The most recommended books about women

I read this novel while I was in my twenties—during a time I called The Age of Everyone Getting Married.

It absolutely captures that whirlwind of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and wedding registries, but also the love, jealousy, and heartbreak of being young and just figuring life out in New York City. Close writes beautifully about real women doing the best they can with their bad choices. 

Beth Allison Barr is both a medieval historian and a Southern Baptist preacher’s wife.  Her mission with this book is to rock the foundation of the Southern Baptist Church’s dedication to complementarianism – the theological view that men and women have different but complementary roles within church and society. In theory, those roles are equal; in reality, women are relegated to a position as helpmate to their husbands and barred from teaching even children about the basics of their faith.

The SB Church argues that all of this is grounded in the Bible – but as a historian of medieval Christianity, Barr knows this is not the case. Using her training as a historian, Barr debunks this mythology, highlighting how women shaped early Christianity through their roles as mystics and theologians up until the Protestant Reformation, which wrought irreparable damage on women’s position in Christianity, enshrining their role as wife… show more.

Ulrich, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for A Midwife's Tale, first wrote this ground-breaking study of women in early New England. With her characteristically elegant prose and inspired organization, she details the varied roles women played in family, community, and religious life. An illuminating work, and a page-turner.

Serena Zabin recounts the complex relationships in late 1760s Boston as British troops occupied the colonial port and intermingled with the local population as neighbors, friends, and in marriages.

She draws extensively from primary sources and local records to demonstrate the interpersonal affairs that existed in the years leading to the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Zabin’s ability to weave together many strands and connections in Boston affairs sheds greater light on the impact of that single event and its aftermath on individuals and the community.

Throughout this book, Zabin’s research skills and narrative highlight the generous relationships ultimately destroyed by the Boston Massacre. The event did not simply stoke the American Revolution; it eliminated a valuable history between colonists, British soldiers, and royal authority.

Sure, you could say con artist Meg Williams, or any of the aliases this woman goes by, is a vigilante, determined to right the wrongs done to her by society through the many lies she tells. Or you could see her as a sociopathic opportunist.

Kara Roberts is out to catch Williams and bring her to justice for being instrumental in both destroying Roberts’ career and her personal life. But once Roberts gets close to Williams, she falters…and falls under her spell. See a pattern yet? Yep, that’s right. The sociopath always charms the victim.

While the book skews toward a Machiavellian “the ends justify the means” philosophy, the characters are duplicitous and amoral at best, sociopathic and self-serving at worst.

Women rarely feature as central figures in most works about Prague. In this book, Iggers introduces us to an array of fascinating female writers, activists, powerful ladies of society, and survivors who have lived in Prague and its environs over the past two hundred years. Each chapter includes a brief introduction and excerpts from these women’s writings, such as diaries, letters, and newspaper articles. The reader can thus hear these women’s voices and feel transported to a different moment in history. Some entries are hard to read, such as Milada Horáková’s farewell letter to her teenage daughter, written on June 23, 1950. The lead defendant in Communist Czechoslovakia’s first public show trial, Horáková was executed three days later. Wilma Iggers is a Czechoslovak native who escaped to Canada after the Nazis invaded her country in 1938, which only enhances the perspectives that she brings to these women’s lives. 

14 years ago, I accepted the opportunity of a lifetime. My company moved me to Beijing for a 2 year assignment as Marketing Director for our chocolate gifting business. Before then, I'd never even been to China. During this time of adventure, I learned to navigate the cultural differences, how to speak Mandarin, and new perspectives on my home country of the U.S.

I loved Mobility because it took me back to that time of being an expat. Although Lydia Kiesling's main character doesn't travel to Asia, she beautifully captures the unsettling feeling of being in a foreign place, being aware of one's privilege, and being made aware of heretofore unseen currents moving the world of politics and diplomats. In fact, this time period was so formative that my Goodbye Orchid series sends my character Orchid Paige on a journey to China to feel closer to the memory of her… show more.

I love books set in India, and this one was no exception.

It is a beautiful blend of chilly reality and fairy tale. I especially loved the characterization of the two sisters, Anju and Sudha, set amid the scents and sounds of Calcutta. I was deeply invested in these two sisters and the choices they made, often with disastrous results. 

I have not infrequently fantasized about running away to a remote Scottish island, so the premise and American protagonist of this novel immediately spoke to me.

Add to that a big creepy house, unexplained ghostly occurrences, and elegant literary writing, and this is a big winner for me. I loved the brooding, sensitive atmosphere of this novel, and it kept me guessing until the end.

While not a true-crime book per se, this memoir from the hosts of the smash-hit podcast My Favorite Murder is written with humor and authenticity. The book is filled with anecdotes about all the dumb mistakes they made as teenagers that could’ve ended very badly, lists such as "Ten Starter Ideas For Self-Care Beginners," and stories about the origins of their true-crime obsession. My Favorite Murder stands out amongst all the other true crime podcasts because of the way Hardstark and Kilgariff use humor to cope with the darkness in our world, and their special blend of dark humor is on every page of their book.