Lists
by Kelsey Ford, March 20, 2023 8:40 AM
Sure, women’s rights have come a long way over the last century, but for every step forward, it feels like we take a few back, and when that feeling is so consistent, so insidious? Man, it makes me want to support women’s wrongs.
On this list, you’ll find books about women’s rights — Gloria Steinem, Barbara Ehrenreich, Mary Beard, all writing about the historical challenges women have faced and the hard work it’s taken to push forward, toward equality and justice. These books are equal parts informative and infuriating, and pair perfectly with the other books on this list, the ones about women's wrongs. Sometimes, we don’t need to be polite; sometimes, we need to find catharsis by reading about women who’ve decided to take matters into their own hands (or, in one case, their sharpened claws). Of course, murder is bad. But sometimes, murder, when done by a (fictional) woman, can be empowering. And here on the Powell’s Blog? We love to empower women.
My Life on the Road
by Gloria Steinem
No wonder studies show that women's intellectual self-esteem tends to go down as years of education go up. We have been studying our own absence.
My Life on the Road is journalist-activist and feminist icon Gloria Steinem’s accounts of her travels around the country, to speaking engagements, journalism assignments, and campaign events. Using travel as the spine of her book, Steinem is able to reflect on the world around her and the roles she’s been able to play, working to further the rights of women. Steinem isn’t a perfect activist, but no one person can be; we can still be grateful for her contributions, and for the work she’s done to allow other women to step up and continue the fight. We can also be grateful for My Life on the Road, a frank and open book that provides refreshing insight into Steinem’s life.
Nightbitch
by Rachel Yoder
How evil to praise women for giving up each and every dream.
Nightbitch! Oh, to be a nightbitch — a woman who may or may not be transforming into a dog every night, a form that matches the feral anger that grows in her every day. The artist who thinks she might be Nightbitch is mom to a two-year-old and wife to an often-gone, but-still-gone-even-when-he’s-there husband. She’s exhausted and overworked, so when her teeth start to feel sharper and she starts to crave raw meat, she’s bewildered, sure, but she’s also relieved. Finally, her form might fit the way she feels. A truly hilarious, strange, and satisfying read.
Women and Power
by Mary Beard
When it comes to silencing women, Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.
In this pocket-sized book, Beard both writes about the silencing of women (both historical and present tense), and offers solutions for women looking for the strength and power they need in order to speak up. In order to build a better world, Beard argues, we must understand the ways in which our current world is upheld by misconceptions about femininity and masculinity, power and subservience, and the ways these misconceptions are braided into every structure in our daily lives.
My Sister, the Serial Killer
by Oyinkan Braithwaite
It was a shame to think that death would whittle away at his broad shoulders and concave abs, until he was nothing more than bone.
There’s that saying that goes something like: a friend will bail you out of jail, but a best friend will be in the jail cell beside you. Which applies (at a slight slant) to My Sister, the Serial Killer, a story about a nurse dealing with her sister who (you guessed it!) may or may not be a serial killer. The sisters are tight, despite all their differences, but murdery tendencies and stolen crushes put increasing strains on their relationship. This book is delightfully dark and cathartic fun.
For Her Own Good
by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English
The discovery of woman as an anomaly—a “question”—this was the essential masculinist perception.
Even just the title of this book gets my blood boiling: originally published in 1978, this important book from Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English explores the insidious ways that gender bias has infested all levels of society. Women aren’t social experiments; women don’t need special treatment; and yet! For Her Own Good is an incisive, well-researched, infuriating look at gender as a constricting construct and the lies that have been told about what women can and can’t do. This book will make you furious, but for good reason.
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
There's a difference between really loving someone and loving the idea of her.
A classic of the “women’s wrongs” genre. Amy Dunne? The epitome of the Cool Girl? A true icon of our time! Gone Girl is truly the thriller that reset the blueprint for what thrillers could be, and even now, after it’s been read and reread, adapted into a pretty-good movie starring J. Lo’s husband, it maintains that edge-of-your-seat, can’t-believe-she-dared, so-glad-she-dared fun. The perfect book for when the world isn’t doling out karma in the way you think it should be.
Shrill
by Lindy West
Feminism is really just the long slow realization that the things you love hate you.
The subtitle to Shrill, “Notes from a Loud Woman,” puts this book’s thesis front and center. Delivered as a refutation against all of the ways that the world demands women be small, Lindy West’s book is about her attempts to navigate an often-adversarial society with impossible-to-reach standards. West is funny and sharp, incisive and personal. Best of all: West is loud.
Out
by Natsuo Kirino (tr. Stephen Snyder)
She couldn't live her life as someone's prisoner.
Out is a bloody and fun thriller from Natsuo Kirino, who has been called the “queen of Japanese crime.” The story centers on a woman who murders her abusive husband, and the three women who help her cover it up. In the world of Kirino’s book, women are second-class citizens, expected to do all of the chores, all of the cooking, all of the cleaning. So one of them finally snapped! Can you blame her? The story is often bleak and pretty grotesque, but it’s also fun — you’ll be rooting for the women to get the best of the men that are circling them. It’s probably worth repeating: obviously murder is bad, but when the victim is a guy like this woman's husband? We can hope this game of cat-and-mouse ends with the mouse escaping.
Invisible Women
by Caroline Criado Perez
There is no such thing as a woman who doesn’t work. There is only a woman who isn’t paid for her work.
Invisible Women is an impressive — and impressively infuriating — book about the way data heavily skews our world in favor of men, who are often (if not always) considered the “default.” Criado Perez’s book is comprehensive and filled with impossible-to-argue-with statistics about all of the ways that society is biased against women, from the small (snow-clearing schedules) to the potentially fatal (medical research). Be warned before picking up Invisible Women: this book will definitely raise your blood pressure.
Animal
by Lisa Taddeo
Sometimes I think it’s the only recourse. Killing men in times like these.
Honestly, Animal hurt to read. After witnessing something truly traumatic, Joan has moved to Los Angeles, in search of something maybe, but definitely trying to escape. Joan is one of those characters that never takes it easy on herself — or, by extension, on the reader. She sees the world as it is — a dangerous, predatory place for women — but still, she does her best to push forward, struggling and snarling and fighting the whole way. Filled with rage and raw emotion and laced with bone-deep emotionality, Animal is a book you won’t be able to put down.
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For more recommended reading, bookseller displays, and original author content, visit our Women’s History Month resource page.
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