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We asked authors of our Women of Action series what books they’re losing themselves in when they’re not writing about amazing women and girls of conviction and courage through the ages.  Check out what they had to say below!

Kathryn Atwood (Women Heroes of World War II, Code Name Pauline, Women Heroes of World War I)

I haven’t recently read anything cover-to-cover outside of my current research  on the Pacific theater of World War II, but every once in a while I take a Barbara Pym break. Her understated British humor makes me laugh aloud, which is healthy for someone who writes exclusively about war! I also thoroughly enjoy her constant references to classic literature since my college studies focused on English lit as well as history. (My history/literature split is a sort of harmless Jekyll & Hyde thing—I actually have a Twitter handle (@AustenEyre) and blog devoted entirely to my inner English major.)

Karen Bush Gibson (Women Aviators, Women in Space)

I’m reading a wonderful book, Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women by Wilma Mankiller. This book was released soon after her death, I believe. Mankiller’s claim to fame was as the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, but she was much more than that. She was a champion for native and women’s rights for many years. And yes, in the vote on which woman should replace Andrew Jackson on the $20, I voted for Wilma Mankiller. Not much is heard about native women, but this book beautifully portrays the strength and wisdom of the many women represented.

Kerrie Logan Hollihan (Reporting Under Fire)

I’m always writing about war of late, and I’m researching disasters of one sort or another. So I take a break by reading with my book group, the Bookbags, and just finished Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, which I really enjoyed. I’m also on the seventh in Jacqueline Winspear’s wonderful Maisie Dobbs series about a World War I nurse-turned-private investigator.  Yes, World War I and lives being changed forever, there’s a connection to my writing!

Brandon Marie Miller (Women of the Frontier, Women of Colonial America)

Bring Up the Bodies is the middle novel in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s hardworking, brilliant secretary. I’m a sucker for the saga/soap opera/fascinating personalities of anything Tudor and Mantel’s book is so beautifully written, it is not a surprise her accolades are many and her books are NY Times bestsellers.

Cheryl Mullenbach (Double Victory)

I’m reading Kristin Hannah’s book The Nightingale. Set in World War II, it tells the stories of two French sisters who participate in the underground movement. I was drawn to the book when I read the jacket copy—I can’t resist anything related to WWII. The characters are engaging and the story is inspiring.

 Michael Elsohn Ross (A World of Her Own, She Takes a Stand)

I just finished reading Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting By in America, a totally absorbing book about the lives of low wage workers. Barbara Ehrenrich relates her experience trying to survive on a variety of bottom-pay jobs. Her account of her struggle to find affordable housing, dealing with oppressive management practices, and experiencing the kindness of struggling coworkers is riveting. I couldn’t help but see the connection to current slave-like working conditions in Bangladeshi textile factories, which I wrote about in my profile of Kalpona Akter in She Takes a Stand. My previous read was one of Christopher Moore’s totally irreverent and silly novels, The Serpent of Venice.

All of the books featured in our Author Reads roundups can be found on CRP’s Author Reads bookshelf on Goodreads.

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