Book

"Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter" by Simone de Beauvoir
 

I read S.d.B. for the first time when I was 12 and I still read and re-read her. Her memoirs (several books) give us a beautiful insight into her way of thinking and the times she lived in.

Order it here

"Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her" by Susan Griffin

A collage of texts, a poetic approach to a very political subject — we accompany Griffin on her foray through centuries of burdening the female body and nature with ideology. 

Order it here

"Beyond the Pale.

White Women, Racism, and History" by Vron Ware

Less a book about feminism than racism, but since they are intertwined, an important read.

Order it here

"We Should All Be Feminists" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A beautiful short essay – check out her TEDx talk online if you can.

Order it here

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

A dystopian novel so timely it gives you goosebumps; about gender, religion, and power.

Order it here

"If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho" translated by Anne Carlson

A.C. does a wonderful job translating Sappho, one of the few women of her time known to us today, and yet so much of her work is lost. The blank pages remind us of the status of women in the public sphere back then.

Order it here

"Longing for Darkness. Tara and the Black Madonna" by China Galland

A very personal and spiritual journey by a woman about religion and its symbols and figures and how we interpret them and the role we give women (or not).

Order it here

"Rosa Luxemburg

The Biography" by J. P. Nettl

I'm usually careful about recommending biographies, and there are only a handful of good ones I've read. Not much has been published about R.L., who was an extraordinary woman. This book gives a good overview.

Order it here

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler (1987, Part 1 of the Exogenesis Series)

This science fiction novel was really all I could think about for a while. Dawn is the first of three books in the Exogenesis series. The story is of Lilith Iyapo, a black human woman, who wakes to find Earth destroyed and that she was saved and is now on a ship with extraterrestrials who want to breed with her to create a new species. She has an entirely new life and we follow her through moments of intimacy, reproduction, and sexual acts within frameworks of autonomy, consent, and authoritative power. Octavia E. Butler has many wonderful books, including the Patternist novels, and many people's favorite, Kindred.

Order it here.

Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf (1928)

 I adore this book. This is about an aristocrat who wakes up to find that he is not a man anymore, but a woman. She does not resist the change. but transitions with love and truth that they are still the same person, just a different sex. We then follow Orlando on a long journey to reclaim their land, property, money, and titles that have been legally sequestered after waking up as a woman. Amazing commentary on the social and economic roles of women during Woolf’s day. There is an annotated version which I think would be a lovely read. 

Order it here.

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art (1998)

Had this book in high school and I still think it is an excellent and fun introduction to patriarchy in the art world, especially for youth.

Order it here.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang (2009)

This book was written in 2009, but I’m sure it is still relevant today. The author follows two young women through their days working in mega factories in China. She explores how these women came to be in the city, how they feel about their jobs, how they spend their money, how they spend their time outside of work, and more. The book is incredibly engaging and I couldn’t put it down.

Order it here.

Hiper Mulheres (The Hyperwomen) (2012)

I wanted to add a film to this list, Partly because not every story is written, but mainly because this documentary will blow your mind! You have to pay, but it's so worth it. Here is a synopsis: Worried that his wife will die soon, an old man asks his nephew to organize a Jamurikumalu, the biggest feminine ritual in the Upper Xingu region of Brazil, so she may sing one last time. The women in the village start the rehearsals, but the only singer that knows all the songs is deathly ill.

Watch the trailer here.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin (1969)

Ursula Le Guin is one of my favorite writers because she writes worlds with a complexity that only a anthropological background can give. In The Left Hand of Darkness, she creates a planet in which people do not have a fixed gender. Which sex they adopt really depends on the context and relationships that are formed. This is the foundational theme for the character Genly Ai, a human envoy sent to the planet Gethen to create an interplanetary trade alliance. The Left Hand of Darkness is actually the first book in the genre ‘feminist science fiction’.

Order it here.