female writers

[Gonzo]

I feel as though I have lack of female influence...

any suggestions?

(of course this is the first place I go to ask a literary question )

[ceptimus]

These are all nominally kids or 'young people' (ugh) books, but I enjoy them and I'm ancient.

Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
William Brown series (Just William) by Richmal Crompton
Casson Family series by Hilary McKay

Of course, you could always go sophisticated and read some Jane Austen. Maybe Pride and Prejudice or Emma.

If you fancy some non-fiction then Longitude by Dava Sobel is one of my favourites. Actually, it is a bit dramatised, but it's still basically a biographical book.

[lisarea]

I was thinking that myself recently, too, but I haven't been reading books that much lately, so nothing came of it. There's a lot of complaints that women writers are being automatically classified as "chick lit" in recent years, so I suspect there are more than a few good books out there that have been relegated to the pink ghetto by crappy taxonomies and cover design semiotics.

I don't know which ones yet, though.

Some good ones I can think of off the top of my head, though:

Zadie Smith
Arundhati Roy
Joyce Carol Oates
Margaret Atwood
Toni Morrison

Also, sometimes I like to look up the big book prizes like the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Booker Prize shortlist and stuff and read stuff from those. So that might be worth trying, too.

[Ymir's blood]

Shirley Jackson
Tanith Lee
Ursula K. LeGuin

[Watser?]

If you like science fiction try almost anything by Nancy Kress (but especially the Beggar's trilogy), Pat Cadigan or Ursula LeGuinn. Or The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

In general try Fay Weldon, Françoise Sagan, Doris Lessing, Arundhati Roy's The god of small things, Ariana Fallaci's A Man (but not Inshallah...) etc.

[chunksmediocrites]

In the categories of Fantasy and SciFi: Women authors whose works I own and would recommend highly:
Ursula K. LeGuin
Madeleine L'Engle
Kage Baker
Sherri S. Tepper
Patricia A. McKillip

Women authors who I've read and enjoyed:
Elizabeth Bear
Lynn Abbey
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Mercedes Lackey
Anne McCaffrey

[seebs]

Note that Sheri S. Tepper has written a number of excellent murder mysteries under pseudonyms. (I think one is B. J. Oliphaunt, but I can't remember the other.)

[Kael]

I like Margaret Weis and Anne McCaffery. Can't think of any others off the top of my head, but I'll be back if I remember them.

[livius drusus]

Tana French, man. She is a phenomenal writer of award-winning murder mysteries, a genuine boda fide genius and, in what is surely no coincidence, a good friend of mine since 7th grade.

In the Woods

The Likeness

Faithful Place

[The Lone Ranger]

Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Pretty much anything by Helena Cronin.

Pretty much anything by Natalie Angier.

[Qingdai]

Non-fiction: Barbara Ehrenreich, Mary Roach (who wrote Stiff.

I up your diversity and offer up a black female science fiction writer (who was a phenomenal writer in any category) Octavia Butler.

[S.Vashti]

Pearl Buck
Agatha Christi
Lois McMaster Bujold
Sara Paretsky
Virginia Woolf
Emily Dickinson

[chunksmediocrites]

Originally Posted by Chris Porter

Pearl Buck
Agatha Christi
Lois McMaster Bujold
Sara Paretsky
Virginia Woolf
Emily Dickinson

I was trying to think of Lois McMaster Bujold earlier, because Qingdai read a lot of her work and liked it.

and of course let us not forget to include Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

[Pan Narrans]

More fantasy: pretty much everything by Robin Hobb.

[Doctor X]

Dorothy Parker.

Ann Coulter.







What?

Sorry, wanted to hear collective bowels clench across the interwebs. Unfortunately, much of my reading is non-fiction. I would add Toni Morrison--very much enjoyed The Bluest Eye--but, sadly, my fiction collection is predominately escapism.

--J.D.

[Ensign Steve]

Alison Bechdel is a really talented comic book writer and drawer. I used to think I didn't like comics (even though I really wanted to) but then reading her, I realized I was just out of the demo for the ones I was being exposed to. Since then I've dug around and found all kinds of stuff I like by men and women.

[fragment]

Also in comics, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is excellent.

[Qingdai]

Oh, if we're getting to comic books then I've got some recommendations too.

Jessica Abel (Art Babe), Donna Bar (The Desert Peach about Rommel's gay brother is good), if you like something disturbing and very female Phoebe Glockner comes to mind. Her autobiographical work on being a teenage run away are hard to read, much less look at.
Mary Fleener if you like your comics cubist.

Carol Lay, Nina Paley for the non-breeding perspective, Julie Doucet although she no longer makes comic books.
There are some other younger women (Dame Darcy is one) that were pretty good, but I can't recall all of their names now.

[lisarea]

The Rumpus has a pretty good piece on "women's literature" here:

Beyond The Measure Of Men - The Rumpus.net

It's about the general phenomenon, but the story and the comments also include a few recommendations.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Originally Posted by Watser?

If you like science fiction try almost anything by Nancy Kress (but especially the Beggar's trilogy), Pat Cadigan or Ursula LeGuinn. Or The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

The Handmaid's Tale is more GOP playbook than science-fiction.

Excellent, terrifying book. I'm reading The Robber Bride now, which I'm really enjoying. Atwood's writing really captures women, I think, with a good feminist slant.

[The Lone Ranger]

Yeah, The Handmaid's Tale is all too believable. One of Atwood's points that I've always remembered is her observation that the victims of oppression, when given just a little bit of power over their fellow victims are often the most zealous supporters of the status quo.

For comparison, notice how many working-class people loudly blame the poor for their miserable state, while ardently supporting the very politicians who are actively working to keep poor and working-class people from advancing.

[Gonzo]

Originally Posted by Doctor X

sadly, my fiction collection is predominately escapism.

--J.D.

Ha ha, escapism. I almost never do that anymore, even reading fiction... I'm looking for some sort of answers or usually being critical without much aim. Which is funny because I like almost everything I read, anyway. Because I have impeccable taste.

Anyway, all. I've compiled a magnificent list and will check some of this stuff out.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Also, Suzanne Collins. I really liked The Hunger Games.

[freemonkey]

a few I've enjoyed and haven't seen mentioned yet:

Barbara Kingsolver
Binnie Kirshenbaum
Louise Erdrich (oh, I see she was mentioned earlier)
Isabel Allende

[Janet]

Somehow I missed this thread so I will add Nalo Hopkinson and Kij Johnson.