Expand the Canon Book Club: "Rubyfruit Jungle" by Rita Mae Brown

In our newest Greedy Reads book club hosted by bookseller Valerie Hsu, we read and discuss works that are considered classics today, but might be excluded from standard curricula or reading lists because of subject matter, personal identities of their authors, societal reactions at publication, etc. In other words, we read influential texts that you could have read in a high school English class but probably didn’t because of racism, sexism, homophobia, colonialism, eurocentrism, etc. in how our educational systems operate.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I’m embarrassed I’ve never read ____” or “Why didn't anyone tell me about ___?” or “I was too young to appreciate ___ and I’d like to re-read it as an adult,” we’re here to help you out. Fill in your reading gaps with these classics you might have missed, and come discuss with us on the first Tuesdays each month.

We’ll meet on Tuesday, April 7 to discuss Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown. Here are other selections on the docket for you to get a sense of the types of books we’ll read:

• The Joyluck Club by Amy Tan
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
• Winter in the Blood by James Welch
• America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan
• Passing by Nella Larson
• The Bondswoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• No-No Boy by John Okada

About Rubyfruit Jungle:

A landmark coming-of-age novel that launched the career of one of this country’s most distinctive voices, Rubyfruit Jungle remains a transformative work more than forty years after its original publication. In bawdy, moving prose, Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path in America. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes—and she refuses to apologize for loving them back. This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after.

Rubyfruit Jungle is available for purchase here!

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