Four books that have changed the way I feel about teenage girls...

I remember how hard it can be to be a teenage girl, and it shocks me to realise that it was half of my lifetime ago, sometimes that agony is still so strong for me. There have been four books that have really effected me in the last couple of weeks and all have that teenage girl theme running through them; I watched the movie Precious and was blown away and immediately read the Novel Push by Sapphire. Based around her experiences teaching underprivileged teenage girls in alternative schools, and told from the perspective of Clarice Precious Jones, who is 16 and pregnant with her second child to her father... not for the fainthearted but so inspiring with finding the right support and someone to believe in you and push you to be all you can be, that such a big difference could be made, and one life saved. I also love that it's told in Clarice's voice, well written voice... if you read it you'll see what I mean! I've become addicted to audio books, out library has just gone live with Eaudio book downloads from Bolinda Audio. I listened to On the Jellicoe road by Melina Marchetta. Such a well written intricate tale of a young girl trying to understand the mysteries of her life. Don't be fooled by the "Teenage" fiction tag, I love her books and like I said before, that was 1/2 my life ago! Eve Ensler's I am an emotional creature was also a truly inspiring read, makes me feel like I'd love to work with teenage girls, to make a difference in their lives (though ask me again in 10 or so years time when I have two teenage girls of my own!) I love the monologue style of Eve Ensler's work (they are written as plays/spoken word pieces to be performed rather than just read) I think she is such a brave writer... and she has great hair! Lastly, I'm currently reading Girls to the front: the true story of the Riot Grrrl revolution by Sarah Marcus. Loving it! But feel a bit sad that 20 years on we still have such huge issues with Bullying, Body image and sexual harassment. I found this great sign? picture? note? on the Bust website the other day which shows me the spirit of Riot Grrrl is still alive... Gotta love Bust! But back to the book, I managed to miss out on Riot Grrrl until about '95 when it had all become so mainstream that it lost it's soul and the original Riot Grrrls had lost faith in their original concepts. Maybe I was too young, or maybe it was a geographical thing I don't know but I love the spirit of the movement, the DIY aspects that I think will never happen again now that we've got the net to make all that stuff too easy for us. My brand of feminism suits the Riot Grrrl style. I like taking the boys on at their own game!