New and Recommended Adult Nonfiction to Read During Women's History Month and Beyond

Updated March 2, 2026
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Lewis and Clark Public Library Lewis and Clark Public Library
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New and Recommended Adult Nonfiction to Read During Women's History Month and Beyond

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107 Days
Harris, Kamala
Paper Book
For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, former Vice President Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history. Your Secret Service code name is Pioneer. You are the first woman...
All the Way to the River : Love, Loss, and Liberation
Gilbert, Elizabeth
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK "A delicious mashup of narrative that's by turns harrowing and healing." -People "Entertaining, insightful, wrenching ... punch-to-the-gut powerful." -The Washington Post
The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon
Shapiro, Laurie Gwen
Paper Book
In 1928, a young social worker and hobby pilot named Amelia Earhart arrived in the office of George Putnam, heir to the Putnam & Sons throne and hitmaker, on the hunt for the right woman for a secret flying mission across the Atlantic. A partnership - professional and soon otherwise - was born. The...
Awake: A Memoir
Hatmaker, Jen
Paper Book
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPRAH DAILY, GOODREADS, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "I can't imagine any woman reading this without feeling seen, inspired, and totally empowered." -...
The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement
Gibson, Susannah
Paper Book
In England in the 1700s, a woman who was an intellectual, spoke out, or wrote professionally was considered unnatural. After all, as the wisdom of the era dictated, a clever woman--if there were such a thing--would never make a good wife. But a circle of women called the Bluestockings did...
Book of lives : a memoir of sorts
Atwood, Margaret Eleanor
Paper Book
A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR FROM NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, THE CHIGACO TRIBUNE, TIME MAGAZINE, PEOPLE, NEW YORK MAGAZINE,...
Bread of angels
Smith, Patti
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2025 * NPR's Books We Love * Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Guardian * Barnes & Noble * The New Yorker * Variety * ELLE A radiant new memoir from beloved artist and writer Patti Smith,...
Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old : Thoughts on Aging As a Woman
Shields, Brooke/ Bertsche, Rachel (CON)
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From generational icon Brooke Shields comes an intimate and empowering exploration of aging that flips the script on the idea of what it means for a woman to grow older Brooke Shields has spent a lifetime in the public eye....
Care and Feeding: A Memoir
Woolever, Laurie
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! A candid, funny, and occasionally devastating culinary memoir of a woman making her way through the food world, navigating addiction, a cultural reckoning, and an unexpected tragedy In this moving, hilarious, and insightful...
Cher : The Memoir, Part One
Cher
Paper Book
***The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller*** ***The Global #1 Bestseller*** The extraordinary life of Cher can be told by only one person . . . Cher herself. After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own...
A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature
Morgan, Adam
Paper Book
"Wholly transportive and spellbinding." --Ling Ma, bestselling author of Severance and Bliss Montage "Exquisitely researched, deeply felt, and poignant. This one belongs on your shelf." --Sarah Rose Etter, author of Ripe "A fascinating account of a...
A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir
Ardern, Jacinda
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world's youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to a new generation of...
The dry season : a memoir of pleasure in a year without sex
Febos, Melissa
Paper Book
A TIME Best Book of 2025 The award-winning author of Girlhood returns with a revelatory chronicle of her year of celibacy and its transformative impact on her relationships--to others, and to herself. In the wake of a catastrophic two-year relationship,...
Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It (Original)
Ramirez, Janina
Paper Book
THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 CUNDIL HISTORY PRIZE A "Next Big Idea Book Club" Must Read? A groundbreaking reappraisal of medieval femininity, revealing why women have been written out of history and why it matters ...
Finding My Way: A Memoir
Yousafzai, Malala
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! | A USA TODAY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "A remarkably intimate and insistently human chronicle of a moral authority's coming of age." --The New York Times This is not the story you think you know...
A flower traveled in my blood : the incredible true story of the grandmothers who fought to find a stolen generation of children
Cohen Gilliland, Haley
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 * THE WASHINGTON POST'S 5 BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2025 * THE ATLANTIC'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * TIME MAGAZINE'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * NPR'S BEST BOOKS...
The harder I fight, the more I love you : a memoir
Case, Neko
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN APPLE BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH Singer-songwriter Neko Case paints a vivid portrait of an extraordinary life--one forged through a poverty-stricken childhood, obsessive desire, bursts of comedy, and...
Hotshot : a life on fire
Selby, River
Paper Book
A KIRKUS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "A beautiful reflection on justice, the environment, the self, and much more."--George Saunders The fierce debut memoir of a female firefighter, Hotshot navigates the personal and environmental dangers of wildland...
Joan of Arc : a life transfigured
Harrison, Kathryn
Ebook
The profoundly inspiring and fully documented saga of Joan of Arc, the young peasant girl whose "voices" moved her to rally the French nation and a reluctant king against British invaders in 1428, has fascinated artistic figures as diverse as William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Voltaire, George...
Joyride : A Memoir
Orlean, Susan
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, KIRKUS REVIEWS, GOODREADS, AND MORE "Brilliant...A high-spirited, exhilarating memoir." --The Wall Street Journal * "In Joyride, the takeaway often has as...
A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck
Elmhirst, Sophie
Paper Book
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER & ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2025 ALSO NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2025 BY NPR, VOGUE, TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, AND MORE "This is nonfiction that...
Marsha : the joy and defiance of Marsha P. Johnson
Tourmaline.
