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ILI

The International Language Institute of Massachusetts (ILI) promotes intercultural understanding and diverse communities by providing high-quality language instruction and teacher training.

You are here: Home / News / STAFF PICKS: Books To Read During Women’s Month

March 23, 2022

STAFF PICKS: Books To Read During Women’s Month

Book covers from staff picks.

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.” — Emily Dickinson

Women’s History Month commemorates and encourages the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. There is no “one size fits all” experience that encapsulates the experience of womanhood, differing factors of identity enable contrasting lived experiences. It is through the welcoming of diverse voices, stories, and experiences that we begin to truly respect and appreciate the journeys of individuals and the role they play in our own understanding of history. This month the ILI staff has put together a list of some of our favorite books written by women. 

The outside of both Raven Used Books Store and Gabriel Books in Northampton, MA.Northampton is home to a handful of incredible bookstores. In today’s age when purchasing a book can be as easy as the click of a button, it is vital to support these local businesses in order to keep these locally owned treasures on Northampton’s map. If you find yourself intrigued by any of these titles, we recommend taking the opportunity to shop local – check out Broadside Bookshop, Booklink Booksellers, Raven Used Books, or Gabriel’s Used Books. 

ILI STAFF PICKS

Macey’s Pick:

Tell me More – Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to SayTell Me More book cover
By Kelly Corrigan
Genre: Memoir

Macey says: “It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, funny, and totally relatable – and a great reminder of the power of the words you choose.”Read a synopsis of Tell me More – Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say  here.
Honorable Mention:

  • Hourglass by Dani Shapiro

Heather’s Pick:

City of the Uncommon ThiefCity of the Uncommon Thief book cover
By Lynne Bertrand
Genre: Fantasy

Heather Says: I read a lot and love a big, thick book that I can disappear into and that takes time to get through. Complicated and engaging with a lot of mystery mixed in. I thoroughly enjoyed the book from beginning to end…”

Read a synopsis of City of the Uncommon Thief here.

Cait’s Pick:

The School for Good MothersSchool for Good Mothers book cover
By Jessamine Chan
Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Cait says: “This book simultaneously captivated and destroyed me. Chan’s story explores the pressures, expectations, and hypocrisies placed on women- especially in motherhood, and the added layers of this that come with being a woman of color. It challenged me and made me think a lot about the fluidity of morality and what is considered right and wrong.”

Read a synopsis of The School for Good Mothers here.
Honorable Mentions:

  • Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden
  • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Amy’s Picks:

Two books by Kristin Hannah
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Four Winds

Amy Says: “The amazing struggles of a woman to keep herself and her two children alive during the ravages of the Dust Bowl.  It’s a great historical novel, well researched, a page turner, and gives us a birds eye view of life for regular people in this period.”

The Nightingale
Amy Says: “Focuses on two sisters and their different responses to the arrival/presence of the Nazis in France during WWII. Highlights the French Resistance, but also gives an excellent view of the hardships and gradual diminution of freedoms in Vichy France, and again, a birds eye view of life for regular people in this period.”

Read a synopsis of The Four Winds here.
Read a synopsis of The Nightingale here.

Josh’s Picks:

Wuthering Heights
By Emily Bronte
Genre: Fiction

Josh Says: “It’s beautifully dark and darkly beautiful.”

Read a synopsis of Wuthering Heights  here.
Honorable Mentions:

  • Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

Beth’s Pick:

Crying at Hmart book coverCrying in HMart
By Michelle Zauner
Genre: Memoir

Beth says: “It explores the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, the hopes, expectations and realities, and finds beauty and connection. Also, it is largely about food as a connector to our past and our ancestry, which massively resonates with me.”

Read a synopsis of Crying in HMart  here.

Molly’s Pick:

Just Kids
By Patti Smith
Genre: MemoirThe book cover of Just Kids by Patti Smith.

