On this episode, we celebrate Women's History Month with fiction and nonfiction about women's history, one of the prompts on the Winter-Spring 2024 Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. From a graphic novel about Soviet women fighter pilots to a page-turning book about the evolution of female bodies, we'll show you that there's nothing dull about women's history.

Michael's Pick

The Night Witches is a graphic novel written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Russ Braun. During World War II, the Soviet Union formed the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, recruiting women to fly night missions, bombing the invading Nazis as they cut deeper into Russia. The Nazis came to dub them the “Nachthexen” or “Night Witches.”

The novel follows Anna Kharkova, a fictional Night Witch. It opens as Anna is recruited to join the 588th regiment with her friend and gunner, Zoya. If you're a World War II history buff or a fan of military history, you might enjoy this powerful story.

Pairing: A glass of Kompot, homemade fruit juice enjoyed by many Russian and Ukrainian families. 

Carrie's Pick

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolutionby Cat Bohannon upends popular and scientific belief to argue that female bodies have been the primary agents of humans' evolutionary change. 

Bohannon builds her case over nine well researched and lively chapters: Milk, Womb, Perception, Legs, Tools, Brain, Voice, Menopause, and Love.

Pairing: Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas in honor of our matriarchal primate relatives.

Jacqueline's Pick

The Lovely War by Julie Berry tells the love stories of two WWI couples through the frame of the Goddess of Love's own love story.

She seeks to answer the age-old question: "Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another?" but her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband, Hephaestus, uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music, revealing that War is no match for the power of Love.

Pairing: The war-time treat Lemon Sponge Cake. It's made with rice flour instead of wheat, which was in short supply during World War I. 

Books & Bites Reading Party

Thursday, March 14, 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Connect with fellow book lovers at a party that celebrates readers! Join us for some silent reading time followed by bookish conversation. If you’re participating in the Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge, you’ll earn another free bingo square of your choice just for attending. 

No registration is required.