As a reader, I gravitate towards non-fiction and lately, I've been choosing a lot of books by female writers. I wanted to share with you the best of my recent reads.
The main thing they have in common is that they are all women's stories and voices, and I hope at least one of them will pique your curiosity.
A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett tells the truly harrowing story of Lindhout's 15 months of captivity under the brutal watch of Islamist insurgents in Somalia. The travel bug bit Lindhout hard and early, and she saw journalism as way to see the world and tell stories that needed to be told. Little did she know that her personal story would end up being such a powerful and moving account of survival and forgiveness.
Lena Dunham is definitely having a moment in pop culture. As show-runner and star of HBO's hit TV series Girls, the lines between Dunham and her character Hannah are often rather blurry. Not That Kind of Girl is Dunham's chance to definitively tell her story or, as she puts it in the book's subtitle "what's she's 'learned.'" At times, this book is almost painfully honest, and this is rather fitting for someone from a notoriously open generation. Millennials will almost certainly relate to at least something in this book, and older folks could look here to learn more about how the younger set sees the world these days.
Speaking of millennials, the promising young writer Marina Keegan tapped into many universal themes with her book The Opposite of Loneliness. Tragically, Keegan died in a car accident a mere five days after graduating from Yale in 2012. With this sad context, "The Opposite of Loneliness" (her last essay for the Yale Daily News) went viral. It then became the title essay for this touching posthumous collection of Keegan's observations and explorations of life, relationships and other aspects of the human condition.
Graphic novelist Alison Bechdel recently won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to the memoir genre and the graphic storytelling format. Her latest book is Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama but I suggest starting with Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Fun Home is a memoir of Bechdel's childhood spent in her family's funeral home. It focuses largely on her complicated relationship with her father, a third-generation funeral home director, high school English teacher and, as it turns out, a closeted homosexual.
Yes Please is beloved comedian and actress Amy Poehler's answer to her best friend Tina Fey's runaway hit book, Bossypants. While Yes Please is not as flat-out hilarious as Bossypants, it certainly has its own charms. Poehler discusses her career from her early years in comedy to the height of Hollywood stardom, where she now finds herself. What I wasn't expecting were her fresh and funny takes on pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood. The audiobook features a constellation of wonderful guest stars, so consider listening to this one instead of reading it.
I always find Roxane Gay's online essays to be intelligent and thought-provoking, and her first essay collection, Bad Feminist, is no different. Gay tackles different aspects of subjects as varied as gender, sexuality, race, entertainment and politics all in her refreshingly honest and insightful voice. While she is dismantling the many disturbing messages and damaging biases in our society and culture, Gay is not afraid to own up to her own shortcomings and guilty pleasures (such as an abiding love for all things Sweet Valley High). Bad Feminist is a highly readable journey through Gay's thoughts and interpretations of the crazy world around us.
I hope this recap of my recent reading journal has given you some food for thought and ideas for your next read. All books discussed are available at the Terry Fox Library through Fraser Valley Regional Library, as well as other Tri-City libraries.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Kimberley Constable works at Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam.
