No Pride in my Prejudice
March 10, 2008 4:13 AM Subscribe
Help balance my male dominated library. Looking for authors that happen to be female and great reads (either literature or very good genre). Specifics inside.
I am a voracious reader and have noticed that my bookshelf has at present one female author (a thriller by Tess Gernstein, that was given to me by a colleague, was OK but nothing special). I don't conciously screen against female authors when scanning the shelves at book shops but seems fairly obvious that my prejudices are causing me to overlook them, otherwise I'd have more.
So what books that happen to be written by females are great reads? I must confess that I have read Woolf, Jean Rhys, Brontes and all left me cold. Austen I can appreciate as technically very good but doesn't grab me.
The female equivalents or similair to my following (personal) male cannon especially appreciated; Nabokov, Pelevin, Neal Stephenson, Jim Dodge, David Mitchell. Literature or rip roaring reads please. (Critiques of my shocking chauvinism welcome as long as kept short and followed by good recommendations.)
I am a voracious reader and have noticed that my bookshelf has at present one female author (a thriller by Tess Gernstein, that was given to me by a colleague, was OK but nothing special). I don't conciously screen against female authors when scanning the shelves at book shops but seems fairly obvious that my prejudices are causing me to overlook them, otherwise I'd have more.
So what books that happen to be written by females are great reads? I must confess that I have read Woolf, Jean Rhys, Brontes and all left me cold. Austen I can appreciate as technically very good but doesn't grab me.
The female equivalents or similair to my following (personal) male cannon especially appreciated; Nabokov, Pelevin, Neal Stephenson, Jim Dodge, David Mitchell. Literature or rip roaring reads please. (Critiques of my shocking chauvinism welcome as long as kept short and followed by good recommendations.)
Margaret Atwood, so very much. The Blind Assassin is one of the best books I've ever read.
posted by mattoxic at 4:29 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by mattoxic at 4:29 AM on March 10, 2008
If like David Mitchell, I'd give A.L. Kennedy and the earlier Nicola Barker a gander.
posted by meerkatty at 4:30 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by meerkatty at 4:30 AM on March 10, 2008
Jeanette Winterson, Isabel Allende, maybe Duras' The Lover (I didn't really take to that one but it came highly recommended).
posted by dreamphone at 4:51 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by dreamphone at 4:51 AM on March 10, 2008
The House of Mirth
Summer
Ethan Frome
The Age of Innocence
-All by Edith Wharton
posted by quentiniii at 4:55 AM on March 10, 2008
Summer
Ethan Frome
The Age of Innocence
-All by Edith Wharton
posted by quentiniii at 4:55 AM on March 10, 2008
Start here:
Flannery O'Connor
Nthing Margaret Atwood
Amy Tan
Zora Neale Hurston
Also, if you're interested in short stories: Like Life, Birds of America, and Self Help by Lorrie Moore. Pick them up immediately. I cannot recommend her writing emphatically enough.
posted by numinous at 4:57 AM on March 10, 2008
Flannery O'Connor
Nthing Margaret Atwood
Amy Tan
Zora Neale Hurston
Also, if you're interested in short stories: Like Life, Birds of America, and Self Help by Lorrie Moore. Pick them up immediately. I cannot recommend her writing emphatically enough.
posted by numinous at 4:57 AM on March 10, 2008
Memoirs of Hadrian or The Abyss by Marguerite Yourcenar.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 4:59 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by lucia__is__dada at 4:59 AM on March 10, 2008
Zadie Smith
posted by quentiniii at 5:01 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by quentiniii at 5:01 AM on March 10, 2008
Angela Carter, Connie Willis, maybe Susanna Clarke, maybe Patricia Highsmith
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 5:26 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 5:26 AM on March 10, 2008
My bookshelves betray a similar unconscious chauvinism, so I will be watching this thread with interest. I do have one recommendation: Isak Dinesen’s (i.e. Karen Blixen’s) stories: especially Seven Gothic Tales, Winter’s Tales and Anecdotes of Destiny.
posted by misteraitch at 5:27 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by misteraitch at 5:27 AM on March 10, 2008
Yeah, Ursula Le Guin gets a huge 'seconded' from me. The Earthsea chronicles are a must read.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:29 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by slimepuppy at 5:29 AM on March 10, 2008
Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen
Kitchen By Banana Yoshimoto
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (among many others...
