Book Recommendations

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

by Roxane Gay

Hunger details Gay’s experiences with her body, sexual violence, gender, self-image, disordered eating, and their relation to one another. Gay prefaces the memoir with a warning that her story is not one of triumph, but rather one of truth. Her body and her relationship with it, remains imperfect and complicated (despite how much she wishes it were not). She begins by detailing her sexual assault, which served as a catalyst for her tumultuous relationship with her body. The rest of the novel is an account of her body and how it impacted (and continues to impact) her life. Dropping out of college, dieting, overeating, becoming an author, struggling with depression, resisting the doctor, avoiding public spaces, not contacting her parents, and finding and losing love, are all, in some way, tied to Gay’s body.

Hunger focuses on a number of topics: gender, fat-phobia, sexuality, disordered eating, feminism, sexual assault, mental illness, and the body. Several topics are covered within a short text (and they are covered excellently). Overall, Hunger was an amazing read. There aren’t any weaknesses, though it would not be a good book to read if you were looking for something encouraging or uplifting (it’s not necessarily unhappy but it can be upsetting at times). Additionally, some of the material covered by Gay is triggering so I would encourage people to proceed with caution. The strength of Hunger lies in its relatability and honesty. It was easy to read and understand, and there were points where I didn’t want to put the book down. I would recommend this book to anyone, but particularly to people struggling with their body image and/or body dysmorphia. Hunger is not necessarily an uplifting story, but I found much comfort in Gay’s words.

Review by Erin Galvin

Sex Object: A Memoir

by Jessica Valenti

Jessica Valenti spent most of her childhood and adolescence somewhere around New York City, mostly in Brooklyn and some of it in Queens. The first time she saw a penis was on the subway when she was 12 years old, and from then on it became a regular part of her life to be sexually harassed in some way or another just because she was a young girl. She tells the story of every time growing up that she experienced sexual assault, and there were a lot. She talks about every boy who ever loved and/or hurt her, including her college boyfriend who, after she broke up with him, taped a used condom to the white board on her door and wrote WHORE across it. She talks about when she was invited to meet Bill Clinton, and she was so nervous and felt so out of place she didn’t say one word, but when a picture was published she was attacked viciously online for having breasts. She talks about her career as a feminist writer who gets paid, and her struggles with feeling like she belongs in any given room she walks into. Unlike her other readings we have looked at this semester, she is not telling the reader what to do, even though there are certainly lessons to be learned from what she says.

Major themes of this text include sexual assault, the objectification of women in everyday life and the patriarchal expectation for women to always be pleasant despite extreme hardship.

The tone that I usually find juvenile and offensive in her other works I find honest and compelling in a memoir that is telling her own story without agenda or argument. It is an easy, honest, unapologetic read that you can’t put down despite the hardship you read about.

I would recommend this memoir to anyone and everyone who is looking to read a story riddled with insecurities, authenticity, and acceptance of who you are without accepting the state of the world. Women have been subject to objectification for too long, and Jessica Valenti shows that we need to stop the cycle with this generation, so her daughter Layla and all of the other young girls in the world do not have to endure what she, and millions of other women across the country and world, experienced too many times.

Review by Katie Ruder

Tomboy

by Liz Prince

Liz Prince’s Tomboy is a graphic memoir published in 2014 that presents her coming of age story as someone who identifies with the term “tomboy.” The plot, centering around the author’s childhood from about age 4 to age 16, uncovers many issues faced by the author, including bullying, puberty, coming to terms with her own sexuality and identity, and finding friends that are a right fit for her. As her life as a tomboy youth is depicted in comic strip format, the author focuses on different stories taken from her childhood that point out some less-obvious effects of society’s enforced gender norms. Skillfully incorporating humor, Prince highlights the struggles of a young person who does not quite fit in with society’s established gender binary. Tomboy is a good choice if you want a fast, engaging read that will open your eyes to the nuances of being a girl and dressing/acting like what is expected of a boy.

Review by Ashley Allen

No One Tells You This

by Glynnis MacNicol

The memoir “No One Tells You This” by Glynnis Macnicol, recounts the author’s life and perspective as a 40 year old single and childless woman. Glynnis embarks on a journey of finding and questioning what meaning and purpose in her life can look like when society has consistently told her it can only be found in a partner and/or a child. She recognizes she has neither of these and starts searching for her place in the world and within herself. There have been men here and there in her life that have attempted to land some room in her busy life as an ambitious traveling writer living in New York, however they’ve never been permanent. Glynnis goes into detail into hardships within her family with her mom being diagnosed with Parkinson's and the intimate relationship she shares between her older sister. Throughout the memoir, she is surrounded by many friends which carry her throughout her chaotic solo life as she begins to piece together and make sense of the life she has chosen for all that it is.

