Women are formed over time rather than being born. No fate can determine the image of human women in society, whether physically, psychologically, or economically. The so-called femininity of men and eunuchs is determined by the entire civilization.

Simone de Beauvoir, the author of the second sex, is regarded as having written "the most sound, rational, and intelligent book on women in history," and has even been referred to as the "Bible" of Western women.

She discusses the actual situation of women's situation, status, and rights in the historical evolution from primitive society to modern society, and probes into the gender differences shown in the history of women's individual development, based on cultural contents covering philosophy, history, literature, biology, ancient myths, and customs.

The Second sex can be thought of as an encyclopedia that covers the entire female world. It marks the beginning of the war of women's cultural movement against long-standing sexism.

The Second Sex is more relevant and timely today than ever before. The Second Sex (originally published in 1949) by Simone de Beauvoir is a groundbreaking study that was clearly years ahead of its time (and still is) in providing a thorough and well-thought-out thesis that examines what/who has shaped the role, place, and personality of Women in the world at large, from the ancient Mesopotamian societies all the way down to the present time.

Author: Simone de Beauvoir

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/030727778X/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top

Nora Ephron shares her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself, with her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice and dry sense of humor.

The book teaches you something the author wishes she had known sooner, such as:

• Don't cover a couch with anything other than beige.
• Don't buy anything made entirely of wool, even if it appears to be very soft and non-itchy when you try it on in the store.
• It's impossible to be friends with people who call after 11 p.m.
• Anything you think is wrong with your body when you're thirty-five will make you nostalgic when you're forty-five.
• Even if you are painfully thin at the age of fifty-five, you will develop a saggy roll just above your waist.
• This saggy roll just above your waist will be especially visible from the back and will force you to reconsider half of your wardrobe, particularly your white shirts.
• Make a list of everything.
• Maintain a journal.
• Take more photos.
• If the shoe does not fit in the shoe store, it will never fit.
• When your children are teenagers, having a dog ensures that someone in the house is happy to see you.
• Go see a lawyer and file the divorce papers as soon as you decide to divorce.

Ephron tells the story of her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. But, for the most part, she speaks candidly and amusingly about life as a woman of a certain age. I Feel Bad About My Neck is a scrumptious, irresistible treat of a book, full of truths and laugh-out-loud moments that will appeal to readers of all ages. It is utterly courageous, uproariously funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth-telling.

Author: Nora Ephron

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307276821/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top

Spirited and whip-smart, these laugh-out-loud autobiographical essays are "a masterpiece" from the Emmy Award-winning actress and comedy writer known for 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and SNL. (According to Sunday Telegraph). Bossypants is among the best books every woman should read in their 30s.

Before Liz Lemon, before Weekend Update, before Sarah Palin, Tina Fey was a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream in which she was chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also fantasized about becoming a television comedian. Both of her dreams have come true.

Tina Fey's story can finally be told. From her days as a vicious nerd to her stint on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating food off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon - from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey spills the beans and proves what you have always suspected: you're nobody until someone calls you bossy.

Author: Tina Fey

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004V6APR2/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay is among the best books every woman should read in their 30s. The book follows the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay. If F. Scott Fitzgerald was the Jazz Age's hero, Edna St. Vincent Millay was its heroine, as flamboyant in her love affairs as she was in her art. Millay was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for her performance of herself. Her voice was compared to a seducing instrument, and her effect on crowds and men was legendary. All was not well beneath her polished persona. Milford refers to her book as a "family romance," because the love between the three Millay sisters and their mother was so intense that it was dangerous. They were like real-life Little Women, with a dash of Mommie Dearest.

Nancy Milford was granted exclusive access to Millay's papers, and what she discovered was a rare treasure. Boxes and boxes of letters were exchanged between the three sisters and their mother—and Millay kept the most intimate diary, one whose ruthless honesty. Savage Beauty is an iconic portrait of a woman's life, written with passion and flair.

Author: Nancy Milford

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375760814/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is a memoir about growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran. It offers a rare glimpse into a nearly unknown and unreachable way of life. The fact that Satrapi chose to tell her incredible story as a beautiful comic book makes it completely unique and indispensable.

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming-of-age in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; the contradictions between private and public life in a country rife with political upheaval; her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the story of a girlhood and adolescence that is both outrageous and familiar, a young life intertwined with her country's history while also containing the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists working today. It is edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom.

