book club recap

Thanks to everyone who attended book club on Saturday. Seriously, I loved our conversation. For those online or who weren't able to make it, here are some topics we discussed about Woman Warrior:


- Ghosts. This makes sense, since the tagline is "Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts." We talked about whether or not they were literal or figurative, Kingston's point of view as a child and what a ghost might be to her, and Allison brought up the topic of cultural ghosts, which I found fascinating.


- Body Image. It was pretty evident to most of us that bodies were mentioned a lot in this book. Fat and skinny adjectives were used throughout and we wondered whether or not Kingston struggled with body image, or just made it clear that body image is a constant battle as a woman. Men have expectations, women have pressure, etc.


- Sex/Puberty. Yes we went there. I thought it was entertaining and interesting to hear the thoughts of the girls there. How do different cultures teach their children about "The Birds and the Bees?" What is the best way to talk to our own children about these issues? Why as women is sex a taboo? Why are we placed into two categories: Innocent or Whore? How do we approach these issues, and allow other women to see that these are universal questions?


-Food. The book is rife with images of food. Some disgusting, some terrific sounding. Who prepares the food, what its purpose is, etc.


There were dozens of other things we discussed that I probably am not remembering. For those of you who read online - what were your thoughts? For those weren't able to make it, what did you think?


Our next book "Fugitive Pieces" was chosen by Brittany (we missed you!). I started it this morning and am already so intrigued. 


Thanks again to everyone who came. I like you guys so much.


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