A few that I don't think have been mentioned yet:

George Eliot

Edith Wharton

Barbara Pym

I haven't read her yet, but my husband likes
Isabel Allende

How about some great children's classics authors:
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Louisa May Alcott

Lucy Maud Montgomery

I am a big fan of Lauren B. Davis, Canadian author extraordinaire. I just finished her latest collection of short stories, An Unrehearsed Desire, and was blown away. Each story is a gem, and the variety of characters and voices are so engaging I couldn't put the book down. It is a true pleasure to recommend this collection. Character and plot development is what keeps a reader turning the page. These stories are page turners!
I also loved her novel, The Stubborn Season, which is about a young girl growing up during the depression years. I read it a few years ago when it was on the Canadian best-seller lists, I also highly recommend it.

Look up a lady on here named Monica Drake. Her book Clown Girl was fantastic. Really funny and sad all at the same time and really wonderfully written.

If you like short stories, I recommend Kate Chopin. Particularly "The Story of an Hour" and "Desiree's Baby", the latter being my favorite. You can actually find them available for free on the internet. They are old enough that I think they fall into the public domain.

Thanks! Hotel Transylvania sounds right up my alley. Vampires AND historical fiction? Sold.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has a great historical series featuring her seductive vampire, the Comte de Saint-Germain. Start with Hotel Transylvania.

There are have been SO many great authors recommended already! Here are a few that I didn't notice mentioned yet that I love:

Joanne Harris (Chocolat, The Girl with No Shadow: A Novel)
Tracy Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring)
Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)
Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon)
Brunonia Barry (Lace Reader)

I love the Amelia Peabody books. Be sure to read them in order.

For really cute and funny mysteries about a family of Egyptian Archaeologists, check out Elizabeth Peters' series of Amelia Peabody mysteries.

For somewhat more of a "bodice ripper" style of mystery/suspense/romance...check out Lauren Willig's "Pink Carnation" series....or for something along those lines that is less cheesy romance, check out Tasha Alexander's series (And Only to Decieve, Poisoned Season, Fatal Waltz)

Jeane wrote: "Robin I think you can click to choose that when you add a book or author with the button above right when you add a comment. There is the option as link or cover.."

Ah thanks...Let me try it ...

Oh-for something completely different--Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea. Don't want to spoil the surprise.

And Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis--graphic novel re:autobiography growing up in Iran in the 70's. Riveting.They made a movie of it, but did not come to my area.

Annie Proulx-"the shipping news." I will never forget it. Her "brokeback mountain" story has become very famous, obviously, but this one is the masterpiece: prose poetry.

I still think Prodigal Summer by B. Kingsolver is a better book than Poisonwood Bible.

Annie Dillard--An American Childhood, or if you are a nature nut like me, try Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Laura Esquivel for a little magic realism lite (Like Water for Chocolate)

Alice Hoffman for fun--american magical realism??

Ursula LeGuin if you like scifi

Oh I have to stop. this could go on forever!

Jane, I've mostly read Joyce Carol Oates's novels and not much of her short stories, but the older novels I've read by her all basically tell the same story. I became really unhappy with her for that reason years ago. However, I hear her short stories are amazing so I keep promising I'll try some of that.

Joyce Carol Oates is always good. She writes about some really badass females, no girly girls here. I've only ever read her short stories and none of her novels, but maybe the trend carries over to her novels.

How about:

Evensong
M L St. Sure



M L St. Sure's Evensong is a powerful and captivating historical romance novel, set in World War II, about a beautiful, celebrated opera singer forced to sing the singspiel before Hitler. Amidst terrible consequences, after heartbreaking conflict and loss, the heroine's voice carries the ultimate message of courage and freedom.

Amazon


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow Liz! Thanks!

During grad school I went through a phase of needing to read more women authors primarily assisted by:

and

I'd recommend:
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky
Land of the Burnt Thigh by Edith Eudora Kohl
Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto
Moo by Jane Smiley
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe: A Novel by Fannie Flagg
Martyrs' Crossing by Amy Wilentz
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
The Shipping News : A Novel by Annie Proulx
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
The Good Mother: A Novel by Sue Miller
Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
My Antonia by Willa Cather

And if THAT isn't enough, I have a shelf named 500-women-all which lists the books included in 500 Great Books by Women

was gonna answer but jeane beat me to it, lolz.

Robin I think you can click to choose that when you add a book or author with the button above right when you add a comment. There is the option as link or cover..

Offmatt - how do you do the thing with the book covers?

I love Shannon Hale, Sharon Creech and Gail Carson Levine if you like Y/A books.

Jeane wrote: I also start to like the books Cecelia Ahern.

Jeane, I love Ahern's books. I've listened to them on CD which is a treat because the narrator speaks with an Irish accent so it really adds to the stories. I've listened to "PS I Love You" and "Wish You Were Here".

After all i heard about Iris Murdoch I am very curious too, since many years...but still haven't read anything yet to know what I think about it.

Bettie wrote: "Iris Murdoch is my favorite female wordsmith ."

I have the book and the brotherhood on my tbr pille. i'm very curius about her

Oh, and how could I forget Sara Douglas! Threshold is a must read.

I can't believe Dorothea Benton Frank's not on the list. She is one of my faves.....I met her at a book signing, and that made me like her even more. Her books are great.

Iris Murdoch is my favorite female wordsmith and along a more contemporary line I enjoy Sarah Waters, Kate Mosse and Diana Setterfield.

I started reading this thread thinking I had a few to add but by the time I got to the bottom of the list you guys had named almost everyone I thought of!

