“Where there is a woman there is magic.” Ntozake Shange
Women’s History Month runs all March long, and is in recognition of the strength, resilience, and tenacity of womankind the whole world round. Started in 1978 in Santa Rosa California by the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women, the celebration quickly spread, and in 1980 the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women’s History Alliance) led a consortium of women’s groups and historians to lobby for national recognition. President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation the same year to recognize the week of March 8th as national Women’s History Week. In 1987, the US Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.” This year’s theme, as designated by the National Women’s History Alliance, is ““Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.”
In honor of that theme, and as a celebration of womanhood, here are some excellent resources we have available for you through NOPL!
The Odyssey (2018) translated by Dr. Emily Wilson – Emily Wilson made waves with her translation of The Odyssey in 2018, and she’s done it again with her recent translation of Homer’s Iliad. What makes these translations perfect to read during Women’s History Month is the lens through which Dr. Wilson reevaluates the story; what many readers don’t realize is the subconscious bias we apply to language, and when these works have been predominantly translated by male academics and scholars, that can color the language with which the story is told. Dr. Wilson approached the original Greek with fresh eyes and a woman’s perspective, looking at the words and meanings and postulating new phrasing that is still linguistically correct, yet somewhat changes a lot of the meaning. For instance in the Odyssey, Odysseus’ wife Penelope has long been described as beautiful and graceful and the woman who waited. But in Wilson’s translation, Penelope becomes much more real – her hands gnarled from 20 years of weaving day in and day out to delay potential suitors; her body softened with age and her hair graying. (Historical nonfiction)
Off of that, there are many fantastic retellings of classical myths and figures that are applicable to this theme, but Circe by Madeline Miller remains one of my favorites. Circe has long been maligned as a villain, as the witch who kept Odysseus on her island for years, ensorcelling him and his men to stop them from leaving…as well as countless other men. Miller, though, dives deep into the mythology and offers a tale of a villainess made…who might not be the bad guy after all. (Historical retelling)
Moving forward in history, Conjure Women by Afia Atakora spans generations before and after the American Civil War, telling the story of three women who are healers, midwives, and the mistress of the house where they are enslaved. It is a story about a generation of womanhood so incredibly different yet so hauntingly familiar to our own modern one; it is a story about slavery and femininity, about freedom and curses. It is about birth and death and mothers and daughters and hoodoo and history. It is fantastic. (Historical Magical Realism)
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn is inspired by the true story of Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, a library-researcher-turned-sniper responsible for 309 kills during WWII. Diamond Eye tells the story of Mila, a history student who picks up a rifle after Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, and who becomes so notorious that to the Nazis she is known only as Lady Death. Quinn writes fantastic, well-researched, powerful stories of women who helped changed the tide of history, though their names may have been lost in following generations. Her book The Alice Network remains one of my personal favorites to this day, and The Diamond Eye follows in its wake as a potent punch to historical fiction’s gut. (Historical fiction)
If you loved the Disney film Encanto, then you most likely will also love The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova. Like the movie, this is a book about a woman and her grandmother…who is turning into her house. The matriarch of the Montoya family summons her children and grandchildren back home to Ecuador for her funeral, though her passing and the raucous magic she leaves in her wake causes havoc on her family’s inheritances. When a mysterious figure begins to pick off the family one by one, they must circle the wagons and return to Ecuador and the place where it all started, to where Orquídea’s body grew into the house her granddaughter now lives in. It is a story about claiming your power and recognizing family, and will sent chills up your arms with its beautiful writing. (Magical Realism)
Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison is gory and bloody and razor sharp in its evaluation of womanhood…all wrapped up in a story about werewolves. Rory Morris returns to her hometown only because her pregnant twin sister needs help. But when Rory is attacked by a strange creature and finds herself changing in inexplicable ways, one can’t help but notice the similarities between the two women. Rory is losing her body to a physical curse, one that demands she transform and kill when she does not want to; meanwhile her sister feels that she is losing her body to her pregnancy, terrified by the changes her child is wreaking on her and how much it is changing her as a person. The twist at the end of this book will make you gasp, and its poignant examination of the relationship between women and our bodies is just as breathtaking. (Contemporary Body Horror)
What makes a villain and what makes a hero? That is the question The Witch’s Curse by J.A. Hoyt seeks to answer. An homage to Practical Magic, this first book in a trilogy tells the story of witches in coastal Maine who accidentally unleash the spirit of a centuries-old witch who is bent on seeking her vengeance. But this villain isn’t everything she appears to be, and throughout the books you get a peek into her past, leaving you to wonder…is she truly wrong in her revenge? (Contemporary witchy fiction)
What if there were a collection of dying worlds populated solely by women, and it fell on two women to save the entire galaxy? In, The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley, the main heroine finds herself with no memory of where she is, but embroiled in a scheme to both escape and save her society, known collectively as the Legion. She is imprisoned by people who say they are her family, a ruling class of nobles who, in their own words, are supposed to be in control of their ship. But the rub to that is that there’s another faction who says the exact same thing. The heroine must choose a side in a genocidal campaign, or else condemn the Legion to die a horrific death. It is an examination of power and the future of societies, and will make you question – would you doom the fate of a few to save the many? (Science Fiction/speculative fiction)
There are so many more besides this – don’t forget you can always ask your librarian for recommendations via phone, in person, or email us through our contact form on the website!
Happy reading, and go celebrate the women in your life!
