Girlhood

By Melissa Febos,

Book cover of Girlhood

Book description

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner
National Bestseller
Lambda Literary Award Finalist

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME * NPR * The Washington Post * Kirkus Reviews * Washington Independent Review of Books * The Millions * Electric Literature * Ms Magazine * Entropy Magazineā€¦

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Why read it?

3 authors picked Girlhood as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Although we have very different voices and approaches to a similar question, ā€˜How do society and our patriarchal conditioning warp our girlhood?ā€™, we write about it in very different voices and from a different perspective.

I read her to hear what another girl/woman who felt the same pressure was able to express and move on from. Interestingly, I grew up and seemed at home as an escort, and in another of her memoirs, Ms. Febos became, for a time, a dominatrix. I found that fascinating as well.

From Sephe's list on girls as they come of age.

Girlhood was published while I was in edits and though I bought the book, I couldnā€™t risk reading it. The subject matter was too close to my own. What if I wanted to add or (gasp) rewrite? Iā€™m glad I waited. Febosā€™ stunning essays perfectly encapsulate the confusion of adolescent girlhood, the mixed messagesā€”from adults, from our own bodiesā€”and the traps that lay in wait.My favorite, ā€œThe Mirror Test,ā€ contains lines that crackle such as: ā€œBefore it carried any sexual connotation, the word slut was a term for a slovenly womanā€¦ A slut was a careless girl, hands sunkā€¦

From Katherine's list on the complexity of American girlhood.

Our culture treats girlhood as a time when young females are frivolous, catty, and obsessed with selfies. Not Febos. She takes seriously the formation of self that happens in girlhood as sexuality, cultural messages, desire, ambition, and abuse press on our bodies and psyches. Her exploration of her own girlhood helped me look back at my own and respect my scrappy self.

If you love Girlhood...

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Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorā€”and only womanā€”on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route upā€¦

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