Thread by @rachelshelden

This is a short #2019inReview thread on some of the amazing women whose contributions to our cultural life influenced and excited me this year and that I wanted to share with the twitter world. 1/

I'm part of the #twitterstorians and my job requires me to read a lot of books by men and women. But I this year for my pleasure reading, I chose to only pick books by the amazing women of the literary world. I didn't love every book, but some of them blew me away. 2/

If you haven't picked up a copy of @jesmimi Sing, Unburied, Sing, do not walk, RUN to your nearest bookstore. It's haunting, beautiful, and timely. I read it just before @TayariJones piercing novel, An American Marriage (which I was late to!) and they are both fantastic. 3/

@jesmimi @TayariJones I completely fell in love with #sallyrooney for her deeply personal and emotionally intense writing in Normal People and also Conversations with Friends, both well worth your time. 4/

@jesmimi @TayariJones I've always loved @ZadieSmith's complex characters and her short story collection, Grand Union, lives up to her ability to capture the smallest details of a person's life even in short form writing. 5/

@jesmimi @TayariJones @ZadieSmith Washington Black, the wonderful novel by #EsiEdugyan which captures the incredible travels of an enslaved man in Barbados and his journeys around the world is definitely going on my syllabus the next time I teach "Slavery in American Culture and Memory" 6/

@jesmimi @TayariJones @ZadieSmith In addition to novels, I tried out some audiobooks of incredible female writers on our political and cultural moment. I loved listening to @ProfessorCrunk's Eloquent Rage and @rtraister's Good and Mad back to back (even as--true to their names--they also made me pretty mad) 7/

@jesmimi @TayariJones @ZadieSmith @ProfessorCrunk @rtraister The podcast world also provided a lot of opportunities for content by women. If you haven't listened to This Land by @rebeccanagle, you've missed an opportunity to better understand Native American rights--both how the US threatens them and how these men and women fight back 8/

@jesmimi @TayariJones @ZadieSmith @ProfessorCrunk @rtraister @rebeccanagle My favorite new podcast is @StrictScrutiny_ with the amazing legal scholars @LeahLitman @Jaime_ASantos @ProfMMurray and (special shoutout to my high school classmate) @kateashaw1 -- listen for the great insights on law, the Supreme Court, and more 9/

@jesmimi @TayariJones @ZadieSmith @ProfessorCrunk @rtraister @rebeccanagle @StrictScrutiny_ @LeahLitman @Jaime_ASantos @ProfMMurray @kateashaw1 Finally, it was a great year for women in music but I have special love for the @TheHighwomen whose eponymous song is something of an anthem for our current cultural moment. 10/10