Hello everyone, happy February! How was your month? Did anything exciting happen? Over here, it was work, work, work and cold, cold, cold. But we’re gaining more minutes of sunlight every day now and that makes me so happy!
I’m back on the blog today to talk about…feminist books! I love books featuring strong female characters and shining a light on issues we face everyday as women. I enjoy reading about books portraying how we’re still really behind in the gender equality game, how it could get way worse and how we need to keep on fighting for our rights!
So…fancy some amazing reads (contemporary and fantasy, YA and adult) that will make you want to burn down the patriarchy? I got you covered, here’s a list of 10 books that will enrage, inspire and empower you!
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10 feminist books that will make you want to smash the patriarchy
The Grace Year, Kim Liggett
Set in a sexist dystopian world, this story examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls. In the county, girls are banished to the wilds during their sixteenth year in order to purge themselves of their dangerous “magic”. Filled with non-stop action and intrigue, with a very powerful message, you’ll be flipping through it and it’ll leave you haunted long after you’ve closed the book. It’s dark and mind-twisting, don’t let that pink cover fool you!
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Only Ever Yours, Louise O’Neill
This is one of these books that hit you straight in the heart with such an ugly, terrifying, realistic world that makes you think it could be true. Set in a dystopian futuristic society, women are no longer born, but created with the sole purpose of pleasing men. It’s a wonderfully crafted story aimed at pointing out the flaws in our society and the immense pressure that all women face to be perfect.
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Not Here to Be Liked, Michelle Quach
This story is about Eliza, who, upon losing the editor-of-chief role of her school newspaper to an inexperienced new-comer, accidentally starts a feminist movement. But things get way more complicated when she starts to fall for the boy the movement is aimed at. It portrays feminism in the most real way with the grey and complicated areas. A fun read that will inspire and empower!
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A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions, Sheena Boekweg
Behind every powerful man is a trained woman, and behind every trained woman is the Society. But the Society is more than oaths, it is sisterhood and purpose. I loved the way that women are depicted throughout the story and the strong messages about self-worth and acceptance. Definitely the kind of book that stays with you!
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Vox, Christina Dalcher
As soon as I read the synopsis of this novel, I knew it was a book I HAD to read. I wasn’t wrong. Set in an America where women have been silenced, we follow Jean who’s determined to reclaim her voice. This is a chilling read that will make you so angry you’ll want to scream at each page turned! A fascinating storyline and well-developped characters, a must-read!
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Q, Christina Dalcher
Another Christina Dalcher’s book! Damn, she’s good! Can you imagine a time when the future of every child is categorized based on a person’s quotient score? This is the story of what a mother will do to save her daughter. Definitely not an easy read, but a engrossing one. I couldn’t stop reading, both fascinated by the story and horrified by it.
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Girls wih Sharp Sticks, Suzanne Young
Set in a dystopian world, a group of girls goes to a prestigious boarding school where they are taught to be quiet and respectful. Until Mena starts to question everything she’s ever known and soon begins to uncover the dark secrets of what’s actually happening there… Infuriating, empowering and twisty, I was obsessed, and you’ll be too!
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We Set the Dark on Fire, Tehlor Kay Mejia
At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles: run a husband’s household or raise his children. Beauty or brains, they can’t be both. This story is a brilliant and feminist critique of patriarchal structures and the sexist expectations of women. Filled with secrets, lies and rebellions, it’s a refreshing and original read!
Add to Goodreads ☂️ Buy on: Amazon – Book Depository – Bookshop – Blackwell’s
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
Frankie is no longer the kind of girl to take “no” for an answer. Especially when “no” means she’s excluded from her boyfriend’s all-male secret society. Both highly political and incredibly funny, it deals with important topics like power and ambition. This books is all about forcing your way through the doors that are not meant to open for you.
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Am I Normal Yet?, Holly Bourne
We follow Evie, who suffers from severe OCD, as she’s navigating life’s at her new college. Am I Normal Yet? is really funny but also very eye opening as it involves feminism in its most genuine sense and a closer, more sensitive look at mental illness. It’s also a story about female friendships, friendships that are healthy and supportive and we definitely need more of those! Highly recommend for any contemporary lover!
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What did you think of my list? Loved any of those?
Do you like to read that kind of stories? Any feminist book everyone need to read asap?
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Not Here to Be Liked is so good! Love this list!
Yeeees, I love it so much 😍
That makes me so happy, thank you! 😘😘
I loved VOX. It was mind blowing. Great list!
