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Books about Books
How to be a Heroine: Or What I’ve Learned from Reading Too Much by Sam Ellis
I have read this at least seveb times, it’s so addictively good, reading about someone who loves books so much as well as analyzing their influence, their subtle feminism and their failings. Of the heroines and the authors behind them. The memoir is again, personal as memoirs are depicting how these books have influenced her life, helped her deal with her epilepsy diagnosis, her future as a playwrighter and more. I plan to reread it again very soon, it’s just that good.
Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life by Sam Ellis
This book provides a lovely interplay between narrative story, memoir and research into the least well known Bronte sister who had a quiet strength and dark emotion in her novels that tend to be overlooked compared to the brooding Heathcliff and cold Rochester. Why is that? As Ellis analyzes, Anne portrayed this dark heroes not as romanticized love interests but for being the harsh, cruel men they woul be in real life, practically abusive. I enjoyed learning about Anne and she has made me her favorite Bronte for now. Even though I still prefer her sisters’ novels.
A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Elliot and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeny
This is a cool book showing that despite the previous mythologies of these women dilligently writing alone by the windows, there is actually a lot more interplay and inspiration. Each of these women had fellow (less known) writer friends for which they could share their ideas, forming a mini community of writerly cameraderie. My favorite was the one between George Eliot and Harriet Breecher Stowe. Do check it out. It also features a forword by Margret Atwood!
Fiction
The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogell
I highly suggest this eight book series following a group of unlikely friends from the beginning from sixth grade up to senior year graduation (though it skips 10-12 grade year). They all come together because their moms want to make a book club as a chance to bond. However, bookish Emma, shy Jess, fashionista Megan and sporty Cassidy loath the idea as any teenager does. But the book club does give them a bond as they find their literary counterparts offer more than entertaining stories but relate to them today. It covers the bond between mothers and daughters, the complexities of friendship, romance and growing up and I especially enjoy how she subtly copies the plots of the books they’re reading. It is especially pronounced in Pies and Prejudice but I’ll leave you to find out.
Shelf Life: Stories by the Book edited by Gary Paulson. Written by M.T. Anderson, Joan Bauer, Marion Dans Bauer, Ellen Conford, Margaret Peterson Hendrix, Jennifer L. Holms, Kathleen Karr, A. LaFaye, Gregory Maguire and Ellen Wittlinger
This is a ten story anthology for the charity, ProLiteracy Worldwide. The only condition is a book must be mentioned.
As such a lot of the stories focus on the power of books as a source of knowledge, friendship, memory and escape. What else would you expect from a bunch of writers?
I particularly enjoyed the subtle humor and nostalgia of Joan Bauer’s Clean Sweep and the jokester getting comeuppance in Conford’s In Your Hat. Same with Wittlinger’s ability to capture female friendship in Wet Hens and Dans Bauer’s Ths Good Deed.
Anderson’s Barcarole for Papers and Bones was notable for its creepy atmosphere and ambiguity while Maguire brings his signature kookiness in Tea Party Ends in Bloody Massacre, Film at 11.
The others were okay like Karr’s historical tale in What’s a Fellow to Do? It takes place during the 1893 Chicago World Faire which is always unique. Haddix was the only other realistic fiction while Holm goes for sci-fi in Follow the Water, and the magical realism of LaFaye’s Testing, Testing 1…2…3.”
#anathology, #asecretsisterhood, #booksboutbooks, #chatto&windus, #emilymdorikawa, #emmaclairesweeny, #garypaulsen, #heathervogell, #howtobeaheroine, #literarybooks, #marinerbooks, #rachelreads&reviews, #samellis, #shelflife, #simon&schuster, #simonandschuster, #takecourage, #themotherdaughterbookclub -
Mythological Books
The Book of Goddesses by Kris Waldherr
This book contains 26 goddesses from around the world with gorgeous, meticulous illustrations of each. Detailing their origins, their powers and how each could help you in your daily life.
Legendary Ladies by Ann Shen
This book took a lot of references from above, so much so, when I first read it I thought it was plagerized. It is not but the content is very similar so your choice of book can come down to which art style you prefer or that you want 50 instead of 26.