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Orlando by Sally Potter and Virginia Woolf
...anything involving Dorothy Parker
posted by Alison at 5:29 AM on March 10, 2008
Kitchen By Banana Yoshimoto
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (among many others...
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Orlando by Sally Potter and Virginia Woolf
...anything involving Dorothy Parker
posted by Alison at 5:29 AM on March 10, 2008
Margret Atwood = Super Yes
And for rollicking good reads: "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, "The Eight" by Katherine Neville, and "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:38 AM on March 10, 2008
And for rollicking good reads: "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, "The Eight" by Katherine Neville, and "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:38 AM on March 10, 2008
20th century classics:
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm!
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Arundhati Roy - God of Small Things
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Reliably very very good:
Jane Smiley, e.g. The Greenlanders,
Kate Atkinson e.g. Behind the Scenes at the Museum,
Willa Cather e.g. My Antonia
Definitely at least try:
Iris Murdoch, Mary Renault, Mary Stewart, Francoise Sagan; Zadie Smith
Children's authors but a masterclass in prose:
Rosemary Sutcliffe, Jan Mark
posted by runincircles at 5:55 AM on March 10, 2008
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm!
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Arundhati Roy - God of Small Things
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Reliably very very good:
Jane Smiley, e.g. The Greenlanders,
Kate Atkinson e.g. Behind the Scenes at the Museum,
Willa Cather e.g. My Antonia
Definitely at least try:
Iris Murdoch, Mary Renault, Mary Stewart, Francoise Sagan; Zadie Smith
Children's authors but a masterclass in prose:
Rosemary Sutcliffe, Jan Mark
posted by runincircles at 5:55 AM on March 10, 2008
The Secret History by Donna Tartt, definitely.
posted by bent back tulips at 5:58 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by bent back tulips at 5:58 AM on March 10, 2008
The Ten Thousand Things, by Maria Dermout.
Also seconding anything by Flannery O'Conner.
posted by newmoistness at 5:59 AM on March 10, 2008
Also seconding anything by Flannery O'Conner.
posted by newmoistness at 5:59 AM on March 10, 2008
I'd recommend Synners by Pat Cadigan. I'd rate it up there with Stephenson's Snow Crash.
posted by aperture_priority at 6:12 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by aperture_priority at 6:12 AM on March 10, 2008
Lots of good suggestions so far. Let me add Eleanor Arnason (especially her science fiction novel Ring of Swords) to the list of genre books. I liked Heidi Julavits' The Effect of Living Backwards. Dara Horn's The World to Come was also quite good. Neither is a masterpiece but they're both good, interesting young authors.
posted by Kattullus at 6:15 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by Kattullus at 6:15 AM on March 10, 2008
Ann Patchett -- especially Bel Canto.
posted by Perplexity at 6:21 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by Perplexity at 6:21 AM on March 10, 2008
Toni Morrison. Start with Song of Solomon.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:21 AM on March 10, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by CiaoMela at 7:21 AM on March 10, 2008 [1 favorite]
Cynthia Ozick's Heir to the Glimmering World
posted by The Straightener at 7:28 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by The Straightener at 7:28 AM on March 10, 2008
Tatyana Tolstaya.
Pat Barker.
Helen DeWitt (The Last Samurai is one of the best novels of the last decade, and no, it has nothing to do with the Tom Cruise movie).
Olivia Manning (The Balkan Trilogy, The Levant Trilogy).
Hilary Mantel.
Susan Sontag (The Volcano Lover).
Lady Murasaki (Tale of Genji).
posted by languagehat at 8:16 AM on March 10, 2008
Pat Barker.
Helen DeWitt (The Last Samurai is one of the best novels of the last decade, and no, it has nothing to do with the Tom Cruise movie).
Olivia Manning (The Balkan Trilogy, The Levant Trilogy).
Hilary Mantel.
Susan Sontag (The Volcano Lover).
Lady Murasaki (Tale of Genji).
posted by languagehat at 8:16 AM on March 10, 2008
Two more that should fit your tastes: A. S. Byatt, Octavia Butler.
posted by RogerB at 8:45 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by RogerB at 8:45 AM on March 10, 2008
In your opinion, who are the best female science fiction authors?
I would like to make an effort to read more books by women authors.
Also possibly relevant.
