#mieko kawakami actually recently published a new book called sisters in yellow that will be translated into english in 2025

[woahjo]

calllll, can i get some recommendations for your fav women authors? i’m okay w anything <33

YESSSS OF COURSE!!!!

so my number one favorite author right now is mieko kawakami. she primarily writes contemporary feminist fiction about women in their 30s and 40s. i know i've spoken about her a lot, but she writes beautifully about the experience of being a "non-conventional" woman within a patriarchal society. and she writes about loneliness so perfectly. god she's wonderful.

book recs by her: - heaven, this novel is actually outside of what i think she's most recognized for since the characters are younger, but it's a book about two bullied teenagers and the way they make sense of why it happens to them. a lot of it is an exploration of philosophy through fiction and it has one of the most frustrating (in a good way) scenes that i've read. just so so good - breasts and eggs, a book about a woman who wants to have a child without a husband, without marrying, and without a man involved. explores motherhood, families, sexuality, womanhood, and the ethics of having children with a surrogate father who is not involved in the child's life. asks a lot of questions of what it means to be a woman. also worth noting that in japan it is illegal for a single woman to do IVF (and a same-sex couple) and the book explores that. it's DELIGHTFULLY human. i love this book.

another one of my fav authors is octavia butler. she's a science fiction novelist and she often includes allegories about social and racial injustice, capitalism, and colonialism. i even feel like allegory isn't the right word because a lot of it is very in your face. she's a brilliant writer and her work is SO relevant to today's social climate (especially her earthseed duology). her work really draws you into the world that she builds, almost to the point that the taboos she includes no longer feel like taboos by the time you put the book down.

book recs by her (they're series): - lilith's brood / xenogenesis, this is a trilogy and im not joking when i say that it's probably the best series of books i've read. it's about humanity and the aliens that come to "rescue" them on the verge of extinction, humans having practically wiped themselves out with nuclear war. it's really difficult to describe the book any further without feeling like i'm spoiling it, but the novel is an allegory for colonialism and the idea of cultural identity. it's incredible. i was asked to read the first seven chapters for a class and then i finished the whole series in three days. i could not put it down. it's fantastic and by the end of it, you're so drawn into this world she's created that the things that once felt incredibly taboo become so normal. it's fantastic i cannot say enough good things about this series. (the first book is called dawn) - parable of the sower, this one is from a duology, but i'm gonna talk about the first one because i haven't finished the second. it's about a post-capitalism america. it's set in california in 2024, when the american government, currency, and systems have all but collapsed in everything but name. it's absolutely HARROWING the parallels this book has to the current state of america, despite being written in 1993. honestly, she told the future a little bit and it's really frightening. it's told through the eyes of a teenage girl as she starts the religion "earthseed" in an attempt to make sense of the world. the book is absolutely phenomenal. so so so so good.