Books every woman should read at least once in her life is a bold statement, but so are these powerful narratives, essays, and explorations of femininity in all its forms.
This was a tough list to curate, and one we will undoubtedly grow and update. We hope that these non-fiction books become part of your life at least once over the course of it, and we hope they bring you the refreshing feeling of a new perspective, or a new idea, or a new interesting subject that you perhaps didn’t know about before – just as they have done to us.
The non-fiction books every woman (well, everyone) should read at least once in their life
Originally published in 1989, this novel by Mexican-American writer and psychoanalyist Clarissa Pinkola Estés continues to make its way onto reading lists for book clubs, courses, and more, time and time again. Tackling the myths and stories of the “wild woman archetype” meaning the female influence presence in our psyche, the book explores and muses over the ageless forces and influences that afford female creativity, energy, and power. “Within every woman, there lies a powerful force of energy, creativity and self-knowing: their wild woman” Pinkola Estés writes. Sound a little out of your comfort zone? Perhaps even more reason to read it. It’s about powerful women who embrace their inner intuition. Here’s how to unleash your own …
This book has cropped up a few times on CF editors’ bookshelves, each time with a raving review. It’s a magnificent book that exposes bias in our androcentric society through data and first-hand stories by the incredible, award-winning writer and campaigner, Craido-Perez. Biased data is (unfortunately) no real surprise, but to see and read it all chapter after chapter really strikes a nerve and unveils how the world is systematically ignoring half the population. It’s an inspiring read, and will leave you desperate for the chance to dig into all of these facts and thoughts with friends or colleagues as soon as you have read it.
It’s likely that you already have a copy of Dolly Alderton’s memoir on your shelf at home. “Everything I learnt about love, I learnt from female friendships” is an eloquent line, and one that I hope we all have the pleasure of relating to. Female friendships are like gold dust. This clever memoir follows four women in their twenties as they navigate the hilarity, heartbreak, and healing (over and over) that forms this tumultuous part of our lives, with plenty of anecdotes and funny moments along the way.
Love … that marvellous, tormenting, undefined, inescapable word that seems to follow us wherever we go. all about love by the enigmatic writer, thinker, theorist, educator and critic bell hooks (we could go on and on about her work) is just that – everything the writer has observed and commented on about love. But when we say ‘just’, we mean thirteen chapters brimming with clever ideas and beautiful – and sometimes hard – thoughts on sweet love, friendly love, romantic love, redemptive love, love and loss … always interweaving the personal with the political. An invaluable awakening, you’ll want to keep this book with you as you move through life.
Joan Didion was no stranger to writing books, essays, or even shorter columns or reviews that will leave you forgetting how you ever were or felt before you read them. The Year of Magical Thinking is one of those books. An intensely personal pondering on grief and family loss written after Didion tragically lost both her daughter and husband, Didion wrote that this book was her attempt to “cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness … about marriage and children and memory … about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself”. The good times, the bad times, it’s all in here – so hold on tight.
Science writer Lucy Jones charts the phenomenal shifts motherhood has on everything: hormonal, social, physical … the list goes on and on. Matrescence refers to the process of transitioning between stages in the pregnancy or surrogacy and postpartum journey, and the toll this can take in lots of ways. In particular, the book focuses on how western medicine can often second the psychological state of a mother during this tricky time. If not directly personal, this book will help inform you about something that most likely impacts many women in your life, and might even be useful as a guide to help you support them.
Women Who Think Too Much by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema was published in 2003, and after stumbling across it on Instagram over ten years later it feels like an apt book to keep safe for when life starts to feel really busy. While overthinking isn't always a bad thing – take it from a big overthinker – sometimes, knowing how and when to manage it, to break out of those cycles, is very welcome. The author, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, is a psychology professor who specialises on mood regulations and how different strategies impact certain mental health issues, like depression, so the book is informed and considered.
Philippa Perry has written it so that you don't have to say it. Newly published on 2 January this year, this book by renowned psychotherapist Philippa Perry follows her valuable The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read – both based off her Ask Philippa columns in Observer Magazine. Discussing relationships and connections of all kinds (romantic, familial, work, friends …) it’s already flying off the shelves.
Lead image credit: Casa de las Artes, Madrid
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