Published in 1936, Live Alone and Like It is a guide for women who live alone, whether that is because they want to, or because they are widows, spinsters, or pretty young things. According to Hillis, it doesn’t matter why they want to live alone, what matters is they can live alone… and like it!
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The Lying Life of Adults is also set in Naples. The book follows Giovanna as she navigates puberty, her parents’ failing marriage, changing friendships, and issues among estranged family members. The story begins with a bang — Giovanna overhears her father calling her ugly and the world around her begins to crumble (understandably at 13 years old).
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The protagonist of Convenience Store Woman, Keiko Furukura is a 36-year-old, you guessed it, convenience store worker. Every day looks the same, she wakes up and takes basic care of herself because that’s what’s good for her job, the same she’s had since she was 18 years old. Keiko forces us to ask ourselves, what is ambition? And why do we chase it?
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Across countries and continents and borders and oceans, women feel, wonder, think, experience, regret, worry, and are faced with issues that feel all too familiar. Under Red Skies, told across three generations in China, touches on this (among other things), which is comforting and disheartening all at once.
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The book takes place in a small town in Arizona in 1976 - already I’m sold because I love reading anything set in the 1960s or ‘70s. The story is centered around Melanie Chaffee, the 13-year-old main character. Melanie decides that she wants a new pair of platform sandals, but her “uptight” mother won’t let her have them. Melanie comes up with a plan: she’ll buy the shoes herself with her own money. But how is a middle-school girl supposed to get a job?
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Jane Austen's incomparable Regency novels are ideal screen adaptation material, not only to enhance the reading experience of "Janeites," as her devotees are called, but as a tool to introduce this gifted author to anyone who might need some visual prompting before "plunging" into the original books.
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After one too many sleepless, summer nights, Nightbitch emerges from the mother as an animalistic rage, canine one might say. Deep down, however, the mother knew this rage always existed within her. Until now, I hope I have not scared you away, reader. Though this plot sounds rather surreal like a Dalí painting, author Rachel Yoder’s words play off the page—absurd, hilarious, and thrilling all at once.
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Dr. Martha is the second book about pioneering female physicians by Willa Cather award winner Mari Graña, whose earlier work, Pioneer Doctor (2005), was a biography of the author's own grandmother, Mary Babcock Atwater. Martha Hughes Cannon, or Mattie, is a remarkable Welsh-American medical doctor, women's rights activist and suffragist.
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I was excited to receive and read this one. First, a little background about the book: It follows Sasha, the narrator for the majority of the book, and someone that used to make a living teaching women how to live the simplistic lifestyle of doing nothing. Just as her career is on the rise and she's gaining attention, one of her followers (and trolls) kills himself on social media, blaming her for it.
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Author Lev Raphael, Jewish himself, had always loved Wharton’s The House of Mirth, but the treatment of Rosedale didn’t sit with him right (which he explains in the introduction). And so he decided to write a redemption story for Rosedale, aptly called Rosedale in Love, as it follows Rosedale’s infatuation with Lily Bart.
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Reading this book will leave you heavy and with a spark to do more for the indigenous community. This could be through volunteering, advocating for indigenous rights to your government leaders, and donating money. This book is outstanding and should be read by those who want to educate themselves about the indigenous communities in North America.
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Coincidentally, I read Paris France by Gertrude Stein for the first time before the coronavirus crisis reared its ugly head throughout Europe. This book review also serves as a way for me to reflect on living in modern-day Paris, France throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Kim Ji-Young is a character that will stick around with you for months after you finish the novel. Her story of how the patriarchy has affected her will make anyone sit down and reflect on their own experiences. This book will touch anyone who reads it, women will feel it emotionally, and men can learn from it.
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Deirdre Purcell is an Irish author, journalist and former theatre actor. Her novel Falling for a Dancer is a highly readable story about the middle-class daughter of a Cork solicitor during the Second World War.
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Lost Girls by Ellen Birkett Morris is a collection of short stories. Each short story features a different woman. All of them are 'lost' in one way or another, but they all show some form of courage and strength to get through the challenges they face.
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Annie Ernaux’s work blends together her own personal experiences as well as collective historical experiences to create heartbreakingly beautiful memoirs that take the reader by the hand and gently lead them through the passing of time.
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While this novel is fictional, you are confronted with uncomfortable conversations white people have about race that you may have participated in or overheard yourself. The way the author approaches the topic is well done and leads the reader to self-reflect.
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LOTE is the dazzling debut novel from Scottish author Shola Von Reinhold, which I came across by chance during lockdown. Initially drawn to the beautiful artwork and a fascinating plot outline, I got much more out of reading LOTE than I could ever have imagined. “Enriching” is an understatement.
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The book that I looked forward to the most from my TBR stack was History by Elsa Morante, and the novel that surprised me the most was A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in a Conquered City by Anonymous. After reading both of these novels back to back, I could not stop my brain from making connections between the two stories and their subject matter.
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In 1963, Rusty Berstein, Nelson Mandela, and fifteen other heads of the African National Congress (ANC) were arrested and charged with over 220 acts of sabotage with the goal of a “violent revolution.” The World That Was Ours details Hilda’s experiences, as well as her husbands and the other leaders of the ANC, leading up to the “Rivonia Trial,” which would determine the fate of the activists.
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