In THICK: AND OTHER ESSAYS, writer and professor Tressie McMillan Cottom dives into a series of topics concerning black womanhood in America, ranging from healthcare to op eds to R. Kelly. Each essay is deeply researched while remaining razor sharp and readable: there's no dry dissertation-style writing here.

I, like many, first encountered Dr. McMillan Cottom on Twitter, and her blend of internet instant takes and thoughtful academic musings are perfectly showcased in THICK. She uses her personal experiences to set the framework for each essay, then filling them in with extensive data and other anecdotes.

Many of these topics we've seen covered by other writers, but here, they've each got an angle that made me think about them from perspectives I hadn't seen before. I'll never know what it's like to try to move through the world as a black woman, but THICK has helped me gain a better understanding of these women's experiences.