I'll second Pat Cadigan for scifi, too. Mindplayers and Synners are the two I always recommend in threads like this.
posted by mediareport at 8:51 AM on March 10, 2008
I would like to make an effort to read more books by women authors.
Also possibly relevant.
I'll second Pat Cadigan for scifi, too. Mindplayers and Synners are the two I always recommend in threads like this.
posted by mediareport at 8:51 AM on March 10, 2008
Seconding Barbara Kingsolver (esp. The Poisonwood Bible) and Zadie Smith (esp. On Beauty). I also loved Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and, if you haven't read it earlier, To Kill a Mockingbird is a must.
posted by peacheater at 8:56 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by peacheater at 8:56 AM on March 10, 2008
Oooh, seconding Nadine Gordimer as well, especially A Sport of Nature.
posted by peacheater at 8:57 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by peacheater at 8:57 AM on March 10, 2008
P.D. James. Children of Men was a mediocre movie, but a fantastic book, and her mystery/crime novels are also quite good.
posted by decathecting at 9:14 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by decathecting at 9:14 AM on March 10, 2008
Seconding Pat Barker, especially her WWI trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, Ghost Road). And Willa Cather too, though I could never get through either My Antonia or O Pioneers. I prefer Death Comes for the Archbishop and Old Mrs. Harris (novella).
posted by expialidocious at 9:22 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by expialidocious at 9:22 AM on March 10, 2008
Kathe Koja. I haven't read her YA stuff, but her (dark, dreamy) short stories are excellent.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:26 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:26 AM on March 10, 2008
Seconding Jeannette Winterson. Not to everyone's taste, but remarkable and underappreciated. Start with Sexing the Cherry to jump in feet-first.
posted by hippugeek at 9:37 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by hippugeek at 9:37 AM on March 10, 2008
some suggestions beyond the above:
dorothy sayers.
elizabeth bear, particularly carnival.
earlier sara paretski (i found v.i. got a bit grumpy as the years went on).
posted by rmd1023 at 10:02 AM on March 10, 2008
dorothy sayers.
elizabeth bear, particularly carnival.
earlier sara paretski (i found v.i. got a bit grumpy as the years went on).
posted by rmd1023 at 10:02 AM on March 10, 2008
Aimee Bender, either short stories or An Invisible Sign of My Own. She's not sci-fi but definitely playful and thoughtful like the authors you cite.
posted by zepheria at 10:28 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by zepheria at 10:28 AM on March 10, 2008
Patricia McKillip. Incredibly skilled author of fiction that, if you were to nail it to a genre, could be called fantasy.
posted by Riemann at 11:15 AM on March 10, 2008
posted by Riemann at 11:15 AM on March 10, 2008
I would have to say I generally follow your tastes, and so I'd give a big n to atwood and leguin, but I'd highly recommend you stay away from kingsolver- despite what others have been saying.
posted by Large Marge at 12:36 PM on March 10, 2008
posted by Large Marge at 12:36 PM on March 10, 2008
Has anyone said Alice Walker yet? Start with the Color Purple.
posted by lunit at 1:37 PM on March 10, 2008
posted by lunit at 1:37 PM on March 10, 2008
Jhumpa Lahiri--The Namesake (about a family whose parents are immigrants to the US from India)
Kathy Page--Alphabet (about an illiterate murderer who learns to read and write in prison and begins writing letters to women. Very non-sensationalistic story about the prison system, redemption, sexuality. Gritty but not gratuitous.)
Miriam Toews--A Complicated Kindness (about a young girl growing up in a very strict religious community, and her desire to escape)
Heather O'Neill--Lullabies for Little Criminals (about a young girl growing up on the streets with a junkie father)
Anne Tyler--Digging To America (a shrewd, engaging social commentary on the nature of interracial adoptions--one Korean baby is adopted by the stereotypical "all-American" family; the other Korean baby is adopted by a family of Iranian-American immigrants)
All these books feature compelling stories combined with excellent writing, IMO.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:09 PM on March 10, 2008
Kathy Page--Alphabet (about an illiterate murderer who learns to read and write in prison and begins writing letters to women. Very non-sensationalistic story about the prison system, redemption, sexuality. Gritty but not gratuitous.)
