Recently realised I have completely unintentionally read books in the past year or so exclusively written by men. Not that there is a problem with this – I just was surprised when looking back on what I've read. McMurtry, Brautigan, Mccarthy, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Lovecraft, Shute, Aaronovitch, John Williams to name some.
Any recommendations at all from you lot for some great female authors or their books would be greatly appreciated. Fan of period settings and adventure, I suppose. Thanks in advance.
by LordBexley
16 Comments
O’Connor, Proulx, Murdock, Carter, Morrison…
The Door by Magda Szabó
Invisible Woman and Other Stories by Slavenka Drakulić
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich
Camilla Gibb, Margaret Lawrence, Margaret Atwood, Miriam Toewes, Anne McCaffrey, Jean M Auel, LM Montgomery
Fantasy: Lois McMaster Bujold (who’s much admired by Aaronovitch and also writes SciFi) and Megan Whelan Turner
If you don’t mind romance, Georgette Heyer.
Mystery, which were basically contemporary at the time and now period: Margery Allingham and Dorothy L Sayers.
The Eight by Katherine Neville – period settings and adventure, female MCs
Possession by A. S. Byatt
ML Wang, RF Kuang, Susanna Clarke, Betty Smith, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Erin Morgenstern
Most of these are more on the fantasy side with the exception of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Betty Smith, but most of them are fairly adventurous, and RF Kuang and Susanna Clarke both have books that are technically fantasy but also period pieces!
Willa Cather and Carson McCullers would both fit in well with your list. My Antonia by Willa Cather is a great place to start!
Other thoughts:
Betty Smith and Dodie Smith are my personal favourite female authors and great options for period settings. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I Capture the Castle are wonderful reads that I keep returning to.
Daphne du Maurier perhaps?
Not adventure so much but historical settings with psychological suspense.
Tracy Chevalier for more period settings.
Also Toni Morrison 👍
Barbara Kingsolver, Ann Patchett, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Daphne Du Maurier, Donna Tartt
Sci-fi & Fantasy: Ursula K LeGuin, Octavia Butler, NK Jemison, Martha Wells, Tamsyn Muir, Becky Chambers
Susanna Clarke – Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Margaret Atwood – Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx & Crake
Tamsyn Muir – Locked Tomb Trilogy
Martha Wells – Murderbot Series
Robin Hobb, Becky Chambers, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler….
I just read Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and LOVED it! It’s a fantasy novel loosely inspired by Rumplestiltskin.
Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche (Americanah, Half of Yellow Sun, Dream Count)
Thrity Umrigar (The Museum of Failures, Honor)
Jhumpa Lahiri (especially The Namesake, The Lowland)
Louise Erdich (The Round House especially)
Ann Patchett (Bel Canto is my fave, but many great books)
Barbara Kingsolver (Demon Copperhead, but also everything)
Yaa Gyasi (especially Homegoing)
Jesmyn Ward (especially Salvage the Bones and Where the Line Bleeds)
Etaf Rum (especially A Woman is No Man)
Weike Wang (Joan is Okay and Chemistry)
Claire Lombardo (Same as it Ever Was and The Most Fun We Ever Had)
Min Jin Lee (especially Pachinko)
Sally Rooney (especially Intermezzo and Normal People)
Barbara Kingsolver
Louise Erdrich
Claire North
Mariana Enríquez
Daughter of Fortune
Washington Black
She Would Be King
How Much of these Hills is Gold
The Bullet Swallower
The King Must Die
Here’s a mixed bag, a few:
Toni Morrison
George Eliot
Elaine Dundy
Zadie Smith
Marilynne Robinson
Helen DeWitt
Han Kang
and. Ruth Rendell
Octavia Butler will always get my vote.
Barbara Kingsolver. Annie Proulx.