the new

essential

feminist
reading guide
 inist reader!
hey fem
We're calling this guide the NEW essential feminist reading guide. While
my own gender studies education wouldn’t have been complete
without theorists like Judith Butler, Simone deBeauvoir, and Betty
Freidan, this reading guide is focused on more contemporary works
that illustrate feminism as we’ve come to understand it now. All of
these recommendations are indebted to the work of early feminist
writers but stand alone on the shoulders of the writers and thinkers
before them.

For a fairly comprehensive collection of historical

feminist texts, consider The Essential Feminist
Reader edited by Estelle B. Freedman. If you’d like
an overview of the academic discipline of feminist
theories, Feminist Thought by Rosemarie Tong and
Tina Fernandes Botts is an excellent reference.

This is admittedly an incomplete list, not only because we’ve missed

many excellent and necessary titles, but also because we are in a
golden age of brilliant feminist writing and new books are being
published every day. If you're looking for an easy way to continue to
build your social justice bookshelf, Feminist Book Club is your one-stop
resource for recommendations, reviews, and conversations about
feminist literature and media through an intersectional lens.

We hope you find immense value in this guide and, if you're looking for
ways to stay connected with other feminists, we'd love to have you
join us!
In solidarity,
Renee Powers, founder
& Team FBC

1
How to use this guide
However you want! Skip to your favorite genre or start with the first page.
You’ll see insets and descriptions of some of our favorite books or titles we
think might be most helpful to you. In some cases we’ve paired books that we
suggest you read back-to-back to get a more nuanced perspective.

In addition to our top recommendations, we’ve also included extra titles that
we love (Further Reading). Every book cover and title are clickable links to our
Bookshop.org store. We do receive a small portion of any sale made, as do
other independent bookstores, and deeply appreciate your support!

key
lips denote a book that we've highlighted as a Book of the Month

click the blue star to read a blog post featuring this title or author

click the yellow star to listen to a podcast episode

featuring this title or author

contents
Foundational Feminist Non-Fiction................................3
Feminism Leveled Up......................................................................4
Memoir.........................................................................................................5-6
Short Story Collections..................................................................7
Poetry...................................................................................................................7
Science Fiction & Fantasy..........................................................8
Romance..........................................................................................................9
Contemporary Fiction...................................................................10
Historical Fiction...................................................................................11
Mystery & Thriller................................................................................12
Classics That Still Hold Up.........................................................13
Previous Books of the Month..............................................14
About Feminist Book Club...............................................15-16

2
Foundational feminist
non-fiction

Funny & Fact Driven

New to feminism? This is where to start. You'll

get a feel for the feminist movement as it is
right now, the issues at the heart of it all, and
you don't have to have a degree in feminist
theory to understand.

A New York Times Best Seller

A New York Times Best Seller

Modern feminism is deeply rooted in our

relationship to our bodies. These books take
those relationships to the next level and
encourage readers to ask deep questions.

On The Progressive's best book of the year list

further reading
Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
by Amanda Montell
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story
That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
3
feminism leveled up
Do you read feminist theory for fun? Are you looking for some more
advanced reading? Here are a few suggests to add to your syllabus!

Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements

by Charlene Carruthers
A manifesto from one of America's most influential activists which disrupts political,
economic, and social norms. Drawing on Black intellectual and grassroots organizing
traditions, including the Haitian Revolution, the US civil rights movement, and LGBTQ
rights and feminist movements, Unapologetic challenges all of us engaged in the
social justice struggle to make the movement for Black liberation
more radical, more queer, and more feminist

White Feminism
by Koa Beck
Addressing today's conversation about race, empowerment, and
inclusion in America. An examination of the history of feminism,
from the true mission of the suffragists to the rise of corporate
feminism. A good read for fans of Hood Feminism.

Emergent Strategy
by Adrienne Maree Browni
Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change,
Emergent Strategy is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape
the futures we want to live. Change is constant. The world is in a continual state of
flux. This is a resolutely materialist "spirituality" based equally on science and
science fiction, a visionary incantation to transform that which ultimately transforms us.

