Books
3 Books By Women Out This Week About Reproductive Rights, Race, & Complicated Sisterhood
As the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration edges closer, the books about his rise to power — and the resistance that met his presidency — are being released with fire and fury. (I'm sorry.) On Jan. 16, readers have two nonfiction books about Trump to look forward to reading: How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt and Trumpocracy by David Frum. And from the voices of those living the resistance each and every day, there are three books to expect this week: Together We Rise, a coffee table book that takes you behind the scenes of the Women's March movement; When They Call You A Terrorist, a far meatier memoir about the Black Lives Matter movement, as told by two of its creators, Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele; and So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, an accessible breakdown of the racial landscape in America today.
The fiction being released this week is also imbued with the politics of our current struggle: Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed tackles racism and xenophobic through the story of a young American Muslim girl who must reckon with her own future and identity in the wake of a terrorist attack; and Red Clocks by Leni Zumas asks readers to contemplate what will truly happen if politicians succeed in revoking reproductive rights for women.
There are numerous books out this week that deserve a spot on your bookshelf, but here are three by women that I recommend for the days ahead:
'Red Clocks' by Leni Zumas
Set in an near-future America where abortion, birth control, and adoption as a single parent are illegal, Red Clocks hauntingly illustrates the ways that access (or lack thereof) to reproductive services can impact how women live. This story isn't polemical, but emotional: You'll be motivated to fight harder than ever for reproductive rights not because Zumas tells you to fight, but because you will believe in your gut and your soul that her characters (and you) deserve a world where a woman gets to decide the terms of her own motherhood.
'When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir' by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele
On the day after America's annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. comes a memoir that poignantly and poetically emphasizes the root of civil disobedience: love. However, co-authors Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele want you to know that change is not usually pretty or diplomatic. In fact, fighting on behalf of yourself and those who have been victimized by centuries of white power is not — in any sense — easy or clean, and the strength and resilience required to continue these fights does not flow from an unlimited well.
'Everything Here Is Beautiful' by Mira T. Lee
It happens too rarely that a writer decides that the major relationship arc of their novel will be one between two sisters. As anyone who has a sister can attest, it can be one of the most complicated — and most rewarding — relationships of a lifetime. In Everything Here is Beautiful, Mira T. Lee introduces readers to Miranda, the "sense" of this twosome, and Lucia, the "sensibility." Miranda is older and responsible; Lucia is headstrong and unpredictable. And when Lucia's mental illness becomes too much for her to bear alone, Miranda must leave behind her life in Switzerland to help save her sister from herself.
