I just plowed through a lot of books in January and February in anticipation of Women’s History Month. While I also have a list of picture books you can read with your family, I think it’s so important to dive into books that explore feminist themes and history as well. Some of these books will make you angry. Others will make you cry. And others will make you feel LOTS of emotions, including empowerment and happiness. Here’s a list of my favorite books to celebrate Women’s History Month.
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates. I have recommended this book to SO many friends because it’s such a beautiful compilation of experiences from women around the world. Melinda Gates talks about women she has met through her foundation and how lifting women lifting everyone.
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. You’ve probably seen this book on the top of lists for years now, but for good reason. I think about what I learned from Lean In often, because there are many ways that women are holding themselves back at work. I make a conscious decision now to sit at the table when I would rather lurk in corners of the room, and I am assertive enough to speak up when something is wrong. This book is also interesting because Sheryl Sandberg worked at Facebook for years, so there’s anecdotes about her time there.
Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall. As a white woman myself, I often don’t think about the ways women of color are left out of conversations about equity in the workplace. As Mikki Kendall points out in this book, it is hard to “lean in” when you still don’t have the same opportunities white women do and are fighting just to KEEP your job. Read this one in conjunction with Lean In and other similar books to keep women of color in mind and better understand their struggles.
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister. Remember how I said earlier that some of these books will make you mad? This is one of those books, which is ironic since it is about women’s anger. This is the good type of anger, though, the kind that spurs you to make changes and to recognize the many ways people put down women. I learned SO much from this book and cannot recommend it enough.
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. If you frequently tell yourself you don’t have time to read, you can’t use that excuse for this book. The audiobook version is about 45 minutes long, and it’s essentially an essay instead of a book. I love the way Adichie simply explains feminism and her experiences as a black woman who grew up in a conservative Nigerian culture.
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. I absolutely ADORE Michelle Obama, and her latest book was just as good as, if not better than, Becoming. In The Light We Carry, Obama shares ways we can overcome obstacles and help those around us. She shares lots of personal stories I hadn’t heard before and is so eloquent and inspirational. Michelle Obama also narrates the audio version, so get that from your library or Audible if you prefer audiobooks.
Becoming by Michelle Obama. This was Michelle Obama’s first book, and it reads more like a memoir about how experiences growing up, working as a lawyer, meeting and marrying Barack Obama, and eventually becoming the First Lady. I love both this one and The Light We Carry.
Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger by Soraya Chemaly. While similar to Good and Mad above, this book focuses more on how women’s anger has transformed politics and spurred important conversations like the #MeToo movement. This is another book that will make you mad when you think about how badly America treats its female leaders, but it’s an important read.
Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder. I have never read a memoir quite like this one, and I LOVED it. It’s written as a graphic novel, and the illustrations make this story both laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreaking. Tyler Feder recounts losing her mom to cancer at a very young age and describes the grieving process and what NOT to say to a person who has lost someone.
Untamed by Glennon Doyle. I know many people have a love/hate relationship with this book. My advice is to take what you like from it or read it in little pieces. It isn’t meant to be a consistent narrative but more of a string of anecdotes about what it’s like to be a woman — and the heartbreaking experience of being a queer woman — in America. Doyle’s ideas about parenting are my favorite, and I found this book very inspiring.
What We Carry: A Memoir by Maya Shanbhag Lang. I wish I could send every single person a copy of this book. It hit me so hard when I read it, and I actually bought a copy and sent it to my sister because I needed her to read it so we could discuss it. This beautifully written memoir tells the author’s story of working as doctor while simultaneously caring for her aging mother who has Alzheimer’s disease. It’s about mother-daughter relationships and about realizing that no woman, no matter how polished she may seem, can do it all on her own.
Hold On, But Don’t Hold Still by Kristina Kuzmic. I have bought copies of this book and sent them to friends, too, because it’s such a delight. You may recognize Kristina Kuzmic from her social media videos about parenting. Her memoir is just as funny and poignant and touches on her divorce, years as a single mother, and struggles to lift herself from depression.
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. Please go buy a copy of Firoozeh Dumas’ books. You will not be disappointed. In this one, she recalls growing up in Iran and then moving to the United States at age 10 when her father gets a job in California. They are both hilarious and touching, and I have learned so much about Iranian culture in the process.
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. I may actually like this book better than Sandberg’s first book. You probably know the story of Sheryl Sandberg unexpectedly losing her husband, Dave, while she and her family were on vacation. This book, co-written with the fantastic Adam Grant, is about her journey to grieve and become resilient after his death. I have not lost a close family member, but this was such a healing and important book to me.
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb. Malala’s powerful memoir about her experiences after being shot by the Taliban for advocating for girls’ education is a must-read. Her bravery is absolutely incredible to me.
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo. This is a difficult book to read because it is about a Malaysian-American woman’s experiences with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. However, anyone who has gone through trauma can identify with her experiences and learn so much from how she has processed them. This was one of my favorite books in 2022.
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner. Yes, this is another book about a woman who lost her mom at a young age, but I adore memoirs and loved this one! I also learned a lot about Korean culture and got really hungry reading this.
What are your favorite books to celebrate Women’s History Month? Bonus points if they are memoirs, because this is probably my favorite genre.