Miriam Toews--A Complicated Kindness (about a young girl growing up in a very strict religious community, and her desire to escape)
Heather O'Neill--Lullabies for Little Criminals (about a young girl growing up on the streets with a junkie father)
Anne Tyler--Digging To America (a shrewd, engaging social commentary on the nature of interracial adoptions--one Korean baby is adopted by the stereotypical "all-American" family; the other Korean baby is adopted by a family of Iranian-American immigrants)
All these books feature compelling stories combined with excellent writing, IMO.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:09 PM on March 10, 2008
Ursula K. LeGuin
Margaret Atwood (Blind Assasin, and The Robber Bride especially)
Kage Baker (If you like Sci-fi, with a historical, literate twist)
Angela Carter (for a more avante-garde literature taste)
Barbara Kingsolver
Flannery O'Connor
Shirley Jackson
Charlotte Perkins Doyle
Jamaica Kincaid
posted by nikksioux at 2:26 PM on March 10, 2008
Margaret Atwood (Blind Assasin, and The Robber Bride especially)
Kage Baker (If you like Sci-fi, with a historical, literate twist)
Angela Carter (for a more avante-garde literature taste)
Barbara Kingsolver
Flannery O'Connor
Shirley Jackson
Charlotte Perkins Doyle
Jamaica Kincaid
posted by nikksioux at 2:26 PM on March 10, 2008
"The Time of the Doves" (aka "La placa del Diamant") by Merce Rodoreda. From the outset its prose seems almost deceptively simple, but it's actually a very layered commentary on the Spanish Civil War.
Personally, I also like (or remember liking...) stuff by Anais Nin, Marguerite Duras, Angela Carter and Joan Aiken... but their styles may not be to your taste. Angela Carter's "Love" was/is the book I've always wished I could write.
posted by aielen at 4:37 PM on March 10, 2008
Personally, I also like (or remember liking...) stuff by Anais Nin, Marguerite Duras, Angela Carter and Joan Aiken... but their styles may not be to your taste. Angela Carter's "Love" was/is the book I've always wished I could write.
posted by aielen at 4:37 PM on March 10, 2008
Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow is also a terrific book. Humans discover aliens, head out into space to meet them, things go pear-shaped from there....
posted by Pigpen at 5:26 PM on March 10, 2008
posted by Pigpen at 5:26 PM on March 10, 2008
Also, Doris Lessing, The Fifth Child and its sequel, Ben in the World. Couple buy a big Victorian house and plan to fill it a big, happy family, plans go awry when the fifth child turns out to be.... different.
posted by Pigpen at 5:36 PM on March 10, 2008
posted by Pigpen at 5:36 PM on March 10, 2008
I think nikksioux means Charlotte Perkins Gilman, whose short stories can be good reads, and are fascinating as historical documents, but aren't nearly as interesting from a literary standpoint, imho, as those of, say, Kate Chopin. Chopin's Creole-flavored stories are both beautifully written *and* historically interesting, and her novel The Awakening is one of those classics that you start reading because you're supposed to and enjoy thoroughly in growing surprise. And here's another vote for Willa Cather's My Ántonia; it's filled with stunningly sharp and beautiful passages about land, love and the trials of pioneer life.
Classic, highly readable American fiction, all three.
posted by mediareport at 7:11 PM on March 10, 2008
Classic, highly readable American fiction, all three.
posted by mediareport at 7:11 PM on March 10, 2008
Oh my goodness! *blushes* I absolument meant Charlotte Perkins Gilman! Thanks, mediareport!
posted by nikksioux at 8:05 PM on March 10, 2008
posted by nikksioux at 8:05 PM on March 10, 2008
Evelyn Waugh.
That was a joke.
I don't read great literature, so I'm going to have to give you some entertaining genre material I suppose.
The Harry Potter series really is a decent read if you haven't gotten to it. JK Rowling is good at spinning a tale.
I've read one or two of Faye Kellerman's books (she's the wife of the psychological myster writer Jonathan Kellerman) and they were pretty good. I think she writes mostly historical fiction; the one I rememered was a very interesting slant on the story of William Shakespeare that intertwines his story with a Spanish Jewish woman (a conversa, I guess you'd call her) who escaped to England with her family and is posing as an Anglican. Pretty interesting...looks like it was called The quality of mercy.
Agatha Christie pretty much (re)defined the "dead gentleman in the study" genre. Every time you read a novel where the detective gathers all of the suspects into one room, you can probably thank Christie for that conceit. She also draws a strong contrast to Arthur Conan Doyle's work: Holmes is obsessed with physical clues, while both of her most famous detectives--Poirot and Miss Marple--are more closely focused on the psychological. Actually, I think mystery might be the genre in which you find the strongest writing coming from females.
