These are my favorite books—to read and to teach❤️📚 In case you would like recommendations 🥰
I plan to update this regularly, but it won’t generate a new email every time I do; if you want my most updated list, please click “save” and check back regularly 😊
This is offered in no order whatsoever, no ranking; just however I found my titles—on my shelves, in the Libby app, and in my Kindle library. 📚
FEMINIST LIT (mostly taken from a course I teach that I call “Gritty Chick Lit,” which means highly readable but also super smart and literary, and frequently humorous; I am a book snob, so no fluffy beach reads on this list)
Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke
The House of My Mother, by Shari Franke
The Hounding, by Xenobe Purvis
Women Talking, by Miriam Toews
Isola, by Allegra Goodman
Victorian Psycho, by Virginia Feito
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Wordslut, by Amanda Montel
The Roundhouse, by Louise Erdrich
The Mad Wife, by Meagan Church
Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman
Station Eleven or LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE, by Emily St. John Mandel
The Rapture of Canaan, by Sheri Reynolds
The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner
The Push, by Ashley Audrain
Self Care, by Leigh Stein
Young Jane Young, by Gabrielle Zevin
Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid
The Women Could Fly, by Megan Giddings
Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi
The Death of Vivek Oji, by Akwaeke Emezi
Dear Senthuran, by Akwaeke Emezi
God Spare the Girls, by Kelsey McKinney
Candy Girl, by Diablo Cody
Notes on an Execution, by Danya Kukafka
My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh
Luster, by Raven Leilani
The Pisces, or Milkfed, by Melissa Broder
The First Bad Man, by Miranda July
The Power, by Naomi Alderman
The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty
My Murder, by Katie Williams
AUTHORS WHOSE BOOKS I READ NO MATTER WHAT (if their name is on this list that means I’m recommending everything they’ve written)
Ekwaeke Emezi
David Sedaris
Chelsea Handler
Richard Russo
Elizabeth Strout
Dave Eggers
Kent Haruf
Emily St. John Mandel
Gillian Flynn
Louise Erdrich
Jon Krakauer
OTHER RANDOM BOOKS I ENJOYED
The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey
Normal People, by Sally Rooney
Lost Lambs, by Madeline Cash
The Talking Bone, by Rene Denfeld
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, by Janice Hallett
The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters
The Colony, by Annika Norlin
Brain on Fire, by Susannah Cahalan
This is How, by Augusten Burroughs
The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
Cultish, by Amanda Montell
Shrill, by Lindy West
Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang
Stella Maris, by Cormac McCarthy
Death Valley, by Melissa Broder
The Mighty Red, by Louise Erdrich
Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich
To the Bright Edge of the World, by Eowyn Ivey
Long Island Compromise, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Goodbye, Vitamin, by Rachel Khong
Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks
Educated, by Tara Westover
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, by Rhoda Janzen
Miss Jane, by Brad Watson
My Own Country, Abraham Verghese
I’m honored my novel The Talking Bone is on this list! Thank you, Jennie. It feels good to have the feminist framing of the story recognized.
I have read many of these books - most I agree are fantastic. Or at least thought provoking.
I would add The Calamity Club by Katherine Stockett. (She also wrote The Help. If you can, listen to the audiobook version. The narrators are phenomenal. )