Lean In Book Review

The statistics say it all. More women earn college degrees then men, but men still hold a majority of the decision holding positions in the government and in the business world.

Facebook COO and author Of Lean In: Women Work And The Will To Lead Sheryl Sandberg is one of handful of women who have achieved a high ranking position in a major American company.  In the book, Ms. Sandberg looks at the modern college educated, career oriented woman and how she is not living up to her full potential. Whether it is due to a desire to have a balanced work/home life, an unspoken rule that states that women leaders are not as professionally desirable as a male leader or any other reason that a woman may have.

In a very no nonsense, practical way, Ms. Sandberg offers advice to women who are eager to climb up the professional ladder, but at the same time feel compelled to stay where they are.

Did I like this book? Yes and no. I liked it because it is extremely relevant to the world we are living in.  I did not like it because the advice that Ms. Sandberg provides may not work for everyone.

Do I recommend it? Sort of.

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Bad Girls Book Review

“Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what girls are made of”

“Well behaved women seldom make history”.

From an early age, many young girls are taught to be respectable, quiet and nice. If a female chooses to act out or move away from the standard ideals of what a female should be, she is labeled a bad girl.

Bad Girls: Siren’s, Jezebels, Murderesses And Other Female Villains, written by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple and illustrated by Rebecca Gray was released last year. The book profiles women across history who chose to break the rules on how to be a female. The women they write about include Cleopatra, Mata Hari, Catherine The Great and Bonnie Parker.

I liked this book. Written in down to earth language with a colorful comic book style drawing that accompanies the mini biography of the women, this book is excellent. While the targeted age range for this book is 9-12, that does not mean that an adult can enjoy this book as much as a child would.

I recommend it.

 

Bad Feminist Book Review

While the larger goal of feminism is equal rights, there are many smaller goals under the banner of feminism that still need to be reached.

Roxane Gay’s 2014 book, Bad Feminist, is a series of essays on feminism. She writes about topics that include Chris Brown, the Sweet Valley High book series and the images of women of color that we currently see on screen.

What I liked about this book  is that it comes from the perspective of a woman of color. Ms. Gay is the daughter of Haitian-American immigrants. Feminism often comes from the view of a Caucasian woman from the upper and middle classes. While the feminist voices from women of color are getting louder, they are not as prominent as they could be. The title of the book is very appropriate. Even the staunchest of feminists may sometimes fall back to the male/female double standard because that is what many of us were raised on.

The last few lines of the book are as follows:

“No matter what issues I have with feminism, I am a feminist. I cannot and will not deny the importance and the absolute necessity of feminism. Like most people, I am full of contradictions, but I also don’t want to be treated like shit for being a woman.

I am a bad feminist. I would rather  be a bad feminist than no feminist at all”.

I agree with that statement completely and I absolutely recommend this book.