Female Authors

[Fez909]

I've had a look at my book shelf and tried to remember all of the books I have read, and it seems I've only read one by a female author*. I generally read the classics and it seems there weren't many women writing books years ago, so it's not likely to find many there.

Recommend me some good books written by female authors, please!

I'm into mainly political stuff, but anything that makes me think is good. Fiction or non is fine.

* Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (loved it, by the way )

 

[phildwyer]

I've had a look at my book shelf and tried to remember all of the books I have read, and it seems I've only read one by a female author*. I generally read the classics and it seems there weren't many women writing books years ago, so it's not likely to find many there.

Recommend me some good books written by female authors, please!

I'm into mainly political stuff, but anything that makes me think is good. Fiction or non is fine.

* Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (loved it, by the way )

Zoe Heller, "Notes on a Scandal."

 

[Firky]

 

[la ressistance]

we need to talk about kevin- lionel shriver.

i'm reading this at the mo.some beautiful writing..

 

[spanglechick]

we need to talk about kevin- lionel shriver.

i'm reading this at the mo.some beautiful writing..

female lionel?

 

[maya]

* Margaret Atwood- The Blind Assassin.

fantastic book- might take a while to get into, seems unnecessarily complicated and longwinded in the beginning (lots of viewpoint changes and many characters to remember), especially if you're not used to her style- but it grows on you, sucks you in...the language is beautiful, and the heroine definitely one to remember.
not a book to read many times perhaps, but one you'll never forget.


(actually, if you like this one i'd recommend you to have a look at all her novels, 'tis high-quality stuff.)

 

[sojourner]

I'm into mainly political stuff, but anything that makes me think is good. Fiction or non is fine.

Angela Davies non fiction

bell hooks non fiction

Toni Morrison fiction

Alice Walker fiction

Maya Angelou both

all of the above are political, some more, some less

Jeanette Winterson fiction

Margaret Attwood fiction

Angela Carter both

There's fuckloads of great female writers

 

[Urbane Worrier]

I am rather partial to Daphne du Maurier, in particular her short stories. http://www.dumaurier.org/

 

[sojourner]

And if you read any of the Brontes, make it Emily. Wuthering Heights is one of the best books ever, shits all over bloody Jane boring Eyre and boring bloody Villette, imho of course

 

[Neva]

Classic sort of stuff that I like:

Virginia Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway
Edith Wharton - Ethan Frome
Jane Austen - Persuasion and Northanger Abbey
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights

More modern stuff:

Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
Zadie Smith - White Teeth
Monica Ali - Brick Lane
Joyce Carol Oates - (Too much to choose. Her short stories are very good.)

And of course everyone should read The Lottery. Click the link and read it, even if you don't like it you'll only have wasted a few minutes.

 

[sojourner]

Classic sort of stuff that I like:

Virginia Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway

How could I have forgotten Ginny?! Yes, a definite, but I'd go with Orlando - blew me away when I read that

Ooo, and Annie Proulx - fantastic writer and a new favourite of mine

 

[marty21]

val mcdermid

writes very good detective fiction stuff...

 

[DRINK?]

Jilly Cooper???

Second Maya Angelou for the record

 

[Termite Man]

Ursula Le Guin is very good sci-fi and if you like political stuff I'd read The Dispossessed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dispossessed

 

[sojourner]

Jilly Cooper???

Second Maya Angelou for the record

Hehe - if you run out of bog roll, maybe

 

[Neva]

Fuck, I forgot The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman).

That's a great book.

 

[la ressistance]

female lionel?

yep.she looks like a bird anyway.

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/index.aspx?authorid=27687

 

[sojourner]

Ursula Le Guin is very good sci-fi and if you like political stuff I'd read The Dispossessed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dispossessed

Excellent choice

I'd also add Doris Lessing, in the same vein

 

[sojourner]

Fuck, I forgot The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman).

That's a great book.

That's more than a great book, it's a fantastic book

 

[Orang Utan]

yep.she looks like a bird anyway.

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/index.aspx?authorid=27687

She won the Orange Prize so definitely a female! Amazing book

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Josephine Tey
A Daughter of Time

 

[Orang Utan]

Angela Carter is my fave female author though.

 

[sojourner]

Angela Carter is my fave female author though.

Sorry to derail but which one is your all time fave?

 

[Neva]

That's more than a great book, it's a fantastic book

Yeah I really love that book. First time I read it I went through it all in one go and then read it again the next day (I know it's short but I didn't stop for nothing )I can't be in a room with yellow wallpaper now without thinking about it.

Another recommendation: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Kate Chopin, The Awakening - I haven't read it yet but will be doing so in about six weeks time for my course. Turn of the century (19th - 20th) American feminist fiction, apparently (don't want to do too much research into it until I've read it).

I agree that Wuthering Heights shits on Jane Eyre. From a large height.

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, of course, and Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.

I second/third/whatever Toni Morrison and Alice Walker and Margaret Atwood and The Yellow Wallpaper.

 

[Dr_Gonzo]

To kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee?

 

[sojourner]

Yeah I really love that book. First time I read it I went through it all in one go and then read it again the next day (I know it's short but I didn't stop for nothing )I can't be in a room with yellow wallpaper now without thinking about it.

Another recommendation: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

I read it when I was 13 and didn't get it, but I read it again at 27, and it gutted me


The whole Maya Angelou autobiog series (of which your choice is the first) is some of the best writing I've ever read, and is hugely political, as well as exploring/showing the (also) political womanist ideas, and exploding the whole myth of the matriarch

 

[Fez909]

Zadie Smith - White Teeth

Ooops, I have that on my shelf (unread).

Good stuff with the recommendations so far.

We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Dispossessed, The Yellow Wallpaper, The Magic Toyshop and I know Why the Caged Bird Sings all sound interesting.

Will browse through the others and whittle them down into some kind of list when I have time.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[sojourner]

We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Dispossessed, The Yellow Wallpaper, The Magic Toyshop and I know Why the Caged Bird Sings all sound interesting.

Will browse through the others and whittle them down into some kind of list when I have time.

Thanks for the suggestions.

You're welcome If you wanna borrow owt, gis a shout

 

[felixthecat]

The whole Maya Angelou autobiog series (of which your choice is the first) is some of the best writing I've ever read, and is hugely political, as well as exploring/showing the (also) political womanist ideas, and exploding the whole myth of the matriarch

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is my favourite book - can't recommend Maya Angelou enough. Just read your way thru the whole lot.