Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Day 13 of Feminist Joys: Reading Women Authors

With little comment and in no particular order, here are some women authors I have read in the last year. (I’ve only included the books I completed — I also started a few I haven’t so far been able to finish.) Many, even most of these are murder mysteries, and I also read a bunch of fantasy and romance. 

  1. JK Rowling (I loved the Cormorant Strike books, especially the first one)
  2. Georgette Heyer (I reread several of her books, including the Blunt Instrument, which is probably my favorite)
  3. Agatha Christie
  4. PD James (though I’m put off by her misogyny and homophobia, and may not read any more)
  5. MC Beaton (A few of the Agatha Raisin books — they are just about okay, but I tried reading a couple in succession and then they weren’t much fun)
  6. Courtney Milan
  7. Anjum Hassan, who was kind enough to sign her books for me at the Kala Ghoda fest last year
  8. Laurel K Hamilton (I devoured many of the Anita Blake books early this year before getting bored)
  9. Chimamanda Adichie
  10. Ngaio Marsh (similar to Agatha Christie, but much more classist and sexist — probably won’t read any more of these either)
  11. Rosemary Rowe (mostly love the Libertus series, though I don’t love all the books)
  12. Anna Cowan (Untamed — mostly good, but the classism was appalling)
  13. Joanna Chambers (The Lady’s Secret — I enjoyed this but can’t remember anything about it now)
  14. Kerstin Gier (For Every Solution, A Problem, translated by Erik Macki. I really enjoyed this.)
  15. Judy Blume (I finally read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Where was this book when I was growing up?)
  16. Edith Nesbitt (The Story of the Treasure Seekers — I would have loved this when I was a kid.)
  17. LM Montgomery (Rilla of Ingleside and the Blue Castle — I wanted to like these, but I don’t think I could quite manage to. Why is Montgomery so obsessed with prettiness?)
  18. Robin Stevens (Murder Most Unladylike: A Wells and Wong Mystery — read this because it was recommended by Aishwarya, and am very glad I did)
  19. Emma Donoghue (Room and the Sealed Letter — the first was mindblowing, the Sealed Letter was okay and I wished it had been a bit more feminist, more satisfying)
  20. Ursula K. Le Guin (I read the Earthsea novels and loved them)
  21. Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed was a compelling piece of reporting, and it ended way too soon for me — which is very unusual of my non-fiction reading)
  22. Susan Mallery (I read a couple of her romances, including Almost Perfect — very enjoyable)
  23. Hilary Mantel 
  24. Margery Allingham
  25. Alice Munro
  26. Kate Atkinson
  27. Jean Rhys (Wide Sargasso Sea)
  28. Suzanne Collins (reread the Hunger Games)
  29. Winifred Watson (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was such fun!)
  30. Lionel Shriver (I loved We Need to Talk about Kevin; The Post-Birthday World was less engrossing but still quite good)
I want to beat this record this year, and read more feminist books. Recommendations?

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