After looking over Esquire's The 80 Books Every Man Should Read and The 40 books every woman should read at HelloGiggles, I have decided to compile my own list. I feel like fiction is most certainly a worthy endeavor, and I spend much more of my time reading fiction than non-fiction, but I also feel that women, especially feminists, should take some time to read non-fiction.
Before I begin, let me say that this list is no where near comprehensive. It only includes ten books, for the love of Pete! However, I do think that these are important ones. I am completely open to suggestions on other non-fiction titles women should read. I also realize that if I can only come up to a grand total of ten books that I should probably add some more non-fiction to my list. These are listed in no particular order.
Without further ado, here we go:
1. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America by Ruth Rosen. I love this book. Rosen lays out a great history of the modern women's movement that began in the latter half of the 20th century; she also shows just how influential women of color were to beginning a movement that often excludes them now.
2. Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture is an enlightening look at the sexualization of women in pop-culture. It shows the full picture of how men objectify women, of how women objectify other women, and of how women are taught to objectify themselves. Levy calls on women to change how this picture of women works within pop-culture.
3. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks is a must for any woman. hooks details how feminism is accessible to everyone, why it is still important, and how class, gender, and race, among other issues, are important to the modern movement.
4. Ellen Willis was the first female critic of popular music back in the 1960s. Her voice remains influential to this day. She pioneered with her criticism which is all at once feminist, emotional, and intelligent. She covered artists from Janis to Mitchell and Springsteen to Dylan. This is a wonderful collection of essays edited by her daughter, Nona Willis Aronowitz.
5. Femininity by Susan Brownmiller is a classic piece of feminist literature. I realize that this isn't a new suggestion and that some of the information might be a bit dated at this point, but it is still so very relevant. Brownmiller details the history of how women should...well, be women according to society at large.
6. Elizabeth Wurtzel's Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women makes my list everytime. Wurtzel has unpacked so much with her work, and I feel like she also does so for many women with this book. She brings so many "difficult women" together in one spot, allows women to be sexual, and bitingly dissects pop-culture.
7. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen has to be included. I know, I know - the movie! - ugh. It isn't that great. It is a memoir, which I'm going to loosely call "non-fiction." This book tells the story of Susanna's very quick diagnosis of mental illness in the 1960s and her subsequent stay in a mental hospital. So many women deal with depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety, and BPD that I feel at least one book of this type needed to make the cut. Kaysen looks at the thin line between sane and insane, and I have to say, this is just a wonderful read. Honorable mention goes to Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel which is also a great read.
8. Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is hand's down one of the best books I have ever read. I'll admit that this work has nothing to do with feminism, but it has to do with life, all types of life. Dillard tackles the great mystery of life by spending a year studying the nature around her home and at Tinker Creek in Roanoke Valley in Virginia. Once you've read this, I promise you'll never look at the outside world in the same way again.
9. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in American by Barbara Ehrenreich shows poverty and what it means to make ends meet in the U.S. today in this telling work. How could such an influential work not make the list!?
10. The monologue play by Ntozake Shange For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf is one of the most moving works I've ever read. This technically does not fall under the non-fiction heading, but I'd beg to differ on that front. For plenty of women, this monologue sums up many moments of their lives, and because of that, I am including it as non-fiction. It is simply a rendition of life. Go get it! Also, once again, the movie...not so great. Not horrible but not nearly as profound as the play.
Again, I am very open to suggestions on what else to add and read. I know I still have so much to learn, but hopefully someone will find something new and enlightening on this list.
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