#Laura Sook Duncombe

[matchafoxjournal]

August 2 📚 Currently reading:

- Kelly Quindlen She Drives Me Crazy

- Holly Jackson Good Girl, Bad Blood

- Laura Sook Duncombe Pirate Women

+ Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Persians

Definitely a reading multiple books at the same time-person, mixing non-fiction & fiction to avoid reader burnout

[piratesofnassauarchive]

Anne Bonny and Mary Read, Notorious Pirate Women

Anne Bonny (left) and Mary Read (right) from  A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson 1724

We know very little about either of them before they entered piracy in 1720 but we do know that they sailed together with Anne Bonny’s spouse John Rackham, otherwise known as ‘Calico Jack’ who was captain of the ship.

The pair earned the respect of their crew mates and were often in charge of leading raids on other ships, showing how much trust the crew had in them as well as their skill in fighting.

Two victims who testified against them, Dorothy Thomas and Thomas Spenlow, described them as wielding pistols and cutlasses as they fought, using foul language and fighting with their blouses open exposing their breasts to prove they were women and scare their enemies.

Their capture happened while the crew were drunk, celebrating a recent raid so they couldn't defend themselves well, leaving Bonny and Read to fight off pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet and his crew. Both were overpowered and captured, put on trial and sentenced to death in Jamaica, set to be hanged but both declared they were pregnant and as English law declared you couldn't hang pregnant women they were given a stay of execution.

Bonny and Read were never executed, Read died in jail likely of typhoid fever or complications due to the pregnancy and was buried on April 28th 1721 but Anne disappeared from the records. Theories for Anne range from her being released to her family, freed by a governor who took pity on her or died in jail.

They were both first written about in the book ‘A General History of the Pyrates’ by Captain Charles Johnson who in the book wrote some of the first biographies of many of the pirates from the Golden Age. Although their time as notorious pirates was short and what he wrote was largely fictionalised it inspired many others writing about pirates and cemented much of how we view their stories today.

Sources and Secondary Reading:

Book: Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by  Laura Sook Duncombe

[discoevsky]

you seem like a person with fantastic taste in books so I would love to know your favorite (I'll cheat and say non LMM) ones. Signed, curious and ready to read.

You don’t know how long I’ve waited for someone to ask me this. These are only a handful and I tried to keep it varied to give you different options based on your interests. Hopefully I didn’t scare you off 😅

Fiction:

The Leviathan Series by Scott Westerfeld (the audio is superb)

Emma - Jane Austen

Deerskin - Robin Mckinley

Chalice - Robin Mckinley

Rapunzel’s Revenge - Shannon Hale

The Ramona Quimby series - Beverly Cleary (the audio books are superb)

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

The Raging Quiet - Sherryl Jordan

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

Our Spoon Came from Woolworths - Barbara Comyns

East of Eden - John Steinbeck

No longer Human - Osamu Dazai

Crackpot - Adele Wiseman

Twelve Angry Men - Reginald Rose

The Dark Road - Ma Jian

Small Beauty - Jia quing wilson-lang

Green Grass, Running Water - Thomas King

Sula - Toni Morison

Song of Solomon - Toni Morison

Nonfiction:

The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery

Gathering Moss - robin Wall Kimmerer

Toto-chan: the little girl at the window - Tetsyko Kuroyanagi

Pirate Woman - Laura Sook Duncombe

[howmuchdoessheread]

oct reads [2022

world without end - ken follett

the bad beginning - lemony snicket (reread)

a murder is announced - agatha christie

the reptile room - lemony snicket (reread)

freedom - jonathan franzen

odd girls and twilight lovers: a history of lesbian life in twentieth-century america - lillian faderman

4:50 from paddington - agatha christie

the wide window - lemony snicket (reread)

of human bondage - w. somerset maugham 

earthlings - sayaka murata

farewell to manzanar: a true story of japanese american experience during and after the world war ii internment - jeanne wakatsuki houston and james d. houston

the miserable mill - lemony snicket (reread)

cloud cuckoo land - anthony doerr

timequake - kurt vonnegut jr.

