There are a few stories from This American Life that will always stay with me, and Lindy's was one of them. Last month, as I was looking through past months of Book of the Month Club selections to add to my order, I read the description for Shrill and made the connection that this was her book. It was equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, as I thought it would be - full of great insights:

"Women matter. Women are half of us. When you raise every woman to believe that we are insignificant, that we are broken, that we are sick, that the only cure is starvation and restraint and smallness; when you pit women against one another, keep us shackled by shame and hunger, obsessing over our flaws rather than our power and potential; when you leverage all of that to sap our money and our time - that moves the rudder of the world. It steers humanity toward conservatism and walls and the narrow interests of men, and it keeps us adrift in waters where women's safety and humanity are secondary to men's pleasure and convenience."

Her story of navigating the pitfalls of life as a woman (and the ubiquitous misogynistic, racist internet trolls) gives me hope that we are on the path to improvement, rather than ruin.

(For more reviews and bookish musings: http://www.bornandreadinchicago.com/)