The Herstories Project

The Herstories Project
Author: Jessica Smock
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013-11
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9781493752973

The bonds of women's friendship can be more intimate than marriage, and just as essential to emotional health. From the childhood friend who broke your heart to the college roommate who witnessed you at your highest and lowest, from the lost friendship that ended bitterly to the devoted companion who is still in your life, from the bond that was forged due to shared grief to the shaky connection born with new motherhood, all women have stories to tell about their friendships. The HerStories Project: Women Explore the Joy, Pain, and Power of Female Friendship is a collection of essays from over 50 women writers, encompassing tales of friendship from the sandbox to the inbox. The book includes a foreword from Jill Smokler of Scary Mommy and several chapters on understanding friendship from friendship experts Shasta Nelson and Carlin Flora. In this book, you will read stories of childhood friendship, relationships between sisters, mothers, and daughters, grown-up friendships--both real life and online-- friendships during motherhood, and stories of friendship break-ups and losses. Whether you identify with the new mother who struggles with loneliness, the woman who looks forward to her social media notifications, the challenging and complex relationship of sisters, or the stories of friends that have drifted apart, you will recognize yourself somewhere in the pages of this book.

Mothering Through the Darkness

Mothering Through the Darkness
Author: Stephanie Sprenger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2015-11-03
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 163152805X

Approximately 1 in 7 women suffer from postpartum depression after having a baby. Many more may experience depression during pregnancy, postpartum anxiety, OCD, and other mood disorders. Postpartum depression is, in fact, the most common pregnancy-related complication—yet confusion and misinformation about this disorder are still widespread. And these aren’t harmless myths: the lack of clarity surrounding mothers’ mental health challenges can have devastating effects on their well-being and their identities as mothers, which too often leads to shame and inadequate treatment. In this one-of-a-kind anthology, thirty mothers break the silence to dispel myths about postpartum mental health issues and explore the diversity of women’s experiences. Powerful and inspiring, Mothering Through the Darkness will comfort every mother who’s ever felt alone, ashamed, and hopeless—and, hopefully, inspire her to speak out.

She Matters

She Matters
Author: Susanna Sonnenberg
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2013-09-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1439190607

Illuminates the friendships that have influenced, nourished, inspired, and haunted the author--and sometimes torn her apart--each of which has its own lessons that she seeks to understand.

Project: Happily Ever After

Project: Happily Ever After
Author: Alisa Bowman
Publisher: Running Press Adult
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2010-12-28
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0762441666

What do you do when your marriage is so unhappy that you begin to fantasize about your husband's funeral? That's how bad it got for Alisa Bowman. . . So she launched a last-ditch effort to save her marriage. Project: Happily Ever After is her fearlessly honest and humorous account of how she went from being a "divorce daydreamer" to renewing her wedding vows -- and all of the steps in between. From bikini waxes to erotica, romance instruction manuals to second honeymoons, the silent treatment to power struggles, she goes where many marriage-improvement gurus have feared to tread. Equal parts funny, poignant, and most importantly, useful, Bowman's story will give other miserably-married folks courage and hope. And in addition to telling her own story, she packs straightforward prescriptive guidance, including a "10-Step Marital Improvement Guide." Readers will laugh. They'll cry. And they can start on the road toward their own happy ending!

Home in the Woods

Home in the Woods
Author: Eliza Wheeler
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0399162909

This stunningly beautiful picture book from New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Eliza Wheeler is based on her grandmother's childhood and pays homage to a family's fortitude as they discover the meaning of home. Eliza Wheeler's gorgeously illustrated book tells the story of what happens when six-year-old Marvel, her seven siblings, and their mom must start all over again after their father has died. Deep in the woods of Wisconsin they find a tar-paper shack. It doesn't seem like much of a home, but they soon start seeing what it could be. During their first year it's a struggle to maintain the shack and make sure they have enough to eat. But each season also brings its own delights and blessings--and the children always find a way to have fun. Most importantly, the family finds immense joy in being together, surrounded by nature. And slowly, their little shack starts feeling like a true home--warm, bright, and filled up with love.

Her Stories

Her Stories
Author: Elana Levine
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781478007661

Since the debut of These Are My Children in 1949, the daytime television soap opera has been foundational to the history of the medium as an economic, creative, technological, social, and cultural institution. In Her Stories, Elana Levine draws on archival research and her experience as a longtime soap fan to provide an in-depth history of the daytime television soap opera as a uniquely gendered cultural form and a central force in the economic and social influence of network television. Closely observing the production, promotion, reception, and narrative strategies of the soaps, Levine examines two intersecting developments: the role soap operas have played in shaping cultural understandings of gender and the rise and fall of broadcast network television as a culture industry. In so doing, she foregrounds how soap operas have revealed changing conceptions of gender and femininity as imagined by and reflected on the television screen.

