10 Books That Have Influenced Me as a Female

Posted on by Shelby
  1. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (I never thought I would relate to a memoir written in the early 90s about a girl in a psychiatric hospital in the 60s, but here we are. Kaysen raises some interesting questions about the sexism of the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (which is what she suffers from) and that maybe people go crazy because they can no longer hold up the wall that keeps other people normal. It’s like everyone has the potential in them to go crazy, it’s just that some are better at keeping their thoughts at bay than others. It really opened my eyes and made me think about what it’s like to be a woman with mental illness, and what we have to face differently than men who have a mental illness.)
    susannak
  2. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown (I picked this up at a used bookstore because I thought the title was interesting. Little did I know that I would absolutely adore it. The main character, Molly Bolt, is a lesbian with a dream who moves from Florida to New York to achieve that dream. Molly is so unapologetically who she is, and busts down any kind of gender barriers with an iron fist. She’s a great role model for anyone who feels constrained by societal norms. I don’t care if you’re not a lesbian, I don’t even care if you’re not a girl, I think everyone who feels even a little bit different should read this book.)
  3. A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin (I had no idea who Lucia Berlin was until this year. I soon found out that she is/was a master short story writer. Every word has a place, every sentence is perfect;she’s sometimes hilarious, but most of the time very melancholic. As you can probably guess from the title, Berlin’s stories revolve around working women. Some of them are nurses, others are teachers or mothers, and quite a few are alcoholics. She tells stories about real women with real problems, and it was refreshing to read about them.)

    luciab
    Lucia Berlin (Wasn’t she just beautiful?!?)
  4. Candy Girl by Diablo Cody (Diablo Cody is my kind of feminist. She’s pro girl, but not a man hater. In this memoir she explores what life is like in the stripper world. Sometimes it’s empowering, but a lot of the time it can be degrading. Also, she completely destroys the stereotype that strippers are just a bunch of whores.)
  5. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (A book about a hermaphrodite certainly has a lot to say about what it’s like to be a female, and being born in the wrong body.)
  6. The World According to Garp by John Irving (John Irving wrote about the severity of feminism back in 1978. T.S. Garp’s mother is the ring leader of this group of feminists on the East Coast. Garp eventually finds himself fed up with a lot of them. There’s even a subgroup he particularly hates that call themselves the Ellen Jamesians, who cut out their own tongues in honor of the fictional Ellen James, who was raped and abused, and becomes this beacon symbol of feminism for these women. It just goes to show that there’s always going to be radical individuals in any kind of group you form.)

    glennclose.jpg
    Glenn Close as Garp’s mother in the film version of The World According to Garp
  7. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran (Caitlin Moran really nailed it on the head when she created the character of Johanna Morrigan. This teenage girl is angsty, unattractive, and is ultimately just trying to figure out who she is.)
  8. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons From the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty (You never really hear about women in the funeral industry. Thank God for Caitlin Doughty, because she’s here to tell us all about it. Not only will this memoir make you question and reclaim your morality, you’ll also finish reading this book with a mental picture of Caitlin in a dress ruined by melted human fat. It’s disgusting, hilarious, and all in a day’s work. ALSO, she has a youtube channel where she answers all of your mortician and death related questions.)
  9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (How can you not fall in love with Idgie Threadgoode, The Bee Charmer? She’s a tomboy, hardheaded, and saves her friend from an abusive relationship.)
  10. ANYTHING by Mary Roach (Mary Roach is a science journalist, and she’s funny to boot. She’s written books about dead bodies, ghosts, sex, pooping, living on mars, and most recently, the military. Her books are easy to digest, she sometimes volunteers herself for experiments, and above all she’s just downright hilarious. I highly recommend anything she writes.)

Leave a comment