Earley, Michael, and Philippa Keil, eds., The Modern Monologue: Women, Routledge, 1993.

This book is an exciting selection of speeches drawn from important plays of the twentieth century. The monologues in this book are all written for women characters and they provide an excellent sampling of a wide array of styles.

Ensler, Eve, The Vagina Monologues: The V-Day Edition, Villard, 2000.

This play is a direct, hilarious celebration of female sexuality. However, it delivers a powerful message. This edition celebrates the grassroots movement, inspired by this play, to stop violence against women.

Falk, John, Hello to All That: A Memoir of War, Zoloft, and Peace, Henry Holt, 2005.

This book is a bizarre, heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious memoir of a war correspondent and his continuous struggle against chronic depression.

Storr, Anthony, Solitude: A Return to the Self, Ballantine Books, 1989.

Storr uses history's greatest artists and minds—Goya, Kafka...