Hours at an average pace
Showing 58 books
About 259 hours for 56 of 58 books with measured lengths. Estimates use 250 words a minute, adjusted for each book's difficulty. At 2 hours a day, about 130 days for those books.
Foundational text of Chicana feminism, border studies, and queer theory. Universally taught in relevant fields.
It is a staple of American literature and African American studies courses and the best-known slave narrative by a woman. Few narratives are taught as widely, though it stands below the central novels.
Major work of Lebanese and Arab women's literature. Widely taught.
It is the founding text of modern Chinese women's writing and is central in Chinese literature and feminist courses. It is less taught in general world literature curricula than the major canon.
Appears on 253 university syllabi, placing it above many contemporary novels in Southern literature, women's studies and queer studies courses. It is not yet a universal staple like Beloved.
Men Explain Things to Me (2014) is widely read and assigned in gender studies and essay-writing courses, and its title essay is a modern feminist touchstone. It is a popular essay collection more than an established classic.
No. 7 on this list. Story of My Life: The Autobiography of George Sand (SUNY series, Women Writers in Translation)
George Sand · 1991
Moderate20 hours
Sand is widely taught in French and women's literature courses, but this memoir in an abridged English edition is read mainly in specialist courses. It is far less central than her novels.
Niketche is Paulina Chiziane's best-known novel and is studied in courses on Lusophone African literature and on gender. Its English translation, The First Wife, has given it a modest place in world-literature teaching.
Too recent (English translation 2020) to have accumulated syllabus presence, and ReadingRate's own data signals show no syllabus or Wikipedia-language data on file for this title. It has, however, entered contemporary world-literature and translated-fiction reading lists quickly given its reception.
No. 10 on this list. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Caroline Criado Pérez · 2019
Easy6.5 hours
A bestselling 2019 book that is assigned in gender studies, design and public policy courses and widely cited in debate. It is not yet a fixture of core syllabi.
No. 11 on this list. Women · Annie Leibovitz · 2000
It is a well-known photobook that appears in photography and visual culture discussions, not a fixture of literature syllabi. Its standing is established within its field rather than broadly canonical.
Easy3.8 hours
Start this bookNo. 12 on this list. Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 2018
It is a recent short essay-book popular in feminist reading lists and book clubs, but it is not yet a staple of university syllabi. Its wider presence comes from its companion to We Should All Be Feminists.
Very Easy49 min
Start this bookNo. 13 on this list. Trash · Dorothy Allison · 2002
Trash is taught in courses on lesbian, Southern and working-class writing, and its story 'River of Names' is widely anthologised. It is less read than Allison's novel Bastard Out of Carolina.
Easy3.6 hours
Start this bookNo. 14 on this list. Women Who Run With the Wolves · Clarissa Pinkola Estés · 1995
A perennial bestseller in women's studies, therapy, and spirituality circles, though rarely a core literary or academic text. It has a lasting place in popular psychology and feminist self-help.
Easy8.5 hours
Start this bookNo. 15 on this list. The Beauty Myth · Naomi Wolf · 1991
Wolf argues that as women gained political and economic power in the twentieth century, a new form of social control rose to replace the old ones: the beauty myth. This is the ideology that tells women their worth is determined by their physical appearance—and that they must spend enormous amounts of time, money, energy, and psychological anguish trying to meet standards of beauty that are unattainable by design. Wolf traces how the beauty myth operates across five domains: work (where appearance requirements function as a form of discrimination), culture (where images of ideal beauty are produced and distributed), religion (where female beauty is treated as moral virtue), sex (where women are taught to see their bodies as inadequate), and violence (where cosmetic surgery and eating disorders are normalized). She marshals statistics, advertising analysis, legal cases, and historical examples to show that the beauty myth is not a natural expression of female vanity but a political weapon—a backlash against feminism that functions by keeping women exhausted, insecure, and focused on their bodies rather than their power. The book was a bestseller and helped launch third-wave feminism, though some critics disputed Wolf's use of statistics.
Moderate5.6 hours
Start this bookNo. 16 on this list. I Who Have Never Known Men · Jacqueline Harpman · 2022
Growing presence in contemporary feminist speculative-fiction courses and reading lists since its 2020s English-language rediscovery.
Very Easy2.1 hours
Start this bookNo. 17 on this list. We Should All Be Feminists · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 2014
One of the most widely distributed feminist texts of the 21st century.
Very Easy38 min
Start this bookNo. 18 on this list. Nettle & Bone · T. Kingfisher · 2022
A 2022 novel that won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, yet too recent for syllabi. It belongs to genre fantasy discussions, a position similar to The Road at a lower level.
