Read Free Book: Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart from Claire Harman

On the two hundredth anniversary of her birth, a landmark biography transforms Charlotte Brontë from a tragic figure into a modern heroine.
 
Charlotte Brontë famously lived her entire life in an isolated parsonage on a remote English moor with a demanding father and siblings whose astonishing childhood creativity was a closely held secret. The genius of Claire Harman’s biography is that it transcends these melancholy facts to reveal a woman for whom duty and piety gave way to quiet rebellion and fierce ambition.

Drawing on letters unavailable to previous biographers, Harman depicts Charlotte’s inner life with absorbing, almost novelistic intensity. She seizes upon a moment in Charlotte’s adolescence that ignited her determination to reject poverty and obscurity: While working at a girls’ school in Brussels, Charlotte fell in love with her married professor, Constantin Heger, a man who treated her as “nothing special to him at all.” She channeled her torment into her first attempts at a novel and resolved to bring it to the world's attention.

Charlotte helped power her sisters’ work to publication, too. But Emily’s Wuthering Heights was eclipsed by Jane Eyre, which set London abuzz with speculation: Who was this fiery author demanding love and justice for her plain and insignificant heroine? Charlotte Brontë’s blazingly intelligent women brimming with hidden passions would transform English literature. And she savored her literary success even as a heartrending series of personal losses followed.

Charlotte Brontë is a groundbreaking view of the beloved writer as a young woman ahead of her time. Shaped by Charlotte’s lifelong struggle to claim love and art for herself, Harman’s richly insightful biography offers readers many of the pleasures of Brontë’s own work. Read Online Book Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart from Claire Harman Full Free

Review :

“Just as Jane Eyre happily survives multiple readings, so does the story of Charlotte Brontë—particularly when in the hands of a gifted teller. Just in time for the bicentennial anniversary of Brontë’s birth, A Fiery Heart is an engrossing, almost novelistic tale of a woman who since childhood embraced an uncanny ability ‘to enter trance-like into her own imaginary world’ and find everlasting stories there ... Throughout we hear Brontë’s voice, with Harman’s chiming in alongside. Quite rightly for a work on Charlotte Brontë, one gets the sense of a sisterly collaboration.”
—Seattle Times
 
"Harman’s well-paced narrative and keen attention to the tentative and troubled way Charlotte adjusted to sudden fame make this latest version of a literary life all the more modern and captivating."
—San Francisco Chronicle

“A well-researched, wonderfully lucid, pleasingly written treatment of a most extraordinary woman ... What makes this biography such a rewarding work is the poise and easy confidence with which Harman summons character and creative imagination, not only Charlotte’s, but her sisters’ too, showing, most crucially, how Charlotte’s reading of their work unleashed a bold, hitherto absent ‘emotional force’ in her own writing ... Harman’s tart, understated wit and gift for quotation shine throughout ... Who can say at this point which is the best biography of Charlotte Brontë, but Harman’s is among them and perhaps the most engaging of all.” 
—Chicago Tribune
 
“Harman mines [Charlotte’s letters], which she credits as ‘the fullest and most suggestive source to date of Charlotte Brontë’s behavior and private opinions,’ with considerable subtlety ... Harman skillfully interweaves the correspondence with other sources, including autobiographical passages from the novels, to produce as intimate and nuanced an account of the writer’s life as we are likely to get ... Charlotte Brontë’s end seems to have been harrowing. But at least Harman’s meticulous, affectionate biography reassures us that her afterlife is in good hands.” 
—Los Angeles Times

"[A] masterly biography ... Harman leads readers on a precipitous journey through the writer’s interior landscape ... Harman’s psychologically astute portrait deftly bridges Charlotte’s world and her work."
—The New Yorker
 
“Lively ... [Charlotte Brontë] has found an affectionate champion in British biographer Claire Harman.” 
—Washington Post

"An irresistible read."
—Christian Science Monitor

"Two hundred years after her birth, Charlotte Bronte’s rage over social expectations for women and thwarted ambitions are as relevant as ever, and [this] new biography by Claire Harman makes the Jane Eyre author fresh and relatable to readers who might only think of the Brontes as figures long buried in tragic myth ... Harman’s Bronte is a fighter, with so much still to say."
—Associated Press

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Free Reading Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman from Lindy West

Shrill is an uproarious memoir, a feminist rallying cry in a world that thinks gender politics are tedious and that women, especially feminists, can't be funny.
Coming of age in a culture that demands women be as small, quiet, and compliant as possible--like a porcelain dove that will also have sex with you--writer and humorist Lindy West quickly discovered that she was anything but. 

From a painfully shy childhood in which she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her big body and even bigger opinions; to her public war with stand-up comedians over rape jokes; to her struggle to convince herself, and then the world, that fat people have value; to her accidental activism and never-ending battle royale with Internet trolls, Lindy narrates her life with a blend of humor and pathos that manages to make a trip to the abortion clinic funny and wring tears out of a story about diarrhea.

