Settle Into a Comfy Chair and Enjoy These 7 Remarkable Reads

Here are books that inspire and enlarge every woman’s life.

By

Lois Perch Villemaire

 
Published September 17, 2024
photo collage of woman sitting on chair reading a book surrounded by 7 remarkable books to read
Ethel Staff

Growing up, my mother took us to the local library every Saturday. I can still remember feelings of joy and anticipation entering the children’s section stocked with picture books, easy readers, and later, books I could read to myself. I recall being drawn to biographies, the adventures of the Bobbsey Twins, and poetry for children. Then, my first job after college was as a young adult librarian where I gave book talk presentations at middle schools and introduced teens to titles My Darling My Hamburger and That Was Then This Is Now.

With this literary background, I have always been a devoted reader. This list represents seven books that have swept me away over the years with engaging plots and memorable characters.

Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman (2023)

I adored this book and read it in two days! To me, Hoffman’s storytelling is mesmerizing. I enjoy the magical, mystical component of her books. In this case, it was time travel. I had a hard time putting it down and loved an enchanting look at the fictionalized life of Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressions of love for libraries, and clashes of good and evil. Another theme is the advancement of women’s rights since the mid-1800s — a reminder of The Scarlet Letter. The story explores a look to the future, as a character is contemplating the arrival of her child into a world where women will have opportunities and choices.

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz (2022)

This is a fascinating read that is deeply layered with the complicated Oppenheimer family. It begins with Salo and a tragic auto accident that overwhelmed his entire life. Then his marriage to Joanna and the birth of their triplets. Closeness was not present in the family. The telling of the story is quite interesting — from the point of view of a certain character, a key part of the novel. There are many ways family members interact and the diverse paths taken as they begin to know and care about one another.

Lucy By the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (2022)

Lucy’s thoughts and experiences navigating the beginnings of the pandemic is the setting of this novel. William, her ex-husband, whisks her away to Maine to avoid crowds and the COVID-19 virus in New York City. The story unravels with recollections of her loveless childhood, growing up in poverty in a small town in Illinois, with abusive parents. Lucy enjoys nature in Maine in a cottage by the sea yet her relationships with her adult daughters change from loving to tense. They become uncomfortable with Lucy now living with William, as they have been divorced for many years.

Each day, she copes with the isolation of living for many months in Maine away from close friends and familiar surroundings in the city. This is a book many women can relate to, those who have navigated the journey of challenging mother-daughter relationships along with the uncertainty we all encountered during the pandemic.

Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin (1982)

What an emotional story! Polly is the perfect wife, daughter, mother, family member, and never gives a thought about being taken for granted until she falls in love with another man. Henry, her husband barely acknowledges her during their marriage and she realizes how lonely she has been. Polly suffers guilt, anger, misery and tries to understand these feelings. Somehow she adjusts to the strange dual life she has accepted by staying in the marriage and seeing her lover. Her behavior changes drastically when she dares to express her dissatisfaction with her expected role in the family.

The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar (2023)

Thrity Umrigar is an Indian-American journalist, critic, and novelist. She writes of Remy who returns to the place of his birth, Bombay India, where he grew up before coming to the US to go to graduate school in Ohio. He and Kathy are happily married but they haven’t been able to have children. In India, a family friend told him about a teenaged niece who is pregnant and wants to give up her child. Remy travels there to meet her and to see his mother, although they have had a strained relationship as long as he can remember. He was much closer to his father who had died three years earlier. In India, Remy experiences new discoveries, especially about his aging mother and her secrets.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (2011)

Although written by a man, this is a strong woman’s story told from the point of view of the female protagonist, Katey, a legal secretary who finds her way through New York society. What struck me about this book is the detailed use of language and metaphors. I loved the New York City setting of 1938 and the colorful characters that come to life on the page from beginning to end—women starting careers, meetings with men from wealthy backgrounds, and the vibrant New York metropolis of the times, where they drink, dine, love and live.

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum (2019)

A gripping story of Palestinian women in a culture where they are forced to marry young and start having children, hopefully boys to help the family business. This book, told in two timeframes, centers on three generations of women from a conservative Arab family living in Brooklyn. It’s a painful story of desperation, love, acceptance, and the difficulties of overcoming the deep traditions of patriarchy.

Convincing herself that she has choices, Isra’s desperation for herself and her daughters is the heart of this emotional story. Although she loves to read, she has to hide this passion due to the expectations of her husband, Adam. Deva is the eldest daughter of Isra and Adam, and she tries, like her mother, to break free of the pattern of male dominance, particularly when she is pressured to get married. With an unexpected ally, she finds the strength to take control of her life.

Photo credits (clockwise from top left): Courtesy Penguin Random House; Courtesy Celadon Books; Getty Images; Courtesy HarperCollins; Courtesy Simon & Schuster; Courtesy Algonquin Books; Courtesy Penguin Random House (2)

What was one of YOUR favorite books? What are you reading now? Let us know in the comments below.

Lois Perch Villemaire is the author of “My Eight Greats, ” a family history in poetry and prose published in 2023 and a new chapbook “Eyes at the Edge of the Woods” (Bottlecap Press). Her work has appeared in such places as ONE ART, The Ekphrastic Review, The Ravens Perch, Blue Mountain Review and various anthologies including I Am My Father’s Daughter. She won Pen In Hand’s Haiku Challenge in July 2023. Lois lives in Annapolis, MD where she enjoys reading, researching family history, yoga practice, and propagating her collection of African violets.