May 21, 2013

Edition: U.S.

Women

The Huffington Post | By Margaret Wheeler Johnson | Posted: 03/29/12 12:42 PM ET | Updated: 03/29/12 07:32 PM ET

Good Books Every Woman Should Read

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Women like books. We know this. We know it from the statistics -- according to an often cited study by the publishing research firm Bowker, women bought 64 percent of all books sold in 2009 -- from the runaway popularity of female book clubs, and from our own lives. Try just mentioning one of your favorite books the next time you're with a group of female friends. Whether it's "Little Women," "The Bell Jar," or your favorite Judy Blume, someone in the group is almost guaranteed to recognize it and say something along the lines of "god, I looooved that boooook." Which may devolve -- no, evolve -- into a conversation about all the books you've mutually loved and when you read them and why they moved you at that time in your life. It'll be an instant "love, loss and what I read" party. Please do try this at home.

If you play this game for long enough, a few titles will probably emerge as books every woman would benefit from reading. That's what happened in our office this week. Inspired by the Frisky's list of "22 Books Every Woman Needs To Read," we asked the female staff of the Huffington Post which books they consider essential reading for women. Flip through our choices below. They're not in any order, and this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. Instead we hope you'll help us round it out. If you have a suggestion of your own, please email the title and why women should read it to women@huffingtonpost.com.