Molly says: “There’s something intangible about how Smith’s words bring the reader into the infamous folk artist scene of New York City in the late sixties and seventies. While reading, you feel like you are living through that time with her, and diving into a secret/not-so-secret world. “

Read a synopsis of Just Kids  here.

Samira’s Pick: 

In the Time of the Butterflies (En el tiempo de las mariposas)
By Julia Alvarez
Genre: Historical Fiction

Samira says: “I always struggled in history classes when I was younger. Later in life I was inspired to learn more about historical events when reading books such as this.”

Read a synopsis of In the Time of the Butterflies  here.

Caroline’s Pick:

Pachinko
By Min Jin Lee
Genre: FictionThe book cover for Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

Caroline Says: “I was immediately drawn into this book about four generations of a Korean family and the trials and tribulations of being immigrants in Japan. I loved the strong women characters of this book and it brought home the sacrifices that immigrants make for their families and children.“

Read a synopsis of Pachinko here.

Honorable Mention: “In talking to colleagues at work about this book spurred a conversation by Macey who was reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, a memoir about growing up Korean American. This is a powerful book that details her relationship with her mom who died from cancer. Through her grief she reconnects with her Korean culture and her mom by making the amazing food that she remembered from her mom.”

Sabine’s Pick:

Prière à la Lune (Prayer to the moon)
By Fatima Elayoubi
Genre: Fiction

Sabine says: “Fatima Elayoubi’s first book, Prière à la Lune (Prayer to the moon) describes her childhood in a rural area of Morocco, her immigration to France in 1983 with her husband, the ensuing feeling of isolation, and the struggles she went through in raising alone two daughters while working as a house and office cleaner in Paris. 

The book cover for Prière à la Lune by fatima elayoubi.Composed as an address to the moon, a familiar figure in the night wherever the author lives, her tale emphasizes the importance of education for girls and of literacy programs for immigrants. As the daughter of a poor Moroccan family, Fatima Elayoubi had to stop going to school at the age of ten. Upon her arrival in France, she could hardly speak the language of her new country. As a consequence of her impossibility to express her emotions and sensibility in French, she endured a growing sensation of being a body deprived of “soul and spirit.” Inexorably cut from the others and also from herself, she poignantly voices the distance that her lack of literacy and disregarded profession created between her and her daughters who were born in France.

In the last chapters, the reader witnesses the reconciliation of Fatima Elayoubi with herself when after a work accident that caused her a lasting physical pain and moral distress, she is sent to a therapist, and, concurrently, to a literacy class for immigrants where she starts to write diary entries and poetry.

As a French teacher at the International Language Institute, I discovered the two books of Fatima Elayoubi, Prière à la Lune (Prayer to the Moon, 2006) and Enfin, je peux marcher seule (At last, I can walk alone, 2011) when I showed Fatima (2015), a movie inspired by these narratives and directed by Philippe Faucon, to the students of my film class. I felt deeply moved by the life of this Moroccan immigrant who, thanks to her new skills of writing and speaking French with more ease, reconstructs her self esteem and strengthens her connection to her daughters.

Although none of the two narratives has been yet translated into English, they are very accessible in their French versions to people with an intermediate level of French. I would also recommend the movie Fatima that has been distributed in the United States with English captions.”

Read a synopsis of Prière à la Lune here.

If you’d like to keep up with ILI and be the first to know when a NEWS item has been posted to the ILI Blog, follow us on social media or subscribe to our mailing list. If you’d like to learn more about taking classes with the International Language Institute of Massachusetts, visit ili.edu.

Article by ILI Staff / News

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“Music is the universal language of mankind.” “Music is the universal language of mankind.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

ILI English and French instructor, Josh Owsley is also a musician! He will be playing bass with @landownerband tonight at @thedrakeamherst . 🎶Hope to see you there!