Review by Natalia Esteban

Untamed

by Glennon Doyle

Untamed follows Doyle's journey of discovery. Discovery for Doyle is a long, ongoing process where she explores her inner Knowing, and learns to trust in her Knowing, and encourages other women to do the same. Doyle demonstrates her experiences with the struggles she faced in a marriage with her ex-husband Craig, her struggles in figuring out if she should leave the marriage to be with Abby, and the struggles she faced navigating a new family dynamic with Craig, their three kids, and her wife, Abby. Doyle exposes herself to the audience and brings us along with her as she works through the roots of her problems and thinking.

She explores themes like religion and battles with body image, with addiction and eating disorders and mental health, dismantling internalized racism, and the effects of patriarchy on genders. Her memoir’s main strength is its ability to guide the audience through her thinking when she arrives at solutions. A reasonable weakness of her book is how she interrupts storylines with completely different storylines, and then interrupts another storyline by returning to the previous story. This memoir is enjoyable for those who appreciate books that feel like the author is conversing with the audience.

Review by Broxton Brown

My Body

by Emily Ratajkowski

My Body is a recollection of Emily Ratajowski’s life through a series of essays. Emily Ratajowski is a model, actress, activist, entrepreneur, writer, and new mother. Each of these essays discusses themes of feminism, the beauty standard, sexual assault, the workplace and motherhood. Each of these themes come from her life experiences and how they have affected her.. Ratajkowski discusses how she views feminism. Even though she is a conventionally beautiful woman she has had to deal with many issues regarding the beauty standard. As for sexual assault, Emily discusses about her own experiences. Because she is a public figures she talks about her struggles within the workplace Lastly, she discusses motherhood. Emily is a new mother meaning she has taken on a new journey. While this memoir includes some heavy topics, it is still empowering to read. It uses simple language and is easy to comprehend other than that her stories give other people struggling with the themes a way to relate and learn as well. If anyone is struggling with their own sense of self, this book is a great read.

Review by Lily Klinger

Somebody's Daughter

by Ashley C. Ford

Somebody’s Daughter chronicles Ashley C. Ford’s childhood as a poor Black girl in Indiana that faces complicated familial relationships due to the absence of her father, who was incarcerated when she was one years old. Despite not knowing her father or the crimes he committed until she was a teenager, Ford feels a deep connection to her father and a yearning for what life would be like if he was still around. As she grows up, Ford must face acceptance of her complicated relationship with her mom, grandma, and of her own body. She grapples throughout her life with what it means to be “good” and learning to be seen in the world.

This book is a heart-wrenching story that contains multiple references and descriptions of abuse and sexual assault. Ford’s memoir is captivating and honest, bridging an intimate connection between the author and reader.

Review by Audrey Herrera

Shout

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson is a memoir comprised of short poems that explore the author’s personal experiences with sexual assault, her difficult childhood, and her journey as an author. She begins with her adolescence, and discusses the effects of religion, literature, and drug use within her early life. This text does not just center around one story, but rather, it speaks to many important themes and experiences throughout her personal and professional life. Some major themes of this text include fatherhood, censorship, and the critiquing of cultural norms about gender roles.

Inspired by the stories of her readers, Anderson attempts to validate the experiences of all sexual assault survivors within her poems. This is a key strength of the text, as she purposefully includes the stories of both men and women who have experienced sexual abuse. One weakness of this text is that Anderson often discusses the content of her previous publications, which can be a bit confusing to new readers of her works. Overall, I would recommend this book to those interested in censorship and education, as Anderson is a firm advocate for speaking up about these issues and educating children to break cycles of abuse.

Review by Lauren Stevens

Native Country of the Heart

by Cherríe Moraga

Cherríe writes this story about her mother, Elvira. It begins in California, where Elvira’s father sells her to work picking cotton. She spends all of her time supporting her family, which leaves little time for education. She was only able to complete through the third grade. After that, she worked in Tijuana as a cigarette girl under an older man who had intentions to take advantage of her. She moved to Los Angeles, where she met her husband Joseph and with whom she had three children. Sadly, Elvira would pass away many years later due to Alzheimer’s.

I would only recommend this book to someone who wants to read it. It’s a very specific story so not every reader will understand it or relate to it. As well, Moraga often substitutes Spanish words for English when fitting. This can cause difficulty for readers with no experience with the language. The final weakness is the language. I think Moraga often tries too hard to be poetic, which can make it a difficult read. However, a lot of the weaknesses are also strengths. The book makes for a difficult read, but it invites readers to expand their horizons. Just because you may not relate to a story does not mean there is nothing to learn.

