Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Liberation
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
A woman's journey of self-discovery, liberation and empowerment.
Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person – no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three ... (Goodreads)
Women
by Charles Bukowski
A collection of stories exploring the lives of various women and their relationships with men.
Women focuses on the many dissatisfactions Chinaski faced with each new woman he encountered. One of the women featured in the book is a character named Lydia Vance; she is based on Bukowski's ... (Wikipedia)
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
by Angela Carter
A collection of subversive, darkly fantastical tales exploring the power of femininity.
Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural ... (Goodreads)
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color
by Cherríe L. Moraga
A collection of essays, poetry, and personal narratives by radical women of color, exploring intersectionality and the struggle for social justice.
This groundbreaking collection reflects an uncompromised definition of feminism by women of color. Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection ... (Goodreads)
In the Time of the Butterflies
by Julia Alvarez
A story of courage and sacrifice, as four sisters resist a tyrannical regime in the Dominican Republic.
This is the story of the four Mirabal sisters during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. At school, one of the sisters, Minerva , meets a girl, Sinita, who later became one ... (Wikipedia)
Praying God's Word: Breaking Free From Spiritual Strongholds
by Beth Moore
Practical guide to reclaiming freedom from personal strongholds through prayer.
Beth Moore's #1 best-selling book (more than one million copies in print) is available in paperback for the first time! ,, Praying God's Word, is the perennial favorite Scripture-prayer resource ... (Barnes & Noble)
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal
An unlikely group of women come together to embrace their freedom and explore their sexuality.
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Pick A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of, Together Tea, ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Cave
by José Saramago
A group of cave-dwellers uncover a secret that threatens their way of life.
José Saramago is a master at pacing. Readers unfamiliar with the work of this Portuguese Nobel Prize winner would do well to begin with The Cave , a novel of ideas, shaded with suspense. Spare and ... (Goodreads)
The Thief and the Dogs
by Naguib Mahfouz
Said's world revolves around Nabawiyya, his former wife, and Sana', his daughter. Once in love with the former, she has now betrayed him by marrying his friend 'Ilish. Central to the making of Said ... (Wikipedia)
The Late Mattia Pascal
by Luigi Pirandello
A man's journey to reclaim his identity and freedom from a life of dullness and unhappiness.
The protagonist, Mattia Pascal, finds that his promising youth has, through misfortune or misdeed, dissolved into a dreary dead-end job and a miserable marriage. His inheritance and the woman he ... (Wikipedia)
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame
by Charles Bukowski
A collection of raw and gritty poems that explore the darker side of life, love, and humanity.
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame is poetry full of gambling, drinking and women. Charles Bukowski writes realistically about the seedy underbelly of life. ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Price of Salt
by Patricia Highsmith
Two women build a relationship against all odds, navigating a taboo romance.
Therese Belivet is a lonely young woman, just beginning her adult life in Manhattan and looking for her chance to launch her career as a theatre set designer . When she was a small girl, her widowed ... (Wikipedia)
Survivor
by Chuck Palahniuk
A darkly humorous look at the trappings of modern society and the state of human existence.
The novel opens, in medias res, to Tender Branson, who has just hijacked an airliner, released its passengers, and is now sitting in the cockpit telling his life story to the cockpit voice recorder . ... (Wikipedia)
Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
A young cyborg girl must rise above the prejudice of her society to save the world.
The story is set in a futuristic city, New Beijing, when the countries of the world have re-organized to form various new empires and alliances and the Moon has been colonized. Asia is now an ... (Wikipedia)
The Wretched of the Earth
by Frantz Fanon
A political analysis of colonialism and its effects on the global underclass.
A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and ... (Goodreads)
Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler
A modern woman is thrown back in time, forced to confront the harsh realities of slavery.
Kindred scholars have noted that the novel's chapter headings suggest something "elemental, apocalyptic, archetypal about the events in the narrative," thus giving the impression that the main ... (Wikipedia)
I Love Dick
by Chris Kraus
A woman's journey of self-discovery, exploring the limits of her desires.
Still Missing
by Chevy Stevens
A woman's struggle to free herself from captivity, and reclaim her life.
On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, had three goals - sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient ... (Goodreads)
The Female Eunuch
by Germaine Greer
A feminist classic exploring the oppression of women in society and advocating for female liberation and empowerment.