Author: Marjane Satrapi

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375714839/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

The Year of Magical Thinking, one of the best books every woman should read in their 30s, is a stunning book of honesty and passion from one of America's most renowned writers. Joan Didion delves into an intensely personal yet universal experience, painting a portrait of a marriage–and a life, in good and bad times–that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband, wife, or child. "The Year Of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion is a brutally honest account of Mrs. Didion's grief after the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, after forty years of marriage. As someone who believes that "honesty" is the one essential quality that all great writing shares, Mrs. Didion has hit the ball out of the park. Her writing is not only truthful, but also captivating and compelling.

Several days before Christmas in 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion's only daughter, Quintana, became ill with what appeared to be flu, pneumonia, and then complete septic shock. She was placed in an induced coma and on life support. Days later, on the eve of New Year's Eve, the Dunnes were sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. This close, symbiotic partnership of forty years ended in an instant. Their daughter survived four weeks later. Two months later, she collapsed at LAX and required six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma.

Author: Joan Didion

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Year-Magical-Thinking-Joan-Didion/dp/1400078431/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_product_top

Discover the practical steps you need for the financial peace you seek, whether you are living paycheck to paycheck or simply trying to make better financial decisions.

Michelle Singletary, award-winning writer and Washington Post columnist, proposes a tried-and-true financial challenge in The 21 Day Financial Fast. Participants will put their credit cards away for 21 days and buy only the necessities. During this three-week financial fast, you will learn from Michelle how to:

• Get rid of bad spending habits.
• With the Debt Dash Plan, you can chart a course to debt freedom.
• Avoid the temptation to overspend on college expenses.
• Learn how to prepare yourself and your elderly relatives for future long-term care costs.
• With a Life Happens Fund, you can be ready for anything.
• Stop worrying about money and discover the invaluable power of financial peace.
• You'll learn what it's like to live a life of financial peace and prosperity as you discover practical ways to achieve financial freedom.

Thousands of people have participated in the fast, and as a result, they have been able to get out of debt and become better financial managers... and you can, too!

Author: Michelle Singletary

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0310338336/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence, set against London's racial and cultural tapestry, venturing across the former empire and into the past as it barrels toward the future.

Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, two unlikely friends, are at the heart of this energizing novel. Archie and Samad, two destitute World War II veterans, and their families, become irreversible agents of England's transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit toothless, Jamaican half his age, gives Archie a new lease on life and gives birth to Irie, a wise child whose personality doesn't quite match her name (Jamaican for "no problem"). Samad's late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride's birth) results in twin sons whose separate paths defy Iqbal's every attempt to direct them, as well as a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith.

Author: Zadie Smith

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375703861/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

The Goldfinch, written with mastery, is a haunted odyssey through modern-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It is among the best books every woman should read in their 30s.

It all starts with a boy. A 13-year-old New Yorker named Theo Decker miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. After his father abandons him, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Befuddled by his strange new Park Avenue home, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that eventually draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves effortlessly between the rich's drawing rooms and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is both alienated and in love, and he finds himself at the center of a dangerously narrowing circle.

The Goldfinch is a novel with incredible narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettable characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while probing the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art with a philosopher's calm. It's a stunning, stay-up-all-night triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and fate's ruthless machinations.

Author: Donna Tartt

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ELMSEJC/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Jessica Bacal interviews twenty-five successful women about their toughest on-the-job moments in Mistakes I Made at Work, a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Business Book for Spring 2014. These leaders from the arts, finance, and technology reveal that they are more thoughtful, purposeful, and assertive as leaders because they learned from their mistakes, not because they never made any. Among those interviewed are:

• Cheryl Strayed, bestselling author of Wild
• Anna Holmes, founding editor of Jezebel.com
• Kim Gordon, founding member of the band Sonic Youth
• Joanna Barsch, Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company
• Carol Dweck, Stanford psychology professor
• Ruth Ozeki, New York Times bestselling author of Tale for the Time Being
• And many more

Mistakes I Made at Work is ideal for millenials just starting their careers, women seeking to advance at work, or anyone grappling with issues of perfectionism, and includes fascinating and surprising anecdotes, as well as reader tips.

Author: Jessica Bacal

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0142180572/ref=cm_cr_srp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8