Feminist Lit February TBR

Feminist Lit February is described as a month-long readathon to promote feminist and diverse literature, authors, and content. This month long event was created by ItsJaneLindsey on YouTube, I recommend both checking out her video and her channel. I am signing up a bit late to the party but I am really excited to share my TBR for the rest of the month. There's a chance I may not get to all of the books, but I plan on definitely giving it a valiant effort.

There are five challenges that are a great way to help decide what you want to read this month for Feminist Lit February, so I will list each challenge and the book that I plan on reading to complete each one. If you have issues trying to figure out what books to read to complete the challenges, the creator ItsJaneLindsey has a great feminist recommendations video that  I will link here also.

1. Read a book of feminist fiction. 

The Power by Naomi Alderman 

 I am currently reading this book and really enjoying it. There has been a lot of praise and hype surrounding this book, so the moment my library had it available  I couldn't help but snatch it up when I got the chance. Stay tuned for a book review soon!

Synopsis:
In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.

This extraordinary novel by Naomi Alderman, a Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year and Granta Best of British writer, is not only a gripping story of how the world would change if power was in the hands of women but also exposes, with breath-taking daring, our contemporary world.

2. Read a book of feminist nonfiction. 

 Sex Object by Jessica Valenti 

I have heard amazing things about Jessica Valenti and her feminist writings. So I thought this is a great time to finally read one of her books! I was able to borrow it from the cloudLibrary app through my library and I plan on reading it soon!

Author and Guardian US columnist Jessica Valenti has been leading the national conversation on gender and politics for over a decade. Now, in a darkly funny and bracing memoir, Valenti explores the toll that sexism takes from the every day to the existential.

Sex Object explores the painful, funny, embarrassing, and sometimes illegal moments that shaped Valenti’s adolescence and young adulthood in New York City, revealing a much shakier inner life than the confident persona she has cultivated as one of the most recognizable feminists of her generation.

In the tradition of writers like Joan Didion and Mary Karr, this literary memoir is sure to shock those already familiar with Valenti’s work and enthrall those who are just finding it.


3. Read a feminist #ownvoices book. 

The Girl From Everywhere  by Heidi Heilig 

The Girl From Everywhere fits this category because both the main character and the author are biracial women (they are both Chinese and white). I have heard amazing things about this book and I have had it for far too long on my kindle. So I am excited to dive in.

Synopsis:
Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear.


4. Read a book written by a black woman, or someone who is black and non-binary/gender fluid. 

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

I recently requested this from my library and it is on it's way. I am really excited to read this book because I keep hearing amazing things about it. One description I recently heard was it's like The Hate U Give's little brother, and I loved THUG. So I am beyond ready to get my hands on this book.

Synopsis:
Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning debut.

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack.

5. Feminist freebie - ask for a recommendation or just read anything you want that is a piece of feminist literature. 

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton 

I was lucky to win a copy of this book in a giveaway and I am so incredibly excited to read it. It's been on my radar for so long and now that it has finally been released I am ready to read it! I am not letting February end without reading this book first! 

Synopsis:
Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.

But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite—the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie—that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision.

With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide—save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles—or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.

 Thanks for reading!