territory of light - yūko tsushima with geraldine harcourt

instruction in libraries and information centers: an introduction - laura saunders and melissa a. wong

the austere academy - lemony snicket (reread)

how beautiful we were - imbolo imbue

the mirror crack’d from side to side - agatha christie

moon of the crusted snow - waubgeshig rice

dnf:

pirate women: the princesses, prostitutes, and privateers who ruled the seven seas - laura sook duncombe

the beautiful ones - silvia moreno-garcia

a beautiful mind - sylvia nasar

the moon and sixpence - w. somerset maugham

maybe in another life - taylor jenkins reid

[semper-legens]

147. Pirate Women, by Laura Sook Duncombe

Owned: Yes Page count: 229 My summary: The life stories of some of the women of the world who sailed as pirates - from Viking maidens like Alfhild, through Anne Bonny and Mary Read in the Golden Age of Piracy, to modern day pirate women My rating: 3.5/5 My commentary:

Yaar, me hearties, it be time to set sail on the ragin’ seas o’ the non-fiction genre! Anyone who knows me even a little knows that I love pirates, and pirate history, and pirate movies, so the chance to read about some cool pirate ladies from history is always appreciated. I think the only other such book I’ve read was written by a man, who seemed to be under the impression that women are physically incapable of hard labour (?) so getting a perspective from a woman is valuable. And I’m especially grateful for more information on my girl Sayyida al-Hurra. She’s one of the real pirates, and she was so cool.

This book has a lot of ground (er, ocean) to cover, and each chapter looks at a different location and time period. There’s well-known pirates like Anne Bonny, less well-known but still historical and awesome pirates like Ching Shih or Grace O’Malley, and some almost definitely mythical or fictional pirate ladies as well. Duncome gives a look at their lives, speculating to cover the historical/legendary gaps, and overall she gives a very compelling look at these figures.

The stories themselves are short, more an overview than anything, but in the cases of the real pirates little is truly known about most of their lives. Dumcombe knows this, and does point out where her retellings might be based partially or entirely on fiction, though I’ll admit that she does sometimes make claims that are hard to prove without any real references given in the text itself. Still, if legends about Blackbeard or Captain Morgan are repeated without fact beign considered, why not these ladies? Does it matter that some of them have faded into myth, or were fiction to begin with? Isn’t it worth passing around their stories anyway? I appreciated her last chapter, where she talks about pirate women as depicted in Hollywood, though I’m not sure about some of her conclusions.

In short, if you want to learn about badass lady pirates, this book’s a pretty good place to start.

[samanthaswords]

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas

”History has largely ignored these female swashbucklers, until now. From ancient Norse princess Alfhild to Sayyida al-Hurra of the Barbary corsairs, these women sailed beside–and sometimes in command of–male pirates. They came from all walks of life but had one thing in common: a desire for freedom.” Peering between distorted contemporary record to find the fact amongst the fanciful, researcher and author Laura Sook Duncombe has collected what so many of us quite eagerly want: a better look at the women who took to the high seas to find what so many societies denied them- the basic human right for self-respect, power and equality without their gender getting in the way. "Pirate women hardly fit any mold or exist in any easily classifiable role. They are violent, they are sexually liberated, they are women of color, they are queer women, they don’t follow rules, they don’t apologize, and they do not often get happy endings.”

Her book is on Amazon and there’s two great interviews with Laura with Rebellious Magazine and the Smithsonian magazine!

For more piratey goodness, check out the Smithsonian’s exhibition ‘Pirates in the Atlantic World’s he-yarrrr. Or, check out my interview on the 17th Century and all things in the spirit of the Seventh Sea! Images Top: Cover of Laura Sook Duncombe’s book, available on Amazon.

Next: Artist depiction of Ann Bonny and Mary Read after their conviction for piracy November 28th, 1720.

Bottom: Portrait attributed to Cheng I, the greatest pirate of known history.

[ltwilliammowett]

Women at Sea

Women at sea or women in general in connection with the navy are unfortunately still a rather neglected topic, and so Margarette Lincoln, herself an author on this topic, once looked at the literature on this subject.  Here is the list she compiled and which I would like to pass on to you, as there are a few that deal with this topic.

- Bold in her Breeches: Women Pirates Across the Ages by Jo Stanley (1995) - The basic work that covers all women pirates through the centuries and geographically from Ireland to China.

