Books like By Any Other Name — picked by fans

For millennia, we’ve heard the stories in Greek mythology about gods who come down to earth to rape women (Zeus got around), women as seductive sirens who lure sailors to their doom, or goddesses and mortal women alike being exiled.

Because of that, I was intrigued to read this book, a retelling of the familiar narrative, but from the perspective of a woman. I found this book to be very empowering.

I identified with the main character, a woman named Circe (in actuality a goddess) who is exiled because of her powers of witchcraft. However, in her exile, she finds that leaning into her power without the judgment of others makes her stronger.

I loved reading classic Greek mythology, complete with all the familiar characters, told from a woman’s perspective.

This book still haunts me, even though I read it years ago.

It’s about the selling of dreams. I have found this to be a common topic when it comes to power dynamics and the exploitation of young girls. A gymnastics coach tells parents their daughter has extraordinary potential. The parents get stars in their eyes. But no one warns the parents that things can go terribly wrong in pursuit of the dreams they have for their child.

As a mother, I’ve been on the receiving end of one of these coaches’ speeches. But I had a secret weapon: my own experience pursuing a dream. I saw firsthand that things could go very wrong, something other parents didn’t necessarily have experience with.

This book is about what could go wrong.

I found this book powerful in its subtle exposé of how, for generations, girls have been forced to see the world through the eyes of men. The gatekeepers—in art, literature, and popular culture—have historically been men.

We see how teenage Vanessa has been influenced by the sexualization of a young Britney Spears and Fiona Apple, as well as books like Lolita that have been recommended to her by her favorite teacher. Her teacher is the beneficiary of the societal grooming that has already taken root in Vanessa’s psyche, exploiting it further to serve his own sexual needs.

This book ruined me because even after her teacher tells her, “I will ruin you,” Vanessa sees herself as being in control of their inappropriate relationship when she is anything but.

Honestly, this book helped me see patterns of sexual abuse that I recognized from my own past. 

The memoir did what narrative—fiction or non-fiction—is supposed to do. It made me feel less alone in the world. 

What struck me in an especially emotional way was that when sexual trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre had her own daughter, she was even more motivated to fight against the injustice done to her and others at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Having a daughter made her see how wrong what she went through was and how protections for vulnerable, young girls are conspicuously absent. Knowing in real life she died by suicide made the read bittersweet for me.

This modern edition gives readers a sample plays by the remarkable Margaret Cavendish, who privately published 2 volumes of plays in 1662 and 1668 though many were probably written earlier.

I find her plays fascinating for the ways they deal explicitly with women’s experiences in love, in war and in marriage.

In this selection Love’s Adventures Parts I and II features a cross-dressing heroine in pursuit of her intended husband; Bell In Campo Parts I and II, dramatizes the experience of a superheroine leading an army, while The Bridals and The Convent of Pleasure satirize love and marriage.

I love The Convent of Pleasure’s depictions of same-sex retreat and desire. Cavendish’s witty prefaces on the difficulties of writing plays for a woman are included as appendices to Shaver’s edition.

There’s no feeling I like better than the feeling that you are becoming smarter with each page turning of the book in your hand. Professor Elaine Showalter made history in 1977 with a big thick book called A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing which essentially put the Wikipedia of British Women Novelists, known and unknown, between two covers, with every entry written by someone who knew their stuff cold and was overjoyed to share it with you. 

This is the American writers version and even with writers we all have heard of in school or just by spending time in bookstores and libraries, every page Prof. Showalter has something you didn’t know about Maya Angelou even if you figured, as I did, you’ve read every word ever written by and about Maya Angelou. 

Reading this book, I felt like I was best friends with… show more.

I loved diving into this novel about mother-daughter artists and the devotion, love, and competition that binds them together. Personally, I have no skill or passion for painting or photography—the gifts granted the characters in this book—but as I immersed myself in Bensley’s world, I began seeing the world as visual artists do. That was an unexpected bonus to an already compelling intergenerational story. As I hungrily turned pages, eager to discover what would happen to the characters next, I loved learning about art, the sexism of the art world, and the compelling need to create regardless of external validation.

I read this novel while I was in my twenties—during a time I called The Age of Everyone Getting Married.

It absolutely captures that whirlwind of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and wedding registries, but also the love, jealousy, and heartbreak of being young and just figuring life out in New York City. Close writes beautifully about real women doing the best they can with their bad choices. 

This book is a deeply researched account of one of the most famous women-only hotels, the go-to place for ambitious, aspiring career women from writers like Joan Didion and Sylvia Plath to actresses like Ali MacGraw and Jaclyn Smith. It is my favorite kind of history, a journey through the twentieth century told through the lives of fascinating women.

When news editor Earl Janoth murders his mistress, there's only one witness who can tie him to the crime scene. Janoth doesn't know who the witness is, but he knows everywhere the man went in the 24 hours before the murder, because the murder victim told him before he killed her.

Janoth is determined to find and silence him. He assigns reporter George Stroud to track the man down, not knowing that Stroud himself is the man he's looking for. Stroud is forced to assemble a team to hunt himself, knowing that when he's found, he'll be killed.

This is the best-plotted book I've ever read, both in concept and execution. Little details sprinkled through early chapters of the book keep coming back to have major significance as the noose tightens around Stroud.