Seven Books to Stay Sharp in the Summertime

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

If you didn’t already know, this is where we get the Bechdel Test from!

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

My love for John Green’s ingenuity shall never subside.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

If you didn’t learn to read by having your dad present you with 99 cent Wonder Woman comic books, you missed out big time, hun.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

I picked this gem up for the first time over winter break, and honestly, I could not have picked up a better novel to “avoid” my WGS 394 homework; the Immortalists surrounds the tale of four siblings who sneak out of their boiling 1969 New York apartment right under their stern, Eastern European immigrant parents’ noses to receive their fortunes from a traveling psychic. Sounds like something my brother and I would have definitely done as kids. Or something we still might do this summer, if I’m being completely honest.  

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

I first read The Complete Persepolis for my transnational feminism course during my freshman year, and I have most definitely reread this startling graphic novel memoir many times since. I hope you love her witty, indomitable spirit as much as I do.

Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn

I’ve always loved Eleanor Roosevelt for her sincere compassion and wisdom in the face of adversity, but before reading this biography for my Queer Pioneers course, I had only known the heteronormative version of her tale.         

Girls by Emma Cline

A vulnerable teenage girl with a tumultuous family life is enamored by an edgy group of girls one summer in San Fransisco, sucking her into an intensely dangerous cult before she can realize what the hell is going on.

• adventure
• depaul
• empowering
• feminist
• girls
• graphic novel
• memoir
• reading
• summer
• sunshine