In the past three years of college, I have read my fair share of books. In particular, I love reading books by women authors and preferably ones with diversity. These are my five book suggestions for you to add to your reading lists!
- “Push” by Sapphire
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Push is a book that covers the story of a young black girl, Precious. This book is a short one and you will not want to put it down. I ended up reading it in one night; however, it is a despairing, heartbreaking story. Precious endures incestual sexual abuse, emotional abuse and physical abuse from a very young age. She experiences multiple pregnancies from very young ages and she raises a baby at the age of 16. This book is how she navigates struggling in poverty, being a teen mother and getting an education.
- “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi
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Persepolis is a two part autobiographical comic about Marjane’s experiences in living in Iran in the Islamic Revolution. She has experienced a unique life with governmental turmoil, resulting in her fleeing the country, all while being a teen who is trying to figure out who they are. This story gives the reader a new perspective on how growing up in this unique situation impacts Marjane, but it also sparks a bit of humor throughout.
- “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
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The Color Purple is a modern classic book written in letter format. It covers 20 years within the life of a black woman, Celie. This story begins as a sad one but evolves into a story about independence, love and finding her true confident self with the help of close friends.
- “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros
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The House on Mango Street follows a year of the life of a 12 year old Mexican-American girl, Esperanza. She moves to a house on Mango Street, hence the title and how moving to this new location impacts her life. She thinks this house is an improvement, but instead realizes how segregated the neighborhoods are in Chicago. Within her year, she develops and utilizes writing to express herself and take herself out of the neighborhood. This book gives a great picture of Esperanza’s life and how her writing helps her work through her traumatic experiences and growing into herself during puberty.
- “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel
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This personally was my favorite book I have read thus far in college. You may have heard “Bechdel” before because of the Bechdel test that Alison Bechdel created. This is a test for movies that asks if there are at least two women in a movie and that they talk to each other about something besides men. This is a test that shockingly, not many movies pass.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is truly a genre in its own. It is a tragedy in comic form. It is an autobiographical story about Alison’s life. She covers her life including the struggles she had with her father, questioning her sexuality, her relationships, deaths in the family and the grieving process.
Within these five books that I have read in courses in my college, there is much to learn from them. I personally enjoyed every one of these books because they showed me of different women’s lives and as a result, I learned from them.