The fight for gender equality in fiction lives on. For the past year, gendered book covers and the people fighting against them have highlighted the inner workings of sexism in the publishing biz. Who could forget the outcry over The Bell Jar’s 50th anniversary cover?     By the way, that cover is still featured on Google’s results page for the novel. Thanks for listening, publishers. And what about author Jim ... Read More

Following her debut novel, The City is a Rising Tide, Rebecca Lee presents a collection of seven biting stories about the luxury we take in life’s ordinary comforts, and the threats, real or imagined, that lurk beyond the surface. As of this writing, Bobcat was longlisted for the international Frank O’Connor Prize for story collections, and the praise is due: with deadpan humor, Lee’s light touch illuminates the contrasts ... Read More

Marilyn in the white dress over the subway vent. Marilyn singing a breathless happy birthday to JFK. Marilyn in hot pink full-length gloves, proclaiming that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Theses images of Marilyn Monroe have become iconic in their own right, and depictions of her have been reprised time and again in media, from movies (My Week with Marilyn) to music (her own verse in Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind”) to ... Read More

An intimate look at a group of professionals creating something they felt proud of (as well as a survey of the changing landscape of American entertainment and culture in the early 1970s), this comprehensive history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show is as enjoyable as reruns of the classic show. Originally pitched as a show about a divorced career woman, and forcibly revised to feature a never-married protagonist, the show launched at a time ... Read More

  Alida Nugent, of The Frenemy blog fame, has brought her witty snark to the literary world with this debut. The book—a collection of short essays on 20-something life—has fine writing and some genuinely funny lines, but I was initially put off by the subject matter. Nugent spends a lot of time bragging about failed attempts at maturity, seems to revel in her emotional and financial instability, and spends too many pages ... Read More

Virgin Soul is the fictional memoir of Geniece> Hightower, an aspiring journalist undergoing a journey of self-discovery during the Black Power movement in 1960s San Francisco. Divided into four sections, each dedicated to a year of her university schooling, the novel follows Geniece’s transition from focused scholar to revolutionary panther. While researching a story for her college newspaper, she meets Allwood, a highly ... Read More

Introverted, respectable, intelligent, and devoutly Quaker, Hannah Gardner Price spends her days working at the local Nantucket Atheneum and her nights scanning the stars in search of a comet that she hopes will earn her a prestigious King of Denmark Prize. But in 1845, the path to scientific achievement isn’t an easy one for a single girl of 24, and Hannah soon finds herself at a crossroad when her father announces ... Read More

Honor is a novel about twin sisters—one who marries and moves to London and the other who stays behind in their Turkish village—and follows the pains they go through for love, family, and tradition, even when that tradition is honor killing. In the 1970s, Pembe and her husband Adem move to London for a better life. As they try to fit into a different culture, their loveless marriage crumbles, and Adem leaves Pembe to fend for ... Read More

Mama, I love you. Mama, I care. Mama, I love you. Mama, my friend. The Spice Girls really summed it up in "Mama," didn’t they? Moms are super special and should be honored. Share your Momma Love by helping photographer Ali Smith publish Momma Love, a book about motherhood. Watch this video and find out more:   For the past 12 years, Smith has been working on Momma Love: How the Mother Half Lives, which features ... Read More

A veritable Jane-of-all-trades, Rayya Elias has been a musician, hair stylist, inmate, addict, and now, author. Harley Loco begins in 1967, when seven-year-old Elias and her family flee their home country, Syria, for Detroit. As she struggles with bullying by her peers, Elias gains the respect of her classmates by taking her first hit of mescaline at school. Drugs quickly become a source of power and help to soothe the internal rift created ... Read More