Totally mindblowing, that’s the word!!
Thank you so much, happy reading 😘😘
After enjoying We Were Liars, I went on a binge to read all Lockhart books and Frankie was among them. I really enjoyed it and think I even did a video for a booktube thing back in the day … I would never now haha
Haha 😂
A great book, I agree 😁😁
While there are a lot of books that I’ve heard of, there are also I’ve never heard of! I’m thinking of now of making Only ever Yours my next book club book! Thank you so much for the recommendation 🙂 xx
Melina | melinaelisa.com
Awesome!! That makes me so happy 🥰
Happy reading! 😘😘
I love this list so much! Coincidentally Taylor Swift’s The Man was playing as I read it which just seems like the perfect soundtrack for these recommendations 😂
A distant relative gifted me The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks ages ago and I remember loving it, maybe it’s time to reread it! And Not Here to Be Liked is on my audiobook and I’m super excited to read it this year, it seems like exactly my kind of book.
Aww, I’m so glad 🥰
Oh my god, YEEES!! Perfect soundtrack indeed 😁
Yeees, such a great story!
Awesome, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did 😊
Thanks for stopping by and happy reading 😘😘
Nice post. Keep it up!
Thank you so much! ☺️☺️
Yay I’ve actually read three of these!! And the rest are on my tbr. I’m most annoyed that I haven’t read Girls With Sharp Sticks yet.
I absolutely adored Grace Year. It was so dark but powerful & I really can’t wait to read more by the author. I enjoyed Only Ever Yours as well. My feelings towards Vox were mixed but the world was definitely a highly disturbing one.
Yaaay! 🤗🤗
Haha, well…maybe it’s time now 😉
100% agree with you! I couldn’t put the book down!
Only Ever Yours was also really really good!
Yeah, it was a crazy read for sure!
Thanks for stopping by, happy reading 😘😘
You can have opinions about the different shapes and varying degrees of feminism, but one fact can’t be denied: there are still blotches and boils and wounds on modern societies’ oh-so-modern-and-so-21st-century faces as far as their treatment of women and of the issue of women’s rights is concerned. And these boils and wounds have been allowed to fester for too long. Modern world can’t move on to eliminating them if it doesn’t even become self-aware enough to recognize that they exist. And even today, there are so many things and approaches considered torally ‘normal’ that, on a closer look, are so discriminatory against, and insulting to the female populace one wonders why nobody talks about them
Thanks for the list. Though most of it seems quite dark and heavy, I’ll check out as much of it as I can!
Oh my god YES! 100% agree with you!
You’re so welcome! 🥰 Yes, some of them are quite heavy. I hope you’ll enjoy them 😊
Thanks for stopping by and happy reading 😘😘
I’m on the waitlist for the audiobook of Not Here to Be Liked – the premise sounds so interesting!!
Yaaaay! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did 😁
Thanks for stopping by 😘😘
Not here to be liked has been on my list! Happy to hear that’s a good one.
I feel like One last stop might make the cut too? Imean, with Jane being a lesbian on the 70s- all the fight she needed to do, for August to freely be able to love anyone she wants and all the drag queens being way less criminalized and all that than it was at her time.
It really is 😍 I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did 😊
Oh yees! Totally!
Thank you so much for stopping by 😘😘
BIG yes to this list! Wow I’m ashamed that I haven’t read any of these books, but you’ll be happy to know that I have officially added many to my tbr. Awesome post! I always love a post that makes me want to read a million books.
☺️☺️
Thank you so so much, that makes me so happy! 🥰
I hope you’ll enjoy them all 😁😁
Those all sound amazing! I’m glad they aren’t all dystopian (which can leave me feeling hopeless, rather than fired up to fight sexism) and that some seem to tackle sexism as the complex construct it is (not just a set of laws or expectations you can say no to and then be on your merry way). Thanks for putting these on my radar!
Yaaay! 🤗
I totally get that!
YEES, exactly!
You’re very welcome, happy reading 😘😘
These all sounds absolutely amazing!! I haven’t read any of these, but one I do know that definitely fits into this category is Cinderella is Dead, by Kalynn Bayron. We Set the Dark on Fire, The Grace Year, and Girls with Sharp Sticks all look incredible! I really want to read all of these now!! This is an amazing list 🥰
Oh yeeees!!
Yaaaay, I hope you’ll enjoy them all 😁😁
Thanks for stopping by, happy reading 😘