Here are a few books I read and enjoyed recently.
The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace: One of my goals for this year is to read more nonfiction books and especially books about feminism. “The Good Girls Revolt” is about how the class action lawsuit at Newsweek unfolded in the 70s. The author, Lynn Povich, was one of the main women who brought a lawsuit against Newsweek for gender discrimination in hiring and promotion. On March 16, 1970, the day Newsweek published a cover story on the fledgling feminist movement called “Women in Revolt,” forty-six Newsweek women charged the magazine. It was interesting to read about feminism and journalism in the 70s and also to realize that there was similar strife at Newsweek forty years later when Jessica Bennett, Jesse Ellison, and Sarah Ball wrote an article about their experience dealing with sexism at Newsweek. You might recognize the story from the short-lived television show by the same name.
Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters: I thought this was a good introduction to feminism. The author, Jessica Valenti, wrote a guide to issues that matter to today, including health, equal pay, reproductive rights, violence, education, relationships, sexual independence and safety, the influence of pop culture, and more. Instead of being bland and boring, she writes like you’re talking to a friend and makes it a fun read as opposed to something you’d read in a textbook.
Jar of Hearts c/o: I devoured this mystery and read it in two days. When Angela Wong, a popular sixteen-year-old, goes missing her parents and the community have no idea what happened to her. Little did they know that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, knew the entire time and was an accomplice in Angela’s murder. Don’t worry, I didn’t give it away. In the first chapter, you find out that Georgina and her then-boyfriend, who later becomes a serial killer, killed her and lied about it for 14 years. Georgina goes to prison for five years and the book is about her time in prison, the murder from her perspective, and the investigation which is run by Angela and Georgina’s other former best friend. There were some major twists and I was surprised until the very end.
The Perfect Nanny: This is every family’s absolute worst nightmare. The “perfect” nanny who becomes an integral and trusted part of their family ends up brutally murdering their children. I read “The Perfect Nanny” in two days and couldn’t put it down. The book starts with the murder so you know something horrible happens, but then you see when the nanny was “perfect” so you read the book waiting to find out when things started to unravel.
Touch: I needed to read something light and fun after reading “Jar of Hearts” and “The Perfect Nanny” and “Touch” fit the bill. It’s about a famous trend forecaster who starts working at a big tech company to help them with their ReProduction conference, which is about the decision not to have children and to prefer virtual relationships over in-person ones. Even though Sloane Jacobsen has been hired to think about how technology will affect relationships, she starts to think physical relationships will become even more important in the future. (Go figure.) It wasn’t groundbreaking but it was a funny and breezy read.
What are you reading now? I’d love any recommendations.
