Pictured:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie © The Guardian

We hope you’re enjoying summer so far! For this month’s selection we’re changing pace, from YA to non-fiction. Since July is the month when we celebrate our history, we figured it’d be a good time to get a little introspective and learn something new about what makes us who we are.

We did a lot of back and forth with this choice. We had a different book chosen just a few weeks ago… but as we promised, we want to read all types of ‘books’. So we’ve chosen We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: a 52-page essay. No excuses this month – give this one a quick read!

This book (or booklet as we should call it given the charmingly small size) is a modified version of a TEDx talk Adichie delivered in December 2012. Nigerian-born, she is the award-winning author of Americanah, one among many of her well-received books. In this essay, as a self-proclaimed “happy feminist” she offers a personal view and unique definition of feminism.

Telegraph journalist Rupert Hawksley calls We Should All Be Feminists “the most important book you’ll read all year.” One might assume from the title that the subject matter focuses on one type of audience. But as Hawksley confesses, “I only chanced upon the book when a friend recommended it to me but, as a 26-year-old man who rarely engages in the feminist debate and who hadn’t heard Beyoncé’s song which samples Adichie’s speech, I found it a revelation.”

So hopefully, no matter your story, you’ll give this month’s read a try and read with us. In Adichie’s words, “that evening as I stood onstage, I felt as though I was in the presence of family – a kind and attentive audience, but one that might resist the subject of my talk. At the end, their standing ovation gave me hope.”

Obviously, as book-obsessed book clubbers we’re fans of the book/essay version. But, if you’re so inclined you can also check out the TEDx talk via YouTube…