TWOsday at the library

We Should All Be Feminists ~ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2013, women's studies, 8/10

What does “feminism” mean today?  That is the question at the heart of this book, a personal, eloquently-argued essay — adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name — by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.  Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century — one rooted in inclusion and awareness.  She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help us better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics.  Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences — in the United States, in her native Nigeria, and abroad — offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike.  Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today — and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.  See a discussion of this book, here:  http://socraticsalon.com/2015/04/book-breakdown-we-should-all-be-feminists-by-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/.  Watch the YouTube (30:15 minutes) of the TEDx Talk:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing ~ by Marie Kondo, 2014, decluttering

This #1 New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.  Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?  She takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again.  Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever.  Her method, with its category-by-category system, leads to lasting results.  In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed.

Two more books from the library.  I'm posting late in the day, but I've finished reading straight through the first one above.