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Mona Eltahawy's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Mona Eltahawy recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Mona Eltahawy's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

One-Dimensional Queer

Roderick A. Ferguson | 4.64

The story of gay rights has long been told as one of single-minded focus on the fight for sexual freedom. Yet its origins are much more complicated than this single-issue interpretation would have us believe, and to ignore gay liberation's multidimensional beginnings is to drastically underestimate its radical potential for social change.

Ferguson shows how queer liberation emerged out of various insurgent struggles crossing the politics of race, gender, class, and sexuality, and deeply connected to issues of colonization, incarceration, and capitalism. Tracing the rise and fall... more
Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona EltahawyFor more on Pete Buttigieg: read this excellent thread by @thrasherxy from April 2019. Also, must get the book “One Dimensional Queer” which explains point I was making that being a gay head of state/politician has not guaranteed a progressive platform https://t.co/b31qwnHGzs https://t.co/5RMjOK8mt8 (Source)

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2

Intruders

Short Stories

Mohale Mashigo | 4.21

Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona EltahawyI love this picture with my sister and comrade @BlckPorcelain at @Abantu_! Read her new shirt story collection Intruders! Love that book. And I miss the festival and all the love and conversations and solidarity there. ❤️✊🏽💜 https://t.co/KTC7TCZkjh (Source)

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3

Wanda

Sihle Nontshokweni, Mathabo Tlali, et al. | 4.50

Meet Wanda with her beautiful head of hair. She is brave and strong, but she’s unhappy because of the endless teasing by the boys at school. After a particularly hard day at school, feeling confused, forlorn and hopeless, Wanda’s grandmother lets her in on a few secrets. Through these hair secrets and stories, she finds the courage to face her fears and realise that her hair is a crown and something to be proud of.
This book stands at the intersection of identity and beauty, celebrating
how cultural pride is learned and passed on over the generations. This
book encourages young... more
Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona Eltahawy@Ceehl So glad to have your wonderful book! And a pleasure to have met you at @Abantu_ ❤️✊🏽💜 love and solidarity (Source)

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4

Dr T

A Guide to Sexual Health and Pleasure

Tlaleng Mofokeng | 4.52

The indomitable Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng – affectionately known as Dr T – is passionate about making sexual health and well-being services available to all, regardless of their sexual and gender identities and their economic status.

This book is filled with the specifics of sexual anatomy and health as well as advice and facts about pleasure and sexual rights. Dr T, in her typically honest and warm way, makes the reader feel comfortable reading about topics that are not always discussed freely, providing ALL the information that demystifies sex and sexuality in a way that is entertaining...

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Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona Eltahawy@drtlaleng My dear sister and comrade - it is a delight and honour to have your wonderful book! Thank you! Love and solidarity ❤️✊🏽💜 (Source)

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5

Cantoras

Carolina De Robertis | 4.60

From the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of The Gods of Tango, a revolutionary new novel about five wildly different women who, in the midst of the Uruguayan dictatorship, find one another as lovers, friends, and ultimately, family.

In 1977 Uruguay, a military government crushed political dissent with ruthless force. In this environment, where the everyday rights of people are under attack, homosexuality is a dangerous transgression to be punished. And yet Romina, Flaca, Anita "La Venus," Paz, and Malena--five cantoras, women who "sing"--somehow, miraculously, find... more
Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona EltahawyCANTORAS is one of my favourite books ever! Read this book. It’s brilliant. https://t.co/irwWebiita (Source)

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6

The Shadow King

Maaza Mengiste | 4.15

A gripping novel set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, The Shadow King takes us back to the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record.

With the threat of Mussolini’s army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid in Kidane and his wife Aster’s household. Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie’s army, rushes to mobilize his strongest men before the Italians invade. His initial kindness to Hirut shifts into a flinty cruelty when she... more
Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona Eltahawy@MaazaMengiste And the world rejoices that you gifted us your fantastic book! ❤️✊🏽💜 (Source)

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7

No Pasarán!

Writings from the Spanish Civil War

Pete Ayrton | 4.18

Hope, resignation, despair, sadness, humor, confusion, ruthlessness, compassion, kindness, generosity and love inhabit Pete Ayrton's anthology of writings from the Spanish Civil War: there is little sense of triumphalism among the bewilderingly diverse Republican and Nationalist coalitions, all shades of which are represented here.
Previous collections privileged the writings of the International Brigades over those of the Spanish, sometimes excluding them altogether. !No Pasarán! corrects the balance: by far the largest contingent of its thirty five writers are Spanish,... more
Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, and 1 others.

Mona Eltahawy@CynthiaGabbay Oh my great news!! Wow. I’m so excited for your book. When and where can I get it? I got that from here https://t.co/0TsJAsrMhC (Source)

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8

Women Talking

Miriam Toews | 3.71

One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm.

While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring... more
Recommended by Mona Eltahawy, Kirsty Blackman, and 2 others.

Mona EltahawyI LOVE this book! I read it last year ❤️✊🏽💜 https://t.co/JmmR9karvT (Source)

Kirsty BlackmanI haven’t finished it yet, but Women Talking by Miriam Toews is the best book I’ve read this year. https://t.co/fIWSZy03KZ (Source)

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