Books for Christmas

It so happens that all the books that I have been lately reading were written by women.  For Christmas, I would highly recommend Alexandra Fuller and her African memories, the latest prose by Zadie Smith or short stories by last year's Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro.  I also enjoyed reading the biography of Róża Thun, a Polish European Parliament Member elected from Cracow.

This year I also read some interesting books of American women writers.

One of them was the memoir entitled Brain on Fire, written by a NY Post young journalist, Susanah Cannalah. One day in the office she began to act very eerily. The doctors could not immediately identify the reasons of her rapidly deteriorating mental state, which resembled schizophrenia. After some dramatic events she finally finds a good psychiatrist, an immigrant from Syria. He helps her diagnose and puts her life back on track. The innovative treatment in New York cost the young patient a million dollars (sic!) Fortunately, the author could count on the support of family and a good health insurance.

Maybe a long time ago you watched Little House on the Prairie? That was the series that launched the acting career of Melissa Francis. She was then only a lovely preschooler already making appearances in television commercials. Although it seemed she was growing up in perfect American middle class, her memoir is bittersweet. She writes about show business and growing up through the prism of a toxic relationship between her and her Tiger Mom in Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter. Although she learned how to be ambitious (she is now an economic journalist), some of the wounds have never healed.

Meanwhile, while driving several times to Oregon, we listened to the audiobook Lean In. It's a feminist manifesto of the American business-shark-woman Sheryl Sandberg. We listened how important it is from the very beginning to share household chores equally, but also to take a proactive approach at every stage of our life. Although sometimes mildly annoying, advice shared by the billionaire and incumbent Facebook’s COO are definitely worth paying attention to.

All three books are based on real facts. All three show stories of women who, despite the odds, believed in themselves and achieved their goals. 

Well now it is time for me to make a trip to Barnes & Noble for a new supply of interesting stories. Or maybe I will happily find some under the Polish Christmas tree?

  H.