While you wait for Lessons in Chemistry
Lessons in chemistry was one of my favorite lessons of 2022, and Elizabeth Zott is one of my new favorite characters. While the cover suggests a fluffy romance novel, the real story is about a strong woman who forges her own path and creates opportunity for all women. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist. She has a brilliant mind and works hard. Unfortunately, it’s the 1960s, so their male counterparts accept fight that she is actually one Scientist. Most see her as attractive secretary only notices her work to steal it and claim it as her own.
Things change when Elizabeth meets Calvin Evans, a renowned chemist who believes in her abilities and encourages her to succeed. The two fall in love and enjoy a fulfilling relationship between quirky equals. Then life turns again and Elizabeth finds herself unmarried and raising a child alone. In a moment of desperation, she takes a job hosting the cooking show Supper at Six. Her producer imagines Elizabeth wearing a cute apron and cooking in a kitchen full of tacky decorations and appliances, but she has other ideas.
Elizabeth approaches the show as way to Help women use science to cook quality meals without the gimmicks or fuss. It turns out that women enjoy being talked to like they have brains, and the show becomes a smash hit. Whether dealing with short-sighted television executives or condescending school officials, Elizabeth will question the script and write her own destiny. Read on to add more books about strong, disruptive women to your To-Be-Read list.
It would be impossible to read Lessons in chemistry without thinking of Julia Child, a true life Example of a woman fighting against the norms of her time from the set of a legendary cooking show. Did you know that Julia Child was 6ft 3 inches tall or that she was a spy? in World War II? darling is a detailed biography a fascinating person. Publisher’s Weekly particularly praised the audio book version, voiced by Kimberly Farr: “Vivid and engaging, her reading fills Spitz’s work with energy and emotion. Perhaps most delightful is the voice Farr creates for Child. Though she doesn’t exactly emulate the famous chef, she deftly reproduces Child’s speaking style, lengthening words, shifting emphasis – all with that famously light, bubbly performance. Fans of child, cooking and history will find this audio book very enjoyable.”
Sylvia plath‘s autobiographical novel The bell jar is a darker story of challenges for women in the early 1950s. Esther Greenwood is a writer and editor who sees her future as a tree of many possibilities branches, but acknowledges that choosing one of thThese branches could rob her of a chance to choose another. Will she become a renowned writer? A brilliant professor? A wife and mother? estherlike Plath himself, wins a prestigious summer Internship in New York City for a popular magazine. Work and social life is exhausting and stressful, and Esther realizes how difficult it is for her to live up to expectations of a woman of their time and nears the brink of madness as the summer progresses. Available as an e-book and audiobook on Hoopla.
memphis by Tara M Stringfellow
This one has made me cry more than once! We know that women face many challenges when it comes to making their voices heard and achieving their goalsand the women of color be forced to do so Fight against sexism and racismm. memphis is the story of several generations of black women insert a single family home in Memphis, Tennessee. The author describes the Book than the black one Fairy tales that she had always wanted to read wove back and forth in time explore the legacy of brutality, racism, freedom, hurt and healing over 70 years of family and American history. It’s a story about cross-generational challenges and how The women before us have fought hard to break down barriers so we can all soar higher. It is a painful, beautiful and hopeful to read.
If you’re up for a stretch, here’s a fantastic sci-fi addition to the list This will give you a righteous justification after remembering how unfair our society has been to women. IIn an alternate reality/timeline, time-travelling Riot Girls carry on Senator Harriet Tubman’s legacy and work to ensure reproductive freedom and rights for women throughout timeand avoid a bleak patriarchal future. It is a fast moving Adventures with strong female characters and you can almost hear the punk soundtrack. Available as an audio book on Hoopla with no stopping restrictions.
sex politics was a groundbreaking work when it was published in 1970, but it’s still an eye-opener worth reading today. Using examples from literature, philosophy, psychology and politics, Millett shows how systemic sexism pervades all aspects of American life. Her work gives us a lens and frame through which to examine the media we consume and the notions of gender that we hold beneath the surface. Available without restrictions on Hoopla as an e-book and audio book.
Miranda Ericsson
Miranda is your reader librarian. She loves talking about books and connecting readers to their next great read. Her favorite reading is poetry, literary fiction, and speculative science fiction, and she is passionate about promoting literature written by Kansas authors. She works with library programs that support and engage writers in our community. So be sure to ask them for more information about the Local Writers Workshop and the Great Writers Right Here author fair. Miranda also moderates TALK book discussions, is co-leader of the BookBites book discussion group, and serves as a member of the library’s Top City Reads Together team.