LOOK: Books Every Woman Should Read

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'Are You There God, It's Me Margaret' By Judy Blume
Yearling | $6.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Are-You-There-God-Margaret/dp/0440404193" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "It tackles religion, the awkwardness of adolescence, and the weird contraptions that women used to use when they first got their periods. (References to the "belt" definitely confused me as a kid.)" -Kathleen Massara, Editor, Huffington Post Arts
'The Handmaid's Tale' By Margaret Atwood
Anchor | $10.20 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Handmaids-Tale-Margaret-Atwood/dp/038549081X" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "In the near future, the United States is overthrown by a group called the Sons of Jacob. The bank accounts of women and other undesirables are frozen, and a group known as Handmaids become the hosts for the future children of the ruling class. This book will haunt you, and is a reminder of how easy it is for extremists to take over... Once they do, the target is often women. (No thanks, Santorum!)" -Kathleen Massara, Editor, Huffington Post Arts
'A Room Of One's Own' By Virginia Woolf
Mariner Books | $10.40 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Room-Ones-Own-Virginia-Woolf/dp/0156787334" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'Diving Into The Wreck' By Adrienne Rich
Norton | $10.55 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Diving-Into-The-Wreck-1971-1972/dp/0393311635" target="_hplink">Amazon</a>
'The Wife Of Bath' By Geoffrey Chaucer
Bedford/St. Martin's | $12.32 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wife-Bath-Studies-Contemporary-Criticism/dp/0312111282" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'As You Like It' By William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster | $5.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/You-Like-Folger-Shakespeare-Library/dp/074348486X" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> "I feel like he always includes extremely strong female characters, especially for the time period." -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'Madame Bovary' By Gustave Flaubert
Bantam Classics | $5.95 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Bovary-Classics-Gustave-Flaubert/dp/0553213415" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'The Virgin Suicides' By Jeffrey Eugenides
Picador | $10.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Virgin-Suicides-A-Novel/dp/0312428812/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332869067&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "A much better pick for women than Middlesex...for some reason, he is REALLY able to capture what it is like to be a teenage girl in that book." -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'Deenie' By Judy Blume
Delacorte Books for Young Readers | $8.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deenie-Judy-Blume/dp/0385739850" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'Little Women' By Louisa May Alcott
Signet Classics | $3.95 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-Signet-Classics-Louisa-Alcott/dp/0451529308" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'Seventh Heaven' By Alice Hoffman
Putnam Adult | $11.28 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Heaven-Alice-Hoffman/dp/0399135359" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> "A coming of age novel for those who came of age in the 1960s. Beautifully written story about a brassy divorcee (yes, that's what they were called) moving into a Long Island subdivision (think Levittown) in the 1950s that busts the myth of life behind the white picket fences." -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A.
'The Women's Room' By Marilyn French
Summit | $12.00 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-French-The-Womens-Room/dp/B000O9M2G2/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332874504&sr=1-2" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "The best novel of the women's liberation movement" -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A.
'Fear Of Flying' By Erica Jong
NAL Trade | $10.88 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Flying-Erica-Jong/dp/0451209435/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332874875&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "This one rocked my world! It was ground-breaking -- uninhibited story of Isadora Wing." -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A.
'Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage' By Alice Munro
Vintage | $10.20 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375727434/ref=rdr_ext_tmb" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> " -Meredith Melnick, Editor, The Huffington Post Nutrition and Fitness
'Housekeeping' By Marilynne Robinson
Picador | $10.20 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Housekeeping-A-Novel-Marilynne-Robinson/dp/0312424094" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books
'Frida: A Biography Of Frida Kahlo' By Hayden Herrera
Harper Perennial | $16.49 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Frida-A-Biography-Kahlo/dp/0060085894" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Kimberly Brooks, Founding Editor, Huffington Post Arts and Editor, Huffington Post Science
'The Twilight Series' By Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown and Co. | $11.08 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Book-1-Stephenie-Meyer/dp/0316160172" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> "Just to know what 500 Million girls got so excited about!" -Kimberly Brooks, Founding Editor, Huffington Post Arts and Editor, Huffington Post Science
'The Awakening' By Kate Chopin
Avon | $4.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Awakening-Kate-Chopin/dp/0380002450" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> -Lori Leibovich, Executive Lifestyle Editor, Huffington Post
'The Bell Jar' By Sylvia Plath
Harper Perennial Modern Classics | $10.04 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Bell-Jar-Sylvia-Plath/dp/0061148512" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> -Lori Leibovich, Executive Lifestyle Editor, Huffington Post
'Bossypants' By Tina Fey
Reagan Arthur Books | $16.19 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056863" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Lori Leibovich, Executive Lifestyle Editor, Huffington Post
'Franny And Zooey' By J.D. Salinger
Little, Brown and Company | $6.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Franny-Zooey-J-D-Salinger/dp/0316769495" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Farah Miller, Managing Editor, Huffington Post Parents
'The Lovely Bones' By Alice Sebold
Little Brown | $14.10 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Lovely-Bones-A-Novel/dp/0316666343" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A.
'When Everything Changed' By Gail Collins
Little, Brown and Company | $18.47 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Everything-Changed-Amazing-American/dp/0316059544" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Meredith Melnick, Editor, The Huffington Post Nutrition and Fitness
'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' By Jeanette Winterson
Grove Press | $10.17 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Oranges-Are-Not-Only-Fruit/dp/0802135161" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> "An insanely ambitious novel which is really a memoir and doesn't apologize for that." Margaret Wheeler Johnson, Editor, Huffington Post Women
'The Girls Of Slender Means' By Muriel Spark
New Directions | $9.44 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Slender-Means-Directions-Classic/dp/081121379X" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> "A women's boarding house novel is almost as great as a girls boarding school novel, especially if a bomb and a Schiaparelli dress are involved." -Margaret Wheeler Johnson, Editor, Huffington Post Women
'The Liars Club' By Mary Karr
