Wednesday, June 25, 2008

TT #15 Books About Three Generations of Women



I enjoy reading, and I will pick up just about anything. On my bedside table at this moment are Eat, Pray, Love; Oxymoronica; A Walk in the Woods, and Miss Read. But what I often enjoy is a good story about three generations of women. I love to read a story through the eyes of women because their families are usually close by. I have a favorite. Both my daughter and I have read it multiple times; in fact, it is literally falling apart. It is #13 in the list below, but I was surprised to find that there are hundreds of books about three generations of women. I have listed twelve, some of which I have read and some I wish to read, and my personal favorite. If you read the reviews of it on Amazon you will see that I am not alone in my enjoyment of that story.




  1. Circle of Three--Patricia Gaffney. The lives of grandmother Dana, mother Carrie, and daughter Ruth are instantly altered by the untimely death of Carrie's husband, Stephen.


  2. Charms for the Easy Life---Kaye Gibbons This new novel depicts three generations of Southern women living together during World War II.


  3. Wild Swans---Jung Chang. The author recounts the evocative, unsettling, and insistently gripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared in the political maelstrom of China during the 20th century.


  4. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water---Michael Dorris. This spare generational novel presents Rayona, Christine and "Aunt" Ida, Native American mothers and daughters bonded by blood and secrets.


  5. Jump at the Sun---Kim McLarin. McLarin (Taming It Down) weaves the stories of three generations of mothers and daughters in astringent prose ("You couldn't be expected to live without them, but you'd better remember at all times, even with the good ones, that it was you against them," Grace muses of the wild cards that are men). Her characters chafe against the bonds of poverty, racism and feminine stereotypes, but their deeper struggle is to resolve their longing for fulfillment with ties of the heart.


  6. Unburnable---Marie-elena John. This compelling first novel traces the fortunes of three generations of women from the small Caribbean Island of Dominica. Matilda, descended from African slaves, was a famous healer and possible murderer.


  7. Three Generations---Yom Sang-seop. Three Generations is a classic work of Korean fiction following the tense dynamics of the Jo family in 1930s Japanese-occupied Seoul.


  8. Moon Women---Pamela Duncan. Set in western North Carolina, this first novel follows three generations of Moon women during the months of granddaughter Ashley's unplanned pregnancy.


  9. Hanna's Daughters---Marianne Fredriksson. Shifting back and forth across time and generations, the story introduces three strong Swedish women: Hanna, her daughter Johanna, and Anna, her granddaughter.


  10. Sweet Mandarin--Helen Tse. a true story of three generations of chinese women and their journey from East to West---from brutal poverty in the village to newly prosperous Hong Kong in the 1930s, and then to the UK.


  11. African Women: Three Generations--Mark Mathabane. This gripping saga presents a truthful, passionate, and illuminative biography of his great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother in South Africa. Mathabane vividly describes the shocking, heartbreaking stories of each generation of women as they struggle for independent incomes to support themselves and their children; while resisting apartheid, they must also resist the traditions imposed by their own society and the oppresion imposed by their men.


  12. Teta, Mother, and Me: Three Generations of Arab Women---Jean Said Makdisi. The author explores the lives of three generations of Palestinian women, deftly illuminating a tumultuous century of modern Middle Eastern history, while raising important questions about the efficacy of ideology, the process of social development and the role of memory.


  13. East of the Sun---Barbara Bickmore. This is one of my all-time favorite novels. It is historical romance loosely based on the tumultuous history of 20th century Africa amid the dismantling of European colonialism. It begins with Lilianne Wentworth who travels to Africa as a medical missionary, and it follows her and her daughter and granddaughter for sixty years. What a story!


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25 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great list! I'm an avid reader myself, although I don't often read books over and over again. Perhaps I will have to check some of these out! Especially #13, since it seems to be so great :)

Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

This is a great theme. I love reading and will have to look into some of these books! Thanks for the list. :)

Anonymous said...

Boy, I haven't read any of these. I wonder why? Hmmmm.... I think it's wonderful that you and your daughter share your passion for reading. Now how cool is that?

Happy TT!

SandyCarlson said...

You've inspired me to get reading. It's wondeful, Kay, that you and your daughter share this interest. God bless.

pussreboots said...

I haven't read (or heard of) any of the books on your list but I do tend to avoid these "generational" books. Happy TT.

SJ Reidhead said...

I've not read any of them. Sounds like a list my mother would like.

SJR
The Pink Flamingo
http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog

Carol said...

Very cool list! I'll have to check a few of these books out. Great T-13!

Juliana RW said...

enjoy your books....it is not my type of books...

Visit me in here

Chelle Y. said...

Goody! I need some good ideas for reading.

Anonymous said...

What a great list. Can't say that I've read any of the books, but I will definitely look into a couple of them. Thanks!

Robin said...

What a wonderful sounding list. My to be read pile is taking over my house, but I'll have to keep these in mind as well. And Eat, Pray, Love. I keep hearing about that one in all sorts of different places. It must be a sign that I should track it down and read it.

Anonymous said...

Interesting reading list. I'll have to check some of the titles out. Thanks!

Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

Love the list, Wild Swans is my fav from on there@!

Phoebe Jordan said...

Happy T13! This list is pretty cool and never read any of these books. Hope to see you at my 7th edition about Charlaine Harris.

Anonymous said...

I have Wild Swans on my To Be Read pile. I might have to move it up.

Might I also suggest The Blood of Flowers by Anita Mirrezvani. It only has 2 generations of women, but judging by the rest of the lsit I think you'll really enjoy it.

Darla said...

I've only read Circle of Three. Patricia Gaffney is one of my favorite authors.

Unknown said...

I have Moonwomen! The rest look great as well. I love book lists!

Mines up as well!
Hubbys having a give away at his blog at www.valtool.blogspot.com

Hope you will visit us both!

bernieg1 said...

Interesting 13. Mine is Eat, Drink and be Merry - 13 Last Words, Excerpt: Judaism instructs us to enjoy the simple gifts that God gives in the present world. Eat, drink and be merry. Enjoy this life, on this Earth, in this time. I have collected for your enjoyment the last words of some of our more famous fellow human beings involving food or drink before they died.

Meju said...

Wow, your list looks very interesting...especially #6!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thanks for the recommendations. It makes me think about the last time that we had four generations of my mothers family together. It was for my Nana's 90th birthday.

Happy TT!

DoubleDeckerBusGuy said...

There's a few intriguing titles in the list that I will check out for sure! Thanks kindly!

Joy Renee said...

i love lists of books. and i have loved multi-generational saga in the past but i have missed all of these. the only two authors i recognize only two authors--Michael Dorris and Kaye Gibbons. I've read several by each of them but not these two. thanx for this.

Lori said...

Hmmmmm, I havent read any of those. Im not sure if they would be up my alley. Im a John Saul, VC Andrews, Stephen King kinda girl. Happy TT and thanks for stopping by:) Yes...popcorn and hot tamales are awesome. It reminds me of the pink popcorn at the county fair....

soleil said...

i really enjoyed eat, pray, love. those sound like good books. hope you have a great week. :)

Anonymous said...

I haven't read any of those, though I did love A Walk in the Woods! *grin* Thanks for stopping by my TT last week, at Raven's Roads. I put up another one at Raven's RV, if you have time.

You take lovely pictures. :)