March marks Women’s History Month, and to celebrate and uplift the voices of women, our employees compiled a list of their favorite books written by women.
From captivating works of fiction to powerful memoirs, these 30 books are insightful reads for those looking to gain more perspective on female experiences or simply enjoy a thrilling story.
“All About Love” by bell hooks
“In 13 concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love.” — Mahogany Books
“American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins
“Of all the ‘What if?’ novels I’ve read in recent years — many of them dystopian — ‘American Dirt’ is the novel that, for me, nails what it’s like to live in this age of anxiety, where it feels like anything can happen, at any moment.” — Maureen Corrigan, NPR book critic (Macmillan Publishers)
“Beautiful Country” by Qian Julie Wang
“Inhabiting her childhood perspective with exquisite lyric clarity and unforgettable charm and strength, Qian Julie Wang has penned an essential American story about a family fracturing under the weight of invisibility, and a girl coming of age in the shadows, who never stops seeking the light.” — Penguin Random House
“Becoming” by Michelle Obama
“In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her — from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.” — GoodReads
“Between Two Kingdoms” by Suleika Jaouad
“I just finished this book and it was amazing. It moved me so much.” — Meg Walch, senior product marketing manager at ZoomInfo (Penguin Random House)
“The Biggest Bluff” by Maria Konnikova
“The tale of how Konnikova followed a story about poker players and wound up becoming a story herself will have you riveted, first as you learn about her big winnings, and then as she conveys the lessons she learned both about human nature and herself.” — Wray Herbert, author of On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind’s Hard-Wired Habits (Penguin Random House)
“Brown Album” by Porochista Khakpour
“’Brown Album’ is a stirring collection of essays, at times humorous and at times profound, drawn from more than a decade of Porochista’s work and with new material included. Altogether, it reveals the tolls that immigrant life in this country can take on a person and the joys that life can give.” — Penguin Random House
“Circe” by Madeline Miller
“In the story that dawns from Miller’s rosy fingers, the fate that awaits Circe is at once divine and mortal, impossibly strange and yet entirely human.” — Ron Charles, book critic for The Washington Post (Little, Brown and Company)
“Cost of Living” by Emily Maloney
“’Cost of Living’ offers insight into the subculture of medicine and incites the reader to think more deeply about what our health care system is costing us all.” — Kristen Martin, writer (Macmillan Publishers)
“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner
“Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, complete with family photos, ‘Crying in H Mart’ is a book to cherish, share, and reread.”— Penguin Random House
“Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown
“Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.”
— Random House Books
“Dear Memory” by Victoria Chang
“’Dear Memory’ is not a transcription but a process of simultaneously shaping and being shaped, knowing that when a writer dips their pen into history, what emerges is poetry. In carefully crafted collages and missives on trauma, loss, and Americanness, Victoria Chang grasps on to a sense of self that grief threatens to dissipate.” — Milkweed
“Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie
“The tranquility of a lovely cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything—until she lost her life.” — GoodReads
“The Empathy Exams” by Leslie Jamison
“Leslie Jamison’s visceral and revealing essays ask essential questions about our basic understanding of others: How should we care about each other? How can we feel another’s pain, especially when pain can be assumed, distorted, or performed? Is empathy a tool by which to test or even grade each other?” — Think Piece Publishing
“The Flight Girls” by Noelle Salazar
“Shining a light on a little-known piece of history, The Flight Girls is a sweeping portrayal of women’s fearlessness, love, and the power of friendship to make us soar.” — GoodReads
“The Girl Explorers” by Jayne Zanglein
“Historian Zanglein debuts with an entertaining look at the founders and early members of the International Society of Women Geographers.” — Publishers Weekly
“The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy
“Lush, lyrical, and unnerving, ‘The God of Small Things’ is an award-winning landmark that started for its author an esteemed career of fiction and political commentary that continues unabated.” — Random House Books
“The Henna Artist” by Alka Joshi
“Vivid and compelling in its portrait of one woman’s struggle for fulfillment in a society pivoting between the traditional and the modern, ‘The Henna Artist’ opens a door into a world that is at once lush and fascinating, stark and cruel.” — BookReporter
“Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi
“I have really found myself enjoying historical fiction the last year or two. This has allowed me to learn about several of the forgotten stories of women who have shaped our history — with a little extra drama and flair from the fiction element.” — Elizabeth Berg, learning and development manager at Zoominfo (Penguin Random House)
“The Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri
“Imbued with the sensual details of Indian culture, these stories speak with passion and wisdom to everyone who has ever felt like a foreigner. Like the interpreter of the title story, Lahiri translates between the strict traditions of her ancestors and a baffling new world.” — HMH Books
“Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng
“’Little Fires Everywhere’ explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood — and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.” — Penguin Random House
“Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets … From the author of ‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ comes ‘a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror’ (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.” — Penguin Random House
“My Life in Full: Work, Family and our Future” by Indra Nooyi
“Generous, authoritative, and grounded in lived experience, ‘My Life in Full’ is the story of an extraordinary leader’s life, a moving tribute to the relationships that created it, and a blueprint for 21st century prosperity.” — Penguin Random House
“My Life on the Road” by Gloria Steinem
“It’s a timely read, and one of my favorites. Steinem shares personal stories and experiences of her work fighting for equality during the women’s movement and beyond.” — Jessica Carlson, product marketing manager at ZoomInfo (Penguin Random House)
“The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn
“The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of ‘The Huntress’ and ‘The Alice Network’ returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female codebreakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over.” — Harper Collins Publishers
“Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward
“I enjoy her books and her Vanity Fair articles. I also had the pleasure to hear her read aloud at the Women’s Conference and her prose was lyrical.” — Kim Gallagher, scrum master at ZoomInfo (Bloomsbury)
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
“‘Heartbreaking, yet beautiful’ (Jamie Blynn, Us Weekly), ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ is ‘Tinseltown drama at its finest’ (Redbook): a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means — and what it costs — to face the truth.” — Simon & Schuster
“Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR” by Lisa Napoli
“’Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie’ is journalist Lisa Napoli’s captivating account of these four women, their deep and enduring friendships, and the trail they blazed to becoming icons.”
— Abrams Books
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” — Zadie Smith, novelist (Harper Collins Publishers)
“The Woman in Cabin 10″ by Ruth Ware
“An instant New York Times bestseller, ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ is a gripping psychological thriller set at sea from an essential mystery writer in the tradition of Agatha Christie.”
— Bookshop.org