Mediocre
by Ijeoma Oluo
From the author of So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Olou exposes the
devastating consequences of white male supremacy on woman, people of
color, and white men themselves. Mediocre investigates the real costs of
this phenomenon in order to imagine a new white male identity, one
free from racism and sexism.

further reading
The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris
No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder
The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls by Mona Eltahawy
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 4
Memoir Memoir centers women's stories, making it the perfect feminist genre

A memoir is a record of events that happened to the author and have lived
through the experience. Memoirs explore the personal lives and thoughts of the
storyteller and can be used to identify themes in life and make sense of their
own lived experience. By sharing their experience, readers gain a better
understanding of a life they have never lived.

Memoirs continue to be a Feminist Book Club favorite book genre because

change cannot happen without listening and understanding others' experiences..
These stories touch our hearts, light a fire, and shift perspective. These titles are
just a few of our team's most recommended memoirs.

further reading
Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
Dear Girls by Ali Wong
Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco 5
 Memoir a Native
em o ir b y
This m
In the words of our members
eric a n a u t hor with
Am h e lped me
d is o rd e r
bipolar experience
e m y liv e d
to se
lens of
through the
te rs e ct io n . I read this
in g a lot of
is I w a s h a vin
de's memoir when mental
Sarah McBri y favorite h m y o w n
perha p s o n e o f m issues wit like being
in 2021! Sara
h
a n d it fe lt
books I read health
ble insight .
understood
u c h v u ln e ra
gives s th e need for
life a n d
into her
and non-
trans rights s. As
crim in at io n protection
dis h
n sg e n d e r woman, Sara
a tra er
in d s u s t h at transgend
rem
s a re fe m in ist and that
right ing without
is m is n o t h joan, portland
femin and the work
e c t io n a lit y
inters .
gender peers
of our trans

patrick, minnesota
claudia, minnesota

u
further reading They say that if yo
e
aren’t angry, you’r
I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown on. Once
not paying attenti
t do you
This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins you’re angry, wha
ney
do with that? Britt
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem rage into
Cooper turns that
ut down.
The Ugly Cry by Danielle Henderson prose you can’t p
Haben by Haben Girma

The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya

6
short story collections

The Office of
Sabrina & Corina Historical
by Kali Fajardo-Anstine Corrections:
A Novella and Stories
Winner of the American Book
by Danielle Evans
Award, finalist for the story prize,
and a finalist for the Pen/Robert Winner of the 2021 Joyce Carol
W. Bingham prize for debut short story collection. Kali
Oates prize and named Best Book
Fajardo-Anstine's story collection breathes life into of 2020 by O Magazine, The New
her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the Yorker, and more. Evans zooms in on particular
land they inhabit in the American West. With the moments and relationships in her characters' lives in a
backdrop of Denver, Colorado these women navigate way that allows them to speak to larger issues of
the land the way they navigate their lives: with race, culture, and history. She introducses us to Black
caution, grace, and quiet force. A moving narrative of and multiracial characters who are experiencing the
unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting
universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and walloped by grief--all while exploring how history
an eternal sense of home. haunts us, personally and collectively.

further reading
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay Austenistan edited by Laaleen Sukhera
Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat Love War Stories by Ivelisse Rodriguez

poetry collections

Fierce Fairytales: Black Girl,

Poems and Stories to Call Home
Stir Your Soul
by Nikita Gill by Jasmine Mans
A much needed modern makeover Named "A Most Anticipated
to fairy tale classics and spellbinding Book of 2021" by Oprah Magazine,
original tales. Reimagining, "Once upon a time", Vogue,Vulture, and more. An unforgettable poetry
Nikita Gill dismantles the old fashioned tropes that collection about race, feminism, and queer identity.
have been ingrained in our minds. In this book, With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia
gone are the docile women and male saviors. Sanchez, Mans writes to call herself home. Each poem
Instead, lines blur between heroes and villains. You explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark,
will meet fearless princesses, a new kind of wolf and America--and the painful, joyous path to
lurking in the concrete jungle, and an independent adulthood as a young, queer Black woman. A love
Gretel who can bring down monsters on her own. letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital
Complete with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations companion in a journey to find truth, belonging, and
by Gill herself. healing.

further reading
Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth
by Warsan Shire 7
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Launch yourself out of this timezone, country, planet.... dimension?

afrofuturism
A New York Times Best Seller

Afrofuturism is all about evaluating the

past, present and future and imagining a
world that encourages better conditions
for Black people through literature, music,
technology, and arts. In these stories you
you'll find themes of reclamation and black
liberation.

