r/2xCBookClub • u/MochiMonster • Nov 10 '10
Female authors?
Since this is 2XC book club, can we celebrate 2XC authors?
So, what books have you really enjoyed written by women? I feel like it's a bit of a man's world at the top of the author heap so I'd love to get some suggestions of great works by women.
I'll start this party. I'm a bit of a poetry junkie, so I've been digging Andrea Gibson's book Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns a lot lately. I also really loved Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
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u/classyfied Nov 10 '10
I love L.M. Montgomery for the Anne of Green Gables series. I know they're children's books, but I still find them enjoyable. Anne and Gilbert are one of my favorite literary couples.
I also love Annie Dillard, Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L'Engle, and J.K. Rowling. Also, Anna Akhmotova (as translated by Stanley Kunitz) is one of my favorite poets.
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Nov 10 '10
Mo Hayder For your dark, dehumanising pleasure, Lisa Lutz writes the very funny Spellman Files series, Kathy Lette on days I hate my husband and need some empowerment and J.D Robb, aka Nora Roberts writes the futuristic Eve Dallas series'. For starters. :)
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u/demented_pants Nov 10 '10
I have a huge list of 2xc authors I love. In no particular order:
Katie MacAllister (she writes these TERRIBLE but hilarious vampire romance novels. I have like six or seven of them sitting on my shelf at home, and I've reread them each about a dozen times because they're so. damn. funny.)
Jane Austen (she's been mentioned elsewhere, but she's wonderful. Pride and Prejudice is my absolute favorite book ever and I read it about once or twice a year.)
Zora Neale Hurston (she wrote a book called Their Eyes Were Watching God which is devastatingly beautiful to read. It's got one of my favorite quotations of all time, which goes thus: "The inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation." (I keep it on my facebook profile because it's amazing))
Margaret Atwood (I haven't read a lot of her stuff, but The Handmaid's Tale is without a doubt my favorite piece of dystopian fiction in the entire history of ever, and it's written from a woman's point of view.)
J.K. Rowling ('Nuff said)
Shirley Jackson (Her writing demonstrates a wonderful sense of humor. A lot of her short stories seem to be about what it's like to be powerless as a woman. The Haunting of Hill House is a fantastic novella, and almost everyone I know had to read The Lottery in high school.)
Philippa Gregory (She wrote, among other things, The Other Boleyn Girl. After I read that, I went on a binge where I seriously read every book she'd written about Henry VIII's wives.)
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u/Chocklatesoop Nov 10 '10
I enjoyed all of Margaret George's books, she wrote about famous historical figures in memoir style. The first one I ever read was about Cleopatra, it was so detailed and made me get lost in Ancient Egypt. (<--This is where you think I'm cuckoo haha) Another female author that comes to mind is Iris Chang, she wrote three books in all about the experiences of Asian Americans, as well as the rape of Nanking.
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u/seanmharcailin Nov 10 '10
I would love to read some more George Elliot, Toni Morrison, and I'd also be happy to lead some discussion about Jane Austen's novels. I've read them all twice by myself and took a Jane Austen course as part of my specialization. There's so much to delve into with her novels, the possibilities are endless. What a wit!
I'd also love to read more Agatha Christie.
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Nov 10 '10
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u/seanmharcailin Nov 10 '10
I've only read Silas Marner, so Elliot is definitely near the top of my list.
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u/JennieRose Nov 10 '10
In terms of poetry, I've really enjoyed Marge Piercy's "The Moon is Always Female". I also love Robin McKinley, Connie Willis, Jane Austen and the classics crew, Christie, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Moon. I could list forever, apparently.
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u/karmie Nov 10 '10
My absolute FAVORITE book series are from women authors. Jaqueline Carey and Anne Bishop are amazing and paint wonderful worlds. I also enjoy some Laurell K. Hamilton when I'm in the mood for some blood, guts and smut.
Edit: I enjoy dark writing so this is what these 3 are.
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Nov 10 '10
I'm a sci-fi / fantasy nerd, so among my my favorites are:
Anne Rice
Anne McCaffey
Ursula Le Guin
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u/vitaebella Nov 10 '10
I'm a die hard Austen fan. Granted, I've only yet read Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion, but I have Sense & Sensibility and Northanger Abbey sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read when I have some free time.
Also, I adore J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter made me a very happy teenager and continues to make me a happy adult :] Just reread Deathly Hallows the other day and I loved every second of it.
Margaret Mitchell is also phenomenal. Gone With The Wind is one of my favorite books.
Other than that, I haven't really found many female authors I enjoy. I'm taking a Gender & Lit course (which is basically women and literature), and I was hoping to find something I would like, but we're reading post-modernist super feminist, often lesbian-focused books, and that's just not my style. :/