Recommended Reads: When Everything Changed

Recommended Reads: When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins (305.4 COL)

This fascinating history of American women in the late 20th Century opens with a 28 year old secretary being lectured by a male judge for wearing slacks to traffic court. The year was 1960. Through a combination of interviews with women and contemporary magazine and newspaper accounts, the author shows how the status of women in society has changed over the past 50 years. From stories of flight attendants who were fired for marrying to Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for President, Gail Collins sympathetically details the challenges women have faced. The interesting women from the Mad Men era through the Internet era described in this book makes history truly come alive.

Recommended Reads: Little Bee

Recommended Reads: Little Bee by Chris Cleave (FIC CLE)

On a beach in Nigeria, the lives of two very different women intersect. British Sarah Summers is the editor of a successful woman's magazine while Little Bee is a teenage girl from a small Nigerian village. A horrific crime briefly unites these women and has far reaching consequences. The novel begins several years after the tragedy in Nigeria, when Little Bee is released from an immigrant detention center in Britain and sets off to find Sarah, who is trying to cope with turmoil at work and at home. Alternating chapter by chapter between the voices of Little Bee and Sarah, the author skillfully creates two complex female characters. The beautiful prose and thought provoking storyline make Little Bee a rewarding read.