Review by Ava Paige Gleason

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

by T. Kira Madden

In this book, T Kira Madden tells the story of her life, from addicted parents to finding her sexuality and meeting her future wife. It ranged from early childhood when her parents got married to her late 20s, with the last hundred pages also being devoted in part to her mother’s life. Madden’s childhood and adolescence are surrounded by addiction, a trend she does not escape until well into early adulthood. It covers the good, the bad, and the ugly of her life, often quite graphically. This book leaves very little uncovered or untold- leaving Madden’s life entirely on the page. Its key topics include the role of family, addiction, female friendship, sexuality, and loss. These themes are interconnected throughout the book- the continual struggle Madden’s parents had with addiction, for example. This was a gripping story that is incredibly easy to follow and engrossed in. However, there are so many different stories told that the reader could easily get overwhelmed, which is why I believe it could have been split into multiple books. It also covers difficult and potentially triggering topics with little to no warning, and Madden praises people who are probably not worth that praise. I would recommend this book to anyone, so long as they check trigger warnings.

Review by Bella Saunders

In the Dream House

by Carmen Maria Machado

In the Dream House is a memoir written by a queer women named Carmen Maria Machado. The book entails Carmen’s first serious relationship with a woman and how it turned into an abusive one. She takes the reader through the ups and downs of the relationship, as if you are living through it with her. She tells the story through a roughly straight timeline, branching off into other stories from her life and occasionally relating her experience to different movies she has seen. The memoir is written from an interesting perspective and keeps the reader guessing as to what is happening. Carmen writes with amazing detail and emotion that can entrance a reader.

Carmen does a wonderful job with her book and touches on themes including the underrepresentation of abuse seen in queer relationships and the stigmas behind them. I highly recommend this memoir for anyone, but I want to put a warning as there are detailed descriptions of violence, abusive relationships and some mention of sexual assault. I loved reading this book and recommend it to anyone who likes reading about first time queer relationships from unique perspectives or anyone looking for a book they won’t want to close until the last page.

Review by Lily Prather

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

by Alison Bechdel

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir centered around Alison Bechdel’s childhood, family, and experiences while growing up. The memoir focuses both on Alison’s experiences of realizing she was a lesbian and on her complicated relationship with her father, as well as on his relationship with their family as a whole.

The major themes about gender that appear in this graphic memoir are: suicide (specifically of a man/queer person), realization of sexuality, coming out process, being closeted, gender identity/expression, and gender dynamics within “traditional” families. In terms of strengths, I love the graphic novel format and this memoir’s illustrations really helped to tell its story and convey characters’ emotions. I also liked that the story jumped around through different times in Alison’s life and wasn’t completely chronological all the way through. It was also easy to read and process, despite the complex/serious topics and emotional heaviness. The main weakness that I see in this memoir is that it somewhat idolizes Alison’s father even though he may have been a pedophile (and it is wishy washy as to whether or not he was). I would recommend this memoir to young LGBTQ+ individuals, lesbians in particular.

Review by Kira Kruegler

Gender Queer

by Maia Kobabe

Gender Queer is a graphic memoir by Maia Kobabe that explores eir journey in identifying as non-binary and queer. Covering eir childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, the book recalls how eir experiences with different books, mangas, and fanfictions along with the people in eir life have led to eir current gender identity. Gender Queer uses color and memories to discuss themes of gender, fluidity, pronouns, and sexuality. The book can be hard to follow at times, especially when it breaks chronological order or when characters are briefly introduced and never brought back. There are some scenes that have mature content presented in a blunt manner and without warning, which can seem jarring to certain readers, however, there are no trigger warnings. Since it is a short graphic memoir, I recommend reading this book in one sitting in order to fully understand it. Gender Queer does an amazing job of showing how complex identity is and how it can change over time. It is for anyone interested in gender or queer themes who wants to know more about non-binary identities.