The clarion call to change that galvanized a generation. When Germaine Greer's "The Female Eunuch" was first published it created a shock wave of recognition in women, one that could be felt around ... (Goodreads)
Who Fears Death
by Nnedi Okorafor
A fantasy adventure in post-apocalyptic Africa, where one woman must use her powers to save her people.
The novel takes place in a post-apocalyptic future version of Sudan , where the light-skinned Nuru oppress the dark-skinned Okeke. The protagonist, Onyesonwu ( Igbo for "who fears death"), is an Ewu ... (Wikipedia)
The Dhammapada
by Anonymous
A collection of Buddhist teachings and wisdom, focusing on the path to enlightenment.
The Dhammapada (Pāli; Prakrit: धम्मपद Dhammapada; Sanskrit: धर्मपद Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist ... (Goodreads)
Tipping the Velvet
by Sarah Waters
A coming of age story of a young woman's queer journey through Victorian England.
Nancy "Nan" Astley is a sheltered 18-year-old living with her working-class family and helping in their oyster restaurant in Whitstable, Kent. She becomes instantly and desperately enamoured with a ... (Wikipedia)
Lilith's Brood
by Octavia E. Butler
Humanity's struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, amongst a new species of aliens.
Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected – by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an ... (Goodreads)
The Heart of a Woman
by Maya Angelou
A lyrical memoir of a woman's struggle for independence and self-fulfillment.
Maya Angelou has fascinated, moved, and inspired countless readers with the first three volumes of her autobiography, one of the most remarkable personal narratives of our age. Now, in her fourth ... (Goodreads)
Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
by Inga Muscio
A powerful manifesto for reclaiming the word "cunt" and its power for female empowerment.
An ancient title of respect for women, the word cunt long ago veered off this noble path. Inga Muscio traces the road from honor to expletive, giving women the motivation and tools to claim cunt as a ... (Goodreads)
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation
by Duncan Tonatiuh
The true story of Sylvia Mendez and her family's fight for desegregation in California schools in the 1940s.
Almost 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education , Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage who spoke and ... (Goodreads)
Wilt
by Tom Sharpe
A hilarious comedy of errors, as an Englishman struggles to keep his sanity while escaping his chaotic life.
Henry Wilt, tied to a daft job and a domineering wife, has just been passed over for promotion yet again. Ahead of him at the Polytechnic stretch years of trying to thump literature into the heads of ... (Goodreads)
The Vagina Monologues
by Eve Ensler
A collection of stories and monologues celebrating the power and complexity of female sexuality.
The Vagina Monologues is made up of various personal monologues read by a diverse group of women. Originally, Eve Ensler performed every monologue herself, with subsequent performances featuring ... (Wikipedia)
The World's Wife
by Carol Ann Duffy
A collection of poems that give voice to the wives of famous men throughout history, offering a feminist perspective on their stories.
Be terrified. It's you I love, perfect man, Greek God, my own; but I know you'll go, betray me, stray from home. So better by far for me if you were stone. —from "Medusa" Stunningly original and ... (Goodreads)
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Exploration of the hybrid identity of Chicana women, navigating between two cultures.
Anzaldua, a Chicana native of Texas, explores in prose and poetry the murky, precarious existence of those living on the frontier between cultures and languages. Writing in a lyrical mixture of ... (Goodreads)
Akira, Vol. 1
by Katsuhiro Otomo
A post-apocalyptic tale of two teenage biker gangs, battling for control of a mysterious power.
On December 6, 1982 (1992 in the English version), a nuclear explosion destroys Tokyo and starts World War III . By 2019 (2030 in the English version), a new city called Neo-Tokyo has been built on ... (Wikipedia)
Princess Sultana's Circle
by Jean Sasson
A Saudi Arabian princess shares the stories of women in her country, revealing the oppression and abuse they face.
With Princess Sultana's Circle, the extraordinary story of Princess Sultana continues. The forced marriage of Sultana's niece to a cruel and depraved older man, and Sultana's discovery of the harem ... (Goodreads)
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
by Ntozake Shange
A powerful collection of stories exploring the struggles and triumphs of African-American women.
In celebration of its highly anticipated Broadway revival, Ntozake Shange’s classic, award-winning play centering the wide-ranging experiences of Black women, now with introductions by two-time ... (Goodreads)
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
by bell hooks
A critical analysis of feminist theory, exploring the intersectionality of race, class, and gender in the fight for women's liberation.
