2021 Q1 Challenge - Feminism or Female Sleuths

[Michaela]

Story wrote: "Michaela, have you tried the Vera Stanhope books by Ann Cleeves? The later ones are (IMO) better than the early ones and you don't really need to read them in order."

I read The Crow Trap, but wasn´t impressed. Will have a look at a later one, thanks! :)

[Franklinbadger]

I second the recommendation of the Vera Stanhope books. I didn’t click with the first four books or so but I couldn’t put some of the later books in the series down, even though I don’t normally read crime fiction.

This has been a terrible challenge for me. I think it’s a combination of not really liking crime fiction and not feeling resilient enough for most of the feminist books on my TBR list at the moment (Men Who Hate Women - From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All sounds excellent but I’m not sure if I can deal with how angry it would make me right now). I just about scraped through by shelving Burning Girls and Other Stories as feminist fiction, but it was a close one.

[Anita]

One YA feminist fiction I read this quarter was Lore by Alexandra Bracken. I don't usually like YA too much but I also find that it gets me through and out of a lot of reading slumps. I've also read:

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
Luster by Raven Leilani
Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

I finished a few series that were pretty good fiction with feminist themes throughout:
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
A ​Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir
The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike
Beneath the Keep by Erika Johansen (though this was a prequel to the series and written from a male pov, the series itself had a feminist arc, and this one still included feminist themes)

Honestly, after quite a few years of reading women and reading with a feminist group, I find that if a book doesn't meet a basic quality of female characters, I can't even read it because I don't want to waste my reading time. Fortunately there are so many authors who write that way, that I'm never at a loss. Unfortunately, it seems (to me) like I'm being lazy because I can label almost everything I read as feminist or I can read it through a feminist lens, so I tend to only think of specifically feminist non-fiction as feminist reading, and this quarter has kind of opened my eyes to the wonder that I don't have to struggle to find great books with great female characters. At all. In any genre that I read.

And some feminist non-fiction I read this quarter:
Women in the Viking Age by Judith Jesch
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
Broken by Jenny Lawson
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (there is a surprising amount of political history here for a graphic novel memoir)

I read one book specifically for the female sleuth prompt and it turned out to not be a sleuthy book at all, but it definitely fit into the feminist themes category:
Braised Pork by An Yu

[Hannah]

Anita wrote: "Honestly, after quite a few years of reading women and reading with a feminist group, I find that if a book doesn't meet a basic quality of female characters, I can't even read it because I don't want to waste my reading time..."

I feel exactly the same Anita. I hardly ever read male authors any more and lean towards books written by women, about women. Even though this sounds like I'm massively restricting myself, I always remain open and to be honest there's more than enough choice out there. I feel quite contented with supporting these female authors who have probably had to work harder than most in a biased publishing industry.
Great list by the way. Sorry you didn't like braised pork. I think for me it was one of those, right mood, right day experiences. I'm not sure I'd have had the patience for in the current climate

[Franklinbadger]

Me too, Hannah - I’ve reached the stage in my life where I’ve realised that I’ll never have time to read all the books that I want to read, so I’m happy to concentrate on what works for me, which usually means books by women with a focus on female characters. I have far fewer DNFs that way.

[Carol]

Franklinbadger wrote: "I second the recommendation of the Vera Stanhope books. I didn’t click with the first four books or so but I couldn’t put some of the later books in the series down, even though I don’t normally re..."

Franklinbadger - I feel you on the "not wanting to read books that make me angry" sentiment. I'm sorry the categories didn't work to give you an appealing option this quarter, but hopefully you'll have a better fit with other challenges.

[Carol]

For future reference, if anyone wants to read female sleuths by female authors and you aren't finding many options, I recommend the following lesser known novels and authors.

Stillhouse Lake Series - Rachel Caine - Bitter Falls, Book 4, is highly regarded. Appalachia.

Natalie Kershaw Series - Anya Lipska - Where the Devil Can't Go, book 1, is the place to start. Takes place in Poland and London. Translated from Polish. I love this series.

Kate Shugak Series - Dana Stabenow. Up to 22 books now. Book 1 is A Cold Day For Murder Takes place in Alaska. I haven't read them, but have heard good things.

Emily Roy and Alexis Castells series. Johana Gustawsson. Emily is a profiler on loan to Scotland Yard from the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, Alexis is a French true-crime writer Alexis Castells. Book 1 is Block 46. It includes a note that her grandfather was a prisoner at Buchenwald. Translated from Swedish.

Amelia Peabody historical fiction series. Elizabeth Peters. 19th century Egypt. Book 1 is Crocodile on the Sandbank.

Forbidden Iceland series. Eva Björg Ægisdóttir. Book 1 is The Creak on the Stairs. Translated from Icelandic. Features Chief Inspecting Officer Elma, and her team.

Standalone: The Seven Doors by Agnes Ravatn. Norwegian psychological thriller where the MC is a university professor.

The female author-female MC novels I enjoy most are translated fiction from cold countries, and often published by UK-based Orenda Books. https://orendabooks.co.uk/

[Michaela]

Thanks for the great list Carol! I confess I didn´t like Crocodile on the Sandbank, the only one I read.

[Carol]

Michaela wrote: "Thanks for the great list Carol! I confess I didn´t like Crocodile on the Sandbank, the only one I read."

I feel like such an outlier on peters that I recommend her notwithstanding the fact that I'm an outlier. I'm glad you're in my camp. I like a harder more noir edge - even with historical fiction. But I digress...

[Michaela]

Not so much into noir, but this one I read as the last for my female sleuths was too superficial for me: Cocaine Blues.

[Carol]

Michaela wrote: "Not so much into noir, but this one I read as the last for my female sleuths was too superficial for me: Cocaine Blues."

Yes, Kerry Greenwood's series is quite beach-read-y.