Review by Gia Campolo

How to Raise a Feminist Son: A Memoir and Manifesto

by Sonora Jha

“How to Raise a Feminist Son” by Sonora Jha serves as a guide to modern feminist parenting, as a memoir of one strong woman’s journey across continents and families, and as a call to arms for equitable changes to society all rolled into one 270-page easy to follow story. It comes equipped with a first-hand account of single-mother parenting done right, detailing Dr. Jha’s efforts to raise her son more empathetic and loving than those men of generations before him. The narrative follows her life from her sickly childhood in India to her loveless marriage to her and her son’s independence and struggles in America. It also contains an extensive resource section with films, books, websites, etc. for both parents and children to learn more about a possible intersectional world and how to make it a reality, as well as a clear step-by-step “To Do” list that encourages parents to question their own beliefs and raise their sons with kindness. With a clearly laid out message and important information in each chapter, this is the perfect book for anyone who wants to do right by an adolescent boy in their life or in their future.

Review by Lucius Brown

Priestdaddy

by Patricia Lockwood

Priestdaddy is a memoir by Patricia Lockwood, that tells the story of Lockwood’s childhood, upbringing and adult life as affected by having a father who is an ordained Catholic priest. Extremely witty and funny, this story is not in chronological order, but jumps around the timeline of Lockwood’s life after she and her husband move back in with her parents while they regain their financial footing. The story follows the interactions Patricia has in the rectory with her father and mother and constantly flashes back to memories of Patricia’s childhood. This memoir unpacks the traumatic stories of Patricia’s youth such as her memories of the Catholic sexual abuse scandals she remembered from when she was young, the details about her father and their religion, to her traumatic experience with rape.

The story highlights conversations with her father and mother surrounding politics, religion and gender roles. Through developing her own feminist view of the world, Patricia is able to step outside the narrow-minded, conservative view of religion and politics that she was brought up with. Priestdaddy is humorous and refreshingly irreverent while still speaking loudly on key issues, and is both enjoyable and relatable for modern-day feminists raised Catholic.

Review by Sofia Ortiz

Good Talk

by Mira Jacob

This book is a graphic memoir written by American writer, Mira Jacob. She was born and raised in the U.S. by her parents who moved from India to the States. This memoir contains her difficulties through life such as being an Indian American, being a Brown in America, being asked difficult questions by her child, being a racial minority while a president is a racist, and so on with conversation style.

This book was mainly focusing on racism, and gender seemed to be not the biggest topic. For example, there is a scene the author was thought to be a servant at her white husband’s family's party, but this seemed racism than sexism. However, we could tell the differences of how men and women perceive the world through the discourses. Strengths are that this book is eye-opening and very appealing to American citizens because it’s about modern life. Weaknesses are that it is sometimes implicit and too witty without background knowledge, such as Jewish tradition and American politics. Therefore, I would recommend this book to those who live in the U.S., especially White and immigrants because they might interpret the book in a different way.

Review by Rei Ikemoto

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir

by Samra Habib

This book is the story of Samra Habib’s life, mentioning most every major event and milestone. Habib grows up in Pakistan and then her family moves to Canada when she is just becoming a teenager. The book covers many events and relationships in her life that shape her, like young marriages and queer relationships. The book also covers her relationship to Allah and Islam, and how she began and created her photo project, “Just Me and Allah.” The major themes Habib explores in her memoir are racism and bullying, intersectionality, Islam and islamophobia, patriarchy and religion, consent, sexuality, marriage, and finding oneself. Within the book, especially early on, what it means to be a woman within Islam takes center stage. Habib’s foray into the queer community is also marked by many people of differing gender identities outside the binary. There is literally no reason not to read this book. She flawlessly weaves insights into her story, which fluidly moves in a clear chronological path without being awkwardly structured and restrictive. The only weakness I encounter was a lack of closure on issues of Islam and women. She articulates Islam's part in her suppression as a woman and a queer person, but it still never feels full addressed.

Review by Stephanie Gredell

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir

by Kai Cheng Thom

The memoir depicts a young trans girl running away from her hometown, Gloom, to a city where she could be anything she wants. The moment she arrives, she is greeted by a trans woman named Kimaya, who welcomes her to the world of femmes in the City of Smoke and Lights. The femmes inhabit the Street of Miracles and make it their own. Here, the woman finds herself a new family. After the murder of a fellow femme, the girls band together to create a gang, the Lipstick Lacerators, and they target despicable men who beat them down.

Some key themes in this story are: sisterhood (blood and chosen), violence, body image, and gender identity. Thom doesn’t put major emphasis on her experience with gender dysphoria; this story doesn’t focus on her transition but rather the dangerous life she lived as a trans woman. The memoir feels like a work of fiction, so it’s difficult to gauge what is real or not, but the imaginative language beautifully describes Thom’s sincere emotions. I recommend this book to those interested in fiction and who would like to experience danger up close through the lens of someone that lived it.

Review by Kallie Cardenas

Note: this book is technically a fictional novel but plays with the genre of memoir.