Way back in January (cold, snowy, hopeless,soul sucking January) I had a thought.
I don't read a lot of women authors.
I do read some of course. (Though a lot of time I don't pay attention to who the authors are, and if you're you have an ambiguously sexed name like myself, you might not be able to tell)
Almost all of my favorite authors are men.Margaret Atwood being the exception, because Margaret Atwood.
But only having one lady author as a favorite is just too few.
Every book that I review in the month of July will be written by a woman.
Women are awesome.
Women run countries, run companies, run households, birth humans (!), defend our country, fight for rights, stand up against injustice, go to work with colds that would level your average husband, cure diseases, and all kinds of other amazing things.
Seriously. Works of art. Every single one.
So, to help me with All-Lady July I need to hear about your favorite female authors and why they are your favorite. Tell me about a female author that you've always wanted to read but haven't gotten to yet.
I'm going to try to post/review more than normal this month so be ready for more content!
I'm going to try to post/review more than normal this month so be ready for more content!
Help me help all of us by giving more recognition to female writers.
We will be making one, and only one, small deviation from the theme. It's mini bloggiesta time in mid-July and I signed up to do a challenge on social media etiquette. I say it still fits with the theme, because I'm a lady and I wrote it! (Well I think my husband would challenge me being "lady like", I'm a lady and that's good enough for me!)
We will be making one, and only one, small deviation from the theme. It's mini bloggiesta time in mid-July and I signed up to do a challenge on social media etiquette. I say it still fits with the theme, because I'm a lady and I wrote it! (Well I think my husband would challenge me being "lady like", I'm a lady and that's good enough for me!)
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Also, Ambiguously Sexed would be the name of an all girl rock band that I would play tambourine for, who wants to play Keytar? Kuitar? I don't know how to spell that.
That is all.
I'll be your ambiguously-gendered keytar player!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite women authors are:
Carson McCullers
Toni Morrison
I really enjoyed Doris Lessing's "Martha Quest" but I've heard mixed reviews of her other books, so I will recommend that particular book instead of her corpus of work generally.
Iris Murdoch
Harper Lee
Zora Neale Hurston
Susanna Clarke
Sarah J. Maas
Susan Cooper
Louise Fitzhugh
Hooray! Thanks for the list! The only one I've read (shame on me) is Harper Lee. I will definitely doing some searching around on the rest of them!
DeleteI'm so excited that you're doing this! Here are some of my favorite fearless female authors:
ReplyDeleteShirley Jackson - creepy, ominous, awesome, easily readable classics
Mary Doria Russell - The Sparrow in particular is a super character study and a book that made me question
Cynthia Bond - just fearless and touching
Hillary Jordan - writes books with great premises and wildly different in scope
I could name lots more since I read mostly female authors, but I'll stop there. For now!
I loved "We Have Always Lived in A Castle" but that's the only Shirley Jackson I've read. And I read one Mary Doria Russell but not that one, though it's on my list. Thanks for the list!
DeleteJK Rowling, obviously, and then Tamora Pierce, Diana Wynne Jones, Juliet Marillier, Philippa Gregory...and I'm blanking on others. This is a great idea btw! :D
ReplyDeleteWeeeeelllll not to give away any surprises but Diana Wynne Jones will be making a showing this month!
DeleteMy favorite female author is Jen Lancaster. She mostly does memoirs but has recently started writing fiction as well. Personally, I think her first 2 memoirs are the best - Bitter is the New Black, and Bright Lights Big Ass. They're snarky, hysterical, and she's from Chicago so I actually knew half of the places she was talking about.
ReplyDeleteAs for books female authors I'd like to read - at some point this summer I'm going to tackle Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.
I read a lot of romance, mostly by female authors, and I tend to prefer my mysteries written by women, too. For more literary works, I'll second Zora Neale Hurston who I read for the first time this year. Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHow about a nonfiction selection? I recently finished Longitude by Dava Sobel (I hope to review it next week) and my husband recently read another of her books, Galileo's Daughter.