Recommended reading for Women’s History Month

Sunday, March 8 was International Women’s Day, but Women’s History Month lasts all of March. We asked various women’s organizations throughout Central Texas to share their recommended reading for the month — here’s what they shared:

Peggy Terry with Folktales’ Black Women’s Literary Society and theAustin African American Book Festivalrecommended the following books they’ve read over the years:

  • Becoming by Michelle Obama
  • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
  • Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
  • Kindred by Octavia Butler

Ami Kane with Girls Empowerment Network also recommended Michelle Obama’s Becoming, and Mothers’ Milk Bank Austin recommended Educated by Tara Westover, writing, “I enjoyed the book because it is a story of resilience of a woman whose story could have been so different but she chose to believe in herself and pursue a life of high education in order to learn and grow in her professional life but also her personal life. It is deeply personal and inspiring. I recommend to anyone and everyone!! I laughed, cried, and was inspired the whole way :)”

Dorothy Marchand with the Texas League of Women Voters recommended the Texas State Historical Association’s Texas Women and the Vote, “which is a compilation of short essays on Texas women whose stories intertwine with the history of Texas women’s voting and election history since the nineteenth century,” she wrote. The ebook is free to download here.

Lesley Landry with SAFE Austin shared a variety of books the SAFE Book Club has read over the years:

  • Round House by Louise Erdrich
  • Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
  • Hunger by Roxane Gay
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by c
  • B**** Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick
  • Saga by Brian K Vaughn and Fiona Staples
  • Shrill by Lindy West
  • The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Madame President by Helene Cooper
  • Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
  • Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
  • The Mothers by Brit Bennett
  • Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
  • Kindred by Octavia Butler
  • Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd
  • America for Beginners by Leah Franqui
  • Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse