Emma Watson

From the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist: a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to eras...

Emma Watson

2017-09-09T00:00:00.000Z

While parts of the book are difficult to read, it highlights the very real damage done by sexual violence and puts you in the mind and body of someone that has to move through the world in a different way. A small insight or perspective I feel grateful for now having and understanding a little bit better. – source

Also recommended by

Gretchen Rubin

Bad Feminist

Essays

Roxane Gay - 2014-08-05

Goodreads Rating

3.9 (94k)

Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pinkall shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and Im not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the jou...

Emma Watson

2017-09-09T00:00:00.000Z

I am also re-reading essays from Gay’s ‘Bad Feminist’. We put such high expectations on ourselves as feminists, on other feminists, and the movement as a whole. It feels like such a relief to take ownership of words like “nasty woman” and “bad feminist”. They don’t have so much power this way and maybe they remind us not to hold ourselves and others to unreasonably high standards - we are all human after all and at different moments of our learning journeys. We need to feel free to be on those journeys and make mistakes. I hope if you get time you’ll enjoy what she has to say about this too. – source

Fiction Dystopian Science Fiction

The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood - 2017-04-25 (first published in 1985)

Goodreads Rating

4.1 (2m)

Before The Testaments, there was The Handmaids Tale: an instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction (New York Times).The Handmaids Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast. Set in the near future, it describes life in what was...

Emma Watson

2017-04-17T00:00:00.000Z

Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale over 30 years ago now, but it is a book that has never stopped fascinating readers because it articulates so vividly what it feels like for a woman to lose power over her own body. – source

Also recommended by

Jenn Im

Historical Fiction Fiction

The Constant Princess

Philippa Gregory - 2006-09-06 (first published in 2005)

Goodreads Rating

3.9 (154k)

Splendid and sumptuous historical novel from the internationally bestselling author, Philippa Gregory, telling of the early life of Katherine of Aragon.We think of Katherine of Aragon as the barren wife of a notorious king; but behind this legacy lies a fascinating story.Katherine of Aragon is born Catalina, the Spanish Infanta, to parents who are ...

Emma Watson

2017-03-08T00:00:00.000Z

There's another book that I read when I was very young – The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory, about Catherine of Aragon – and I know it sounds silly, but I thought, "I've got to be just like her." She was the first wife of Henry VIII and she survived, having been cruelly divorced. I remember being really inspired by that. – source

Women Who Run with the Wolves

Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Clarissa Pinkola Estés - 1996-11-27 (first published in 1992)

Goodreads Rating

4.1 (57k)

Nonfiction Psychology Social Sciences Spirituality

Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Jungian analyst and cantadora storyteller shows how women's vitality can be restored through what she calls "psych...

Emma Watson

2017-02-27T00:00:00.000Z

Estes' ideas are both ancient and completely new. She points to storytelling, our ancient narratives, as a way for women to reconnect to the Wild Woman all women have within themselves, but have lost – source

The Vagina Monologues

20th Anniversary Edition

Eve Ensler - 2018-01-09 (first published in 1996)

Goodreads Rating

3.9 (32k)

A landmark in women's empowerment--as relevant as ever in the age of #MeToo--that honors female sexuality in all its complexityIt's been more than twenty years since Eve Ensler's international sensation The Vagina Monologues gave birth to V-Day, the radical, global grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls. This special edition fe...

Emma Watson

2016-12-15T00:00:00.000Z

This book isn't strictly just a book - it's a play that became a political movement that became a world-wide phenomenon. Just say the title The Vagina Monologues and, even now, twenty years after Eve Ensler first performed her ground-breaking show, the words feel radical. I'm very excited about spending the months of January and February reading and discussing a book/play that has literally changed lives. – source

Mom & Me & Mom

Maya Angelou - 2013-04-02

Goodreads Rating

4.2 (19k)

For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their ...

Emma Watson

2016-10-31T00:00:00.000Z

@oursharedshelf's Nov & Dec book is #Mom&Me&Mom by Maya Angelou – source

Also recommended by

Alice Walker

Nonfiction Comics Fiction

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi - 2009-04-01 (first published in 2003)

Goodreads Rating

4.3 (141k)

The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a ReturnThe intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandaughter of Iran's last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions ...

Emma Watson

2016-05-16T00:00:00.000Z

Satrapi's deceptively simple, almost whimsical drawings belie the seriousness and rich complexity of her story--but it’s also very funny too. – source

Also recommended by

Daniel Goleman

Half the Sky

Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

Nicholas D. Kristof - 2010-06-01 (first published in 2008)

Goodreads Rating

4.3 (53k)

#1 National BestsellerFrom two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our eras most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the ext...

Emma Watson

2016-04-16T00:00:00.000Z

Most importantly, the book spotlights how these women were able to stand up and transform their lives and, through their inspiring examples, we learn that the key to enabling change and economic growth is in unleashing women’s potential. Kristof and WuDunn dare us, as readers, to join the cause and Half the Sky shows us how, by doing even a very small amount, we each have the power to change other women’s lives. – source

How to Be a Woman

Caitlin Moran - 2012-07-17 (first published in 2011)

Goodreads Rating

3.7 (105k)

Nonfiction Humor Fiction

Baksidestext: Det har aldrig varit lättare att vara kvinna. Vi har rösträtt och p-piller och vi har inte blivit brända som häxor sedan 1700-talet. Men det återstår några små frågor ...Varför måste vi ta bort allt hår på kroppen? Varför är bh:n så obekväm? Och varför frågar alla när man ska skaffa barn?Boken börjar på Caitlin Morans bedrövliga 13-år...

Emma Watson

2016-03-21T00:00:00.000Z

I read it on a plane from London to New York and I laughed out loud and cried so much I think the whole of my cabin, airline staff included, thought I was losing my mind. – source

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse - 2020-01-09