The Sex Lives of African Women

It was the title of this one that grabbed my attention. And if anyone tries to tell me that this title doesn't catch your eye...I don't believe you. Haha. That's really all I have to say as an intro here - I was intrigued enough to find it at the library very soon after it first came across my…

Unbound

This nonfiction has been on my TBR since I first saw it on the "new books" shelf at the library a few months ago. As with all things, it took me some time to get to it. Though especially in this case, knowing how intense of a read it was likely to be, I also…

Hidden Figures

I've been meaning to pick this book up for awhile. And my recent read of The Tenth Muse got me all inspired to read more about female mathematicians, so it seemed like the time to finally read this piece of nonfiction on that exact topic. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly “That even Katherine Johnson’s remarkable achievements can’t quite…

Greedy

There is something about the title of this book that felt aggressive in a way that made me not want to read it, despite the fact that it was compared to Samantha Irby (whose essay collections we are never meeting in real life and wow, no thank you I love) and seemed topically to be spot on…

Girlhood

Alright so I haven't seen that many people read/review this one. But about a month ago when I was shelving at the library it sort of jumped out at me from the shelf and I decided to bring it home and give it a try. It took me awhile to start it, actually, and thankfully…

How We Get Free

This book was chosen by a friend as the first book of an Anti-Racist Book Club that she started. I know that the reactions to white people, white women, starting book clubs like this to address racism is very understandably skeptical as an empty gesture that will soon be moved on from… All I can…

Vox

There has definitely been a trend in recent literature for speculative stories about dystopian futures (especially in the US and especially for women). This isn’t really a surprise, I don’t think, considering some of the leadership we’re currently experiencing. And it definitely adds a realistically frightening edge to the speculative-ness of the stories. Obviously, Margaret…

Know My Name

This has been on my TBR since the moment I heard about it. And that was only reinforced by all the reviews I saw of it. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy though, for so many reasons, personal and otherwise. But important and necessary. Originally, I was nervous when my hold came up…

Trick Mirror

This recently released collection of essays has been getting a lot of praise from bookstagrammers and reviewers my age. It seemed like Tolentino’s writing was doing a great job capturing the frustrating and ridiculous parts of the millennial reality and, as a millennial myself (actually, I’m the same age as Tolentino), I was super curious…

The Water Cure

When it was published last year, I saw a lot of mixed reviews on this novel. Which does sort of makes sense, since it was long listed for the Man Booker Prize, and many prize winners do tend to be polarizing (in style and/or message). I am always interested in seeing what these mixed review…