Deborah Burns and I basically reenacted that line from “Pretty Woman” when we met over hors d’oeuvres at an industry event several years ago: “What happens when (s)he rescues the princess? (S)he rescues him right back!” We bonded over boredom and brie and traded business cards. The kind of exchange that means well, but ends up in the card pile of good intentions.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Ceremony continues. Blink and you’ll miss it, but there’s a clever bit of subtle dramatic metaphor in how the scene is set up. The Commander must knock on the sitting room door to enter, the sitting room being described as “Serena Joy’s territory” in which “he’s supposed to ask permission to enter it.” The Commander enters the room without her permission, foreshadowing what exactly this Ceremony entails. Offred muses over this “protocol,” wondering if it’s because of a domestic spat over dinner.

I’m not even sure where to start with this one! This is, hands down, one of the funniest “self help” books that I have ever read. I’m generally not one for these types of books, but I knew that I had to give this a read. Life advice, hilarious stories, and beautifully captured photographs align to create the perfect reading experience. I think it is important to have diverse representation in all forms of media, and seeing two accomplished drag queens sit down and write a self help book as “modern women” is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of diverse representation.

Books By Influential Women of Today Today’s Ambitious Women Share Their Stories CHANEL MILLER Chanel Miller is a rape survivor. We first learned of her harrowing experience in 2015 while visiting her sister who was a student at Stanford University. Chanel was attacked by fellow student Brock Allen Turner. Chanel was asked to write her victim impact statement to be read at the sentencing hearing. She posted her victim impact statement online and it almost immediately went viral drawing more than 11 million reads in just four days. Her victim impact statement was 50 minutes long. She carefully details her anger, her resentment, her pain, her fear and how this has so negatively changed her and the rest of her life. She points out that her attacker, his attorney and the judge has missed the point. The real point. How we as a society need to change how sexual assaults are treated not just in a court of law but by the media, by the sentencing and all involved. You can read her story in her book:

A volume that will cause discussion, starting with the commercial partner who supported it. We are talking about LELO, world leader in the design of sex toys, also called "the ultimate hi tech for intimacy".

Women in David Malouf’s Ransom are significant in their absence, remaining confined to the historical and social realities of the novel’s setting. While Malouf’s reinterpretation of the world of Homer’s Iliad explores the nature of violence, war and patrimony, these themes are never removed from their traditionally-understood place within the ‘masculine’ sphere of influence, and the author presents a society, in which woman’s importance exists only in her association with the deeds of great men. As a result, the women in Ransom serve only the roles a patriarchal society will permit; those of wives, mothers and handmaidens. Malouf’s choice not to challenge these stereotypes may be read as a result of his authorial loyalty to the source material, or, more-critically, as an exploration of the ways in which cultural narratives surrounding war and violence are presented as almost-entirely masculine affairs.

Ayla Ayla is the main character in the Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel. An earthquake kills her mother and leaves Ayla an orphan. She wanders around aimlessly, ending on a path of a cave lion, which chases her. Ayla hides in a crack in a rock wall. The lion cannot pull her out put scratches her thigh leaving four deep wounds. A group of Neanderthals eventually find her by a river  and the Clan's medicine woman, Iza, adopts her. As Ayla grows up, Iza teaches her about medicines and healing. 

Alex Haley, the author of the best selling book Roots. also wrote a book named for his paternal grandmother, titled Queen, the story of an American family. Each book was turned into a made for television mini series. Queen, aired over three nights in February 1993 on CBS. Alex Haley died before the book was completed and it was finished by his co author David Stevens. I’ve watched the mini series three times and read the book at least five times. I find the story of this woman to be simply fascinating. Since March is women’s history month I decided to celebrate this woman in American history who I believe is very inspiring. According to Wikepedia, David Stevens said he had hundreds of pages of notes that Haley’s left behind, but he completed the book mostly from the memory of conversations he had with the heroine’s grandson.

As you read the tales of the Japanese culture on geishas, you are taken on a self-identity journey. This era of Japan is where entertainment and a patriarchal society begin to go hand in hand. This book imprinted on all its international readers because it touched every culture controversy that made outsiders raise their eyes. In the told tale you find themes of sex taboos, foot-binding, child neglect, adaptation, and perfectionism in outstanding reach. These events being true and someone actually living through them evokes a greater amount of emotion. Some chapters are more heart-wrenching than others. The journey begins with the passing of the mother; Chiyo is the main character and she is sold to a geisha house by her father.

A few years ago it came to our attention that female statues of actual, real women who lived (have a name and birth date) were underrepresented compared to the men. The media coverage seem to be focused on New York City. I started researching the entire United States to see how many I could actually find.

"If only you'd listened to us, none of this would have happened." So begins Whisper Network, the debut novel by Chandler Baker, chosen as the July Book Selection for Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club.

1. 'The Handmaid’s Tale' This dystopian novel written by Margret Atwood has not only been adapted into a gripping TV series, it is also one of the most reflective novels about feminism and womanhood that a girl could read. Without explaining the whole plot, the book follows the story of Offred: a woman whose sole purpose in society is to provide a fertile reproductive system for a male called Fred. This novel highlights the height of 1970s/80s feminism and captures the cruel truth about how women are perceived in society. 10/10; a book ALL women should read.