Camouflage: The Hidden Lives of Autistic Women


Sarah Bargiela - 2019
    This graphic novel offers an engaging and accessible insight into the lives and minds of autistic women, using real-life case studies.The charming illustrations lead readers on a visual journey of how women on the spectrum experience everyday life, from metaphors and masking in social situations, to friendships and relationships and the role of special interests.Fun, sensitive and informative, this is a fantastic resource for anyone who wishes to understand how gender affects autism, and how to create safer supportive and more accessible environments for women on the spectrum.

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys' Club


Eileen Pollack - 2015
    In the 1970s, Pollack had excelled as one of Yale’s first two women to earn a bachelor of science degree in physics. But, isolated, lacking in confidence, and starved for encouragement, she abandoned her lifelong dream of becoming a theoretical physicist. Years later, she thought back on her experiences and wondered what had changed in the intervening decades, and what challenges remained. Based on six years of interviewing dozens of teachers and students and reviewing studies on gender bias, The Only Woman in the Room is an illuminating exploration of the cultural, social, psychological, and institutional barriers confronting women in the STEM disciplines. Pollack brings to light the struggles that women in the sciences are often hesitant to admit and provides hope that changing attitudes and behaviors can bring more women into fields in which they remain, to this day, seriously underrepresented.Eileen Pollack is the author of the novels Breaking and Entering (a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection) and Paradise, New York, as well as two collections of short fiction, an award-winning book of nonfiction, and two creative-nonfiction textbooks. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays and Best American Short Stories. She is a professor on the faculty of the Helen Zell MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She divides her time between Manhattan and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Making Peace with Change: Navigating Life's Messy Transitions with Honesty and Grace


Gina Brenna Butz - 2020
    Whether it’s a good transition like a job promotion or a bad disruption like a devastating health diagnosis, it’s stressful. Gina Brenna Butz shares her personal stories of struggling with change and encourages you to trust God. She writes with compassion as she urges you to rely on God’s goodness, lean on Him for strength, rejoice that He is constant, and ultimately to find satisfaction in Him rather than in circumstances. Scripture helps you see change from the viewpoint of your heavenly Father. You can rest knowing He works all things together for the good of His children, even in seasons of stress-inducing change.

Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek


John Branch - 2012
    Still, they took the deadly gamble—and lost. As acclaimed "New York Times" reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist John Branch writes in this harrowing tale of disaster and survival, "the very thing the skiers and snowboarders had sought—fresh, soft snow—instantly became the enemy." In less than a minute, Tunnel Creek turned from a playground into an icy tomb.

How to Survive a Pandemic: Life Lessons for Coping with Covid-19


John Hudson - 2020
    How to Survive a Pandemic: Life Lessons for Coping with Covid-19

Tales from Another Mother Runner: Triumphs, Trials, Tips, and Tricks from the Road


Sarah Bowen Shea - 2015
    I run to make my own history." —Nicki, another mother runnerEvery mother runner has a tale to tell. A story about how she realized, fifteen years after being told that she’s best being a bookworm, that there is an athlete inside her. Or the one about how she, fifty pounds overweight and depressed, finally found the courage—and time—to lace up her running shoes. Or maybe it’s about setting a seemingly impossible goal—going under two hours in the half-marathon—and then methodically running that goal down and tearing up across the finish line. Or it might be an account of friendship: she was new to town, was having a hard time making friends, was asked to join a group run, and now she's got four BRFs (best running friends) who are her allies, her cheerleaders, her reality checks. Maybe it's just a simple story of the beauty of starting the day off with an endorphin rush. Or, sadly, it could be about how, through the guidance of a thoughtful running friend, she found the space and rhythm to process being raped—and regained her strength and sense of self through every footstep.In Mother Runners, elite runners Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea share not only their own stories of personal triumph on the pavement but also the inspiring stories of many members of the vibrant mother runner community they've built on their popular site, Run Like a Mother. While the common theme is running, the variations that happen through the miles are as endless as the miles themselves: losing weight, gaining confidence, finding yourself, connecting with friends, expecting more, setting goals, dealing with disappointment, figuring out how to train efficiently, clearing your head, reconnecting with your memories, building a better you. Whether you've run more marathons than you can remember, or you're just getting started, you'll find the inspiration you need to get out there, keep pushing, and run like a mother.

The Escape Manual for Introverts


Katie Vaz - 2019
    The Escape Manual for Introverts guides readers through different scenarios with themed chapters ("Friends," "Relatives," "Strangers," etc.). Each chapter covers a range of situations, from an invitation to karaoke night to group lunchtime. And she offers a number of escapes for each scenario: bringing odoriferous foods to lunch for a while, having a pet (real or imagined) that "requires" frequent check-ins, and even investing in a jet pack. This book features Vaz's full-page illustrated spreads, hand-lettering, and spot illustrations. From the silly to the sincere, Vaz's clever, hilarious escape plans and bizarre excuses speak to the introvert in all of us.

Me Time


Jessica Sanders - 2019
    Me Time reframes self care, from acts of indulgence to a holistic practice of self love that nurtures both mind and body. Filled with timed self care ideas that range from one minute activities to day long adventures, this book shows you how to make time for self care. Remind yourself that you are worthy of your own care with Me Time.

