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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Annie Dillard is awesome and completely underrated.

I am enjoying seeing men answer this question.

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

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.

and stephenie meyer

any of the bronte sisters and jane austen

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!

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

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..

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

L.M. Montgomery! :)

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

Favorite Female Author: Colleen McCullough

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Diane, I think you will love them!

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Mists of Avalon by Marian Zimmer Bradley

Also love Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood and Catherine Cookson

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

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

I loved Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

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.

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.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold- I could't put it down once I read the first sentence.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Here are some of my favourite novels written by female authors:

- all of Jane Austen's novels =)
- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
- Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
- A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewychka

(Hmm, I just scanned through my shelf and realized my shelves predominantly consists of male authors...)

Charlaine Harris or J.D. Robb both write super quick, easy reads, but you can't be looking for literature, just fun:)

Page turners? Hmmm. I think a lot of these are books to be savored. I'll suggest Mary Kay Andrews as being a very fun, quick read. I think of page turners as being full of action, and I'm drawing a pretty big blank on that at the moment.

Huge page turners:

The Hunger Games
Graceling
Across the Nightingale Floor
Outlander
Harry Potter

Okay, just for fun: Which of the above-mentioned books are real page-turners?

The reason I'm asking is that some of these books -- which I consider fabulous and very worth reading -- were, in my opinion, a bit of a slog. I'm always dying to get my hands on books by female authors who can tell a damned good story. That's why I suggested Margaret Atwood and Haven Kimmel (Message 28, above). I'd be tremendously grateful to hear about some of these other recommended titles: Besides being worthy books, which ones are also hugely fun to read??

Thank you in advance, ladies!

Barbara Kingsolver esp Poisonwood Bible
Lisa Lutz - The Spellman Series unique and hilarious
Katrina Kittle - The Kindness of Strangers(very difficult subject matter handled very well)
Jodi Picolt, Jennifer Haigh plus I agree with so many of the aforementioned!!!

Oh! So many, so many...faves off the top of my head...

Handmaid's Tale -Atwood
Still Alice - Genova
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Smith
Time Traveler's Wife - Niffenegger
History of Love - Krauss
The Awakening - Chopin
H. Potter - Rowling
Ahab's Wife - Naslund
My Antonia - Cather
Necessary Madness - Crowell
The Historian - Kostova
To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl - Frank
Rebecca - Maurier
Cold Sassy Tree - Burns
Bel Canto - Patchett
The Boys in the Trees - Swan

Have a great time reading the work of these amazing women!

Some favorites that haven't been mentioned yet:

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, a fantastic book about a Native American Veteran who must reconcile who he was with who he has become.

Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck, same amazing writing as The Good Earth, but the subject matter is more focused on family dynamics/power.

Suite Française gorgeously written novel set in occupied France in WWII.

Isabel Allende I especially enjoyed the Eva Luna stories and Zorro

Land of the Burnt Thigh, I think this is non-fiction, but reads like fiction. It's the story of two sisters & their difficult, but ultimately successful life as homesteaders in the early 1900s.

Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto, a collection of six connected stories.

Half of a Yellow Sun mesmerizing enough that I wasn't bothered by a six-hour flight delay, although the subject matter can be tough -- set in Nigeria during a civil war.

Jane Smiley is a favorite author of mine. Especially A Thousand Acres, which is a retelling of King Lear and Moo a send-up of University/academia.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe A Novel Hilarious!

Martyrs' Crossing heartbreaking novel centered on a tragic event at a Jerusalem checkpoint and it's effects on all the characters involved.

What I Loved well-crafted book about two couples in the NYC art world.