We Goddesses: Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera by Doris Orgel
Another beautifully illustrated book, this goes into the three main goddesses who fight over the infamous golden apple. It shows their origin myths, their power and shows a different perspective of the Trojan War through their eyes.
(more…)#annshen, #beyondwordspublishingcompany, #capstoneyoungreaders, #chroniclebooks, #circe, #clarionbooks, #disneyhyperion, #dkpublishing, #dorisorgel, #estherfriesner, #goddessgirls, #hachettebookgroup, #inshafitzpatrick, #joanholub, #julianamoon, #katemcmullen, #kriswaldherr, #legendaryladies, #madelinemiller, #mythology, #mythomania, #nobody'sprincess, #ohmygods, #ohmygods!, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelreads&reviews, #rickriorden, #simon&schuster, #stephaniecooke, #suzannewilliams, #teralynnchilds, #thebookofgoddesses, #thekanechronicles, #wegoddesses -
Women’s History Books P5
Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics by Talithia Williams
This book doves into a field that I have little interest but still holds amazing forgotten women that basically helped create theories that provide the basis for so many things we have now. Curtained into three neat chapters of The Pioneers, From Code-Breaking to Rocket Science and Modern Math Mavens, it has a nice diverse spread of women in many mathmatical areas. It also introduced several that I never heard of before like Mary Golda Ross, a Cherokee women that helped shape the space program and launch ballistic missles, and Shakuntala Devi, arguably the smartest women ever (I think). Besides covering the now well-known figures like Grace Hopper and the West Computers, Mary Winston Jackson, Katherine G. Johnson and Dorothy Vaughen, the biggest chapter is dedicated to modern mathmeticians. I thought this was a nice choice to show how there are many breaking boundaries and making history today, providing current role models.
Also this book is definately for high schoolers looking for math sheros because it does not explain the concepts. It expects you to know the terms. Like when the author writes of Winifred Merrill’s thesis showed new results in “obtaining relations between Cartesian and oblique systems and the oblique and triplanar systems to obtain the needed equation arrays for the Cartesian and triplanar systems (Williams 34).” I guess that’s impressive, I just have no idea how.
(more…)#america'sfirstladies, #andreamurphy, #apprenticepublishing, #beverelybond, #blackgirlsrock, #feminist, #harpercollins, #historical, #inpraiseofdifficultwomen, #karenkarbo, #kathleenkrull, #powerinnumbers, #racepointpublishing, #rachelreads&reviews, #simon&schuster, #talithiawilliams, #thebookofgustywomen, #theclintons, #womenofthepinetreestate, #womenshistorymonth -
Fashion Forward Books
The Allegra Biscotti Collection by Olivia Bennet
This was a fun book following a shy eight grader named Emma Rose. Her true passion is fashion, but not in a career sort of way, she just enjoys mixing and creating new looks, letting her imagination free. However, when a fashion designer sees her sketches, caught by surprise (and convinced that the woman wouldn’t believe her, a teenager, to be so talented), Emma lies and says its by a woman named Allegra Biscotti. Thus her alter ego is born and she goes on to become “liason” to the elusive fashionista, must finish homework while creating a killer collection for fashion week. It’s a fun series that has pretty fun sketches between pages that combines fashion and coming of age. Fun for middle schoolers.
Time Travelling Fashionista by Bianca Turetsky
This a compelling look into the history of fashion so to speak as a magical vintage dress shop allows 7th grader, Louise Lambert travel back in time according to the dress she wears. From the Titanic to Ancient Egypt, Louise finds a life of luxury that also hides danger underneath. Threaded with relatable struggles of growing up, friendship and family, this makes a compelling read for young readers. Additionally, power of the vintage dress shop holds mysteries and secrets to it, like hints of a secret exclusive society, which is why its mega disappointing that it ends after three books with a cliffhanger and no answers! The books also have the most beautiful illustrations that make them worth buying for a look alone.
Nevertheless, She Wore It by Ann Shen
This non-fiction book explores the impact and power of (in)famous pieces of fashion from Princess Diana’s Revenge dress to the Black Panther Party’s berets, showcasing how clothes can make a huge statement representing social movements and inclusivity. And yes, even the personal (like what you wear) can become political with a great amount of flair.