There is this amazing, amazing book written by a woman. The name of both the book and the author escape me, but basically it was a modern take on the fairy tale and incredibly well written. I believe the title had the word "bird" in it, or the name of a kind of bird...Yes! Found it: The Djinn in the Nightengale's Eye by A. S. Byatt. Worth reading the whole book for "The Story of the Eldest Princess" which deconstructs (but in an entirely entertaining way) the traditional fairy tale. And actually even though these are all fairy tales I suppose they really do fall under "literature". (tiny irony: A.S. Byatt totally panned the Harry Potter series)
posted by Deathalicious at 10:17 PM on March 10, 2008
That was a joke.
I don't read great literature, so I'm going to have to give you some entertaining genre material I suppose.
The Harry Potter series really is a decent read if you haven't gotten to it. JK Rowling is good at spinning a tale.
I've read one or two of Faye Kellerman's books (she's the wife of the psychological myster writer Jonathan Kellerman) and they were pretty good. I think she writes mostly historical fiction; the one I rememered was a very interesting slant on the story of William Shakespeare that intertwines his story with a Spanish Jewish woman (a conversa, I guess you'd call her) who escaped to England with her family and is posing as an Anglican. Pretty interesting...looks like it was called The quality of mercy.
Agatha Christie pretty much (re)defined the "dead gentleman in the study" genre. Every time you read a novel where the detective gathers all of the suspects into one room, you can probably thank Christie for that conceit. She also draws a strong contrast to Arthur Conan Doyle's work: Holmes is obsessed with physical clues, while both of her most famous detectives--Poirot and Miss Marple--are more closely focused on the psychological. Actually, I think mystery might be the genre in which you find the strongest writing coming from females.
There is this amazing, amazing book written by a woman. The name of both the book and the author escape me, but basically it was a modern take on the fairy tale and incredibly well written. I believe the title had the word "bird" in it, or the name of a kind of bird...Yes! Found it: The Djinn in the Nightengale's Eye by A. S. Byatt. Worth reading the whole book for "The Story of the Eldest Princess" which deconstructs (but in an entirely entertaining way) the traditional fairy tale. And actually even though these are all fairy tales I suppose they really do fall under "literature". (tiny irony: A.S. Byatt totally panned the Harry Potter series)
posted by Deathalicious at 10:17 PM on March 10, 2008
Prose:
Nathalie Sarraute
Andrea Dworkin
Judith Butler
Djuna Barnes
Gertrude Stein
Virginia Woolf
Annie Dillard
Toni Morrison
Maxine Hong Kingston
Poetry:
H.D.
Djuna Barnes
Louise Gluck
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Emily Dickinson
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:47 AM on March 11, 2008
Nathalie Sarraute
Andrea Dworkin
Judith Butler
Djuna Barnes
Gertrude Stein
Virginia Woolf
Annie Dillard
Toni Morrison
Maxine Hong Kingston
Poetry:
H.D.
Djuna Barnes
Louise Gluck
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Emily Dickinson
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:47 AM on March 11, 2008
Second Niffenegger, as her novel was a beautiful piece of work, but I think it's also more one of those "love it or hate it" novels. It's completely and totally a romance novel, but it doesn't necessarily read like one (it's not chick lit, doesn't have the typical clichés, is laugh-out-loud funny at times and unbearingly sad at others, etc.)
The one female author I'd recommend without condition or disclaimer is Laurie R. King, in particular her "Beekeeper's Apprentice" series.
posted by Phire at 7:10 PM on March 11, 2008
The one female author I'd recommend without condition or disclaimer is Laurie R. King, in particular her "Beekeeper's Apprentice" series.
posted by Phire at 7:10 PM on March 11, 2008
(E.) Annie Proulx - The Shipping News
second Atwood, Winterson, Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, and Zadie Smith
also second Bel Canto by Patchett, Kitchen by Yoshimoto and The Secret History by Tartt
posted by ezabeta at 9:02 PM on May 23, 2008
second Atwood, Winterson, Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, and Zadie Smith
also second Bel Canto by Patchett, Kitchen by Yoshimoto and The Secret History by Tartt
posted by ezabeta at 9:02 PM on May 23, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:21 AM on March 10, 2008