The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women: 50 Ladies Who Used Comedy to Change the World


Sheila Moeschen - 2019
    It's time for the brave, hilarious women of comedy to finally get the recognition they deserve. The people who say women aren't funny are actually saying something else: that humor in the hands of women is radical and scary. Nevertheless, women have persisted for generations now, deploying their wit in game-changing ways. The League of Extraordinarily Funny Women showcases fifty women -- past and present -- who used humor to deliver cutting social commentary, tangle with sensitive subjects, challenge traditional ideas about femininity, and above all, do anything but sit still and stay quiet when laughs are on the line. This book explores where the women are today and how they got there, as well as how they helped change the conversation on what role women played in comedy. This sisterhood of empowering and often under-recognized figures includes generations of trailblazers who went on to become standups, writers, and actresses. These women include Mae West, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Tina Fey, Amy Sedaris, Wanda Sykes, Ellen DeGeneres, Mindy Kaling, Jessica Williams, and many more.

Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism


Danielle Barnhart - 2018
    Editors Danielle Barnhart and Iris Mahan have drawn on their profound knowledge of the poetry scene to put together an extraordinary list of poets taking a feminist stance against the new authority. What began as an informal collaboration of like-minded poets—to be released as a handbound chapbook—has grown into something far more substantial and ambitious: a fully fledged anthology of women’s resistance, with a portion of proceeds supporting Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights.Representing the complexity and diversity of contemporary womanhood and bolstering the fight against racism, sexism, and violence, this collection unites powerful new writers, performers, and activists with established poets. Contributors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Sandra Beasley, Jericho Brown, Mahogany L. Browne, Danielle Chapman, Tyehimba Jess, Kimberly Johnson, Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Maureen N. McLane, Joyce Peseroff, Mary Ruefle, Trish Salah, Patricia Smith, Anne Waldman, and Rachel Zucker.

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation


Anne Helen Petersen - 2020
    While burnout may seem like the default setting for the modern era, in Can’t Even, BuzzFeed culture writer and former academic Anne Helen Petersen argues that burnout is a definitional condition for the millennial generation, born out of distrust in the institutions that have failed us, the unrealistic expectations of the modern workplace, and a sharp uptick in anxiety and hopelessness exacerbated by the constant pressure to “perform” our lives online. The genesis for the book is Petersen’s viral BuzzFeed article on the topic, which has amassed over eight million reads since its publication in January 2019.Can’t Even goes beyond the original article, as Petersen examines how millennials have arrived at this point of burnout (think: unchecked capitalism and changing labor laws) and examines the phenomenon through a variety of lenses—including how burnout affects the way we work, parent, and socialize—describing its resonance in alarming familiarity. Utilizing a combination of sociohistorical framework, original interviews, and detailed analysis, Can’t Even offers a galvanizing, intimate, and ultimately redemptive look at the lives of this much-maligned generation, and will be required reading for both millennials and the parents and employers trying to understand them.

Possession


Katie Lowe - 2021
    The present hunts her.Conviction @ConvictionPod · 1mThe investigating officer: “I’ve seen a lot of homicides in the years since, but...that’s the one that keeps me up at night.”The husband’s best man: “They had everybody fooled. Or at least, she did. But I always knew something was off.”Hannah, the wife: “I told you. I don’t remember anything. I don’t know.”That’s all to come, this season, on Conviction. Get ready for our most twisted season yet.~~~Ten years ago, Hannah’s husband was brutally murdered in their home, and she (conveniently) doesn’t remember a thing about that night. But the police charged someone else—a stranger—and put him away for life. And Hannah packed up her six-year-old daughter and left London behind.But now her hard-won countryside peace is threatened. Conviction, a viral true crime podcast known for getting cases reopened and old verdicts overturned, has turned its attention to Hannah’s husband’s murder for its new season. They say police framed the man who was found guilty, and that Hannah has more suspicious secrets than just her memory loss: a history of volatility; citations at the clinic where she worked as a psychiatrist; dependencies on alcohol and pills; and a familicidal grandmother, locked away in a Gothic insane asylum until her death. As Hannah loses the trust of everyone she loves, the only person she feels she can confide in is a former colleague, Darcy, who’s come back into her life—but who may have motives of her own. But Hannah can’t tell even Darcy her deepest secret: that she’s still tormented by the memory of her husband and the crater he carved through her life.

Finding Quiet: My Journey to Peace in an Anxious World


Jamie Grace - 2020
    Many know her as a singer with radio hits who has spent the last decade on stages and in front of the camera, but behind the scenes, she has struggled with Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, and an anxiety disorder for most of her life. But in the middle of both inner and outer noise, Jamie has learned how to manage the negative effects of her diagnoses, make the most of her strengths, and lean into the journey God has led her on.A journey of Finding Quiet.

Fix What You Can: Schizophrenia and a Lawmaker's Fight for Her Son


Mindy Greiling - 2020
    At the time, and for more than a decade after, Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator who struggled, along with her husband, to navigate and improve the state’s inadequate mental health system. Fix What You Can is an illuminating and frank account of caring for a person with a mental illness, told by a parent and advocate.   Greiling describes challenges shared by many families, ranging from the practical (medication compliance, housing, employment) to the heartbreaking—suicide attempts, victimization, and illicit drug use. Greiling confronts the reality that some people with serious mental illness may be dangerous and reminds us that medication works—if taken.  The book chronicles her efforts to pass legislation to address problems in the mental health system, including obstacles to parental access to information and insufficient funding for care and research. It also recounts Greiling’s painful memories of her grandmother, who was confined in an institution for twenty-three years—recollections that strengthen her determination that Jim’s treatment be more humane. Written with her son’s cooperation, Fix What You Can offers hard-won perspective, practical advice, and useful resources through a brave and personal story that takes the long view of what success means when coping with mental illness.

Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating


Christy Harrison - 2019
    It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it's infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat "perfectly" actually helps to improve people's health -- no matter their size. Drawing on scientific research, personal experience, and stories from patients and colleagues, Anti-Diet provides a radical alternative to diet culture, and helps readers reclaim their bodies, minds, and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter.