Introduction

I Will Survive

March 2005

Nietzsche said, "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." Not only did these women survive, they thrived. In fact and in fiction they capture the unconquerable soul of women everywhere. This reading list is offered in honor of National Women's History Month.

Recommended Reads

Fiction

Before Women Had Wings by Connie May Fowler
ISBN: 0399141294
Publication Date: 1996-05-07
Avocet Abigail "Bird" Jackson embarks on a spiritual quest for salvation as she struggles to escape the chaos, fear, and turmoil of her parents' lives and make sense of a confusing and desperate world.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker; Rubenstein J Staff (Editor)
ISBN: 0671727796
Publication Date: 1990-04-01
This classic novel traces African-American heroine Celie's courageous struggle for survival, independence, and family against the tyrannical forces of turn-of-the-century American South.
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor; Barbara Taylor Bradford (Foreword by)
ISBN: 1556524048
Publication Date: 2000-09-01
Abandoned pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, 16-year-old Amber St. Clare manages, by using her wits, beauty, and courage, to climb to the highest position a woman could achieve in Restoration England -- that of favorite mistress of the Merry Monarch, Charles II.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
ISBN: 0070212570
Publication Date: 1989-01-01
Mrs. Threadgoode's tale of two high-spirited women of the 1930s, Idgie and Ruth, helps Evelyn, a 1980s woman in a sad slump of middle age, to begin to rejuvenate her own life.
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
ISBN: 068483068X
Publication Date: 1936-09-01
Focuses on the life and loves of the beautiful and selfish Scarlett O'Hara. The story begins on the O'Hara's Georgia plantation of Tara in antebellum days and moves through the Civil War and Reconstruction.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
ISBN: 0671035770
Publication Date: 1999-06-01
The classic novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author offers a graphic view of China during the reign of the last emperor as it tells the story of an honest Chinese peasant and his wife as they struggle with the sweeping changes of the twentieth century.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
ISBN: 0399134204
Publication Date: 1989-03-22
Encompassing two generations and a rich blend of Chinese and American history, the story of four struggling, strong women also reveals their daughters' memories and feelings.
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
ISBN: 0385420161
Publication Date: 1992-09-06
Despite the fact that she has fallen in love with a young man, Tita, the youngest of three daughters born to a tyrannical rancher, must obey tradition and remain single and at home to care for her mother.
Little Women by Scott McKowen (Illustrator); Louisa May Alcott
ISBN: 1402714580
Publication Date: 2004-10-01
The lives and adventures of the four March sisters--Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy--are set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century New England while their father is off fighting in the Civil War.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
ISBN: 0385302304
Publication Date: 1991-06-01
Hurtled back through time more than two hundred years to Scotland in 1743, Claire Randall finds herself caught in the midst of an unfamiliar world torn apart by violence, pestilence, and revolution and haunted by her growing feelings for James Fraser, a young soldier.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
ISBN: 0312169787
Publication Date: 1997-09-15
In a story based on the Book of Genesis, Jacob's only daughter, Dinah, shares her unique perspectives on the origins of many of our modern religious practices and sexual politics, eager to impart the lessons in endurance and humanity she has learned from her father's wives.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
ISBN: 0670894605
Publication Date: 2002-01-28
After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, Lily Owens, whose life has been defined by the tragic death of her mother, joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters who show them the true meaning of love and family.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator); Ruby Dee (Foreword by); Sherley Anne Williams (Introduction by)
ISBN: 0252017781
Publication Date: 1991-10-01
When Janie Starks returns to her rural 1930s Florida home, her small African American community is overwhelmed with curiosity about her relationship with a younger man.
A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford
ISBN: 0061008079
Publication Date: 2004-07-27
The story of an unforgettable woman. Determined to rise above all that she has ever known, a young and impoverished Emma Harte embarks on a journey first of survival, then of unimaginable achievement. Driven to succeed, the iron-willed Emma parlays a small shop into the world's greatest department store and an international business empire.

Nonfiction

The Color of Water by James McBride
ISBN: 1573220221
Publication Date: 1996-01-23
A young African-American man, one of twelve children of a white mother and black father, describes growing up in an all-black Brooklyn housing project. Focusing on his mother's life and how she dealt with adversity and racism, he describes how her determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college--and most through graduate school.
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
ISBN: 0471247421
Publication Date: 1998-02-18
The daughter of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman describes her very difficult childhood and the psychological abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepmother.
Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
ISBN: 0060090251
Publication Date: 2004-04-13
A look into the trials and tribulations of historical women who helped shape our nation into what it has become. It exhibits the many facets of their lives and how they supported some of the founders of our country, profiling such key figures as Abigail Adams, Eliza Pinkney, Dolley Payne Madison, Deborah Read Franklin, and Catherine Littlefield Greene
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
ISBN: 0802713432
Publication Date: 1999-10-01
The author presents a biography of the scientist through the surviving letters of his illegitimate daughter Maria Celeste, who wrote him from the Florence convent where she lived from the age of thirteen.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
ISBN: 055338001X
Publication Date: 1997-05-12
The poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums.
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
ISBN: 0140179836
Publication Date: 1996-05-01
The author, a poet, recounts her difficult childhood growing up in a Texas oil town.
Lucky by Alice Sebold
ISBN: 0684857820
Publication Date: 1999-08-04
The author describes the circumstances of her rape as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, the arrest and trial of her attacker, and her struggle to reclaim her shattered life.
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
ISBN: 0394574567
Publication Date: 1989-04-15
A woman of intellect and ambition describes growing up on an Australian ranch, coping with her father's death and her mother's depression, her intellectual awakening at the university, and her path to becoming the first woman president of Smith College.
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
ISBN: 0679442405
Publication Date: 1999-01-19
Combining elements of spiritual study and memoir, the author describes her odyssey of faith, drawing on her own sometimes troubled past to explore the many ways in which faith sustains and guides one's daily life.

Introduction

I Will Survive

March 2005

Recommended Reads

Fiction

Nonfiction

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