Penguin | $8.47 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Liars-Club-A-Memoir/dp/0143035746" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> "My mother drove me across the Sabine bridge ten or twenty times in my childhood, and I never knew our safe passage could be a testament to her sanity until I read Karr's account of being charioted across it by her own mother who was in the middle of a psychotic break. Also a really fine portrait of flawed fatherhood. Karr is the master of revealing her (real) characters' dignity and crazy in equal turns." -Margaret Wheeler Johnson, Editor, Huffington Post Women
'Get To Work: . . . And Get A Life, Before It's Too Late' By Linda R. Hirshman
Penguin | $12.00 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Get-Work-Life-Before-Late/dp/014303894X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "Her strategic plan for women: "don't study art," "never quit a job until you have another one" -Emily Peck, Managing Editor, Huffington Post Business
'Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America' By Barbara Ehrenreich
Holt Paperbacks | $1.99 |<a href="√" target="_hplink"> Amazon.com</a> -Meredith Melnick, Editor, The Huffington Post Nutrition and Fitness
'The Beauty Myth: How Images Of Beauty Are Used Against Women' By Naomi Wolf
Harper Perennial | $10.19 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Beauty-Myth-Images-Against/dp/0060512180" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Laura Schocker, Associate Editor, Huffinton Post Healthy Living
'Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom' By Christiane Northrup
Bantam | $12.20 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Bodies-Wisdom-Revised-Edition/dp/0553386735" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "It's the body bible for every woman" -Alana B. Elias Kornfeld, Senior Editor, International Huffington Post Media Group,
'Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide' By Nicholas D. Kristof
Knopf | $19.11 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Half-Sky-Oppression-Opportunity-Worldwide/dp/0307267148" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> -Jessica Prois, Editor, Huffington Post Impact
'The Woman At The Washington Zoo: Writings On Politics, Family, And Fate' By Marjorie Williams
PublicAffairs | $ | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Woman-Washington-Zoo-Writings/dp/1586483633" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "Marjorie Williams has an incredible gift for profiles--the stories she writes about her subjects, from barbara bush to D.C. socialite, are so nuanced, so detailed and so intimate. The book also has a must-read collection of her columns about being a working woman and mother." -Bianca Bosker, Senior Editor, Huffington Post Tech
'Last Night I Dreamed Of Peace: The Diary Of Dang Thuy Tram' By Dang Thuy Tram
Broadway | $11.07 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Night-Dreamed-Peace-Diary/dp/0307347389/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332956242&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "Not only is this book unique because it offers a Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War, but it also one of the few to offer a female point of view. Thuy Tram's diary offers an intimate look both into the war and into the life of a 20-something faced with becoming a woman in very challenging circumstances." -Michelle Persad, Intern, Huffington Post Women
'The Feminine Mystique' By Betty Friedan
Norton | 11.75 | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/feminine-mystique-betty-friedan/1100622672?ean=9780393322576&itm=1&usri=feminine+mystique" target="_hplink">Barnesandnoble.com</a>
'Backlash' By Susan Faludi
Crown | $14.95 | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/backlash-susan-faludi/1102808010?ean=9780307345424&itm=2&usri=susan+faludi" target="_hplink">Barnesandnoble.com</a>
'Collected Poems' By Edna St. Vincent Millay
HarperCollins | $17.57 | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/collected-poems-edna-st-vincent-millay/1100151003?ean=9780062015273&itm=2&usri=edna+st.+vincent+millay" target="_hplink">Barnesandnoble.com</a>
'Big Girls Don't Cry' By Rebecca Traister
Free Press | $26 | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-girls-dont-cry-rebecca-traister/1100630988" target="_hplink">Barnesandnoble.com</a>
'Forever' By Judy Blume
Simon Pulse | $8.99 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Judy-Blume/dp/1416934006/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333041409&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> "I read this book shortly before I became sexually active. This book, featuring Planned Parenthood, spared me from teenage pregnancy." Julia Jensen
'The Help' By Kathryn Stockett
Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam | $14.82 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Help-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399155341" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society' By Mary Ann Shaffer
The Dial Press | $15.93 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guernsey-Literary-Potato-Peel-Society/dp/0385340990" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'The Night Circus' By Erin Morgenstern
Doubleday | $17.79 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0385534639" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'The Lantern' By Deborah Lawrenson
Harper | $13.55 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Lantern-Novel-Deborah-Lawrenson/dp/0062049690" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'South Of Superior' By Ellen Airgood
Riverhead Hardcover | $13.98 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/South-Superior-Ellen-Airgood/dp/1594487936" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'The Language Of Trees' By Ilie Ruby
William Morrow Paperbacks | $11.69 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Language-Trees-A-Novel/dp/0061898643" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale Of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, And A Very Interesting Boy' By Jeanne Birdsall
Knopf Books | $10.85 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Penderwicks-Sisters-Rabbits-Interesting/dp/0375831436" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley
'Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, And Dying' By Ram Dass
Riverhead Books | $10.09 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Still-Here-Embracing-Aging-Changing/dp/1573228710" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Rae Carson
'Female Chauvinist Pigs' By Ariel Levy
Free Press | $9.74 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Female-Chauvinist-Pigs-Raunch-Culture/dp/0743284283/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333390202&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Lauren Hedinger
'The Paper Garden' By Molly Peacock
Bloomsbury USA | $13.60 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Paper-Garden-Artist-Begins/dp/1608196976/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333406740&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Shaunee Power
'In The Land Of The Grasshopper Song' By Mary Ellicott Arnold
Bison Books | $15.56 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-Land-Grasshopper-Song-Klamath/dp/0803236379" target="_hplink">Amazon.com</a> Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Shaunee Power
'Their Eyes Were Watching God' By Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics | $10.87 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Their-Eyes-Were-Watching-God/dp/0061120065/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333471784&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister
'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn' By Betty Smith
Harper Perennial Modern Classics| $11.55 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Tree-Grows-Brooklyn-P-S/dp/0061120073/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333472090&sr=1-1" target="_hplink">Amazon.com </a> Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister