Murder On The Orient Express is my classic Agatha fave.

Is Then There Were None the dinner party story, where guests get bumped off one by one?

I agree Catamorandi.

And Then There Were None is a classic by Agatha Christie.

Thanks, Meg. I'll put it on my list.

>Head hung low. I've never read an Agatha Christie. Where would I start if I were so inclined?

My favorite is Murder on the Orient Express.

Toni Morrison
Zora Neal Hurston
Maya Angelou
Christine Feehan
Victoria Christopher Murray
Kendra Norman Bellamy
Vanessa Davis Griggs

Anne Tyler's Ladder of Years is an incredible book and an all time fave.

Life Without Summer A Novel by Lynne Griffin is also an incredible novel and now an all time fave as it captured so much of what I went through myself when I lost my daughter. Very well written.

I'd also like to suggest an anthology of sorts: Women and Fiction Stories By and About Women.

Edwidge Dandicot

Nevada Barr, Sue Grafton, Thrity Umriger, Sara Paretsky, Alice Hoffman, Elizabeth Berg, Toni Morrison, Ann Tyler, Barbara Kingsolver, Marge Piercy, Sue Miller, Anita Shreve, Nora Hurston, - my mind goes blank, the woman who wrote Krik Krak-

Just found Alex Kava while looking for Nebraska authors for a project. I love thrillers and she has some great thrills! Her books are the kind that make me stay up WAY to late reading.

Head hung low. I've never read an Agatha Christie. Where would I start if I were so inclined?

Agatha Christie is my weakness. :-)

Agatha Christie
Anne Perry
Elizabeth Peters
L.M. Montgomery
Sylvia Plath
Margaret Wies
Tracy Hickman

to start with

Am beginning Witchery by Amber Benson, a horror/historical novel.

Amy Tan
Kate Atkinson
Ruth Rendell
Laura Lippman
Preeta Samarasan
Margaret Atwood

to name a few off the top of my head.

Am reading In The Woods, by Tana French and it is fabulous (an Edgar Award Winner). Came highly recommended and I can see why. Her more recent book is titled, The Likeness..haven't read yet.

Hi, I'm new.

And I just have to say, wow, most of you know...tons of authors. I'm young, but I have read a lot of books. My favorite author:
Tamora Pierce, for her series about a young woman who wants to become the first female knight in over a century, and for her duology about another young woman who runs away from home, gets captured by slave traders and is sold to a family in a land where a centuries-old revolution is taking place.
Pierce is a writer of feminist fantasy for young adults. I finished her latest book, Bloodhound, last month after waiting on a long, long, request list.

My list of woman authors will get longer as I get older and read more.

I usually pick up books with female main characters, because for some reason I've tried reading books with males as the narrators and they just didn't catch my interest.

I also like Elizabith Chadwick's historical fiction and Jane Ann Krentz (Amanda Quick)'s mysteries, even though I've only read one of each. I've never heard of any of the authors mentioned so far so I'd better start catching up...

Meg wrote: ">>"The Year of Magical Thinking" is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. "

I had quite a bit of trouble with this one and didn't finish it. Denying the death of a loved-one is not uncommon, and, without scientific evidence, would say that it is quite common. At least that is so in my experience. It's just part of the grieving process for many of us, so I didn't see this as being a story of interest.

But come to think of it, YOMT is Non-Fiction, so I'm going to mention it on the non-fiction thread too.

>17642 I cannot sing the praises enough about Zadie Smith. LOVE her.

ON BEAUTY! Love that book.

>"The Year of Magical Thinking" is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.

I listened to this one on audio. Heard the end while waiting in the school parking lot for cross country team to return from a meet - just weeping and weeping there at my steering wheel. To this day, I wonder what the other waiting parents must have thought. Really, really a beautiful book. Indeed, I'm putting it on the list for my book club.

I thought The Autograph Man was mediocre compared to White Teeth and On Beauty. I am really looking forward to this new book of essays she's written. I've heard some really great things about it.

Jen wrote: "Oh, Zadie Smith. Good call. How could I have left her out? White Teeth was amazing. "

White Teeth was amazing. So was On Beauty. I even liked The Autograph Man, even though it was her follow up to White Teeth and panned by critics.

Me too! I love Zadie Smith! On Beauty was an awesome book!

Oh, Zadie Smith. Good call. How could I have left her out? White Teeth was amazing.

I cannot sing the praises enough about Zadie Smith. LOVE her. I anxiously await her next novel.

I am also a huge fan of Anne Tyler. She is fabulous. And Joan Didion's book "The Year of Magical Thinking" is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.

Who else? Maeve Binchy was my trusted friend in high school. And I am very excited about Audrey Niffenegger's new book (as much as I was excited about The Time Traveler's Wife).

Oddly, I've never read Anne Proulx or Annie Tyler. I better go catch up...

Thanks for Jane Gardam, Meg. I've added Old Filth to my Wish List. And thanks, Tasha, for mentioning Anne Proulx. I have read only her The Shipping News A Novel several years ago and should definitely pick up another.

Jen, forgot to say thanks from above.

>2026178 Meg, as I recall from an earlier conversation, one of them is the Myra Bradwell, feminist lawyer of the post-Lincoln era. Or did I make this up . . .

Oh, good memory. It's not actually one of the characters, but the characters are dubbed "The Ms Bradwells" by a law school professor after a discussion of that case. :-)

I saw a new novel out by Jane Gardam, Man in the Wooden Hat. I loved the only one I've read by her, Old Filth. Absolutely charming. So I've just put her new one on my TRB.

A question: what is it, do you suppose, that you like about the women authors you've listed?

I find my list of favorite women authors is long on charm and wit (Pym, Gardam, Austen) mixed with a touch of social commentary. I'd toss Margaret Atwood, George Eliot, and Harper Lee into that category as well. And Anne Tyler! Have I not mentioned Ann Tyler?

They tend to have a slightly irreverent touch and yet not so much that the stories become too ironic to really sink into.

Hi from Tasha,

I'm glad someone mentioned Barbara Pym, I'll add a few more to the list:

Jane Gardam (another underappreciated Brit)
Anne Proulx
Colette
Francoise Sagan

Margaret Atwood
Amy Bloom
Joan Didion (for her nonfiction, too)
Mary Gaitskill

brave women, who don't censor themselves or say what people want them to.

I can't wait Meg!!!

Meg, as I recall from an earlier conversation, one of them is the Myra Bradwell, feminist lawyer of the post-Lincoln era. Or did I make this up . . .

>Hi, Meg...what are you working on now?

New novel called The Ms. Bradwells, which Random House/Ballantine will publish probably the spring of 2011. It's a friendship story again, about 4 women who first meet at Michigan Law School who come together for a reunion of sorts in the present. (I've got to get my elevator pitch down soon.) Thanks for asking Johanna.

:-)

I love Atwood, too. Alice Munro tops my list.

Thank you, Holli, for inviting me to join this group.

Hi, Meg...what are you working on now?

~Johanna Moran

I was an Atwood fan before Alias Grace, but it's what made me an Atwood fanatic. :-)

Meg, Alias Grace is the Atwood book that truly made me fall in love with her writing. I just became so immersed in the story telling that I could not put the book down until I finished it. I have Cat's Eye on my bookshelf, but haven't read it yet. Its on my TBR list.

Nadia, my favorite Atwood is Alias Grace (on of my all time fave books) followed closely by The Handmaiden's Tale and Cat's Eye.

Heather, I have not read the new Atwood yet, but I heard an interview she gave on NPR about it and it made me want to read the book sooner, rather than later. Sounds like quite an interesting book! I've definitely enjoyed the few Atwood books I have read, The Handmaid's Tail and Alias Grace to name a few. Such fantastic writing!

Roxanna Robinson (Cost)

How could I have forgotten Maeve Binchy and Anita Shreve!

Sherrilyn Kenyon is one of my favorite female authors....

Christy wrote: "Pauline Alama,
Anne Bishop, Poppy Z. Brite, Kresley Cole, Rob Thurman"
Kresley Cole is a secret pleasure. Like eating large amounts of chocolate icecream late at night.
Heather wrote: "Meg wrote: "Welcome, Heather.

Just realized I should add one of my faves, who is lesser known here, I think, than across the pond: Barbara Pym"

Thank you. It is nice to stumble on a group tha..."

I usually really enjoy Allende as well but could not even finish Ines of My Soul, did you guys like it? I just could not get into it at all, which really surprised me. Has anyone read the new Atwood, The year of Flood. It looks really interesting. It seems like maybe her most SciFi of all?
Nadia wrote: "Amy, great pick - Allende! Love her writing!"

Amy wrote: "I love the following authors to start:
Sue Miller
Isabel Allende
Elizabeth Berg
Julia Glass
Anne Lamott
Frances Mayes
Alice Steinbach (Without Reservations a FAV!!)

Ann Patchett
Michelle R..."

I really loved reading your book, Meg.

A few others:

Michele Scott
Marilyn Brant
Jodi Picoult
Audrey Niffenegger
Helen Fielding
Mary Higgins Clark
Carole Higgins Clark
and because I'm also an avid knitter.....

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Elizabeth Zimmermann

On the historical fiction thing, my best writer pal: Brenda Rickman Vantrease. The Illuminator, The Mercy Seller, and - coming out next spring but I just finished reading it in manuscript! - The Heretic's Wife. Not that, you know, a Wednesday Sister would ever be a cheering squad for her friends' books! But Brenda and I were writing together long before either of us was published. :-)

Tera wrote: "I like historical fiction and often find that is written by women.

Indu Sundaresan
Phillipa Gregory
Margaret George"

I agree. I find all my favorite historical fiction is written by women. What about Jean Plaidy, Mary Renault and Karleen Koen?

Heather wrote: "Dolly wrote: "Meg, I also enjoyed your book and look forward to your next one.

Some others I've enjoyed are by:
Jodi Picoult
Kristin Hannah
Elin Hilderbrand
Danielle Steel
Audrey Niffenegge..."

I'm enjoying Ahab's Wife, I have about 100 pages left to finish it, I am interested in seeing how it ends.

I'm going to add Abundance to my to-read listing. Thanks Heather :)

Pauline Alama, Anne Bishop, Poppy Z. Brite, Kresley Cole, Rob Thurman

Meg wrote: "Welcome, Heather.

Just realized I should add one of my faves, who is lesser known here, I think, than across the pond: Barbara Pym"

Thank you. It is nice to stumble on a group that have read so many of my favorite authors. Pym is great!