The start of March marks the beginning of Women’s History Month! For this month, we’re focusing our recs around womanhood and femininity, unique relationships between women, and the struggle of identity. From youth to late adulthood, feminine identity can bring difficulties and joys, and our book recs below explore that across genres. Here are Jess and Lauren’s official March book recommendations:
The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine
The Grammarians follow Laurel and Daphne Wolfe, two eclectic red-headed identical twins both plagued and excited by the way that language consumes them. As children, they obsess over a dictionary and unsettle the adults in their lives with their precocious and overwhelming focus on words. Adulthood brings them apart as their thoughts on language chasm apart; the once symbiotic sisters suddenly grapple with what it means to be an individual and fight with who you once loved most. Schine writes on their differing views of the English language, the sisters once enthralled in their shared relationship with words caught between the lines of strict cleanliness of editorial language and the beauty of creative words. The Grammarians explores a deeply connected and painful relationship between two twins, dragging readers through their messy world of language and sisterhood. Sometimes upsetting and utterly enthralling, Schine’s The Grammarians is a March must-read. – JG
Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales
Similar to our very own advice column, Ask Nelly, Darcy dispenses love advice based on letters and small payments dropped into an abandoned locker. Darcy knows everything there is to know about relationships and love from her favorite YouTubers, but she doesn’t have much life experience of her own. When Darcy gets caught in a love triangle- torn between her childhood best friend and an exciting new boy- she puts her friendships and advice-giving business at risk. The book also delves into sisterhood, finding support through her school’s LGBTQIA club, and accepting that there are some relationships you do outgrow. – LB
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Emezi’s Freshwater places the reader deep into the head of a young woman named Ada, guiding you around her native Nigeria, college town America, and the twisting pathways of Ada’s mind. Growing up a prayer miracle child of parents Saul and Saachi, Ada’s childhood is defined by volatility and mania caused by spirits (the ‘ogbanje’) buried within her mind. The spirits speak to the reader through Ida, dragging her through trauma and painful-to-read self-destruction. Ada could be read as a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder, if not for the fact that Freshwater not only explores her as a character but introduces the reader to Nigerian culture and the lore of Igbo spirits. Rather than Western written mental illness, Ada’s plight is deeply entrenched in her culture and a new view into interpreting how we view our own minds. There’s also an exploration of gender identity and dysphoria, mirroring Emezi’s own experiences as a nonbinary person. Freshwater is shocking, painful, and often violent — I recommend looking up full content warnings before reading. But God, Freshwater is as good as it is hard, and I’m sure to return to it time and time again. – JG
A Taste For Love by Jennifer Yen
Need a bakery escape for these last gloomy days of winter? Get swept into the world of sweets with A Taste For Love. Though it’s a bachelor-like romance meets baking competition on the surface, it’s really about the messy relationship between Liza, her mom, and her sister. Liza loves her sister but has always been jealous of how her mom sees her as perfect with her acceptance to NYU and modeling career. Liza feels like she can never do anything right to please her mom, even though she shares her mom’s passion for baking and spends most of her time helping out at the family bakery. Through running the annual baking competition together, Liza finds an understanding with her mom and gets a clearer view of her future, eventually ending up with the perfect guy as well! – LB
As always, the links above take you to McNally Jackson, a great NYC-based bookstore. Have any must-reads for next month’s collection? Theme ideas you want to see? Let us know!
Happy reading!