Words by Women

Celebrate Women’s History Month with our Words by Women reading list. Curated by Hummingbird Books owner Wendy Dodson, these titles are sure to inspire.

Explore Wendy’s recommendations and visit Hummingbird Books to grab your next read today!

A Tale for the Time Being

By Ruth Ozeki

A Tale For The Time Being is a deceptively simple title. I took it at face value and considered that I would be entertained by a story just for now, perhaps for a little while. As it turned out, the title has a totally different meaning. This tale is an unusual ‘message in a bottle’ type of story that reaches magically across time to connect individuals whose lives would otherwise never touch”

Homegoing

By Yaa Gyasi

I give 5 shining stars to Homegoing, the debut novel from author Yaa Gyasi. How the author managed to create such rich characters, cover so much history, and tell such a complex, but compelling story in only 300 pages, I do not know.”

Hunger

By Roxane Gay

“Reading Roxane Gay’s memoir, Hunger, was like listening to a close friend divulging some of her most painful and intimate memories, thoughts and feelings – if that friend also happened to be a wickedly good writer. It was uncomfortable, heartbreaking and aweinspiring.”

 

The Song of Achillies

By Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles’ is a beautifully orchestrated retelling of one of Greek Mythology’s best known and best loved stories of the Siege at Troy and life of the legendary demi-god Achilles. A story that is epic, timeless, and sad but told with great sentiment, heart, and soul. A book that does not try to recount the historical events of the past and the myths but rather embellishes them to play the song of Achilles.” 

The Vanishing Half

By Britt Bennett

What a tour de force Bennett has achieved with  The Vanishing Half. Brilliant and complex, this story surpassed all my expectations and more. Twins Desiree and Stella can’t wait to leave behind the small, Black town where they’ve grown up. At sixteen, they seize their chance and run away. More than a decade later, the twins have lost touch with each other. One comes back to town with a daughter, while the other lives across the country, passing for white while hiding her past. As time goes on, they and their respective daughters realize you can never quite cut the ties of the past.”