When a meme mocking her cousin’s body hair becomes the talk of the school, TJ Powar begins to wonder how and why something as natural as hair is seen as disgusting or unclean—she then decides to discontinue her shaving and waxing regimens to test just how much it affects her social status. TJ Powar Has …
May the memory of bell hooks (1952-2021) always be preserved. Her work was a tour de force, and this excellent volume is a good a place to start. She was the author who taught me about feminism as an act of revolutionary love, and as a critical mindset for human thriving. This book disrupts patriarchal …
Some just out-wit, out-smart, out talk others, out perform, and some “sit quiet and refuse to be agreeable.” Many just don’t give into self-doubt and second-guessing and proceed through life with verve and conviction. I would have loved to met them all! Each little vignette is filled with wit and insight and such fun to …
Set across the PNW, LaPointe combines memoir and creative non-fiction to weave the stories of her Coast Salish female ancestors into her own complex tale. Heart-wrenching, and unflinching, LaPointe depicts the severe mental and physical health problems and hardships caused by PTSD from sexual assault—an issue which disproportionally impacts Native/Indigenous women. In La Pointe’s journey …
From Marissa at Grass Roots Books & Music in Corvallis, OR, originally posted on nwbooklovers on April 11, 2018: In Zumas’s all-too-familiar dystopia set in a small Oregon coastal town, Roe v. Wade has been overturned. The narrative explores the complexity of childbearing — both the desire for and not for — and the reduction …
Trees are fascinating subjects. I am obsessed with tree books and try to read all that I can find. But most of these focus on a tree’s root systems or how they influence the forest floor to support life. Not many of these books delve into the canopy of these trees, until now. This is …
Iron Widow is a book born from female rage. I often pitch it as “Pacific Rim” meets The Handmaid’s Tale because those are two properties familiar to Western audiences, but in truth, I was more inspired by Japanese mecha anime and Chinese harem dramas. The gilded palaces of Imperial China, where thousands of women must …
A delightful expose’ of the famous Barbizon Hotel for Women in NY City, the place where ambitious young women could live safely and in style while beginning their careers. Famous residents included the Unsinkable Molly Brown, Grace Kelly, Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and many others. The women arrived with high hopes and great …
An enlightening, empowering memoir from an admirable woman. Melinda draws on her 20 years of philanthropy with the Gates Foundation, co-founded with her husband Bill, to give her readers concrete ways to lift and to help lift. Each chapter conveys a current issue of need, at home and in other countries. Her message is that …
From a recent newsletter from Eagle Harbor Book Company on Bainbridge Island, WA: What experienced bookseller hasn’t heard this one: “I can’t remember the author or the title, but the cover is blue!” We rarely astonish our customers (or ourselves) by solving a mystery this difficult, but this week was our moment in the sun. The customer …