A sweeping examination of the core issues of sexual politics, bell hooks' new book Feminist Theory: from margin to center argues that the contemporary feminist movement must establish a new direction ... (Goodreads)
I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
by Rigoberta Menchú
Autobiography of a young indigenous woman's life in Guatemala, detailing the struggles and oppression faced by her people.
Interviews with a Guatemalan national leader discuss her country's political situation and the resulting violence, which has claimed the lives of her brother, mother, and father. ... (Goodreads)
Succulent Wild Woman
by S.A.R.K.
An invitation to reclaim the wild nature of being female.
This book is my glowing invitation to you—to live a rich, succulent life! I explore love, sexuality, romance, money, fat, fear and creativity. It's a little bit like reading my diary – with ... (Goodreads)
Thinner
by Richard Bachman
A man cursed by a gypsy to lose weight uncontrollably seeks revenge on those who wronged him.
Billy Halleck, a successful, arrogant, and morbidly obese lawyer, is distracted while driving across town by his wife Heidi giving him a blowjob , and he runs over an elderly Romani woman as a ... (Wikipedia)
How to Be Both
by Ali Smith
Exploring duality and interconnectedness through the life of a girl and a Renaissance artist.
Passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive and scrupulously playful, Ali Smith’s novels are like nothing else. A true original, she is a one-of-a-kind literary sensation. Her novels consistently ... (Goodreads)
Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements
by Malcolm X
A collection of speeches and statements by Malcolm X, showcasing his powerful and controversial views on race, religion, and social justice.
These are the major speeches made by Malcolm X during the last tumultuous eight months of his life. In this short period of time, his vision for abolishing racial inequality in the United States ... (Goodreads)
The Paris Architect
by Charles Belfoure
A man must balance his moral code and professional obligations amidst the Nazi occupation of France.
Like most gentiles in Nazi-occupied Paris, architect Lucien Bernard has little empathy for the Jews. So when a wealthy industrialist offers him a large sum of money to devise secret hiding places for ... (Goodreads)
Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality
by Anthony de Mello
Exploration of how to become aware of one's true self, unlocking inner peace and happiness.
The heart of Anthony de Mello's bestselling spiritual message is awareness. Mixing Christian spirituality, Buddhist parables, Hindu breathing exercises, and psychological insight, de Mello's words of ... (Goodreads)
The Counterfeiters
by André Gide
A group of young artists and writers navigate the complexities of life and art in early 20th century Paris.
The plot revolves around Bernard – a schoolfriend of Olivier's who is preparing for his, bac, – discovering he is a bastard and taking this as a welcome pretext for running away from home. He spends ... (Wikipedia)
The Zookeeper's Wife
by Diane Ackerman
A true story of courage and resilience during the Holocaust, as a zookeeper and his wife risk their lives to save hundreds of Jews.
In the 1930s, Jan Żabiński is the director of a thriving zoo in Warsaw, Poland. His wife, Antonina, has a remarkable empathy with animals, and their villa in the zoo acts as a nursery and residence ... (Wikipedia)
King Kong Theory
by Virginie Despentes
A candid and controversial exploration of gender, power and sexuality.
J’écris de chez les moches, pour les moches, les frigides, les mal baisées, les imbaisables, toutes les exclues du grand marché à la bonne meuf, aussi bien que pour les hommes qui n’ont pas envie ... (Goodreads)
Culottées #1
by Pénélope Bagieu
Margaret, actrice "terrifiante", spécialisée à Hollywood dans les rôles de méchante ; Agnodice, gynécologue de l’Antiquité grecque qui dut se déguiser en homme pour exercer ; Lozen, femme apache, ... (Goodreads)
Fear of Flying
by Erica Jong
A woman's journey of liberation, embarking on a journey to find her true self.
Bored with her marriage, a psychoanalyst’s wife embarks on a wild, life-changing affair After five years, Isadora Wing has come to a crossroads in her marriage: Should she and her husband stay ... (Goodreads)
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
by Audre Lorde
Collection of essays and speeches exploring issues of race, gender, sexuality, and liberation.
A collection of fifteen essays written between 1976 and 1984 gives clear voice to Audre Lorde's literary and philosophical personae. These essays explore and illuminate the roots of Lorde's ... (Goodreads)
The Female Man
by Joanna Russ
Four women from different dimensions and times meet, challenging gender norms and societal expectations.
