It’s time! You can actually spend some quality time with a book, or maybe two or five. We hope. But you might not be sure where to start. We’ve got you covered! Here’s a list of our top picks to get you through the holidays and ready for 2017 with a happy, fortified brain. Bring it!
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein
A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called “a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel” in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.
Feminist Coloring Book by Gemma Correll
Looking to smash the patriarchy and get your arts and crafts on? Want to have a laugh while taking down sexist stereotypes? Look no further than this book, where your dress up doll can wear whatever she wants and the only thing limiting your sexuality is the size of your colored pencil collection.
How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Caitlin Moran interweaves provocative observations on women’s lives with laugh-out-loud funny scenes from her own, from adolescence to her development as a writer, wife, and mother.
Into the Go-Slow by Bridgett M. Davis
Against a backdrop of Nigeria’s infamous go-slow—traffic as wild and surprising as a Fela lyric—Angie begins to unravel the mysteries of the past, and opens herself up to love and life after her brilliant and radical sister Ella dies.
Make Love Not Porn by Cindy Gallop
Hardcore pornography is becoming so ubiquitous on the web, it is shaping and distorting the way many of today’s young men and women think about sex and intimacy. Cindy Gallop discovered this through personal experience. In a bold, honest book, she describes numerous examples of porn-influenced behavior from the hilarious to the disturbing.
Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit
In Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit takes on the conversations between men who wrongly assume they know things and wrongly assume women don’t. The ultimate problem, she shows in her comic, scathing essay, is female self-doubt and the silencing of women.
Pivot by Jenny Blake
No matter your current position, one thing is clear: your career success and satisfaction depends on your ability to determine your next best move. If change is the only constant, let’s get better at it.
Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries by Kate Schatz
American history was made by countless rad—and often radical—women. By offering a fresh and diverse array of female role models, we can remind readers that there are many places to find inspiration, and that being smart and strong and brave is rad.
Reimagining Equality by Anita Hill
Anita Hill became famous for standing up during the Clarence Thomas trials, speaking honestly about her experience of sexual harassment in the workplace. She’s recently published a book that explores gender and race by focusing on the importance of home and home ownership. Looking back throughout American history and looking forward, her book reminds us of the need for inclusive democracy.
Shrill by Lindey West
Shrill is 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.
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Set in the near future, The Handmaid’s Tale describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans.
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
Angelou exposes a turbulent period of her life as she struggles to raise a child, fulfill her goals as a writer, and fight for civil rights in an age of social injustice; Angelou’s rich and resonating voice draws the listener into the unexpected details of her life.
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore
A riveting work of historical detection revealing that the origin of one of the world’s most iconic superheroes hides within it a fascinating family story—and a crucial history of twentieth-century feminism.
You Can’t Touch My Hair Phoebe Robinson
A hilarious and timely essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from upcoming comedy superstar and 2 Dope Queens podcaster Phoebe Robinson.