📸Photo by @vagabundodeltiempo 

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #northampton #landowner #livemusic #teacherfeature #thedrakeamherst  #community
Congratulations 🎉 to our graduates  Jeffrey ( Congratulations 🎉 to our graduates  Jeffrey (Peru), Azhar (Kazakhstan), Ruveyda (Turkey), Andrei (Russia) and Yasemin (Turkey). Every month we have an international potluck to celebrate our graduates. You might have seen Azhar’s cakes before, but the cake that she made, as you will say, is truly over the top! We are sad to say goodbye to the students, but excited about the next steps that they will be taking in their lives.

Cake by @_azhar_bakery 

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #northampton #studentlife #azharbakery #potluck #education #internationalstudents #ialc #ialclanguages
“We must risk everything for the raw recipe of o “We must risk everything for the raw recipe of our passion” 

We had such an engaging afternoon at @parlorroommusic with ILI Board Member + former president of @gccgreenfield Bob Pura. Bob led a reading and discussion of his new book The Community’s College: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success, which he co-wrote with Dr. Tara L. Parker. Audience members also got the chance to learn more about the process behind the creation of the book. 

Thank you for joining us! 📚

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #bobpura #authorevent #reading #discussion #communitycollege #thecommunityscollege #northampton
Today Bob Pura and Tara Parker read from and lead Today Bob Pura and Tara Parker read from and lead a discussion of their book The Community’s College: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success! 📚 Join us at @parlorroommusic at 2pm. 

In their book, The Community’s College: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success, co-authors Dr. Robert L. Pura and Dr. Tara L. Parker explore the extraordinary impact of this country’s community colleges on people, communities, and our democratic traditions.

As the book’s foreword by Lynn Pasquerella, President of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, states: "[T]he analysis offered by Dr. Pura and Dr. Parker unveils how community colleges—distinctively American institutions—are more essential than ever to fulfilling our nation's historic mission of educating for democracy."

Pura, a member of the ILI board of directors, retired in 2018 as president of Greenfield Community College after 17+ years in that position. Parker is the recently appointed Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at UMass Boston.
 
#thecommunityscollege #authorevent #ili #bobpura #taraparker #theparlorroom #northampton #community
TOMORROW - Saturday, January 28th don't miss an Au TOMORROW - Saturday, January 28th don't miss an Author Reading & Discussion with Bob Pura + Tara Parker at @parlorroommusic at 2pm!

Bob Pura, former Greenfield Community College president (18 years) and now an ILI board member, was on the Bill Newman radio show yesterday discussing his new book. 

So many of our students have found success at @gccgreenfield . Here's a photo of all of ILI's students who were at GCC during Bob's last year...including former board member, Aimee Salmon. Aimee is at Mt. Holyoke and graduating this semester, Florice is at Tulane, Bene is at Smith, Orphee is at Western New England University, Flora just graduated from Western New England and is an electrical engineer in Connecticut and Lastone graduated from UMASS and works in Boston.

➡️Listen to the radio show here: https://whmp.com/podcasts/the-communitys-college/

#whmp #ili #thecommunityscollege #bobpura #taraparker #communitycollege #authorevent #northampton #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts
This past fall, ILI applied to #MassachusettsDepar This past fall, ILI applied to #MassachusettsDepartmentofElementaryandSecondaryEducation’s (DESE) competitive grant program to help fund our free English classes for immigrants and refugees. The hard work paid off. When DESE announced the recipients, ILI was on the list! ✨

“We were thrilled to get the good news,” said Macey Faiella, director of ILI’s English programs. “The pandemic shed new light on the disparities that face immigrants and refugees, and we reassessed our program to include greatly expanded offerings. DESE responded positively—all to the benefit of the students.” Starting this fall ILI will teach four levels of online and in-person evening classes and a new intensive in-person morning course. 

For 34 years, ILI has partnered with the state to provide free English classes in western Massachusetts. This award extends the partnership for an additional five years. It funds about two-thirds of the overall program. ILI is responsible for the remaining costs.

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #dese #education #grant #nonprofit #freeenglishprogram #mass #community
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