Women’s History Month may be coming to an end, but it’s always the right time to read about women that have made an impact in society, large or small. Whether they wowed us on screen, wrote immersive novels, or influenced us in other ways, no one could deny the importance of women throughout time. There’s plenty of fantastic women to read about, but here are just a few biographies and memoirs to explore (all written by women, about women):
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
In this explosive debut, former iCarly star McCurdy recounts a harrowing childhood directed by her emotionally abusive stage mother. A narcissist and “full-blown hoarder,” McCurdy’s mother, Debra, pushed her daughter into acting at age six in 1999, doling out her scarce affection in tandem with the jobs McCurdy booked (while weaponizing her breast cancer—which eventually killed her in 2013—for good measure). After McCurdy hit puberty around age 11, her mother steered her to anorexia via “calorie restriction,” and later began performing invasive breast and genital exams on McCurdy at age 17. As she recounts finding fame on Nickelodeon, beginning in 2007 with her role on iCarly, McCurdy chronicles her efforts to break free from her mother’s machinations, her struggles with bulimia and alcohol abuse, and a horrific stint dating a schizophrenic, codependent boyfriend. McCurdy’s recovery is hard-won and messy, and eventually leads her to step back from acting to pursue writing and directing. Despite the provocative title, McCurdy shows remarkable sympathy for her mother, even when she recalls discovering that the man she called Dad while growing up was not, in fact, her biological father. Insightful and incisive, heartbreaking and raw, McCurdy’s narrative reveals a strong woman who triumphs over unimaginable pressure to emerge whole on the other side. (Publishers Weekly, vol 269, issue 22)
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles — the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.”. (Novelist)
Educator Tubbs debuts with an engrossing triple biography of Alberta King, mother of Martin Luther King Jr.; Louise Little, mother of Malcom X; and Berdis Baldwin, mother of James Baldwin. Though these women have been “almost entirely ignored throughout history,” Tubbs writes, their teachings and approaches to motherhood “were translated directly into their sons’ writing, speeches and protests.” All three overcame prejudice and social restrictions on an almost daily basis and “strove to equip their children not only to face the world but to change it,” Tubbs writes. Alberta King (neé Williams) earned a college degree and became a leader of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father, husband, and son all served as pastors. Louise Little (neé Langdon), an immigrant from Grenada, was a leader in the Marcus Garvey movement. Berdis Baldwin (neé Jones) raised her children single-handedly after her husband’s death, and pushed them to fight hard for their educational opportunities. Though the world “tried to deny their humanity and their existence,” Tubbs writes, Alberta, Louise, and Berdis gave their sons the foundation to achieve greatness. Tubbs skillfully draws parallels between each woman’s story, and vividly captures the early years of the civil rights movement. This immersive history gives credit where it’s long overdue. (Publishers Weekly, vol 267, issue 52)
In her spirited debut memoir, actor Tyson recalls her extraordinary life, as well as the racial and gender stereotyping, movie-business prejudice, and ill-behaved men that shaped her seven-decade career. Tyson highlights her lifelong penchant for rebelling against convention and injustice, from speaking up against her straitlaced West Indian mother and her abandonment of an early marriage (an ordeal of “tedium and regret”) to fighting off an attempted sexual assault by acting teacher Paul Mann. She also discusses the importance of pushing back against excessive workplace demands. (“When the show’s director would not grant me the time off, I took it anyway.”) The memoir dives deep into Tyson’s reflections on how her performances affected audiences and fans, noting how “deeply satisfying” it was to hear from “those who approached me, tears in their eyes, to say how had touched them.” She also provides an intimate glimpse into her stormy marriage to jazz maestro Miles Davis, which ended in divorce. (“I felt no need to drape words on the hanger of inevitability. The marriage had long since been over.”) It’s in these poignant moments that the memoir becomes a resonant meditation on the link between an actress’s life and her art. This showstopping tale hits the mark. (Publishers Weekly, vol 268, issue 1)
Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison by A. J. Verdelle
The joys, challenges, and lasting lessons of a friendship with Chloe Ardelia Wofford, aka Toni Morrison. “When I met Toni Morrison in person, I had been her reader and her cheerleader for dozens of years,” writes Verdelle. What followed was more than two decades of friendship and hero worship, including delights and resentments big and small (the author is still wondering why Morrison had to steal her favorite scarf), along with “two and a half spats” dished in detail. Morrison may have been a diva in many ways, but Verdelle couldn’t have met her under more auspicious circumstances. In 1997, after she received a copy of Verdelle’s first (and only) published novel, The Good Negress, Morrison sent back an unsolicited appreciation, almost unheard of. Verdelle writes forcefully about the individual novels and about Morrison’s achievement as a whole. “Relentlessly stripping the hegemonic gaze,” she writes, “Morrison made us and our human complexities so visible, in language so eloquent and deep, that the whole of world literature could not deny her innovation and brilliance.” Elsewhere, she writes, “Morrison is to literature as James Brown is to popular culture”—the essence of Black and proud. Passionate, personal, insightful, testy, and unique. (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2022)
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was a modernist, an iconoclast, and a groundbreaker, according to this excellent biography from historian Worsley (The Austen Girls). Worsley argues that Christie’s public image as a quiet Edwardian lady who happens to scribble mysteries was a “carefully crafted” persona, made in order to “conceal her real self” and her unconventional and oft-daring life: she threw herself into nursing work and archeological digs, was a divorced single mother, married a much younger man, loved fast cars, and built an extraordinary career. Born into a well-off family, Christie was a child full of joy who grew up to create a “character in which she could do what she wanted” and rally against the “restrictive social customs” forced upon upper-middle-class women. Worsley offers close readings of Christie’s work, including the spinster character Miss Marple, who may have “stood for Agatha’s own self.” As well, she presents a careful reframe of the novelist’s famous 1926 disappearance, positioning it as a turning point in which she “lost her way of life and her sense of self,” rather than the media-constructed narrative that it was a “jealous… attention-seeking” move. Drawing on personal letters and modern criticism, Worsley manages to make her subject feel fresh and new. (Publishers Weekly, vol 269, issue 29)
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
A poignant memoir about a mother’s love as told through Korean food. Losing a parent is one thing, but to also lose direct ties to one’s culture in the process is its own tragedy. In this expansion of her popular 2018 New Yorker essay, Zauner, best known as the founder of indie rock group Japanese Breakfast, grapples with what it means to be severed from her Korean heritage following her mother’s battle with cancer. In an attempt to honor and remember her umma, the author sought to replicate the flavors of her upbringing. Throughout, the author delivers mouthwatering descriptions of dishes like pajeon, jatjuk, and gimbap, and her storytelling is fluid, honest, and intimate. Aptly, Zauner frames her story amid the aisles of H Mart, a place many Asian Americans will recognize, a setting that allows the author to situate her personal story as part of a broader conversation about diasporic culture, a powerful force that eludes ownership. The memoir will feel familiar to children of immigrants, whose complicated relationships to family are often paralleled by equally strenuous relationships with their food. It will also resonate with a larger audience due to the author’s validation of the different ways that parents can show their love—if not verbally, then certainly through their ability to nourish. “I wanted to embody a physical warning—that if she began to disappear, I would disappear too,” writes Zauner as she discusses the deterioration of her mother’s health, when both stopped eating. When a loved one dies, we search all of our senses for signs of their presence. A tender, well-rendered, heart-wrenching account of the way food ties us to those who have passed. (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2021)
-Linnea
Read it or Weep 