Being a Woman

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A bit of a non-specific description that, wasn't it? This pretty much sums up how I feel about the book. It is often very funny, sometimes thought-provoking and, in places, very moving... but it suffers a bit from not knowing what it wants to be. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a dazzlingly honest graphic memoir about Bechdel’s teenage relationship to her father and her process of coming out — and it’s the book behind the Tony-award-winning musical of the same name! Among beautiful Gothic illustrations emerges a narrative about figuring out who you are, as Alison learns more about her own sexual orientation and that of her father, who remains an elusive figure. For Girls/Young Women 57. She Speaks: Women's Speeches That Changed the World, from Boudica to Greta by Yvette Cooper NOW – Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunuch from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller. There’s never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain… What does it even mean to “find yourself”? In Wild , after a series of personal tragedies, Cheryl Strayed decides to solo hike a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. Her story of the epic hike captures surviving a bewildering time in her life and pushing through the pain to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Even if you don’t want to literally wander through the wilderness like her, her story of resilience can help you appreciate your surroundings and start finding your footing one step at a time. 6. You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

If you told my 22-year-old self that she’d someday be researching the best books to read in your 30s, she probably would have made a little joke about crypts. Of course, 10 years later, I realize just how silly that is. In some ways, I feel younger now than I did at 25. Gathering a little life experience and perspective will do that. Story: A Woman After God's Own Heart is a book that teaches women skills of becoming a woman after God's own heart. It covers everything from being a good wife and mother to prioritizing your life and household. *STAR* EDITING TO ADD: If you are here to tell me that Moron was just being "funny" or "ironic" or any other word meant to belittle my take on Moron's interview and thus insinuate that I just don't get it and I am pearl clutching: Caitlin Moran has a chatty, teenager-ishly snippy voice and she made me collapse into a helpless fit of distinctly unflattering, full-blown guffaws more often than what I had foreseen. But still make sure to take this mash-up of pop culture commentary, criticism, and opinions on gender rights issues with a pinch of salt. Better still take this as a memoir and a lengthy, one-sided rant and little else. For example if you are reading this with a pre-supposition of Ms Moran's capacity for empathy, your eyes may glaze over lines like the following in a desperate hurry to get to the funnier or more relevant bits -The Yellow Wallpaper is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s most famous story, a semi-autobiographical tale of postpartum psychosis. Beautiful and chilling, this feminist story is now widely taught in schools — and it’s in great company with Ibsen’s A Doll’s House , since both take issue with the infantilization of women. Guaranteed to thrill and anger you, The Yellow Wallpaper remains relevant through its interest in the social role of women, mental health, and isolation. The rest of the stories in The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories are hidden gems, and a chance to get to know the author’s lesser-known experiments. 56. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel In fact, while visiting the UK last fall, I saw one of her columns in that paper (I think I only read real newspapers when I’m visiting somewhere else) and thought: Aha! And I was hooked. If I think of Beth Moore studies as a battlefield of her personal quirks vs the lasting story message, in this study of Esther the lasting story & message wins out. Beth opened my mind to many ways that Esther is a form of great literature. I also learned about "chiastic structure" from this study (Don't live to eat, just eat to live, etc), & turned tables, ironies, & destiny reversals. I feel I've gotten more out of this study than what work I actually put into it! Esther definitely shows that God is the Master Storyteller!

Unfortunately the e-reader I was using at the time has lost all of my notes on this, but I wanted to write something here anyway because I think Caitlin Moran is such an extravagantly gifted writer and I thought this book was a kind of masterpiece of its type. Even though Gay calls herself a Bad Feminist , her collection of essays about her experience as a woman, and a woman of color, does something undeniably good — it empowers readers to look at feminism with a critical eye. In this book, Gay unleashes her acerbic wit to ask us to do better and take down stereotypes about feminism; yes, you can have your favorite color be pink and still be a feminist. 15. T he Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance — What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman Society should be different. But while we’re waiting for society to change, there’s just certain things you have to do. But again the thing is, so many things you could do instead are predicated on having money. She could come out of a nightclub and get into a taxi, that would be the right thing to do. As with any book like this, there’s a bit of repetition, and some topics will appeal to some readers more than others. I sort of glossed over her section on women’s clothes, for instance. But after reading Moran on the hell that is the high heel, you have my sympathies, women.Well it turns out she is quite a big deal in the UK, where she wrote a novel at 15, became a music journalist for the weekly Melody Maker at 16 and briefly hosted a Channel 4 pop culture show called Naked City at 18 before embarking on a long career as a TV critic and satirical columnist for The Times. My first impression of this study after doing week one with our small group was that Beth Moore seems to have discovered a formula that she feels works and written yet another study. The way it reads and the workbook itself feels very formulaic and reminds me of language arts workbooks that I had to do for homework as an elementary school student. Another entry in the tradition of re-telling classical mythology, The Penelopiad foregrounds the voice of Penelope and the twelve maids who were hanged in Homer’s Odyssey . Penelope’s voice becomes distinctly modern, a smart and wise character who completely captivates her reader. Atwood also brilliantly places the emphasis on the twelve maids, who are entirely buried in the details in the original myth, yet here find justice and a space to speak. 43. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Not That Kind of Girl , a collection of essays by Lena Dunham, creator of HBO’s Girls , is a fearless and witty examination of millenial girlhood. Dunham, famous for her feminist politics and admirable willingness to be vulnerable, does not shy away from difficult or graphic topics. She keeps things real and flawed and doesn’t sugarcoat anything, instead celebrating life for the inexplicable mess it often is. 26. Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates

C: It’s weird there. And you’d realise… like in the same way that we don’t have policemen with guns in the UK and then you go to America and the policemen have guns. And often you can be in a state where there’s the death penalty and…In an epic series of four books spanning sixty years, Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels follow the friendship of the reserved Elena and brash Lila as they grow up and grow old in Italy, evoking them in all their confusions and complexities . The note-perfect quartet nails female friendship and stirs us to appreciate our relationships with all the women in our lives. 34. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi A modern feminist re-telling of the story of Circe, the famous witch from Homer’s Odyssey , Circe by Madeline Miller is a book you never want to end. Lyrical and poetic, Miller’s book allows Circe to claim her voice in the narrative, pushing her way in from the obscurity of the margins. The reader watches Circe grow up to be a sensitive, wise, and fierce goddess. This novel’s glimmering prose is sure to have you rethinking old myths and gifting the book to all of your friends. 37. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker I’ve always known I was different, but I’ve only embraced that in the last few years. This started with an uncharacteristic decision to live alone by the mountains in Switzerland for three years.