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Juicy Drama Series
I love a good juicy drama, backstabbing, high fashion, television, that’s how I got into reading and now I feel compelled to share it with everyone on the internet. Even as it painfully dates me to an early 2000s girl (the best era, let’s be honest), and most of these are from the now unfortunately defunct Poppy imprint.
The Clique/Alphas (spin off) by Lisi Harrison
This one takes top spot in my heart, I reread these books a lot. It was like a reality show, all heightened drama and romance before I even knew what realuty tv was. Though I know people said these books were trashy and mean, I still never understood why it seemed like only I saw the character development between books. Everyone else said development was non existent! I thought it was obvious that Massie got somewhat nicer, not wanting Claire to go to Chicago; how the girls supported Dylan’s fatphobia and so on and so forth.
Plus now that I’m older I can clearly see the influences of satire like when Kirsten “the smart one” is relieved to find out her crush isn’t perfect because he makes a gramatically mistake between their and they’re. We, the readers can see her crush was right all along, and Kristen is wrong which I found funny. It just illsutrated the point that these girl think they know so much, but they’re so wrong, they just don’t know it.
Point is, I loved the series and the manga and the spin off and the movie and its still worth the nostalgia reread.
(more…)#2000s, #aristobrats, #candencebushnell, #canterwoodcrest, #celebrities, #commercialbreaks, #drama, #drama!, #fiction, #grandcentralpublishing, #hollywood, #jencalonita, #jennifersolow, #jessicaburkart, #joannaphilbin, #killingmonica, #lightscameracassidy, #lindagerber, #lisiharrison, #lucybparker, #nostalgia, #paulruditis, #penguinrandomhouse, #pgkain, #poppypublishing, #rachelreads&reviews, #robinpalmer, #secretsofmyhollywoodlife, #simon&schuster, #simonpulse, #sourcebooksforyoungreaders, #talent, #theclique, #thedaughters, #tv, #zoeydean -
Top 5 Clique Books
I know these books get a bad rep for promoting bullying but I never seen it that way. I mean it’s just fiction, it’s not like people are saying Gossip Girl promotes teens to sleep their way out of everything. If anything both series shows how bad it is to live your life that way. Plus as I reread it last year, I can now see all the satirical jokes I had missed and the throwback references to MTV. It’s a light read, a blast to the past of the early 2000s and now I shall share my 5 favorites.
Masie, Dyan, Alicia, Kristen and Claire from The Clique Summer Collection!
Okay okay I’m joking. I know I can’t choose the summer collection. But I do enjoy them the best. Each girl gets to shine on their own and show their stuff and it is fun and quiet often, hilarious. Plus Dylan and Kristen get to show their master manipulating which is nice since they sometimes get shafted during the series.
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Women’s History Month Books P4
Femme Magnifique
A Kickstarter funded graphic anathology of women, living and dead from all walks of life including Kate Bush, Octavia Butler, Rumiko Takahashi and more. I love the unique art of each and every one of them, and it is made more personal in that each author writes why they chose them and how they inspired them.
Renegade Women in Film and TV by Elizabeth Weitzman
Just as the title suggests, this book gives a nice chronological look of women in film since its inception, beginning with Alice Guy-Blanche who arguably created the first narrative film and thus sparked the idea that movies could be used to tell stories. While going over some well-known actresses like Selma Hayek and Mary Tyler Moore, it also delves into lesser known people in the industry like film critic, Pauline Kael and editor, Thelma Schoonmaker among others. It also includes interviews with stars from Rita Moreno to Barbara Streisand with a backlist of movies/tv shows to watch.
League of Extraordinarily Funny Women by Sheila Moeschen
Just as the title says, this book is all about disproving the myth that women aren’t funny. Though any episode of I Love Lucy should dispel that idea completely. But it’s nice to see the proof in writing featuring Saturday Night Live favorites as well as classic slapstick vaudvillians like Mabel Normand. I just wish the final chapter of upcoming comedians had bigger bios because the one with Rachel Bloom hardly included her amazing tv show. I just felt even though they are newer, there could have been a little more description into their style of comedy.