The Queens of Animation

The Queens of Animation
Author: Nathalia Holt
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0316439169

From the bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls, the untold, "richly detailed" story of the women of Walt Disney Studios, who shaped the iconic films that have enthralled generations (Margot Lee Shetterly, New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Figures). From Snow White to Moana, from Pinocchio to Frozen, the animated films of Walt Disney Studios have moved and entertained millions. But few fans know that behind these groundbreaking features was an incredibly influential group of women who fought for respect in an often ruthless male-dominated industry and who have slipped under the radar for decades. In The Queens of Animation, bestselling author Nathalia Holt tells their dramatic stories for the first time, showing how these women infiltrated the boys' club of Disney's story and animation departments and used early technologies to create the rich artwork and unforgettable narratives that have become part of the American canon. As the influence of Walt Disney Studios grew -- and while battling sexism, domestic abuse, and workplace intimidation -- these women also fought to transform the way female characters are depicted to young audiences. With gripping storytelling, and based on extensive interviews and exclusive access to archival and personal documents, The Queens of Animation reveals the vital contributions these women made to Disney's Golden Age and their continued impact on animated filmmaking, culminating in the record-shattering Frozen, Disney's first female-directed full-length feature film. A Best Book of 2019: Library Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and Financial Times

The Project

The Project
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250105749

The Project is a pulls-no-punches story from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award winning author Courtney Summers, about an aspiring young journalist determined to save her sister no matter the cost. The #1 Indie Next Pick and winner of the International Thriller Writers Award. BELIEVE HIM, BETRAY HER 1998: Six-year-old Bea doesn’t want a sister but everything changes when Lo is born early. Small and frail, Lo needs someone to look out for her. Having a sister is a promise, Mom says—one Bea’s determined not to break. 2011: A car wreck, their parents dead. Lo would’ve died too if not for Lev Warren, the charismatic leader of The Unity Project. He’s going to change the world and after he saves Lo’s life, Bea wants to commit to his extraordinary calling. Lev promises a place for the girls in the project, where no harm will ever come to them again . . . if Bea proves herself to him first. 2017: Lo doesn’t know why Bea abandoned her for The Unity Project after the accident, but she never forgot what Bea said the last time they spoke: We’ll see each other again. Six years later, Lo is invited to witness the group’s workings, meet with Lev, and—she hopes—finally reconnect with her sister. But Bea is long gone, and the only one who seems to understand the depths of this betrayal is Lev. If it’s family Lo wants, he can make her a new promise . . . if she proves herself to him first. Powerful, suspenseful and heartbreaking, The Project follows two sisters who fall prey to the same cult leader—and their desperate fight back to one another.

Wild Milk

Wild Milk
Author: Sabrina Orah Mark
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2018-10-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0997366680

A genre-expanding collection of stories that Publishers Weekly calls “perplexingly captivating” and “astonishing.” Wild Milk is like Borscht Belt meets Leonora Carrington; it’s like Donald Barthelme meets Pony Head; it’s like the Brothers Grimm meet Beckett in his swim trunks at the beach. In other words, this remarkable collection of stories is unlike anything else you’ve read.

The Babysitter at Rest

The Babysitter at Rest
Author: Jen George
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2016-10-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 099736663X

“I'm so happy this collection exists. I feel drunk with love for these stories. They're so funny and weird and true.” —Sheila Heti Five stories―several as long as novellas―introduce the world to Jen George, a writer whose furiously imaginative new voice calls to mind Donald Barthelme and Leonora Carrington no less than Kathy Acker and Chris Kraus. In “Guidance/The Party,” an ethereal alcoholic “Guide” in robes and flowing hair appears to help a thirty-three-year-old woman prepare a party for her belated adulthood; “Take Care of Me Forever” tragically lambasts the medical profession as a ship of fools afloat in loneliness and narcissism; “Instruction” chronicles a season in an unconventional art school called The Warehouse, where students divide their time between orgies, art critiques, and burying dead racehorses. Combining slapstick, surrealism, erotica, and social criticism, Jen George's sprawling creative energy belies the secret precision and unexpected tenderness of everything she writes.