March Is Women's History Month

            Celebrate women from all over the world and throughout time by learning their stories. Here are some current books that will help you.

            In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules is written by Karen Karbo. The author reviews the lives and accomplishments of several women from recent history, celebrities all. They include Amelia Earhart, Helen Gurley Brown, Hillary Clinton, Nora Ephron, Frida Kahlo, Billie Jean King, J.K. Rowling and more. Learn what makes them an inspiration to us all.

            Bad Girls from History: Wicked or Misunderstood? is written by Dee Gordon. From different countries, different centuries, and different cultures, these ladies aren’t the law-abiding citizens we usually honor. Whether they were cited because of sexual misconduct, murder, thievery, or other crimes, you will get the inside scoop on such women as Cleopatra, Bonnie Parker, Jezebel, Lizzie Gordon, and more.

            The Women Who Made New York is written by Julie Scelfo, a journalist who has written for the New York Times and Newsweek. The book features more than 100 women who contributed to the social, cultural, political and economic development of the city. Illustrations by Hallie Heald enrich the text.

            Bet you don’t know about all of these female radicals featured in Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History. Written by Kate Schatz, this book tells the stories of forty women, from Hatshepsut (a female king of Egypt) to Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) and accompanies each with an illustrated portrait done by artist Miriam Klein Stahl.  

Female Celebrity Biographies

 Who among us doesn’t appreciate vicariously living the lives of the rich and famous by reading their biographies? Here, for your enjoyment, are the stories of three talented women.

 Dearie: the Remarkable Life of Julia Child is authored by Bob Spitz, an award-winning journalist and non-fiction writer. This book, written on the centennial of Child’s birth year, contains more than 500 pages of detail on Julia’s beginnings, and continues with her career with the OSS during World War II; her romance with and marriage to Paul Child, a fellow OSS employee; their lives in post-World War II Paris where Julia received her training as a chef; and a return to America and her career as a public television icon. Through it all, the reader is able to view middle to late-twentieth century society and culture and how they affected women’s roles. Black and white photos are scattered throughout the book.

 Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand is written by William J. Mann, who was critically acclaimed for this work and who has authored other female movie star biographies. Here he presents the early years of Streisand’s career and her meteoric rise to the top, using as research the private papers of Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse and interviews with several of her intimates from this time. Black and white photos are scattered throughout the book.

 Jackie After O: One Remarkable Year When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Defied Expectations and Rediscovered Her Dreams, written by journalist and author Tina Cassidy, examines the year 1975 when Jackie began laying the foundation of her life after marriage to Onassis. It includes details on his death, Jackie’s troubled relationship with his daughter, her burgeoning career at Viking Press, and more.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

This novel, written by Kate Jacobs, offers the reader in-depth character development, drama, sorrow, joy and more. It is the story of Georgia Walker, a single mother raising her biracial child in Manhattan, fighting the odds to achieve financial security through the growth of her yarn store business. We are witness to Georgia’s nurturing of her daughter Dakota through the difficult years of early adolescence and the return of Dakota’s father in her life. We see how Georgia’s friendships, old and new, sustain her in her personal life and how she in turn supports these friends with their circumstances. There is romance for a few of the characters, adventure for others, and a growth of independence for all. Knitting rules are placed throughout the book, intended as metaphors for life management.

The Space between Us: A Novel

Written by Thrity N. Umrigar, this is the story of two women in modern day India; Sera, an upper-middle class Parsi housewife and Bhima, her long-time servant. Although they are separated by class and circumstance, the two have both endured hardship and sorrow in their lives. Though Bhima has worked in Sera’s home for many years, and they enjoy a companionship based on Sera’s family and household needs, there still is that division of class that precludes such things as Bhima’s sitting on the furniture and using household dishes and utensils.

Sera is the widow of an abusive man who finds joy in sharing her home with her daughter, her only child and son-in-law who soon are expecting a child. Bhima, whose marriage fell apart after her husband’s work injuries led to a downward spiral to alcoholism, raised her granddaughter Maya after her daughter and son-in-law died of AIDS. She lives one step above poverty but manages to carry on in hopes of seeing her pretty and intelligent granddaughter graduate college (paid for by Sera) and pull herself out of the lower class. Then tragedy strikes with the revelation that Maya is pregnant and refuses to name the father of the child. Sera arranges for an abortion for the reluctant Maya. From there the story unfolds until the unknown father’s identity is revealed.