Happy International Women’s Day 2019: Five amazing books by female authors you must read | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Happy International Women’s Day 2019: Five amazing books by female authors you must read | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Written by Lifestyle Desk |Updated: March 7, 2019 6:16:18 pm

Happy International Women’s Day 2019: Five amazing books by female authors you must read

From The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath to A Room Of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, these powerful books should definitely be on your 'reading list'.

Happy Women’s Day! (Source: Amazon.in)

Literature, much like everything else, did not witness the participation of many women authors for a long time and they had to write under male pseudonyms. For the longest time, their experiences, their stories and their narratives were told by men. It has taken a while for women to take charge, and some books written by them for their counterparts have comforted, rattled and reassured the readers.

As we gear up to celebrate Women’s Day on March 8, here are some books by women authors you must read.

A Room Of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s book is an essential read. (Source: Amazon.in)

Published in September 1929, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own is a series of lectures delivered by her at Newnham College and Girton College in the previous year. A seminal work, Woolf not only asserts her own understanding of feminism in this book but also reiterates the importance of a woman to have a room of her own.

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The Second Sex is considered a manifesto of feminism. (Source: Amazon.in)

This 1949 book by Beauvoir is often considered the manifesto of feminism. She traced the way women have been treated in history and asks a fundamental question, “what is a woman?”

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Gay explores the nuances of our understanding of feminism in her book. (Source: Amazon.in)

Published in 2014, in this collection of essays, Gay stretches the known definition of feminism and explores the nuances of it. The book, since then, has received a lot of critical acclaim and is considered a must-read.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Angelou’s autobiography rattles, and also comforts. (Source: Amazon.in)

Maya Angelou’s autobiography is a searing, powerful work. She writes about her early years in America, the trauma she had to go through and how books helped her through it.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar remains with the reader long after they have turned the last page (Source: Amazon.in)

Disturbing, unsettling, profound, Plath’s The Bell Jar is semi-autobiographical. Published in 1963, the book rattles more than it comforts and traces the protagonist’s descent into clinical depression.