By: Naomi Langston
This Women’s History Month is a great moment to learn about women together by reading their stories. While these are just a few books telling the stories of women, there are countless others you could add to your reading list this month!
Whether memoir or fiction, understanding the lives and experiences of women around the world and throughout time periods is a meaningful endeavor. I encourage you to grab a coffee, blanket, and one of these books and celebrate and learn about women’s history this month.
1. The Glass Castle
By Jeannette Walls
#1 New York Times bestseller The Glass Castle is a memoir of a young girl growing up through extreme hardship and poverty. Jeannette and her siblings essentially raised themselves from a young age. This book is for someone who wants to understand a story of working through childhood trauma, poverty, and extreme parental neglect into adult prosperity.
2. I am Mahala
By Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
Mahala, a young girl raised in Pakistan, has her life turned upside down when the Taliban takes over. While schools for girls are shutting down around her, an opportunity presents itself for her to speak up for her education, but it comes with Mahala nearly losing her life. If you want to learn what living in this situation as a woman was like and how even peaceful protests proved near-fatal, this book is for you.
3. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
By Lisa See
A New York Times bestseller and winner of the Goodreads Choice Award, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women tells the story of two women who worked as physicians in 15th-century China. Inspired by a true story, this book beautifully immerses readers in this era and helps them understand what womanhood was like, from foot-binding to childbirth. You will want to pick up this book about the power of friendship among women.
4. The Rose Code
By Kate Quinn
During World War II, three women of completely different backgrounds work together as cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park to help with the war efforts. Post-war, the three women must decode a letter that has torn apart their friendship and landed one of them in an insane asylum. Part thriller, part historical fiction, and part literary fiction, The Rose Code is hard to put down!
5. The Invention of Wings
By Sue Monk Kidd
Set in the Deep South in the 1800s, The Invention of Wings tells the story of a girl who stands up for sisterhood, friendship, and what she knows to be right, even in the midst of cultural and societal disagreement. If you are ready for a read that helps you question the normality of right and wrong in your day, this book will do just that.
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of two women in Kabul under the rule of the Taliban who struggle for their lives in some of the most horrific conditions. Their loyalty to one another and fierce friendship is a driving force of this story that shows what women can endure when they are together. This book is heavy and meaningful, and you’ll want to be ready with your tissue box before picking it up!
7. The Women
By Kristin Hannah
As the #1 Goodreads Choice Award winner for Historical Fiction in 2024, The Women is the story of women during and after the Vietnam War. While few people could explain to you how women were involved during this war and time period in America, Hannah explores the depths of how women served and then recovered afterward and the deep challenges of PTSD. This book will draw you in with page-turning storytelling and insightful characters.
8. Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Brontë
A British classic from the nineteenth century, Jane Eyre is the story of a troubled orphan who grows up and works as a governess in Mr. Rochester’s Thornfield Hall. Dark and twisted secrets become uncovered the longer Jane works for Mr. Rochester, and she is forced to choose to either stand by her convictions or compromise. If you are in the mood for a classic that crosses genres into drama, romance, and thriller, Jane Eyre does it all.
9. Educated
By Tara Westover
Educated is a memoir set in the hills of Idaho. Tara’s family doesn’t believe in using hospitals, going to school, or even having a birth certificate (which she doesn’t). Despite grueling circumstances from a family with deep-seated issues, Tara begins to teach herself primary school. Eventually, Tara makes it to college and beyond while still dealing with the things of her past. Read Educated for an honest story of self-motivation, resilience, and dealing with past trauma.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Naomi lives in Pittsburgh, PA but her roots are from a little Christmas tree farm in upstate New York. She works in marketing for Greater Europe Mission, an international nonprofit organization. She’s always finding ways to make room in her budget for traveling and reads over 100 books each year.