The novel begins when Janet Evason suddenly arrives in Joanna's world. Janet is from Whileaway, a futuristic world where a plague killed all of the men over 800 years ago, and Jeannine lives in a ... (Wikipedia)
The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
A philosophical exploration of the history, struggles and oppression of women in society.
Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, Simone de Beauvoir’s masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of “woman,” and a groundbreaking exploration of inequality ... (Goodreads)
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl
by Carrie Brownstein
Music memoir of a punk rock pioneer, her struggles and triumphs in the music industry.
From a leader of feminist punk music at the dawn of the riot-grrrl era, a candid and deeply personal look at life in rock and roll. Before Carrie Brownstein codeveloped and starred in the wildly ... (Goodreads)
The Illearth War
by Stephen R. Donaldson
Epic fantasy adventure as a group of unlikely heroes fight against a tyrannical evil.
Several weeks after returning to his world from The Land , the leper Thomas Covenant is taking a phone call from his ex-wife Joan when he falls and hits his head, waking to find himself back in the ... (Wikipedia)
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
by Héctor Tobar
True story of 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine and their miraculous rescue.
When the San Jos mine collapsed outside of Copiap, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. Across the globe, we ... (Goodreads)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
by Paulo Freire
Analysis of the educational system, advocating a pedagogy of liberation.
First published in Portuguese in 1968, Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated and published in English in 1970. The methodology of the late Paulo Freire has helped to empower countless impoverished ... (Goodreads)
Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner Saint
by Nadia Bolz-Weber
A frank exploration of faith and religion, reconciling the divides between the sacred and the profane.
Now a, New York Times, bestseller, Nadia Bolz-Weber takes no prisoners as she reclaims the term "pastrix"(pronounced "pas-triks," a term used by some Christians who refuse to recognize female ... (Barnes & Noble)
Woman at Point Zero
by Nawal El Saadawi
A powerful novel about a woman's life in Egypt, her struggles with poverty, oppression, and prostitution, and her ultimate decision to face her fate on her own terms.
The novel opens with a psychiatrist who is researching inmates at a women's prison. The prison doctor speaks of a woman, Firdaus, who is unlike any of the murderers in the prison: she rarely eats or ... (Wikipedia)
Shame
by Salman Rushdie
Exploring the intricacies of identity and belonging in an ever-changing world.
This story takes place in a town called "Q" which is actually a fictitious version of Quetta, Pakistan . In Q, one of the three sisters (Chunni, Munnee, and Bunny Shakil) gives birth to Omar Khayyám ... (Wikipedia)
The Hunger Angel
by Herta Müller
A young man is deported to a Soviet labor camp in the aftermath of WWII, where he struggles to survive and maintain his humanity.
It was an icy morning in January 1945 when the patrol came for seventeen-year-old Leo Auberg to deport him to a camp in the Soviet Union. Leo would spend the next five years in a coke processing ... (Goodreads)
Burned Alive
by Souad
A survivor's account of her brutal, harrowing experience of being burned alive by her family.
When Souad was seventeen she fell in love. In her village, as in so many others, sex before marriage was considered a grave dishonour to one's family and was punishable by death. This was her crime. ... (Goodreads)
An Autobiography
by Angela Y. Davis
Angela Y. Davis' life story, from growing up in Birmingham to becoming a political activist and scholar.
Her own powerful story to 1972, told with warmth, brilliance, humor & conviction. The author, a political activist, reflects upon the people & incidents that have influenced her life & commitment to ... (Goodreads)
Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars
by Jeff Lemire
A robot boy on the run, searching for his identity in a hostile universe.
Young Robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. Written by award-winning creator, Jeff ... (Goodreads)
Sold
by Zana Muhsen
A harrowing true story of two sisters sold into marriage in Yemen, and their struggle to escape.
Zana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 ... (Goodreads)
The Wife
by Meg Wolitzer
A wife's exploration of her marriage and identity, as she discovers her own power and independence.
"The moment I decided to leave him, the moment I thought, enough, we were thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean, hurtling forward but giving the illusion of stillness and tranquility. Just like ... (Goodreads)
The Famished Road
by Ben Okri
A magical realist tale of a spirit-child's journey through the streets of Lagos, Nigeria.