NPR's Best Book of 2017

Werewolves, Magicians, Mermaids, Alternate Dimensions.

In these books, you'll discover stories and characters to challenge how you view
your present world, all while allowing you to escape to different worlds created
by diverse authors and inspired by their cultural heritage.

further reading
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
The Power by Naomi Alderman 8
 romance
In the words of our friends on the
Boobies & Noobies podcast, romance eet and
Such a sw
features a main character getting
p o w erin g romance
em
exactly what she wants - what could be eurodiverse
featuring a n
more feminist than that?
ro in e w ritte n from an
he
perspective
to love abou
ta own voice
W h a t's N O T
ed- re a t re presentation
is ex u a l s e x worker-turn a n d g
b a STEM.
u c a to r p a rt nering with of women in
ed ver
n a m o n ro ll rabbi to deli
cin y'?
o n s o n 'm o dern intimac
less y
e r: N o t h in g. This steam
Ans w hy
c e n o v e l d elivers healt
roma n ,
s s io n s a b o ut sex, faith
discu ha
a , a n d lo ve, all throug
traum tive. Readers
t p e rs p e c
feminis
ill c o m e fo r Ethan and liz, illinois
w ay
o m i' s lo v e story, but st
N a elf
r N a o m i's journey of s
fo
discovery.

carole, chicago
Kelly, Portland

ever, I saw
For the first time
further reading aracter in
myself as a main ch
Brown is a
a love story. Chloe
The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston who lives
fa t woman of color
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams and
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite with chronic illness
ading about
Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam severe anxiety. Re
g love as
So We Meet Again by Suzanne Park her navigate findin
g some
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria she is (and gettin
ne of the
The Roommate by Rosie Danon lovin’) made this o
While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory riences for
best reading expe
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
me this year.
How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole
9
 modern stories that move us to
Contemporary Fiction interrogate our place in this world

There is no limit to the lengths Girlhood is fraught across all cultures.

women will go for the ones they love. In these two books, we read
Both of these books are heartbreaking beautifully rendered depictions of
in their own ways. From Jamaica to tenacious girls determined to claim
Palestine, womanhood is often a their lives as their own, one in Nigeria
struggle. and the other in Tokyo.

Imperfect marriages make for beautiful These two books are fantastic
stories. Whether the character is examples of how feminism can
separated from their partner stretch to encompass certain basic
emotionally or due to incarceration, dignities--like Kim Jiyoung in South
these books illuminate how our Korea--to explorations of gender and
partners shape us in unlikely ways. family, as in Detransition, Baby.

further reading
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera & Celia Moscote
Swing Time by Zadie Smith Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
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Salvage the Bones by Jessmyn Ward The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Historical fiction
Transport yourself into a different time & place with stories that revisit history.

How Much of These Hills is Gold

by C. Pam Zhang
C. Pam Zhang's debut novel is set during the American gold rush, where two
siblings are on the run in an unforgiving landscape, trying not just to survive but to find a
home. Both epic and intimate, blending Chinese symbolism and reimagined history with
original language and storytelling. It explores race in an expanding country and the
question of where immigrants are allowed to belong. But page by page, it's about
the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home.

Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
One of Oprah's Best Books of the Year and a PEN/Hemingway award
winner, Homegoing follows the parallel paths of two sisters and
their descendants through eight generations

The Stationery Shop

by Marjan Kamali
Follow Roya, a idealistic teen living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran,
finds a literary oasis in Mr. Fakhri's neighborhood stationery shop. Then Mr.
Fakhri, with a keen instinct for budding romance, introduces Roya to his other
favorite customer. A powerful, heartbreaking story that explores loss,
reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.

