“Living History,” Hillary Rodham Clinton
This memoir focuses on the years that Hillary lived in the White House, with a couple of introductory chapters on her early life, and leaves off with her Senate win. Although of course it is biased–it is, after all, her version of her own life–it is a good source of information to know how it all began, and the personal moments she includes about Bill and Chelsea make it all the more worthwhile. She will forever be a queen in my mind (aren’t we all, though? #weareallqueens #womanpower). One can also see firsthand through her writing all of the sexism she experienced on her journey to being a senator, some subtle and other not so subtle, like when she was told by a fellow lawyer that without a wife (someone at home preparing everything) she could never be a lawyer. Eye roll.
“Feet in Chains,” Kate Roberts
Roberts is considered one of Wales’ most notable authors, writing novels and short stories and also co-publishing a newspaper with her husband. This novel follows a family struggling to survive in northern Wales: Jane, her husband Ifan who is a quarryman, and their six children. Roberts can be compared to Jane Austen, for example, but what I liked more about her writing style was that the characters are never so desperate as to be beyond help, as can be seen in Austen’s or Dickens’ writing. They help each other and help themselves, and thus survive, and sometimes even thrive.