Female Nomad and Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World
By Rita Golden Gelman
This collection of essays and recipes from the author of the best-selling Tales of a Female Nomad will stir both your travel bug and your taste buds. From a remote South Pacific island to an American Trader Joe’s, Female Nomad and Friends circles the globe with first-person accounts of taking risks and connecting with cultures. The conversational writing is unpretentious and reveals the beauty of unfamiliar situations. It also captures the interactions and sensory experiences that characterize true travel. And lucky for the reader, the travel-inspired recipes—like Thai fish-coconut custard, ho mok, and mousse au chocolat—are the perfect souvenirs. Another perk: All of this anthology’s royalties will benefit kids from slums in New Delhi, India. Three Rivers Press, 2010; $15
Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving—and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity
By Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea
No matter what your running style, Run Like a Mother will motivate any infant-, toddler-, or 10-year-old-toting athlete. In 26 chapters—almost a marathon—these mother-authors offer a balanced combination of easy-reading running instruction and memoir. Short interludes—think of the “.2” chapters as a tribute to the marathon’s final stretch—add diversions such as iPod playlists. Not only is running the perfect outlet to find alone time away from careers, family obligations, and, yes, even kids, it also creates a bond between women, especially mothers. With tips on everything from the best bras to cross-training to rules for running during pregnancy, the authors keep you going with the rhythm, camaraderie, and changing scenery that characterizes any good run. – Watch an interview with author Dimity McDowell online at: womensadventuremagazine.com
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2010; $15
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
According to a Chinese proverb, women hold up half the sky. This weighty but readable bestseller by the Pulitzer Prize-winning husband-and-wife team of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, perfectly blends reporting, research, and intimate storytelling to reinforce this poignant image. The tome also gives a loud and powerful voice to girls and women all over the world. In Half the Sky, the authors expose the realities of sex trafficking, honor killings, genital mutilation, and sexual assault. But just as importantly, they share how education, aid organizations, and economic opportunities are transforming individual lives and elevating girls from the “bottom of the power pyramid.” This is not a discourse on victimization but a call to action that is sure to inspire. Knopf, 2009; $28
