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Quotable quotes |
It is the year 2020, and I still know some people, including women, who are not comfortable calling themselves feminists, because some how they identify women power means male bashing. Here are some inspiring quotes about women power from strong women that might change your opinion!
Inspiring feminist quotes about women power and women
If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.
Margaret Thatcher
Don’t let anyone speak for you, and don’t rely on others to fight for you.
Michelle Obama
The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand
It’s not my responsibility to be beautiful. I’m not alive for that purpose. My existence is not about how desirable you find me.
Warsan Shire
And really, how insulting is it that to suggest that the best thing women can do is raise other people to do incredible things? I’m betting some of those women would like to do great things of their own.
Jessica Valenti, Why Have Kids?
A woman is like a tea bag you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.
Eleanor Roosevelt
I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.
Jane Austen, Persuasion
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.
Rebecca West
Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.
Margaret Atwood
Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.
Charlotte Whitton
What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be. Are you a feminist? Of course you are.
Caitlin Moran, How to be a woman.
The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.
Margaret Sanger
My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Woman’s degradation is in man’s idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws, customs, are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong, it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.
G.D. Anderson
I think being a woman is like being Irish… Everyone says you’re important and nice, but you take second place all the time.
Iris Murdoch
I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.
Madonna
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What are your favorite quote about women power and feminism? Do you have a quote from strong inspiring women? Let me know in the comments!
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Sunday Musings |
I am on vacation in India still, and I kinda extended it by ten days. So I thought I will give you an update on how things are working out currently. I have been shuttling between cities, just as I expected and it is not as bad as I have been whining about.
But hey the good news is I am avoiding returning to Dubai’s heat for another ten days and spending time meeting family, friends and even catching up with some bloggers in real life. The only downfall seems to be my inconsistent blogging schedule and I have been feeling terribly guilty about it. Do you have those bloggers’ remorse?
What I read this week
On the other hand my reading has been going great and I have been on track mostly. I read two books in the last week.
- The joy luck club
- Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
On my blog
As I mentioned already, I haven’t blogged in a while. It is not that I don’t have time to write up one but it is just not the same when you are on a holiday.
I am lost without a routine and probably that’s what holidays are about! Anyway here is the single post I published in the past three weeks.
The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle – A Book Review
I will be linking today’s post with Caffeinated reviewer’s Sunday post Meme.
From the Insta-world
Around the blogosphere
Since I haven’t had blog hopped and don’t even know what’s happening in the blogosphere, I am gonna talk about whom I met in last few weeks!
I met Shruti from This ls Lit and Mathangi from The Word Glutton in Chennai two weeks ago! And you will not believe this is the first time we are hanging out outside of a book event.
We ended up spending more than five hours talking about nothing and everything. Who am I kidding? We were talking about books, feminism and representation of brown people in books!
And we clicked a lot of fun pictures.
Tanvi from A reader to whatever end visited the town when I was around and Nandini from Unputdownable books and I caught up with her.
Again a coffee date extended to a five hour giggle fest! Wait who said we bookworms are the quiet ones?
I am totally looking forward to meeting some more Bookstagrammers and bloggers this week! Fingers crossed!!
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What’s up with you? Who are the bloggers that you have met in real life? Do you think it is my bloggers’ remorse is normal and do you have ever faced it? Let’s talk.
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Drama |
Does it ever annoy you when you expect something from a book because it was marketed so but then it turns out entirely different? I picked Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams because it had great reviews and it said it was ‘Bridget Jones meets Americanah’. But it turned out to be something different. Let us find out how Queenie was for me, shall we?
About the book
Book Name: Queenie
Author: Candice Carty-Williams
Genre: Fiction – Drama
Characters: Queenie, Tom, Diana, Darcy, Kyazike, Cassandra
Setting: London, England, The UK
The plot
Queenie is a 25 year old Jamaican British woman, a typical millennial living in the pricey London and working for a newspaper. She has a close friend’s circle and a long term Caucasian boyfriend. Her family consists of overbearing grandparents, a religious maternal aunt and an estranged mother – you know the typical Jamaican family.
Things spiral down fast when her boyfriend proposes a long break from their relationship. Her performance at work suffers and finally she gets fired. Her social life derails when she starts hooking up with men who have no time or interest in her personality.
How Queenie deals with it and gets out of the mess that is her life now with the help of her family and friends forms the rest of the story.
My initial thoughts
Queenie is a tale of a young woman who tries to find her identity between the two cultures. It is less of a love story but more about strong female characters and their friendship and family ties. The characters are flawed but they are relatable and their problems are real. Though set in the UK, their story is from everywhere.
I agree that the Jamaican culture took little back seat among the other themes but from what was described I found it was similar to the Asians. Especially the importance given to family and religious sentiment. I loved how Queenie spoke about the stigma around the mental health and that is something really close to my heart. If only more people get off that mentality soon.
Also when I picked Queenie looking for a cheesy love story but instead found an intense book that spoke about several themes like sexism, feminism, sexual harassment at work and fetishising of Black women’s body. Though they were touched lightly, I am glad Queenie opened the topic at the least.
Things that worked for me
- I loved the flawed characters and the pains were real.
- Queenie talks about the importance of female friendship that sees through every up and down of her life.
- It opens up the topic about the stigma around mental health and taking steps to improve it.
Things that didn’t work for me
- I wish Queenie had spoken more about the racial and other issues.