Easy3.5 hours
Start this bookNo. 19 on this list. Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 · Cho Nam-Joo · 2016
Kim Ji-young is the most common name for a Korean woman born in 1982, and the novel that bears her name is structured as a psychiatric case study: a therapist recounts the life of a thirty-three-year-old woman who has begun speaking in the voices of other women—her mother, a college friend, a former colleague. The case history becomes a social history of Korean womanhood across three generations. Ji-young's grandmother was denied education so her brothers could attend school. Her mother worked in a factory to fund her brother's tuition. Ji-young herself graduated from university, built a career, married, had a baby—and quit her job because childcare in Korea effectively requires it. At every stage, the system presents its demands as natural and inevitable. Cho writes with the flat, documentary precision of a sociological report, and this is the novel's most radical formal choice: by refusing literary embellishment, she forces the reader to confront the accumulation of structural disadvantage without the aesthetic pleasure that might soften it. The book sold over a million copies in South Korea, sparked a national debate about gender inequality, and became a cultural flashpoint—women who read it publicly received harassment. That reaction confirmed the novel's thesis: that naming the ordinary mechanisms of patriarchy is treated as an act of aggression.
Very Easy1.9 hours
Start this bookNo. 20 on this list. Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution · Mona Eltahawy · 2015
No syllabus or prize data exists for this 2015 debut. It is a contemporary polemic that gets discussed in gender and Middle East courses more than it is taught as a standard text.
Easy3.5 hours
Start this book
No. 21 on this list. Nightbitch · Rachel Yoder · 2021
A 2021 debut novel that is too recent for broad syllabi, though it is discussed in contemporary feminist fiction and motherhood studies.
Easy4.2 hours
Start this bookNo. 22 on this list. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution · Cat Bohannon · 2023
A recent popular science title with no syllabus record. It sits in the commercial nonfiction category rather than the academic canon, though it is likely to be assigned in courses on gender and science.
Easy9.9 hours
Start this bookNo. 23 on this list. The Water Outlaws · S.L. Huang · 2023
The book is a 2023 release with no recorded syllabus presence. Its Nebula, Ignyte and Locus finalist standing gives it genre-community recognition above Gone Girl-style popular fiction but well below the established canon.
Easy8 hours
Start this bookNo. 24 on this list. Call Me Ishmaelle · Xiaolu Guo · 2026
A January 2026 release from Grove Atlantic is too new for syllabi. Its link to Moby-Dick draws interest, but it belongs among recent literary fiction.
Moderate7.8 hours
Start this bookNo. 25 on this list. Sexographies · Gabriela Wiener · 2008
Ranked by literary regard among eligible works in the current catalogue. This position reflects the available catalogue evidence.
Moderate4 hours
Start this bookNo. 26 on this list. Lean In · Sheryl Sandberg · 2013
Sandberg, then COO of Facebook, argues that women hold themselves back in their careers through a combination of internalized self-doubt, fear of being disliked, and the tendency to 'leave before they leave'—scaling back ambitions in anticipation of future family commitments. She draws on social science research, her own experience at Google and Facebook, and anecdotes from women across industries to argue that women should 'lean in' to their careers: negotiate harder, take risks, seek mentorship, and stop apologizing. The book launched a global conversation about women in leadership and a nonprofit organization, but it was also criticized for placing the burden of change on individual women rather than on the systemic structures—workplace policies, unequal domestic labor, discrimination—that hold women back.
Very Easy2.7 hours
Start this bookNo. 27 on this list. A Woman Is No Man · Etaf Rum · 2019
A 2019 debut with a strong book club following, it is read in some contemporary and Arab-American literature contexts but is not yet widely taught.
Easy5 hours
Start this bookNo. 28 on this list. Out from Under: Sober Dykes and Our Friends · Jean Swallow · 1983
No syllabus counts or prizes are recorded for this 1983 anthology. Sinister Wisdom calls it groundbreaking and the only essay collection on lesbians in recovery, which gives it a niche place in lesbian and recovery literature rather than a general canon.
Very Easy3.1 hours
Start this bookNo. 29 on this list. Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol · Holly Whitaker · 2019
Ranked by literary regard among eligible works in the current catalogue. This position reflects the available catalogue evidence.
Easy5.8 hours
Start this bookNo. 30 on this list. Galatea · Madeline Miller · 2013
A recent short story with no syllabus data, it belongs to the commercial and contemporary retelling category. It sits beside Miller's better-known novels rather than in any canon.
Easy26 min
Start this book
No. 31 on this list. Milk and honey
Rupi Kaur · 2014
No. 32 on this list. The Seventh Bride
T. Kingfisher · 2015
No. 33 on this list. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
Therese Anne Fowler · 2013
No. 34 on this list. The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny
Laura Bates · 2025
No. 35 on this list. Strange Girls
Sarvat Hasin · 2015
No. 36 on this list. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Emily Nagoski · 2020
No. 37 on this list. Give Birth Like a Feminist: Your Body. Your Baby. Your Choices.
