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56 ratings | 3 reviews
avg rating: 4.02

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July 24

Barbara read and liked Eric's review of The Golden Notebook:

"This book is too often read as a feminist polemic, or as an exploration of madness, or as an overtly political story (mostly communist). That's not the point. The central character, Anna, an artist with a block, demonstrates through her attempts to k...more "

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Barbara read and liked Ivy's review of The Golden Notebook:

"Within a few hours of the announcement that Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize I put in my request at the library. Ten weeks later I got my turn. Started reading Christmas day...sneaking away from the family to read the two introductions...oh the br...more "

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New comment on Abeer's review of The Golden Notebook

Barbara wrote: "Abeer

You are spot on!! "

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Barbara read and liked Abeer's review of The Golden Notebook:

"I still don't think I got my head around the wrapping conceit that Ms. Lessing used for this book, but I do know that it's the first time I finished a book and started it all over again. I'm halfway through the second read and it's as psychologicall...more "

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Barbara read and liked Mimi's review of The Golden Notebook:

"Even though I read this book over 30 years ago, I remember how affected I was by its writer protagonist, and her various notebooks. I was a single mom, working and going to junior college, and Lessing's book was one I read in my first "Feminist...more "

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New comment on Mimi's review of The Golden Notebook

Barbara wrote: "Mimi
I'm with you ...
I have never been here before so I hope it's ok to write an opinion that is...more Mimi
I'm with you ...
I have never been here before so I hope it's ok to write an opinion that is at odds with most of the other posts that came before Mimi's. So many of you have raised so many terrific questions that go beyond the scope of TGN I find myself not knowing where to start. So I think I'll address the book first: TGN was not Lessing's first book. She had published at least 5 novels and many SS before she wrote TGN. I too read it in a class and was grateful that I had a Lessing scholar teaching the class. I think I would have drowned very quickly if I had not been taught how to read contemporary fiction.

ONe of the major points about Lessing's work adn TGN in particular is that you don't get it in one reading ... it's too complicated, too multi-layered, addresses not only the politics between men adn women and women and women but politics of countries on the verge of blowing up into civil wars ... (remember the scene with the grasshoppers? ... that was there for a reason and if you go back and look at it you will see that it's not about grasshoppers (the metaphor) but about Communism, survival, safety, repopulation, nature welcome and not) [oh geesh I'm preaching ... sorry ... I just have very passionate feelings about this book and Doris Lessing as an icon and someone who broke literary and social ground with all of her writing.)

Just one more thing and then I will go away ...
well two really ... TGN is a frame story ... which is another layer that makes it so difficult ... you are really reading 2 novels at the same time; and believe it or not she wrote all three notebooks simutaneously ... imagine keeping track of all of that in a straight line?

I cried when I heard she won the Nobel. I was afraid she might not live long enough to receive what should have been hers years ago. She took it on the chin when the committee removed her name because of her science fiction series ... but someone there had his head on straight.

I hope this makes some kind of sense ... Mimi I too began different journals and became very sensitive to what I was reading by any writer.

Thanks for getting this far those of you who did.

...less "

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Barbara made a comment in the group Constant Reader—What I Just Put Down, and what I just began topic:

Barbara wrote: "I agree with you ... like Toni Morrison opened a whole new way of seeing our fellow citizens so too ...more "

June 27

Barbara gave

to:
The Overlook: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Michael Connelly

my rating:

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May 10

Barbara gave

to:
The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose (Paperback)
by Umberto Eco

my rating:

read in January, 1993

Barbara said: "Fascinating story about how humanity cannot survive without language, words, stories, texts and when secrets are attached to getting access you have a great plot ... it even is timely. "

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Barbara gave

to:
The Woman in the Dunes (Paperback)
by Kobo Abe
bookshelves: anonwzawoman

my rating:

recommended for: Readers who enjoy the "big questions" about who we are and how much personal control we heve
read in June, 1992

Barbara said: "WOMAN IN THE DUNE is a very surreal tale of a man who goes for a walk in the dunes. As moves deeper into this strange place he begins to see people actually living in holes in the dunes. He doesn't know if he is hallucinating or if he has entered ano...more "

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