Books

If, as Andy Warhol said, "buying is much more American than thinking," then fashion journalist Avis Cardella is one of the most American women you'll ever meet.

When Hilary Thayer Hamann self-published Anthropology of an American Girl in 2003, she achieved an inordinate amount of success for any novel, let alone a self-published one. Now Random House is publishing a revised version of the visionary work.

Yale's first black female history professor, Jennifer Baszile, came of age in the not-quite-integrated suburbs of Southern California. Her account of that era in this riveting, fast-paced memoir is noteworthy for her clear-eyed perspective and honesty; in Baszile, the reader finds an all-cards-on-the-table narrator to root for as she navigates the ins and outs of growing up in an affluent, white enclave in the late 1970s and early 80s.

Paralyzed with fear after an abusive relationship and nearly 30 with no accomplishments, artist Belle Yang feels like a failure. She moves back home to practice calligraphy and recoup, but she finds it hard to identify with her immigrant parents' traditional ways.

The Fabulous Stains or Spice World? Britney or Bikini Kill? No matter if your poison is punk or pop, How Sassy Changed My Life co-author Marisa Meltzer attempts to link the two seemingly opposite cultures under one genre in her new book, Girl Power.

Samantha Bee could be the love child of David Sedaris and Chelsea Handler, if such a thing were possible (which it's totally not). And in her memoir, Bee, who is currently the Most Senior Correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, does not disappoint.

Fresh out of college, Marina follows her girlfriend to rural Shika, Japan, to teach English for a year. But challenges arise as she navigates a host of cultural differences and soon finds that it is difficult to discard anything there. Literally.

Nothing happens in Molly Fox's Birthday. The plot is entirely uneventful, charting a day in the life of the narrator, a celebrated playwright, who is staying in Dublin at the home of her best friend, the Molly Fox of the title.

This deeply personal story of feminist activist and political leader Ayaan Hirsi Ali is part family history and part thesis on the impact of Islam on women. The result is a must-read memoir more enlightening than many books assigned in liberal-arts classes.

In Still Life, Melissa Milgrom peels back the skin on contemporary taxidermy, revealing all the blood and guts of a hobby focused on making the dead appear alive.