Reading List

Marie Kondo has said that her clients' bookshelves often tell the story of what they should be doing with their lives. It's true - our bookshelves are a peek into our passions, our aspirations, our journeys. Our past and future selves, in other words.

In my experience, if you don't go out of your way to diversify your reading, you will mostly read books written by men. (Go and check.) Not that there aren't flippin' great male writers - there certainly are - but I think it shows that our human experience has historically been seen through the eyes of men. Girls are taught to empathize with boys much more than the other way around. Hollywood produces more boy characters because the common wisdom is that girls will go see boy stories but boys won't go see girl stories.

Find some girl stories.

Here a list to help you get started:

FICTION

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Power by Naomi Alderman (Women's Prize for Fiction winner)
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Kindred by Octavia Butler
• Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
• My Brilliant Friend (and series) by Elena Ferrante
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Booker prize winner)
• Monstress (graphic novel) by Marjorie Liu
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik
• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
• Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Lila by Marilynne Robinson
• Persepolis (graphic novel) by Marjane Satrapi
• Unless by Carol Shields
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
• Ms. Marvel (graphic novel) by G. Willow Wilson

NON-FICTION

• Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates
• The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
• Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett
• Be Fierce by Gretchen Carlson
• Brotopia by Emily Chang
• What Happened by Hillary Clinton
• Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser (Pulitzer prize winner)
• Hunger by Roxane Gay
• My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• On Becoming Fearless by Arianna Huffington
• Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
• Darling, You Can't Do Both by Janet Kestin
• Grace and Grit by Lilly Ledbetter
• The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
• Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot
• The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (graphic novel) by Sydney Padua
• Reset by Ellen Pao
• Pro by Katha Pollitt
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
• Hidden Figures by Margot Shetterly
• Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
• All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister
• I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

BLOG ROLL

• Everyday Feminism