Here is a preliminary reading list for my next piece, working title, Chinese Kisses. Obvs not complete and obvs I am not a fan of all the items cited so do ask directly if you’d like my personal opinion on any item(s).

Theoretical – on writing. Exploring experience vs. imagination, autobiography/biography, the personal and the universal.

Atwood, M. (2003). Negotiating with the dead. A Writer on Writing. London:Virago.

Dalston, L. (2010). Objectivity. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Earnshaw, S. ed. (2007) Handbook of Creative Writing. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Kroll, J. & Harper, G. ed. (2013) Research Methods in Creative Writing. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Theoretical – on gender, sex, race

Adichie, C. (2014). We Should All Be Feminists. London: Fourth Estate.

Ahmed, S. (2017) Living a Feminist Life. North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Barker, M. & Hancock, J. (2017) Enjoy Sex. (How, when and IF you want to). London: Icon Books.

*Gay, R. (2014). Bad Feminist. New York: Harper Collins.

*Hooks, bell (2001). all about love. New Visions. New York: Harper Perennial.

Janmohamed, S. (2016). Generation M. Young Muslims Changing the World. London: IB Tauris.

Paglia, C. (1994). Vamps and Tramps. Boston: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.

Sandberg, S. (2013) Lean In. Women, Work, and The Will to Lead. New York: Random House.

*Steinem, G. (1983). Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

*Steinem, G. (1992). Revolution from Within. Boston: Little, Brown.

 

Non-fiction – memoirs – sex, loss, identity, race, coming of age.

Angel, K.(2014). Unmastered: A Book On Desire, Most Difficult To Tell. London:Penguin.

*Didion J. (2012). The Year of Magical Thinking. London: Fourth Estate.

*Brautigan, Ianthe. (2001). You Can’t Catch Death: A Daughter’s Memoir. London: Canongate.

*de Jour, B. (2007). The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl. London: Phoenix.

Girl on the Net, (2017). Girl on the Net: How a bad girl fell in love. London: Blink.

Godden, S. (2014). Springfield Road. London: unbound.

*Morris, I. (translator) (1971). The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. London: Penguin Classics.

Rechy, J. (1978). Sexual Outlaw. New York: Dell Pub Co.

Shukla, N. (ed.) (2016). The Good Immigrant. London: unbound.

*Suttie, I. (2016). The Actual One: How I tried, and failed, to remain twenty-something for ever. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

 

Fiction

Collins, K. (2016). Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? New York: Harper Collins.

*Gay, R. (2017). Difficult Women. London: Corsair.

*Guo, X. (2008). A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. London: Vintage.

*Porter, M. (2015). Grief is the Thing with Feathers. London: Faber and Faber.

Winterson, Jeannette. (2005). Lighthousekeeping. London:Perennial.

 

Autobiographical poetry – race, trauma, sexuality

*Kaur, R. (2015). milk and honey. USA: Andrews McMeel.

Kraus, C. (2016) I Love Dick. London: Serpent’s Tail.

*Hemphill, E. (1992). Ceremonies. San Francisco: Cleis Press.

 

Misc. media sources

*Video content by comedian Amy Schumer:

http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/inside-amy-schumer/videos/12-angry-men-inside-amy-schumer

http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/inside-amy-schumer/videos/inside-amy-schumer-last-fuckable-day

 

*Articles and tweets by Asian American poet, writer, and activist, Jenny Zhang

http://www.jennybagel.com/publications/

https://twitter.com/Jennybagel