“Zorro,” Isabel Allende
Whenever I need to destress with a quick and interesting page turner, I always choose one of Allende’s novels. From House of the Spirits, the first of her novels that I have read, to this current one, Allende entertains with her flowing narrative and descriptive writing style. Not to mention the magical realism and powerful female characters. It’s a win-win, really. As you can imagine, Zorro tells the story of the infamous bandit from his simple beginnings in California to his education in Spain and his return to his homeland to fight the good fight on behalf of those who need it. Her novel tells a part of his story that hasn’t been told before and from (spoiler!) the perspective of a woman!
“#Girlboss”, Sophia Amoruso
I am not sure who Amoruso’s intended audience was for her book, as she seems, through her language and tone, to be addressing young-ish girls in a very flippant, easygoing manner. Which would be fine, if she wasn’t encouraging things such as not completing high school or going to university, or this gem that I underlined and wrote a big NO next to: “Are we in a new era of feminism where we don’t have to talk about it? I don’t know, but I want to pretend that it is.” What? She even threw in a quote from, you guessed it, Donald Trump. While it’s true that she couldn’t have predicted the last elections (her book as published in 2014), it’s certain that her book–and her company that she spent the entire book bragging about–did not age well. Shortly after the book’s publication, NastyGal went bankrupt and she stepped down as its CEO. While I am always a fan of building women up, I really hope no one reads this book, as the damaging opinions in it will do more harm than good. Also, let’s stop calling women girls, okay? We aren’t girls. We are WOMEN. You wouldn’t call men boys, so don’t call us girls. Thank you. Rant over. 😉