Celebrating Women’s History (3/8/23)

In celebration of Women’s History Month, on this International Women’s Day, we’re recognizing the voices of women and girls who have made invaluable contributions to literary history. Become inspired and learn from their stories of strength, resilience, and courage.

TELL ME EVERYTHING: A Memoir by Minka Kelly | 9781250852069 | 5/2/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LIbraryReads votes due by April 1st

Minka Kelly takes readers behind the shiny silver-screen facade and reveals just how good an actress she really is. She has poured her soul into the pages of this book, which ultimately tells a story of triumph over adversity, and how resilience and love are all we have in the end.

CAN’T I GO INSTEAD by Lee Geum-yi | 9781250859556 | 5/2/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads due by April 1st

Class divisions are set in stark relief when two women’s lives and identities are intertwined, through wars and across continents, in the early 20th century; the next bookclub pick for readers of THE PICTURE BRIDE, PACHINKO, and THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN.

THE WOMEN OF NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America by Katherine Turk | 9780374601539 | 8/15/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by July 1st

In the summer of 1966, crammed into a DC hotel suite and passing paper cups of liquor, twenty-eight women hatched a revolutionary plan. Betty Friedan, the well-known author of The Feminine Mystique, and Pauli Murray, a lawyer at the front lines of the civil rights movement, had quietly pulled away attendees from the State Womens’ Commissions annual conference. Frustrated with government inertia, they laid out a vision for an organization to unite and advocate for all women. Inspired, challenged, skeptical, they debated the idea late into the night and the next day. By the end of the conference, the National Organization for Women was born.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT KITTY KARR? by Crystal Smith Paul | 9781250815309 | 5/9/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more | LibraryReads votes due by April 1st

A multigenerational saga that traverses the Jim Crow South, the glamour of old Hollywood, and the seductive draw of present-day showbiz as secrets split a family tree into Black, white, and something in between.

KÜNSTLERS IN PARADISE by Cathleen Schine | 9781250805904 | 3/14/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more

A comedy of generational manners about exile and the power of stories—both the ones we hand down and the ones held secretly in the heart—that slips between 1939 and 2020 L.A. as Mamie Künstler and her twentysomething grandson entertain and care for each other under lockdown.

BIRDGIRL: Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future by Mya-Rose Craig | 9781250807670 | 3/28/23 | Available for download know more

Joining the fight of today’s young environmental activists, Mya-Rose shares her experiences to advocate for the simple, profound gift of nature, and for making it accessible to all, calling her readers to rediscover the power of our natural world. Birder, activist, daughter: this is her story.

FAT TALK: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith | 9781250831217 | 4/25/23 | Available for download on Edelweiss know more

In this illuminating narrative on the daily onslaught of body shame that kids face from peers, school, diet culture, and parents themselves, journalist Virginia Sole-Smith offers a compelling reported look at how families can change the conversation around weight, health, and self-worth.

And make sure to check out these backlist titles as well:

THE REAL VALKYRIE: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown
MY BODY by Emily Ratajkowski
MANIFESTA (20th Anniversary Edition, Revised and Updated with a New Preface): Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards
WOLF HALL: Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel
ALL THE WOMEN IN MY BRAIN: And Other Concerns by Betty Gilpin
UNBOUND: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke
STORIES FROM SUFFRAGETTE CITY edited by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis
SKIRTS: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell
LORRAINE HANSBERRY: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles J. Shields
THE LAST DREAMWALKER by Rita Woods
THIS MIGHT BE TOO PERSONAL: And Other Intimate Stories by Alyssa Shelasky