- Female Tars: Women aboard Ship in the Age of Sail by Suzanne J. Stark ( 1996) - She deals in her book with three types of women on board, the whores, the officers' wives and women in male disguise.

- Heroines and Harlots: Women at sea in the great age of sail, by David Cordingly (2001) - he looked at the archive material and was able to confirm that there were a very large number of women in England and America who went to sea. He also tries to include the role of men.

-British Sea Power: Representing the Navy, 1750-1815 by Margarette Lincoln (2002) - here she included a whole chapter devoted to how women saw the Navy. She continued this with her next book - Naval Wives and Mistresses (2007) and now tried to include letters and the social role.

- Naval Families : War and Duty in Britain. 1740- 1820 by Ellen Gills (2016) - Here individual families and their fates are highlighted.

- Enterprising Women and Shipping in the 19th century, by Helen Doe (2009) - She stays ashore in her book and highlights the maritime business in women's hands.

- Sailors and Traders: a Maritime History of the Pacific Peoples, by Alastair Couper ( 2009) - Explores the sexual relationships of European sailors and indigenous South Sea island women in the 18th and 19th centuries. It also makes a connection to the whalers and the recruitment of almost exclusively female crews in the 20th century.

- From Cabin Boys to Captains- 250 years of women at sea, by Jo Stanley (2016) - Here she now reports on the life and work of female sailors.

- Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes and Privateers who ruled the seven seas, by Laura Sook Duncombe (2017) attempts to shed light on the lives of female pirates.

- Women and english piracy, 1540- 1720 : Partners and Victims of Crime, by John Appleby (2013) - moves away from the romanticised lives of female pirates and shows how women supported pirates and even started their own businesses. He also tried to dispel some of the myths.

This small list shows how little work has been done on this topic, although there are some small articles on individuals that have gradually appeared in naval history magazines. There is still a lot to be done in this area and more research is needed.

[capjacksparro]

"The heart of piracy is freedom- freedom from society, freedom from law, and freedom from conscience."

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers who ruled the Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe

[braincoins]

Books finished/read in 2021

(* indicates a book started before 2021)

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

Warmaidens by Kelly Coon

The Companion by Katie Alender

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled The Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe

Final Girls by Seanan McGuire

The Royal Art of Poison by Eleanor Herman

Parasite by Mira Grant

Symbiont by Mira Grant

Chimera by Mira Grant

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

*The Legacy of The Bones by Dolores Redondo

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, and Carey Pietsch

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected by Alvin Schwartz

More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected by Alvin Schwartz

Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones collected by Alvin Schwartz

(to be continually updated through the year...)

[cutlassandcompass]

Pirate Women by Laura Sook Duncombe came in the mail and I’m hoping the last couple of hours of this workday speed by so I can read it.

[teencenterspl]

Brie’s February Staff Picks:

The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson (YA F HUT)

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales (J F GON)

You Say It First by Katie Cotugno (YA F COT)

 Whitney’s February Staff Picks:

Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights by Karen Blumenthal (YA 362.198 BLU)

History vs. Women: The Defiant Lives that they Don’t Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian (YA 305.42 SAR)

A Pirate’s Life for She: Swashbuckling Women Through the Ages by Laura Sook Duncombe (YA 910.45 DUN)

[kcrabb88]

I was tagged by @bububalloon. Thank you! :D 

3 Ships: Raoul/Christine, Jean Prouvaire/Bahorel, Flint/Hamilton (Black Sails) 

Last Song: Think of Me from Phantom 25th

Last Movie: The High Note

Currently reading: Pirate Women by Laura Sook Duncombe, and about to start Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. Plus various research books! 

Currently watching: The Great (well, not right this moment, but that is the current TV show I am watching)

Currently consuming: Just water, atm, but I was eating Milky Ways earlier :D 

Food I’m Craving Right Now: Hmmm....a really nice chocolate cake, I am just in a chocolate mood tonight 

[lotstradamus]

pssst lottsa laffs, apologies if you've already done this but do you have a masterpost of pirate media recs? I need some sea in my reading list

1) ‘lottsa laffs’ is the best thing I have ever been called, 2) NO I DON’T, not a proper one, and you KNOW I love an excuse to talk about pirates! plus you said pirate MEDIA and not pirate BOOKS, so you’re getting EVERYTHING*: 

fiction:

McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh ♥

Peter Darling by Austin Chant (it’s a Peter Pan)

Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen (also a Peter Pan)

Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy by L. A. Meyer (The Group Chat’s resident Bloody Jack scholar says that it gets super pirate-y around book 3) 

The Abyss Surrounds Us and The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie

non-fiction:

Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition: English Sea Rovers in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean by B. R. Burg 

Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe ♥

tv/film:

Black Sails (2014-2017) ♥

Hook (1991) (another Peter Pan!)

