If you’re looking to read something beyond textbooks this break, try these books that empower women and celebrate their stories.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
If you find yourself stuck at home for a day, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an introspective, short story that will make your day anything but boring and leave you thinking long after you’ve finished. On the surface, it is about a woman forced to a “rest cure” by her doctor-husband in a room with sickly yellow wallpaper, but deep down it’s an allegory of women’s suffrage. It is the first story that comes to mind when I am asked for a book recommendation because it is perfect for readers and non-readers alike.
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Magic Lessons is the first prequel of the Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman. The book follows Maria, the matriarch of the Owens’ family, and her story as she is accused of witchcraft. Like any heartbroken woman, she turns to spells to ease her sorrows. Despite its release 25 years after the publication of the first book, Hoffman seamlessly connects the prequel to the overarching story, making it a great book to cozy up with, or the first of several if the magic pulls you in.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
With Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey coming to the big screen next summer, it’s important to highlight the leading woman of the epic poem, Penelope, Queen of Ithaca. In The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood gives women a voice. She retells the events through Penelope’s eyes: her marriage to Odysseus, her life during his 20-year absence, weaving a shroud to avoid remarriage, and his return. Atwood also includes the tragic story of the twelve maids, giving them a voice through a Greek chorus. It is a beautiful extension of Greek mythology.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
A book truly perfect for rainy days and the isolation of winter is the gothic novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The story presents love in unconventional ways, through themes of revenge, obsession, and hauntings. The orphan Heathcliff is consumed by his passion for Catherine Earnshaw, which ultimately fills his life with hysteria and tragedy. While many dislike the book for its lack of a traditional love story and its depictions of violence and vulgarity, these elements set it apart through time. My love for the novel comes from the unlikable protagonists; that’s what makes them fascinating. A book that doesn’t ask the readers to pity the character is worth reading.
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Released over the summer, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenksin Reid depicts the struggles of pursuing a career in a male-dominated field while preserving familial and romantic relationships. The historical fiction romance tells the story of Joan Goodwin, the first woman to join NASA’s space program, cutting between her life in the early 1980s and the momentous space mission of 1984. This is no ordinary love story; it’s a queer love story. As someone who absolutely adored The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, this might be a very close second among Reid’s novels.
