Interesting, it seems that no can answer the questions as asked. My singular answer is:

Favorite book by a female author? MIddlemarch
Favorite female author? Jane Austin.

Of course, it's easy to understand why everyone feels compelled to give multiple answers; there're so many good ones leaving any of them out seems blasphemous! Still, I'll stick with my literal interpretation. History supports them, and while future history will undoubtedly support some contemporary writers, we don't know which of the many will be so consecrated.

It doesn't say any single author though. The original post just says to recommend any books by female authors or female authors in general. That's probably why there are so many multiple answers.

I loved Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Barbara Kingsolver - Poisonwood Bible
Anything by Miriam Toews
Anne Marie MacDonald - Fall on Your Knees , As the Crow Flies
Jane Smiley - esp. Horse Heaven, My Year at the Races
Pat Barker - especially the regeneration Trilogy
Sarah Hall - The Electric Michaelangelo
Nualla O'Failloan - My Dream of You
Frances Itani - Deafening
Nadine Gortimer
Annie Proulx
P.D. James - great mysteries
Alice Munro
Louise Erdich
Doris Lessing
Isak Dinesen

Elizabeth Straub (Amy & Isabelle) is really good, as well as Ann Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) and Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic).

Mists of Avalon by Marian Zimmer Bradley

Also love Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood and Catherine Cookson

These are some of the female authors I read and liked:

Diane Setterfield
Kate Mosse
Brenda Joyce
Luanne Rice
Jennifer Lee Carrell

I probably read others but I don't remember them right away. but it is like Li said: I mainly read books written by men. Wasn't aware of it because I choose my books by the title/cover not by the sex of the author.

My favorite female author is Diana Gabaldon - Her Outlander series are my favorite books of all time - LOVE THEM - I haven't read her other series The Lord John's yet - not sure why but she's fabulous.

Just check my page
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/105...

You'll find a ton of really great female authors.

I love this list and will look up a few female authors that I haven't explored before. To add a few good ones that either I missed in the list or weren't there:
Irène Némirovsky - Suite Francaise was compelling
Mary Lawson (liked Crow Lake)
Sandra Gulland - historical fiction Josephine Bonapart
Ami McKay - really liked the Birth House

One of my favorite authors, who just happens to be female, is Jhumpa Lahiri. She has a wonderful collection of short stories "The Interpreter of Maladies" which is one of my favorite books. She has also written a novel, "The Namesake", and another book of shorts called "Unaccustomed Earth". I do prefer her short stories over the full length novel.

Also, Chitra Banerjee Divakeruni - "The Arranged Marriage" (also a book of shorts); and

Lisa See. Have read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by her, and it is a wonderful book about women and their friendships.

Has anyone mentioned Edith Wharton? Also Donna Tartt or Susan Minot?

I have also enjoyed these books recently:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
Stones from the River by Ursual Hegi
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
The Girls by Lori Lansens

Mary wrote: "Has anyone mentioned Edith Wharton? Also Donna Tartt or Susan Minot?

I have also enjoyed these books recently:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
Stones from the R..."

The Help and Stones from the River - both in my To Read pile!

Diane, I think you will love them!

I don't think anybody has mentioned Carson McCullers yet. She's amazing -- especially her novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

Also Possession by A.S. Byatt, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates, and The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.

The Time Traveler's Wife
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Both were pageturners for me.

I also second
A Thousand Acres A Novel

These are all mainstream fiction though. It might be easier to identify female authors you might like if we knew what genres or even books by male authors you really enjoyed.

I personally love Lori Wick books. She writes Christian romances for different time periods and they're just amazing.
Also, I've only read one book by Karen Kingsbury. Ever After
It was really good though...I'm planning to read more of her stuff.
And of course J.K. Rowling is just plain amazing. She would have to be my favorite.

Thomma: "I don't think anybody has mentioned Carson McCullers yet. She's amazing -- especially her novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter"

Thomma, I read this book a few months ago. Depressing subject, excellent writing. I'm really a Carson McCullers fan.

In no particular order

1. Anne Rice
2. Toni Morrison
3. Alice Walker
4. Maya Angelou
5. Margaret Cho (she wrote a very cool book called "I'm the one I want")
6. J.K. Rowling
7. Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club)
8. Terri McMillan
9. Sue Monk Kid
10. Rebecca Wells
11. Jennifer Weiner

Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I would also like to suggest Refuge by Terry Tempest williams. Angela Carter is also absoutely brilliant if you're interested in reading Gothic-y retellings of fairy tales.

Oh and I forgot another that I have enjoyed:
Three Views of Crystal Water

Terri McMillan - not all, but some of her books I loved: Mama, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, and Disappearing Acts

Favorite Female Author: Colleen McCullough

Favorite book written by a woman: "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank.