Peter Pan (2003) (I mean…)

Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

Treasure Planet (2002)

music:

The Parson’s Farewell - Bear McCreary ♥

Gay Pirates - Cosmo Jarvis

Professional Pirate - Muppet Treasure Island

Shiver My Timbers - Muppet Treasure Island

pretty much anything by Storm Weather Shanty Choir – lots of their songs are traditional Naval sea shanties and not piratical at all (and some are actually anti-pirate), but goddamn: A Drop of Nelson’s Blood, Santy Ano, High Barbary ♥

I’ve started and intend to finish:

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly

Capt. Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth by J. V. Hart (PETER PAN!)

The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen

*with my apologies for, of course, all the Peter Pan.

[eponymiad]

26, 33, 41 for book questions?

26. What is your favourite non-fiction book?

It has been a long time since I finished a nonfiction book, but I’m currently reading Pirate Women by Laura Sook Duncombe and I’m really enjoying it. I tried to do a bunch of pirate research over the summer for a fic I was working on, and there was so little about women in piracy, so I’m glad to have found this one!  33. What is a book you read after seeing the movie/ TV series?

Most recently, I read all the Umbrella Academy comics! I don’t know that I would have enjoyed them without watching UA (I picked them up post-season 1) but they were a delight after seeing the characters more fleshed out.  41. What is your favourite duology?

I’m gonna give two non-answers here.

- The Seventh Tower by Garth Nix, which is fully six books BUT was published in two volumes because the books are very short, so I’m gonna count it. I tend to forget book details unless I aggressively reread, but *so* much of these books that I read literally half my lifetime ago have stuck in my brain. Some day a Nix fan will tell me they’ve read these books too. It hasn’t happened yet, but some day. I have hope. 

- The Wrath and the Dawn series by Renée Ahdieh, which I only read the first book for but enjoyed immensely. In googling duologies to jog my memory, I realized I had the sequel sitting on my shelf AND it’s the exact vibe I’ve been in the mood for, so I grabbed it to read through the tropical storm tonight. This was inadvertent, but thank you for the question because yay book! 

[princess-of-lions]

For International Women’s Day, several feminist book recommendations! By feminist, I mean both books about feminism, and books about strong, complex, nuanced female characters created by female authors. (This is a pretty long list. Took a while to put together.)

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie can find her way right to the heart of the issues that confront women every day. This advice can apply to women in all cultural contexts, and in my opinion is a must-read for all feminists. There Are Girls Like Lions: Poems About Being a Woman by Cole Swensen   A short poetry anthology about the moments of growing up as a girl and a woman. Circe by Madeline Miller Madeline Miller’s Circe is a triumph of storytelling and a triumph for feminism. In the Odyssey, Circe is treated as the selfish witch that Odysseus subdues. Here, she is given agency, life. She feels real and her desires and her courage and her fears will become your own. Madeline Miller has a true talent for epic prose. The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish An aging historian in London growing close to retiring as her body begins to betray her is given a chance to discover significant truths when papers come to light that tell an unusual tale. That of a young Jewish woman far in the past who longs to study and learn, to question philosophy and faith, and does so in secret while dreading the prospect of marriage. This book takes an unerring view of courage, personal truth, faith, philosophy, and what it means to be a woman. Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon Emilie is not what she seems. And on the Hindenburg, it seems that everyone has something to hide. Suspenseful and enthralling, Ariel Lawhon’s imagining of the tale of the doomed airship flight is nothing less than a masterpiece.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi Tomi Adeyemi has created a high fantasy book that draws its inspiration from African cultures and legends. Her characters and setting are refreshing and compelling, and the words will settle in your heart and blood. The people love fiercely and deeply, and the losses are wounding. The parallels drawn to racial violence in America are at once heart-breaking and enraging. A necessary read.

The Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian Her home was invaded. Her family murdered, and her paraded about as a trophy. Princess Theodosia struggles to reclaim who she is and what she stands for in a world that has beaten her and her people to the ground. If she is to free herself and her people, she must remember what she truly is. A queen. The Chosen Maiden by Eva Stachniak   In the early 20th century, the world of ballet experiences a revolution. Vaslav Njinsky, hailed as a prodigy, provokes confusion and outrage with choreography that is strange, halting, jarring – to many, ugly. This is the tale of his sister, Bronia, also an extraordinary ballet dancer. As revolution sparks in Russia and war begins in Europe, she learns to chart her own path and defy expectations. Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris Kate Harris loved to read. She wanted to explore. To see the frontiers of everything. So, she decided to become an astronaut. But exploration can come in many forms, and she chooses to bike the Silk Road on her own journey of exploration. Told with candor, wit, and sweeping prose, this is my favorite travel book. Sold by Patricia McCormick A young girl in Nepal believes she has the chance to have a job, to help provide for her family. But when she arrives, she finds that the ‘work’ is not what she expected. Trapped in a brothel, she is forced into sex slavery. This is a difficult and emotional read, but an important one. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley A retelling of the Arthurian legends from the point of view of Morgan Le Fey, Ygraine of Cornwall, Guinevere, Viviane, Morgause, and others. It’s a very good read with very human characters and a heart of tragedy. The women in this book are wholly women and wholly human, with flaws and love and fear and difficult choices. Though I have one important note: I discovered this after I read the book, but later in life the author was revealed to have sexually abused her daughter and other children. Because of this, I wasn’t sure whether to include this one. I decided to because of the book’s merits and its influence on feminism in the nineties. I leave it to your judgement. Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard Mary Beard is a historian with penetrating understanding of the place women occupy in society. Her manifesto addresses the power imbalances women have faced throughout history and in the present. My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg A collection of the writings of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Accessible, logical, and wryly amusing, she provides insight into the workings of the Supreme Court, law, women’s rights, and many other topics. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah During World War II, two sisters are separated in occupied France. They find their own ways to survive and rebel against the German presence in their land. A well-written tale of sisterly and familial love, loss, courage, and endurance. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson A fantasy story about a princess chosen by a prophecy. Her journey to find, understand, and accept the power within herself is as poetic as the book’s title. The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro Two women, separated by a generation, bonded by memory. This book is captivating – and makes you wish you had some perfume of your own! Memory and scent, love and resentment, mystery, and fearless choices twine together in this story. A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland Poems honoring black women who have been held back and trapped and chained throughout America’s history. This is not a comfortable read. But it is a worthwhile one. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai This one doesn’t really need any explanation. It’s definitely a must-read though. Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II The meticulously researched story of the girls who broke codes in World War II. While their husbands and brothers and sons went off to fight, they went to Washington and learned to do work that greatly impacted the course of the war. Since they were all sworn to secrecy, their stories were almost lost. But not anymore. The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict Mileva Maric was a brilliant physicist and mathematician from Serbia. She attended the University of Zurich and was the only woman in her classes. After university, she married her former classmate: Albert Einstein. Her husband’s shadow is very long, but this woman deserves to step into the light. This is a rich portrait of a woman who was far more than merely Albert Einstein’s wife. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky This one’s pretty self-explanatory too. It’s an awesome book with gorgeous illustrations and many awesome and brilliantly smart women. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo Well, Wonder Woman, obviously. In this novel, Diana is finding her place as an Amazon, a warrior, and a teenage girl. Her confidence, courage, and loyalty is extraordinarily compelling. The book tackles the difficult issues she must face, involving war, peace, and the true meaning of strength. A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan I always pay attention when I see the word “witch” on the cover of a book. In history, witches have been the women who were feared for their differences – for their knowledge, their beauty, their independence, etc. It’s a powerful word with a powerful meaning. In this book, witchcraft is real, and the women are too. It follows five generations of the same family of witches, examining and celebrating the bonds between mothers and daughters while telling a tale fraught with tension and courage. Face Value: The Hidden Ways Beauty