Women have been making an impact on the world since the beginning of time. We are smart, savvy, intuitive trendsetters and powerful leaders. We are wives, mothers, sisters, daughters and friends. Nikki Giovanni describes women best in her poem “Ego Tripping:” “I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal I cannot be comprehended except by my permission.” We are bad. Our contribution to society deserves to be celebrated all year long. What started off as a week of recognizing women’s accomplishments in 1981 had blossomed into a whole month by March of 1987 and for good reason; nothing would be possible without us.
We are fortunate to have so many amazing stories by and about women. From memoir to fiction, inspirational comebacks to tales of perseverance and strength, these books will change your life for the better. You can read them alone or share them with a girlfriend. Here are six significant books you will want to put at the top of your March to-read list.
In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules by Karen Karbo
In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules by Karen Karbo (National Geographic) is the witty, irreverent paperback that explores the legacies of extraordinary women — from Frida Kahlo to Liz Taylor to Nora Ephron — who give inspiration and instruction. Smart, sassy and unapologetically feminine, this elegantly illustrated book is an ode to the bold and charismatic women of modern history.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Random House) is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic that captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry and the wonder of words that can make the world right.
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (Algonquin Books) opens on November 25, 1960, when three beautiful sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The official state newspaper reports their deaths as accidental. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. It doesn’t have to. Everybody knows of Las Mariposas — the Butterflies.
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (Bantam) takes root in 1942 when a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam to go into hiding during the Nazis occupation of Holland. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama (Crown Publishing Group) shares her experiences and achievements — both in and out of the White House — that have made her who she is today. She recounts impactful stories, ranging from memories of her childhood, to dating the future president of the United States, to becoming the first African-American First Lady.
Shrill by Lindy West
Shrill by Lindy West (Hachette Books) an uproarious memoir, a feminist rallying cry in a world that thinks gender politics are tedious and that women, especially feminists, can’t be funny. From a painfully shy childhood in which she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide her big body and even bigger opinions; to her public war with stand-up comedians over rape jokes; to her struggle to convince herself, and then the world, that fat people have value; Lindy narrates her life with a blend of humor, vulnerability and boundless charm.