After 50 Messagess mostof my favorite female authors have already been mentioned, except:
Alexandra Fuller, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
Jeanette Walls,The Glass Castle
Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love
Laura Esquirel, Like Water for Chocolate
Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street

L.M. Montgomery! :)

My favorite female author is S.E. Hinton, I love her books. Some other books I like by female authors are:

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Just finished it and it's brilliant. I really want her other books now, which is a pain actually..

Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. My favorite author would have to be Harper Lee.

It never ceases to amaze me what a big deal t is to be a woman writer, chef, doctor, critic, etc. Aren't we supposed to have made progess??? Well, some of these ladies were active when "progess" was a bold thought, if it isn't now... Some are doing their work as we speak, and thank G-d(ess)!

Marina Tsvetayeva
Simone de Beauvoir
Ayn Rand
Harper Lee
Daphne Du Maurier
Margaret Drabble
Margaret Atwood
Anna Gavalda
Tatiana Ulitskaya
Darya Dontsova
Lisa See
Jackie Wullschlager

I am currently reading a book by Nicole Mones, "The Last Chinese Chef", who is quickly becoming a favorite and is defintely worth mentioning here!

any of the bronte sisters and jane austen

and stephenie meyer

Iris Murdoch - I'd start with A Severed Head & then move on to my other favorite The Sea, The Sea.

I know that The Secret History has been mentioned & it's well worth the read.

I also really some of Elizabeth Hand's stuff: Waking the Moon is especially entertaining.

If you like fantasy, Michelle Sagara West's books, The Sun Sword Cycle beginning with The Broken Crown is so excellent I catch myself re-reading it about once a year.

Robin Hobb's another good fantasy writer. I'd start with Assassin's Apprentice.

For YA books I always recommend the Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper. It starts with this one: Over Sea, Under Stone.

If you like short stories, you have to read Eudora Welty - she's amazing.

I'm also fond of Alice Adam's work, I've read & re-read Listening to Billy.

For old school British mysteries there's Dorothy L. Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey is, of course, great, but I think my favorite of hers is her Oxford novel - Gaudy Night. Add on Agatha Christie & pd james & Ruth Rendell & you're set.

I'm awfully fond of Marge Piercy, although not all of her stuff holds up given changing times. From a similar sensibility is Fear of Flying which is still hilarious.

I also like Francine du Plessix Gray. She's written some amazing stuff - both fiction & non-fiction.

I'm realizing I could go on all night, so I'll stop.

My favorite female authors for fiction are Isabel Allende and Virginia Woolf. For non-fiction it would have to be Annie Dillard.

I am enjoying seeing men answer this question.

Annie Dillard is awesome and completely underrated.

Here are some of my favs:

Rowling, J.K.
Barbara Kingsolver
Diana Gabaldon
Jane Kirkpatrick
Jennifer Chiaverini
Jean M. Auel
Janet Dailey
Danielle Steel



I'm sure there are more I will think of.

Among the best...
Ayn Rand
Lisa See
Amy Tan
Judith Freeman
Anchee Min
Krista Tibbs
Ann Rule
Helie Lee
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ann Patchett
Geraldine Brooks
Fannie Flagg
Gail Tsukiyama

I can't bring it down to one specific favorite but the top three would have to be:

Connie Willis
Nancy Kress
Jane Austin

And if I had to list a specific book-

Bellwether
Beggars In Spain
Pride and Prejudice

Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald is probably my favourite novel.

My favourite female authors are: Colette, Simon de Beauvoir, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte, Harper Lee, Anne Frank, d'bi young, Madhur Jaffery, Marjane Satrapi, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Anita Desai,
My favourite books by women authors: anything by Colette, and the above authors, Mildred D. Taylor "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry", Marguerite Abouet "Aya", Elizabeth B. Moyuihan "The Moonlight Garden: New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal", Zeenut Zait "Magnificent Mughals", Adhaf Souief "A Map of Love", Madhu Jain "The Kapoors", Mende Nazer "Slave", Jackie Morris and Carol Ann Duffy "The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems", Sarah B. Pomeroy "Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: women in Classical Antiquity". The list goes on! Oscar Wilde, Tariq Ali and Honore de Balzac are brilliant at writing women characters.

Irene wrote: "Barbara Kingsolver - Poisonwood Bible
Anything by Miriam Toews
Anne Marie MacDonald - Fall on Your Knees , As the Crow Flies
Jane Smiley - esp. Horse Heaven, My Year at the Races
Pat Barker - e..."

Wow, I love Kingsolver, Toews and MacDonald. I need to write down the rest form your list! I like your taste.