With inimitable good humor, vulnerability, and boundless charm, Lindy boldly shares how to survive in a world where not all stories are created equal and not all bodies are treated with equal respect, and how to weather hatred, loneliness, harassment, and loss, and walk away laughing. Shrill provocatively dissects what it means to become self-aware the hard way, to go from wanting to be silent and invisible to earning a living defending the silenced in all caps. Read Online Book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman from Lindy West Full Free

Review :

"It made me hurt, both from laughing and crying. Required reading if you are a feminist. Recommended reading if you aren't."―Jenny Lawson, #1 bestselling author of Let's Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy

"Lindy West is an essential (and hilarious) voice for women. Her talent and bravery have made the Internet a place I actually want to be. Thank you, Lindy."―Lena Dunham, #1 bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl

"Hey reader! I thought I'd read enough in this lifetime about people's childhoods and feelings and such and I'd never want to do it again. But Lindy West is such a totally entertaining and original writer she kind of blew that thought out of my head halfway into the first chapter. I dare you to feel differently."―Ira Glass, This American Life 

"It's literally the new Bible."―Caitlin Moran, bestselling author of How to Be a Woman

"There's a reason Lindy West is such a beloved writer: she gets to the heart of impossible issues with humor and grace. West will have you cringing, laughing and crying, all within one page. Shrill is a must-read for all women."―Jessica Valenti, author of Why Have Kids and Full Frontal Feminism

"The surge of love and joy I felt while crylaughing through this book almost made my cold dead heart explode. Lindy is so smart and so funny that it almost hurts my little jealous-ass feelings. She is my most favorite writer ever."―Samantha Irby, author of Meaty

"Ask West one question, and the feminist writer and film critic's answer feels like wandering into an extraordinarily engaging women's studies class taught by your favorite comedian. West pings back and forth between astute commentary about the role of women in society to clever asides on the idiocy of trolls to riotous observations about life on the Internet."―Cosmopolitan

"Lindy West has written a really funny, insightful book that you all should buy. I would recommend reading it, too."―Andy Richter


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Read Online Book We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement by Andi Zeisler

Feminism has hit the big time. Once a dirty word brushed away with a grimace, “feminist” has been rebranded as a shiny label sported by movie and pop stars, fashion designers, and multi-hyphenate powerhouses like Beyoncé. It drives advertising and marketing campaigns for everything from wireless plans to underwear to perfume, presenting what’s long been a movement for social justice as just another consumer choice in a vast market. Individual self-actualization is the goal, shopping more often than not the means, and celebrities the mouthpieces.
But what does it mean when social change becomes a brand identity? Feminism’s splashy arrival at the center of today’s media and pop-culture marketplace, after all, hasn’t offered solutions to the movement’s unfinished business. Planned Parenthood is under sustained attack, women are still paid 77 percent—or less—of the man’s dollar, and vicious attacks on women, both on- and offline, are utterly routine.

Andi Zeisler, a founding editor of Bitch Media, draws on more than twenty years’ experience interpreting popular culture in this biting history of how feminism has been co-opted, watered down, and turned into a gyratory media trend. Surveying movies, television, advertising, fashion, and more, Zeisler reveals a media landscape brimming with the language of empowerment, but offering little in the way of transformational change. Witty, fearless, and unflinching, We Were Feminists Once is the story of how we let this happen, and how we can amplify feminism’s real purpose and power. Read Online Book We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement by Andi Zeisler Full Free

Review :

“A shrewd survey…Zeisler serves up a series of subtle and fascinating vignettes, form a dissection of reality makeover shows to the history of the iconic ‘This Is What a Feminist Looks Like’ T-shirt, teasing out the tension between liberal politics and radical activism with all the smart banter you’d expect from an article in Bitch Magazine. This is a fun, funny, deeply learned book that is too clever to come to a simple conclusion.” –Laurie Penny,New York Times Book Review

“Artful and merciless…With this challenging book, Zeisler’s proved that feminism can be complex and hard and fun, too.” –Washington Post

“A deeply researched account…The best part about Zeisler’s writing on pop culture is that she doesn’t hate it; she’s a connoisseur, which makes her the most entertaining, well-informed of critics. She applies an almost encyclopedic knowledge of film, television, music, and advertising to reveal the funhouse-mirrorlike results of mainstream culture’s co-optation of radical ideas…Witty, well-informed prose.” –Rewire

“A vital commentary…An ambitious project where the author pulls off deep, intelligent analysis in a markedly conversational tone. Zeisler has delivered an accessible, nuanced critique of how representations of feminism have shifted over decades.” –Stacey May Fowles, The Globe and Mail

“Zeisler aims to illuminate the route by which feminism arrived at its current state, to draw us all into the fight to make it better by showing us how we might have contributed to making it worse…If marketplace feminism is a way to promise the powerful that feminism poses no real threat to the status quo, this anti-market feminism isn’t afraid to frighten the powerful. It is based in collective struggle. It is the only thing that will make change.” –Sarah Jaffe, The New Republic

“With delightfully dry wit, Zeisler carries the discussion of the portrayal of women in advertising, movies, television, and fashion both in the present day and recent history. …This thought-provoking yet sobering consideration of the current state of feminism emphasizes the need to continue to fight for full equality. Highly recommended for readers with an interest in women’s studies, pop culture, and the media.” –Library Journal, Editors’ Spring Pick 2016

“Spirited, witty, and ferociously incisive.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Zeisler’s analysis of what she calls 'marketplace feminism' is acute and endlessly relevant, highlighting the insidiousness of the coopting powers that be, and calling on feminists to direct their resources toward legitimate political action and reclaim feminism as an identity, not something commodifiable.” –Publishers Weekly


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