Fall Reads!

In addition to being the best season for layering, autumn is also the perfect time to stay inside and curl up with a good book! In the spirit of the season, here's a list of some of the best books I've read this year, all written by women.

One of the best things I've done this year was join a book club. It's made me read more, as well as expose me to authors I've never heard before. How Should A Person Be by Toronto writer Sheila Heti was the second book we read for the club, as well as my favourite so far. Written in equal parts prose, play scripts and e-mail exchanges, this contemporary novel examines the confusion that comes with being a woman while living an artistic and unconventional life. Highly recommended! 

Another great book I read this year was Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling, the sequel to her best-selling essay collection Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling is one of the funniest and hard-working women in television right now, and her second book is laugh out loud hilarious and charmingly relatable. I zoomed through this book in a day and smiled the entire time. 

I really loved The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath when I read it for the first time as a teenager, so I decided to re-read it again during my birthday month this year. A classic proto-feminist coming-of-age novel, I think I finally understood The Bell Jar reading it as an adult. Yes, it is sad and at sometimes painful to read, but the ending is incredibly hopeful, something that I didn't fully get the first time I read it when I was younger. Isn't it funny how you can read something at a different age and a book can mean something completely different to you? All the more reason to re-read! 

Still, the best book I've read this year was Witches of America by Alex Marr. Equal parts history book, investigative journalism and memoir, I absolutely adored every word of this exploration of contemporary pagans and Wiccans in North America. Lots of women I know enjoy astrology and crystals, but this book goes WAY deep into the world of covens, rituals and high magic. This book will totally change how you look at the moon, and I cannot recommend it enough!

Remember: reading is smart AND sexy!