A few more additions:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Marian Keyes-fun Chick lit
Emily Giffen-ditto
Marisa de los Santos-more women's fiction than chick lit

Jan Karon-The Mitford series

Barbara Hambly is probably my favorite female author. Followed closely by Ursula K. Le Guin. For light reading, I also enjoy Mercedes Lackey.

Hmm I guess I don't pay attention to male/female but on thinking - I read more male then female authors.

My favorite female authors that I can think of off the top of my head:

J.K. Rowling
Ursula K. LeGuin
Sara Guen (Water for Elephants is very special)

-- Wife of GR Author Michael J. Sullivan | The Crown Conspiracy | Avempartha

I love books written by Maeve Binchy too. There are full of feelings and most of the time situated in Ireland, mainly Dublin. I also start to like the books Cecelia Ahern. She wrote PS I love you and another one I really liked was THank you for the memories.

Some of these are repeats but here goes:

Amy Tan
Barbara Kingsolver
Anne Rivers Siddons - southern lit
Diana Gabaldon
Billie Letts
Anne Tyler
Annie Proulx
M M Kaye - The Far Pavilions
Kiran Desai - her second and latest book, 'The Inheritance of Loss', was very good

Great thread, I haven't read many of these ladies' works or haven't been exposed to them...

Non-fiction: Sarah Vowell.

I wish she had taught my history classes in school.

Definitely check out Barbara Kingsolver

i agree with the recs of Elizabeth George, Anita Shreve, Anne Rice, Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and Jodi Picoult.

i'd add Barbara Delinsky (her newer stuff is better) and also Jennifer Weiner. her stuff is mostly considered chic lit, but it's not all fluff.

on the chic lit strain, Jennifer Cruise is great (check out the two she co-wrote with male authors, they are laugh out loud funny) and Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Chicago Stars books. I haven't read any others from her, i couldn't get in to them. but the Stars books were really good.

Anytime Mosca... I've never really thought about how many female authors there are out there that I haven't read. My TBR shelf is going to be overflowing soon!

Female Science Fiction writers:

Ursula K. LeGuin
Kate Wilhelm
Connie Willis(excellent)
Lois McMaster Bujold
Pat Murphy
C.J. Cherryh
Octavia E. Butler
Maureen F. McHugh
Susanna Clarke

and separately in another catgory
Native American Literature:

Louise Erdrich

Also Southern (US) Literature:

Carson McCullers
Harper Lee

and my current favorite:

Barbara Kingsolver

Thank you, Becky, for starting this thread!

I have read Mary Doria Russell... "The Sparrow" was pretty good, but I wasn't rushing off to get the sequel. One of these days, I do want to get "Thread of Grace" though. The historical-fiction aspect might be more up my alley.

What about Maria Doria Russell and Andrea Barrett for general fiction and the Agatha Christie in mysteries.

I read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood and didn't love it, but it stays with me, and I find myself thinking of the world she created at odd times, so perhaps I should reread it. I may appreciate it more the 2nd time around.

I do have "Oryx and Crake" on my OTR (Owned to read) list, and I am looking forward to that one. Post-apocalyptic wasteland? Count me in!

Also, I picked up "Year of Wonders" today, by Geraldine Brooks. And I am planning on getting "Water For Elephants" tomorrow.

And then I'm done book-buying. Until 2010 that is. ;)

I dont kow why, but the woman authors I have read tended to be chick lit authors.

Here are a few that were very well written, and a more mature type of chick lit:
Monica Wood - Any Bitter Thing
Michelle Wildgen - You're Not You

For fun chick lit:
Anna Maxted - Getting Over It
Sophia Kinsella - Shopaholic series
Aimee Bender - Invisble Sign of My Own

For fun paranormal lit:
Charlaine Harris - Sookie Southern Vampire series.

Oh, and I forgot Ursula K. LeGuin. I've really liked some of her science fiction/fantasy novels.

Joy Fielding, Erica Spindler, Sandra Brown, Lisa Gardner (great mystery authors)

Jodi Picoult another favorite of mine.

Kandice wrote: "Fiona wrote: "Margaret Atwood! She's one I really want to read. I have a couple of her books, 3 actually The Blind Assassin, The Edible Woman (I think) and another I can't remember."

Have you re..."


Haven't read any of hers yet. She seems a bit weird! I did start Assassin and I remember liking it but I was just too busy at the time to get into it.

Edith Wharton is a must-read (The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence).

I also highly recommend Margaret Atwood.
Others I would recommend:
Flannery O'Connor
Annie Dillard
Joan Didion
Cynthia Ozick
Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)
Anais Nin
Alice Munro
Doris Lessing
Charlotte Gilman Perkins
Toni Morrison
Kate Chopin

I really could go on forever... :)

I forgot Joyce Carol Oates, another favorite - some of her books I like more than others, but her short stories are intense.

Oh, so many! Here are some of my favorite "classics":
Katherine Mansfield
Alice Hoffman
Margaret Atwood
Toni Morrison
Isabel Allende
Sylvia Plath
Marilynne Robinson

Here are some that may not be taught in English classes, but I still love:
Manette Ansay
Jenny Maxwell
Sue Monk Kidd
Anita Shreve
Anne Rivers Siddons

Fiona wrote: "Margaret Atwood! She's one I really want to read. I have a couple of her books, 3 actually The Blind Assassin, The Edible Woman (I think) and another I can't remember."

Have you read the Blind Assassin? I am desperately trying, but just can't get into it?

Margaret Atwood! She's one I really want to read. I have a couple of her books, 3 actually The Blind Assassin, The Edible Woman (I think) and another I can't remember.