Milli Hill · 2019
No. 38 on this list. Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus · 2022
Taught in schools: Leaving Certificate English – NCCA / State Examinations Commission (Ireland)
No. 39 on this list. Et soudain, la liberté
Caroline Laurent · 2017
No. 40 on this list. Breakdown
Cathy Sweeney · 1977
No. 41 on this list. Intemperance
Sonora Jha · 2025
No. 42 on this list. I, Medusa
Ayana Gray · 2025
No. 43 on this list. American Rapture
CJ Leede · 2024
No. 44 on this list. Shit Cassandra Saw
Gwen E. Kirby · 2022
No. 45 on this list. The Personal Librarian
Marie Benedict · 2021
No. 46 on this list. Women on Porn: One Hundred Stories. One Vital Conversation
Fiona Vera-Gray · 2024
No. 47 on this list. The Hounding
Xenobe Purvis · 2025
No. 48 on this list. NSFW
Isabel Kaplan · 2022
No. 49 on this list. The Eyes Are the Best Part
Monika Kim · 2024
No. 50 on this list. The Husbands
Chandler Baker · 2021
No. 51 on this list. Enormous Wings
Laurie Frankel · 2026
No. 52 on this list. Bodies
Christine Anne Foley · 2024
No. 53 on this list. Molka
Monika Kim · 2026
No. 54 on this list. Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women
Ellen Atlanta · 2024
No. 55 on this list. Women Living Deliciously
Florence Given · 2024
No. 56 on this list. Oona Out of Order
Margarita Montimore · 2020
No. 57 on this list. The Authenticity Project
Clare Pooley · 2020
No. 58 on this list. I'm Fucking Amazing
Anoushka Warden · 2024
About this list
These 58 books are the highest-scoring eligible easy feminist books currently in the catalogue. About 259 hours of reading in all, for the 56 with measured lengths. Difficulty runs from 26 to 38 out of 100 for the middle half of the list; the summit is Sexographies at 44.
This list is ranked by literary regard, with a consistent order for equal scores. Membership follows authors and co-authors, not translators or editors. A book is here when ReadingRate files it under Feminist Literature as one of its primary reading domains. Catalogue coverage and the historical canon both limit what this list can represent.
When we matched the Canons dataset to our catalogue in October 2026, our canonical-status scores rose with the number of school curricula, publisher series and lists in it that cite a work: the median score was 72 for books one such source cites, 84 at two, 88 at three, 92 at four and 93 at five or more. Prizes are left out of that count. Outside the state curricula, the dataset’s sources choose mostly from what has been translated into English or French, so it is a weaker check on other literatures. Source: Canons (Andrew Piper), CC BY 4.0
Questions people actually ask
- What are the best easy feminist books?
- By literary regard, which weighs canonical status, critical standing and influence: Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs, The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh, Miss Sophia's Diary by Ding Ling and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. ReadingRate ranks 58 such books, each with a difficulty score and a reading-time estimate.
- Which easy feminist books should I read first?
- Start from difficulty, not from rank. The most approachable books on this list that still carry top literary regard are Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (about 2.7 hours), The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley and We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
- What are the shortest of the best easy feminist books?
- Among the top 25, the shortest are We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (about 38 min), Miss Sophia's Diary by Ding Ling (about 1.1 hours) and Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (about 49 min), at an average pace of 250 words a minute adjusted for each book's difficulty.
- Which of the best easy feminist books are the established classics?
- By canonical status, how firmly a book sits in curricula, anthologies and the canon: Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs, The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Shaykh, Miss Sophia's Diary by Ding Ling and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison.
- How long would it take to read the top ten?
- About 58 hours, at an average pace of 250 words a minute adjusted for each book's difficulty: 29 days at two hours a day. Set your own pace on the page and the list's reading times change to it.
- How hard are easy feminist books to read?
- Most of this list sits between 26 and 38 on ReadingRate's 100-point difficulty scale, where 40 to 55 is moderate. The summit is Sexographies at 44. Every entry carries its own score, so a reader can pick a great book at a difficulty they will finish.
- How is this list ranked?
- On literary-regard data: how canonically established a work is, its critical standing, and its influence on later writing. It is not a readers’ poll, which is why recent bestsellers rarely appear. Membership follows authors and co-authors, not translators or editors. Lists by country, author, period, theme or difficulty keep to literature (fiction, poetry, drama and philosophy), their novels, poems and plays first and their philosophy after them; a list of a kind of book, such as memoir or criticism, keeps every book of that kind. Every list holds at most three works by one author. A book is here when ReadingRate files it under Feminist Literature as one of its primary reading domains.