In the decade since it won the Booker Prize, Ben Okri's Famished Road has become a classic. Like Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude , it ... (Goodreads)
Caliban and the Witch
by Silvia Federici
A historical analysis of the witch hunts in Europe and their relationship to the rise of capitalism and the subjugation of women.
Caliban and the Witch is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, ... (Goodreads)
The Bondage Breaker
by Neil T. Anderson
A guide to breaking free from spiritual bondage and finding freedom in Christ through biblical teachings and personal testimonies.
> The Bondage Breaker leads readers away from the shadows and shackles in their lives and toward the freedom that comes when they realize they have the right to be free confront the power of Satan ... (Goodreads)
Foreskin's Lament
by Shalom Auslander
A humorous and poignant memoir about growing up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and struggling with faith, family, and identity.
Shalom Auslander was raised with a terrified respect for God. Even as he grew up and was estranged from his community, his religion and its traditions, he could not find his way to a life where he ... (Goodreads)
Oracle's Moon
by Thea Harrison
A shapeshifting oracle and a powerful Wyr warrior must work together to solve a dangerous mystery and navigate their growing attraction.
When Grace Andreas's sister, Petra, and her husband are both killed, Grace inherits the Power and responsibilities of the Oracle of Louisville, as well as her sister's two young children–neither of ... (Goodreads)
طبائع الاستبداد ومصارع الاستعباد
by Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi
هذا بحث كتبه عبد الرحمن الكواكبي في موضوع الاستبداد مستعرضاً طبائعه وما ينطوي عليه من سلبيات تؤدي إلى خوف المستبد وإلى الاستيلاء الجبن على رغبته إلى جانب انعكاسات الاستبداد على جميع مناحي الحياة ... (Goodreads)
Almost Transparent Blue
by Ryū Murakami
A group of young people in 1970s Japan indulge in drugs, sex, and violence, leading to a downward spiral of self-destruction.
Narrated by the main character Ryū, the novel focuses on his small group of young friends in the mid-1970s. Living in a Japanese town with an American air force base , their lives revolve around sex ... (Wikipedia)
My Bondage and My Freedom
by Frederick Douglass
Autobiography of an escaped slave, detailing his journey to freedom and civil rights activism
Ex-slave Frederick Douglass's second autobiography-written after ten years of reflection following his legal emancipation in 1846 and his break with his mentor William Lloyd Garrison-catapulted ... (Goodreads)
Fruit Of Knowledge: The Vulva vs. The Patriarchy
by Liv Strömquist
Liv Strömquists nya seriealbum Kunskapens frukt handlar om det som brukar kallas för det kvinnliga könsorganet. Vad är det för något? Och varför har mänskligheten ett så extremt osoft, bordelineartat ... (Goodreads)
Desert Flower
by Waris Dirie
A harrowing autobiographical account of a young Somali girl's journey from oppression to freedom.
Waris Dirie ran away from her oppressive life in the African desert when she was barely in her teens, illiterate and impoverished, with nothing to her name but a tattered shawl. She traveled alone ... (Goodreads)
The Natural Way of Things
by Charlotte Wood
Ten women are imprisoned in the Australian outback for crimes against men. A brutal exploration of misogyny and power.
Ten young women are held prisoner somewhere in the Australian bush by two male guards and a woman who purports to be a nurse. The women come to discover that they are all connected in that they are ... (Wikipedia)
Nervous Conditions
by Tsitsi Dangarembga
A young girl's struggles to create her own identity amidst the oppressive colonial structures of her society.
Tambu is the main character of the novel. The novel opens up with the news that Tambu’s older brother, Nhamo, had just died. Tambu is not upset about this because Nhamo studied at a missionary school ... (Wikipedia)
Radio Free Albemuth
by Philip K. Dick
A dystopian novel about a man who receives messages from an extraterrestrial intelligence, leading him to question the oppressive government.
In this alternate history , the corrupt United States president Ferris F. Fremont (FFF for 666 , ‘F’ being the 6th letter in the alphabet) becomes Chief Executive in the late 1960s following Lyndon ... (Wikipedia)
The Long Song
by Andrea Levy
A story of a slave girl's life in Jamaica during the 19th century, her struggles and triumphs in the face of oppression.
The Long Song is written as a memoir by an elderly Jamaican woman living in early 19th-century Jamaica during the final years of slavery and the transition to freedom that took place thereafter. It ... (Wikipedia)
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