We’re closing in on Women’s History Month, and while midterms are coming up you may find yourself looking to relax with a nice book. Four of our writers got together to devise the ultimate feminist reading guide. These 21 awesome books will leave you teary eyed, inspired, and ready to take on the patriarchy. Some say diamonds are a girls best friend, we just want a good book and a cup of tea.
1. Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
This is one of Shannon’s favorites. The Bronte sisters paved the way for female writers. While many people (like Maggie and Harmony) see this book as an almost antifeminist romance, Shannon argues the character of Rochester isn’t a romantic figure because he ends up handicapped and is morally corupt for locking his wife in an attic.
2. Wide Sargasseo Sea- Jean Rhys
This tale flips the Jane Eyre story by taking Rochester’s “crazy” wife, Bertha’s perspective. The book works to destigmatizes women, mental illness, and race.
3. The Awakening-Kate Chopin
A story about a woman who uses sex to escape the roles of mother and wifehood.
4. The Bell Jar- Sylvia Plath
Beware colleigete, this is not a happy read, a young women faces the pressures of her future.
5. Triffels (also known as a jury of her peers)- Susan Glaspell
A women takes on her abusive husband and a group of women work to solve a mysterious murder.
6. Pride and Prejudice (or anything Jane Austen)
Jane Austen is one of the first female writers to depict a women’s world and give credence to women’s interests. She also published her books under the same name, which was a risky move back in the day.
7. Their eyes were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston writes a vivid portarait of a biracial women’s struggle for independence.
8. To the Lighthouse- Virgina Woolf
Girl wants to be painter, men in her life tell her no. She says F**k you and defies them.
9. Orlando- Virginia Woolf
This book experiments with gender in a way other books of the time didn’t. It highlights the power of femininity.
10. Spinster- Kate Bolick
This book is all about why being single in your thirties is good for women. It highlights women in history who were badass spinsters to take back the term ‘spinster.’
11. House of Mirth- Edith Wharton
Even though you may hate Ethan Frome, don’t let highschool English turn you off of Edith Wharton. Wharton’s work highlights and satirizes female expectations from the gilded age and her characters defy those expectations.
12. The Passion of Mary Magdalen- Elizabeth Cunningham
This bad ass book is a chronicle of the Bible’s favorite whore. Mary Magdalene successfully writes her own gospel and flips the patriarchal, Christian narrative by shining light on female diviness.
13. A Great and Terrible Beauty- Libba Bray
A young adult read, this series highlights race, gender, sexuality and is a coming of age novel during the late 19th century.
14. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?- Mindy Kaling
Kaling brilliantly describes the world of a young woman trying to make it in her respective field. This book is hilarious.
15. The Second Sex- Simone De Beauvoir
This is a must have in your arsenal when you’re writing an essay about gender. Simone De Beauvoir perfectly highlights what it means to be a women.
16. Bad Feminist- Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay investigates the nuances of third wave feminism.
17. Yes please- Amy Poehler
Yes Please is about the awesome female comedian, Amy Poehler.
18. Landline- Rainbow Rowell
This book focuses on the struggle between having a family and successful career in male dominated field.
19. A Hand Maidens Tail- Margaret Atwood
A distopian novel about a world where women don’t own their own bodies, sound familiar?
20. Tiffany Aching-Terry Prachett
Males can be feminists too, Terry Prachett and Tom Robbins are prime examples of awesome male feminist writers. In this book a girl knows what she wants and goes out and gets it.
21. Even Cow Girls get the Blues Tom Robbins
This book is all about a beautiful girl with unusually large thumbs who decides to travel the country hitchiking. Sissy Hankshaw and her (Spoiler) lover Bonanza Jellybean are rockin feminst ladies.