Circe
by Madeline Miller
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the titans, a daughter is
born. A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story, this #1 New
York Times bestseller is both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting
most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right.

further reading
Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard
Outlawed by Anna North We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron 11
Mystery & thriller
Women centered stories as mysteries are solved and danger is put to rest.

Hurricane Season
by Fernanda Melchor
The Witch is dead and
discovery of her corpse has the Firekeeper's
whole village investigating the murder. Daughter
As the novel unfolds in a dazzling linguistic by Angeline Boulley
torrent, with each unreliable narrator lingering on Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine
new details, new acts of depravity or brutality, has never quite fit in, both in her
Melchor extracts some tiny shred of humanity hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation.
from these characters--inners whom most people Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her
would write off as irredeemable--forming a lasting family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on
portrait of a damned Mexican village. Hurricane hold to care for her fragile mother.
Season takes place in a world saturated with The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming
mythology and violence--real violence, the kind new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet
that seeps into the soil, poisoning everything even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t
around: it's a world that becomes more and more add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is
terrifying the deeper you explore it. hiding something. Everything comes to light when
Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her
into the heart of a criminal investigation.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but
secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking
down the criminals with her knowledge of
Severance

chemistry and traditional medicine. But the

by Ling Ma deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon
Candace Chen, a millennial drone the threat strikes too close to home.
self-sequestered in a Manhattan office Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a
tower, is devoted to routine. With the
recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how
she's had her fill of uncertainty. She's content just to carry far she'll go to protect her community, even if it
on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted tears apart the only world she’s ever known.
Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint
basement with her boyfriend.
So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical
proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. further reading
Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways
screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon
entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry
abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.
Candace won't be able to make it on her own forever, The Herd by Andrea Bartz
though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-
hungry IT tech Bob. They're traveling to a place called the My Sister, the Serial Killer by
Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything Oyinkan Braithwaite
they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a
secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape
Temper by Layne Fargo
from her rescuers?
12
classics that still hold up
Overwhelmed by book lists of the present? Start with classics that we still love today.

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all our previously featured books March 2018 to May 2022
more About Feminist Book Club

Renee Powers started this book club in March 2018 as an online reading community
discussing books with her friends and podcast listeners. As more and more people
joined, she realized she was uniquely positioned to grow this into more than a book
club, but a movement of readers determined to read and shop their values. So in July
of 2018, she launched FeministBookClub.com and the rest is history.

Since then, Feminist Book Club members have supported dozens of woman and queer
authors, hundreds of small woman- and queer-owned businesses, and donated nearly
$50,000 to social justice organizations. Feminist Book Club has been recognized as a
favorite subscription box of Oprah Daily, Shondaland, Marie Claire, BookRiot, Reader's
Digest, and many more. Three years after launch, Feminist Book Club was recognized
by Tory Burch herself as a 2021 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow.

Our mission remains the same: we deserve to see ourselves in the stories we read,
which is why we're fiercely passionate about reading as intersectionally as possible.
Feminist Book Club makes it easy and fun to DO intersectional feminism in our
everyday lives, not just talk about it. We read socially and, through our private
discussion groups, we learn from one another in surprising ways.

sign up today!

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Find us on social media:

@feministbookclubbox @feministbookclub

@fmnstbookclub Feminist Book Club

Feminist Book Club

/feministbookclubbox

special thanks to

contributing members
Joan C., Caitlin D., Dani C., Becky S., Carole D., Grace M., Piper H., Mary Z.,
Sarah S., Emma L., Patrick S., Kathryn E., Emily R., Kristi L., Emily L., Deidre E.,
Kelsey H., Theresa C., Lorelai I., Janine T., Mhairie R., Anna G., Courtney R.,
Ryanne J., Angela C., Jean N., Melissa G., Julie K., Matilda B., Lily P.,
Mariah B., Andrea H., Nancy C., and Liz B.

our Team
Natalia, Sarah, Kathleen, Lucy, Claudia, Ashley, Nina, Rashmila, Steph,
Tayler, Yasi, Christine, Emma, Mariquita, Niba, and Phalin

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