Noisemakers: 25 women who raised their voices and changed the world
Another graphic anathology (for middle and lower schoolers) created by Kazoo magazine, brings together gorgeous art from various female artists to highlight bold, creative women who seized life and didnt let go until they reached their dreams. Short but lovely.
The Girl Who Rode a Shark: And Other Stories of Daring Women by Aisla Ross
This lovely middle grade book managed to cover some new women previously unmentioned in other books I have read from adenturer and photographer, Isabella Bird to Manon Ossevoot who travelled from Europe to the South Pole in a tractor to gun activist Naomi Wadler. It is fun, boldy colored and informative that will sure to inspire some girls to see the unleashed potential of women who go for it.
Forgotten Women by Zing Tsjeng
This series of four covers the wide fields of Scientists, Writers, Artists and Leaders around the globe with meticulous research, aided by the New School’s academic initative to highlight forgotten women, New Historia and illustrated by various artists from womenwhodraw.com. With 100 women per book, Tsjeng covers many unknowns from around the world in an objective fashion showcasing their triumphs and their struggles without glorifying them.
#aislaross, #blackcrownpublishing, #cassel, #elizabethweitzman, #feminist, #femmemagnifique, #forgottenwomen, #kazoomagazine, #leagueofextraordinarilyfunnywomen, #noisemakers, #nonfiction, #pajamapress, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelreads&reviews, #renegadewomeninfilmandtelevision, #runningpress, #sheilamoeschen, #thegirlwhorodeashark, #womenshistorymonth, #zingtsjeng -
Historical Fiction Books for Kids
American Girls and American Girl: History Mystery, American Girl: Girls from Other Lands Series
(more…)#american girl, #candlewickpublishing, #dearamerica, #dearcanada, #deborahkent, #erikatamar, #girlsfromotherlands, #girlsoflighthouselane, #harpercollins, #historicalfiction, #history mystery, #jessicaspotswood, #macmillan, #peasantcompany, #rachelreads&reviews, #royaldiaries, #ruthelwinharris, #saddlesstarsandstripes, #scholastic, #simon&schuster, #sistersofquantockhills, #theradicalelement, #tyrannyofpetticoats -
Superman Smashes the Klan Review
This was an excellent graphic novel based upon a little known radio play (at least to me) where Superman fights the KKK.
Set just after WWII, Superman is fighting off the few Nazis who haven’t realized they’ve lost the war, and in doing so, comes into contact with kryptonite for the first time, making him weak and giving him unsettling visions.
Meanwhile, the Lee family is moving out of Chinatown and into Metropolis, a change that makes MC, Roberta, nauseous even as her older brother, Tommy easily fits in. However, it seems Roberta is right to be wary as the neighborhood bully and his uncle already resents c—–s moving into good ol’ American” suburbs.
You can already tell what the moral of the story is going to be, kind of obvious from the cover that racism is bad, but Gene Luen Yang goes about it in a very nuanced way. He illustrates how Tommy plays into some of those stereotypes, calling himself a “wonton” and quoting made up Confucianism wisdom in order to impress other kids.
He also shows how the neighborhood bully isn’t automatically bad. Yes, he’s prejudiced but he doesn’t want to physically hurt anyone and shows his conflict as he realizes his family and their beliefs that one should be with their own kind make them bad people.
I also enjoyed Superman’s storyline. Here, he doesn’t shoot laser rays or fly, he holds himself back by running really fast on telephone wires. This is because he doesn’t want to be seen as a demon or not normal. He is an alien immigrant trying to assimilate. Which backfires as it makes the KKK value him as an ideal American, strong, native and pure without immigrant blood. And of course, he refuses to be their posterboy.
Yang also includes that despite the racism the Lee family faces, the father is similarly prejudiced against African-Americans. He actually tells them to go away when they offer to help smother the burning cross in their yard. He only respect them when he realizes one is a legitimate police officer. To paraphrase the man, “They don’t want to associate with us or our help. Even with a cross burning in their yard.”
Additionally, the back offers a brief history of the KKK starting after the Civil War and their resurgences, including the lesser known atrocities of the West Coast KKK against Asians. As well as the history of Superman, and how he was created by two Jewish men to help defeat the Nazis, and later, seeing how prejudice still stands, the KKK on the radio.