Shapes Women’s Lives by Autumn Whitefield-Madrano An examination of the perception of beauty and its effects in women’s lives today, touching upon insecurity, image, idealization, and numerous other things. The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar Another tale about two girls in different time periods (I love these). Here’s the blurb: “- a modern day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker – places today’s headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the triumph of courage echo again and again.” The prose is lyrically beautiful and the story is richly crafted. An incredible read. Double Bind: Women on Ambition edited by Robin Romm Ambition can be a complicated thing for women. What we want to do can be altered by how we want to see ourselves – or more accurately, how we are socialized to see ourselves. An ambitious woman may seem aggressive and overconfident to others – while an ambitious man may seem dominant and just the right amount of confident. This book is worth a look. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore A collection of her own writings tied together by the biographical work of Jill Lepore. In this portrait of Benjamin Franklin’s younger sister, Jane Franklin emerges as a shrewd, resilient, and confident woman. Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas by Laura Sook Duncombe This book is so awesome. It just is. Badass women from all over the world who wanted their freedom and took it. Need I say more? Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki ‘"Many say I was the best geisha of my generation," writes Mineko Iwasaki. "And yet, it was a life that I found too constricting to continue. And one that I ultimately had to leave." Trained to become a geisha from the age of five, Iwasaki would live among the other "women of art" in Kyoto's Gion Kobu district and practice the ancient customs of Japanese entertainment. She was loved by kings, princes, military heroes, and wealthy statesmen alike. But even though she became one of the most prized geishas in Japan's history, Iwasaki wanted more: her own life. And by the time she retired at age twenty-nine, Iwasaki was finally on her way toward a new beginning.” A tale of courage. the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace A story told in four collections of poetry. The story of the princess in the tower, and the story of you. The Diplomat’s Daughter by Karin Tanabe After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Emi Kato is imprisoned in an American internment camp. Later, she and her family are sent home to Japan, where war threatens everything. This is a tale of love, sacrifice, resilience and hope in the middle of a war told in elegant and touching prose. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker A retelling of the Iliad (The Trojan War) from the point of view of the women – primarily Briseis. The wars of ancient times are often thought of as glorious. The picture this book paints of the siege on Troy shows the other side of war. It’s illuminating, intricately detailed and bluntly told. Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee A difficult story of family, mental illness, sisterhood, immigration, and fulfillment in life. Every word rings true, sometimes painfully. Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo This one was a really difficult read for me. It’s heart-rending. The love, jealousy, commitment to family, completely different cultural context… A difficult read, but worth it in the end, for the exact reasons that made it hard. The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff Another World War II spy story! But this one is less about code-breaking and more about the feet on the ground in Paris. A fictionalized version of a true story. Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters, the Crown of Bohemia, and the Enduring Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots by Nancy Bazelon Goldstone “Brilliantly researched and captivatingly written, filled with danger, treachery, and adventure but also love, courage, and humor, Daughters of the Winter Queen follows the lives of five remarkable women who, by refusing to surrender to adversity, changed the course of history.” Pretty self-explanatory. An awesome and engaging book. Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird Based loosely on a true story. Cathy Williams is a slave. But she is also the daughter of a daughter of a queen, and her mother never lets her forget it. In this daring tale, Cathy rebels against her constraints as a black person and a woman and joins the army disguised as a man during the Civil War. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly I’m sure a lot of you have seen the movie based on this book. The untold story of three of NASA’s brilliant black female scientists during the Space Race. The book came before the movie and is just as satisfying in print as on the big screen. There’s also more exposition and nuance to the story. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King Sherlock Holmes has retired to keep bees in Sussex. Then, he meets Mary Russell, a young woman with a mind to rival his own. What adventures shall they encounter? It stays true to the tone and spirit of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, but Mary provides a fresh perspective. Wonderfully done. She Explores by Gale Straub These stories are so inspiring. I want to go out there and travel the world and explore the wild and live on the road every time I read them. All Hail the Queen: Twenty Women Who Ruled by Jennifer Orkin Lewis Ruling throughout history has not been only the domain of men. There have been multiple women that have ruled with strength, cleverness, and sheer daring. These are the stories of twenty of them from all over the world.