “to think that when a woman writes books, she must be commenting on The Woman Question, or on ‘What do women want?’, as if she cannot pull away from personal preoccupations.”

A warm celebration of the power of fiction.

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-19-882768-9

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019

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DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC!

NEWPORT, SEEGER, DYLAN, AND THE NIGHT THAT SPLIT THE SIXTIES

An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...

Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.

The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.

An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.

Pub Date: July 25, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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