Overall, I enjoyed how Yang made it a very 1940s setting and atmosphere without anchronisms, he clearly did his research while also shining his love for the characters like young Clark Kent connecting with a storngman (which was the original inspiration for the character’s build) and crafting a compelling, unfortunately still timely message.
5 stars, a very good read.
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Women’s History Month Books P3
She Represents by Caitlin Donohue
She Represents is a wonderful book written by journalist Caitlin Donohue that provides a brief bio, the policies, the controversies and quotes of each of the 44 women she highlights. I emphasize the journalist part because as she writes in the introduction she hopes this will serve as an introductory course to these political women. She strives to be objective, not idolize these women and so includes women from both sides of the aisle as well as former leaders. She doesn’t agree with all of them (I certainly did) but she presents what they did because all of them inform what people want in politics, and the constituents they represent.
She also includes brief two page spreads for groups of women like Memorable First Ladies, LGTBQ boundary breakers etc.
Girl Squads Sam Maggs
While most of these books highlight how women often make their firsts on their own, Maggs chose to show various “squads” (sometimes just duos) in fields like athletics, the arts and politics. It was interesting as there were some more modern women that hadn’t heard of even though their feats were impressive. Like the Haenyeo Divers in Korea and the Edinburg Seven who became the first group to get into medical school in the UK (and they were harassed a lot) among others. She has an informal voice which makes it an easy read but sometimes adds modern phrasing and such that makes it feel like she’s trying too hard to be hip. She also has written another book focusing on women in STEM entitled Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors and Trailblazers Who Changed History.
Monster, She wrote by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson
This was an addictive read that added more books to my “Want to read” pile. While I never was interested in Scifi or Horror, Anderson and Kröger dove into the history of the genre, curtailing it into neat eras (Victorian, The Occult, Haunted Houses, Pulps etc) and how the genres are innovative ways for women to write and give voice to issues women deal with in everyday life (abuse, feelings of isolation, haunted by jealousy and insecurity etc).
Rad Women Worldwide and Rad Girls Can by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klien Stahl
These are great books for middle and/or high schoolers highlighting women from the past and the present. I can’t say much else as they repeat some figures already present in other books I’ve suggested. But the bright colors, and unique illustrations should hold kids interests. It also provides tips and suggestions for how kids can become empowered and try to make their own rad future.
Amazons, Abolitionists and Activists by Mikki Kendall and A. D’Amico
This graphic novel does exacty what it says on the page and for that I applaud their ambition. Definately for high schoolers and above as it tries to explain various feminist/abolitionists movements and intersect them with the minority movements, labor movements, child labor, eugenics, LGTBQ movements, and white surpremacy.
Not to mention they also take time to provide brief bios of important figures (again there are a lot). And for that, I applaud them, but in their eagerness to cover a long history I felt a bit confused and overwhelmed. Its not a linear narrative and in covering so much, it feels like a lot but also still scratching the surface. The segueways between subjects were not smooth like in one page they’re taking about “comfort girls” from Japanese occupation the next they’re talking about the Redress and Reparations movement but don’t provide much in-depth explanation of either.
Also in their zeal to be inclusive, it feels like they had very little modern Middle Eastern representation, and Latinx representation was nil in past or modern history. They didn’t mention any of the major Latinx movements or feminists such as their part in labor organization like Dolares Huerta, or civil rights/Juan Crow like Jovita Idar or in the female warrior section, women like Manuela Senz that helped overthrow Spanish colonialism, or Anacoana, the last Taino to fight against conquistadors.
While I was introduced to many interesting African-American and African (the country), disabled, LGTB, Asian, and indigenous feminists of the past, and modern day, the Latinas were sadly not represented.
#adamico, #amazonsabolitionistsandactivists, #caitlindonohue, #feminists, #girlsquads, #kateschatz, #lernerbooks, #lisakroger, #melanieranderson, #mikkiekendall, #miriamklienstahl, #monstershewrote, #nonfiction, #penguinrandomhouse, #quirkbooks, #rachelreads&reviews, #radgirlscan, #sammaggs, #sherepresents, #tenspeedpress, #womenshistorymonth
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 