Ebook
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER Featured in The New York Times's Nonfiction to Read This Spring Black transgender luminary Tourmaline brings to life the first definitive biography of the revolutionary activist Marsha P. Johnson, one of the most important and remarkable...
Matriarch: A Memoir
Knowles, Tina
Paper Book
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A glorious chronicle of a life like none other--enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering--and a testament to the world-changing power of Black motherhood "A beautiful and brave story of strong women, fierce mothering, and the...
Memorial days
Brooks, Geraldine
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A New York Times Notable Book of 2025 · A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2025 · A Time Best Memoir of 2025 · Named a Best Book of 2025 by NPR,...
Mother Mary comes to me
Roy, Arundhati
Paper Book
Named One of The New York Times Book Review's Top Ten Books of the Year Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kirkus Prize One of the best-reviewed books of the year, a raw and deeply moving memoir that "pulses with...
Nobody's Girl : A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Giuffre, Virginia Roberts
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell "Make no mistake: this is a book about power, corruption, industrial-scale sex abuse and the way in which...
Notes to John
Didion, Joan
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An extraordinary work from the author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights In November 1999, Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because, as she wrote to a friend, her family had had "a rough few years....
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America
Macy, Beth
Paper Book
Urbana, Ohio, was not a utopia when Beth Macy grew up there in the '70s and '80s-certainly not for her family. Her dad was known as the town drunk, which hurt, as did their poverty. But Urbana had a healthy economy and thriving schools, and Macy had middle-class schoolmates whose families became her...
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
Morris, Susana M
Paper Book
A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work.  As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia...
The radium girls : the dark story of America's shining women
Moore, Kate (Writer and editor)
Paper Book
A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts Bestseller! "The glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still." --NPR Books  Discover the gripping and inspiring true story of The Radium Girls, a groundbreaking work by acclaimed author Kate Moore....
Saving five : a memoir of hope
Nguyen, Amanda
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Natalie Portman's Book Club Pick for March. "Amanda's story--innovatively told by versions of herself at different ages--underscores the lasting power of speaking...
Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They're Too Much
Erivo, Cynthia
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this vulnerable and enlightening book of life lessons, globally renowned performer Cynthia Erivo draws from her singular experience to show us how to embrace being "too much" and to live up to the fullest iteration of...
Sister wife : a memoir of faith, family, and finding freedom
Woolley, Christine Brown
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From TLC's Sister Wives star Christine Brown Woolley, a groundbreaking and heartfelt memoir about living in a family like no other and finding the strength to leave polygamy--and the only life she's known--behind.
The sisterhood / The Secret History of Women at the CIA
Mundy, Liza
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "rip-roaring" (Steve Coll), "staggeringly well-researched" (The New York Times) history of three generations at the CIA, "electric with revelations" (Booklist) about the women who fought to become operatives, transformed spycraft, and tracked down Osama bin...
The Six : The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts
Grush, Loren
Paper Book
"Vivid." --The Guardian * "Engrossing." --Booklist * "Suspenseful, meticulously observed, enlightening." --Margot Lee Shetterly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Figures In this account of America's first women astronauts "Grush...
Star of the Show: My Life on Stage
Parton, Dolly
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A stunning celebration of Dolly Parton's iconic career as a performer, featuring entertaining personal stories alongside more than 500 full-color photographs, including exclusive images and ephemera from her archive, and an eight-page gatefold listing her...
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Burden, Belle
Paper Book
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Burden's searing, probing memoir explores . . . what she learned about intimacy and her own spirit."--People​​ "A beautifully written instant classic. Strangers is gripping and heartbreaking and a must...
That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You
Myers, Elyse
Paper Book
Writer, comedian, and content creator Elyse Myers gets real about life's awkward moments in her bold, funny, and unfiltered debut book Elyse Myers is known to her twelve million followers as "The Internet's Best Friend," sharing her relatable stories and comedic sketches and...
This Happened to Me: A Reckoning
Price, Kate
Paper Book
A Washington Post Noteworthy Book (of July and August); a Book Riot Best Nonfiction Book of Summer; WBUR (Boston Public Radio) Twelve Books to Read This Summer "Price not only rises above the hurt and hate, she uses her hard-won insights to shine a light for...
We should all be feminists
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The highly acclaimed, provocative essay on feminism and sexual politics--from the award-winning author of Americanah "A call to action, for all people in the world, to undo the gender hierarchy." --Medium<...
A woman of no importance : the untold story of the American spy who helped win World War II
Purnell, Sonia.
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Chosen as a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by NPR, the New York Public Library, Amazon, the Seattle Times, the Washington Independent Review of Books, PopSugar, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, BookBrowse, the Spectator...
Women in white coats : how the first women doctors changed the world of medicine
Campbell, Olivia
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! For fans of Hidden Figures and Radium Girls comes the remarkable story of three Victorian women who broke down barriers in the medical field to become the first women doctors, revolutionizing the way women receive health care. ...
Writing creativity and soul
Kidd, Sue Monk
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings, a book about the wellsprings of the inner life and the creative genius that lies in the unconscious: an inspiring and unforgettable guide to awakening the soul. Part memoir, part...
You with the sad eyes : a memoir
Applegate, Christina
Paper Book
"Not your typical celebrity memoir." --Jimmy Kimmel Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, You with the Sad Eyes unveils a side of Christina Applegate we've never seen, forever cementing her formidable and iconoclastic legacy.  ...
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