- I was totally misled by the genre classification and the summary.
Bottom-line
If you loved dry British humor like Chewing Gum (Netflix) or Fleabag, you will love Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. It totally surprised me and I think it is one of my best reads of 2019, as of now.
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Have you read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams? Do you get irked by the misleading marketing? What was the last book that surprised or shocked you by such issues? Let us talk.
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Classics |
Today let us talk about a book that I have been raving about to everyone I know and their mother in the past few days. And it is a re-read too, which makes it a rarer thing, because most of my reread attempts end up badly for me. I would avoid rereading a loved book if I can help it for the same reason. And we are talking about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
About The Bell Jar
Book Name: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Genre: Fiction – Classics, Literary, autobiography
Characters: Esther Greenwood, Mrs. Greenwood (her mother), Doreen, Jay Cee, Betsy, Constantin, Buddy Willard, Doctor Nolan, Mrs. Willard, Lenny Shepherd
Setting: Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, The United States of America
Plot summary of The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar is a semi autobiographical account of the author and her struggle with depression and suicide. Set in New York City’s 1950s before the big sexual revolution and the birth control pills, Esther works at a glamorous newspaper that takes her to the happening parties and galas. But she is lost between her worlds while her mind is on the execution of the Rosenbergs and ‘being burned alive’.
When she learns that she failed to receive the scholarship that she had been planning for all along, she falls into a bout of depression. The Bell Jar talks about her perspective as a college educated woman in a sexist world and later her struggle with her existential despair.
Between her stays in different mental asylums and the consequent electro-shock therapies, she spends her time writing a novel and planning her suicide. Can this poignant and bleak tale have a not-so-sad ending? You might be surprised if you read The Bell Jar!
Book review of The Bell Jar
I should start with saying ‘yes this book is depressing’ and you have to be prepared for that before you pick the book. In spite of having read it earlier, I was not ready for it when it hit me. It is not a long book but sure needed a bit of more of time than normally something of this size would have.
Esther’s disinterested narration felt so close to home that I had to stop more than once. She does not talk about her feelings at all but convincingly transfers her emotions to the reader.
The Bell Jar is much more than the foreshadowing of the author’s ill fate, it is a social commentary. At some point, her insanity made more sense to me than the current socio-political scenario.
Despite that fifty plus years that have passed since the book first came out, we still are chastising women for talking about their sexuality, and stigmatized about mental health issues. The conundrum of having to choose between career and having a family is somehow still a huge issue for woman of all ages. May be we have not moved ahead at all.
Things that worked for me
- I loved the poetical narration that changed pace so often, yet kept me hooked to it.
- Though the author does not introduce any character or even describe them, by the end of the book I felt like I knew each of them personally and I was trying to match them up with my real life counterparts.
- If you have been afflicted by suicidal thoughts or depression, or just the patriarchal world, you will totally relate to The Bell Jar.
- The book is full of quotes that I loved and kept highlighting until the end.
Things that may not work for you
- Being a semi-autobiography, it unsurprisingly is not plot oriented. So if you are looking for a fast paced story you might be disappointed.
- The Bell Jar deals with suicidal attempts, self harm, sexual abuse, depression and ill treatment of mental health patients. If these are your triggers, you SHOULD avoid this one.
Bottom-line
I loved this book in spite of the melancholic emptiness it left me after I finished reading it. Though I liked The bell jar when I read it the first time, I ended loving it more, understanding it better, and relating to the author deeper during my second visit.
Well, if that is not the mark of a great book I don’t know what is. Just read it.
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Have you read The Bell Jar? Have you read her poems? Do share your recommendations other books that deal with suicide attempts, please. Let us talk.
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Drama, YA |
It has been a while since I had a book that got me riled up like THUG did it for me. When I saw Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu, I thought it would be my ticket to reaching it again. Well, to know if it happened or not, you should read my book review of Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu ahead.
About Moxie
Book Name: Moxie
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Genre: Fiction – YA
Characters: Vivian, Seth, Claudia, Lucy
Setting: The USA
Plot Summary of Moxie
When the boys at Vivian’s school get away with their sexist slogans and actions, Vivian circulates out feminist zine called Moxie anonymously to bring the girls together. Her actions and ideas garner attention and soon the school girls walk out to support one of theirs claims. How Viv and her friends stand up to the toxic environment forms the rest of Moxie.
Book review of Moxie
Moxie talks about topics that are highly relevant today – feminism and rape culture. It highlights the importance of speaking out and the power of collective voice.
I loved how the shy and obedient Vivian turned to be the voice of the rebellion and protest. The story may have been written for a younger audience but worked for me – to an extent. But then, the story also had its flaws that left me unimpressed.
Things that worked for me
- I adored the new and old female friendships that were formed during the story.
- The messages on feminism and rape culture certainly made me worked up and agitated.
Things that didn’t work for me
- Some of the characters were so one dimensional that they seemed straight out of a parody.
- The romance between Seth and Viv was so forced and the book could have easily been romance free.
- While there were adults involved, why the situation was never brought to their notice?
Bottom-line
If you are looking for a book to help to start a conversation about feminism with your niece or nephew Moxie may be the one for you. I felt it was more of a middle grade book than a Young Adult literature.
Similar reviews you might like
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Have you read Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu? How do you distinguish between Middle grade and YA? Suggest some feminism books please. Let us talk.
