Favorite Female Writers

Gosh - I don't know where to begin...I'd have to start off with Joyce Carol Oates. She has totally captivated me. Her style is unique and no book ever seems "similar" - she is able to make each new novel stand on its own merits. She writes brilliantly about the female experience in the 1950's up through present day, and yet is also able to understand the demands of the male experience in society. If I had to name one theme - it would be redemption. Her characters are always so deeply flawed and trying so hard to redeem themselves in some minute way.

I also love Margart Atwood - both her novels and poetry. She was totally prescient with Oryx and Crake - considering the speed with which global warming is effecting us now. She writes brilliantly of the female spirit!!

I also adore Adrienne Rich's poetry...I could go on and on but have to go have dinner!!

Emmuska Orczy - Her Scarlet Pimpernel series has captivated me for many hours, savoring her descriptions and the hopeless odds of escape for the heroes. I am always amazed at how Sir Percy manages to beat the odds of defeat. The Baroness has also given such life to her characters that I truly feel attached to them. Even though Chauvelin is the antagonist, I love him in the novels.

Pearl S. Buck - Her style is simple, but I am totally absorbed when I read her books. The Good Earth remains a favorite to this day. She doesn't waste time with lengthy descriptions that would be guaranteed to put readers to sleep yet she paints a beautiful picture with the words that she does use.

Diane Setterfield - I say this from just reading The Thirteenth Tale. It reminded me of what it means to be a lover of books, and the special power that the authors behind them hold.

When I was younger I read a lot of books by Nina Bawden and my love of reading seems to have stemmed from there. Her childrens books were always very interesting for me and I'm thinking about hunting some down again for another look.

I also enjoy Margaret Atwood, although I'm not really sure about some of her poetry (although I don't really like much of the poetry I've read by anyone at the moment).

I really like Kelley Armstrong too, what I have read of her Otherworld fantasy series is just great.

Some of the more recently appearing female writers that I've enjoyed the work of have been Audrey Niffenegger and Elizabeth Kostova, though only time can tell if they will continue to produce good works.

Put me down as an admirer of Oryx and Crake.

Confronted with this question, I realised I seldom read female writers.

Well, I like Emily Brönte's Wuthering Heights enough to consider it one of the greatest novels ever written. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter left me wanting to read more Carson McCullers. Virginia Woolf writes beautiful prose; Orlando in particular is wonderful.

And this is basically it I have to do something.

Pulitzer Prize Winners for Literature

2005 Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
2004 The Known World by Edward P. Jones
2003 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
2002 Empire Falls by Richard Russo
2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
2000 Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
1999 The Hours by Michael Cunningham
1998 American Pastoral by Philip Roth
1997 Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser
1996 Independence Day by Richard Ford
1995 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1994 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
1992 A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
1991 Rabbit At Rest by John Updike
1990 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
1989 Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
1988 Beloved by Toni Morrison
1987 A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
1986 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
1985 Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
1984 Ironweed by William Kennedy
1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982 Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike, the latest novel in a memorable sequence
1981 A Confederacy of Dunces by the late John Kennedy Toole (a posthumous publication)
1980 The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
1979 The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1978 Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
1977 (No Award)
1976 Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1975 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1974 (No Award)
1973 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
1972 Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
1971 (No Award)
1970 Collected Stories by Jean Stafford
1969 House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1966 Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter
1965 The Keepers Of The House by Shirley Ann Grau
1964 (No Award)
1963 The Reivers by William Faulkner
1962 The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
1961 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1960 Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
1959 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1958 A Death In The Family by the late James Agee (a posthumous publication)
1957 (No Award)
1956 Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
1955 A Fable by William Faulkner
1954 (No Award)
1953 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1952 The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
1951 The Town by Conrad Richter
1950 The Way West by A. B. Guthrie, Jr.
1949 Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
1948 Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener

(From 1917-1948, the award was given as the Pulitzer Prizer for Novel)
1947 All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
1946 (No Award)
1945 A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
1944 Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
1943 Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair
1942 In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
1941 (No Award)
1940 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1939 The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1938 The Late George Apley by John Phillips Marquand
1937 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1936 Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis
1935 Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson
1934 Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
1933 The Store by T. S. Stribling
1932 The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
1931 Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
1930 Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge
1929 Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
1928 The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
1927 Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield
1926 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
1925 So Big by Edna Ferber
1924 The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
1923 One of Ours by Willa Cather
1922 Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
1921 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
1920 (No Award)
1919 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
1918 His Family by Ernest Poole
1917 (No Award)

Jacqueline Carey's great. I love the way she blends erotic fiction, alternate history, and her own take on religion/theology in the Kushiel's Legacy saga. They're very sophisticated works of fantasy/science fiction.

I also enjoy Poppy Z. Brite's novels. I prefer her horror stories over the current series she's working on (those books are quite good too, however).

I don't know if Carrie Fisher is my favorite female author, but I did enjoy her book Postcards From the Edge and its sequel The Best Awful. She has a warped and wry take on life; never a bad thing in my opinion! I wish she would publish books more often...

Can't forget Anne Rice. Her early books were so beautiful. Then along came The Vampire Armand and the rest of her work has been wildly uneven in terms of quality.

Alice Munroe - In my opinion one of the best writers working regardless of gender.

I don't much care for Atwood though, I find her prose stilted and dull and her stories a mash of sci-fi and romance novels.

I am also a fan of Margaret Laurence, Zadie Smith, Joyce Carol Oates, Margarer Gibson, Virginia Wolffe, Flannery O'Conner, and on and on.

I probably don't read as many female authors as I should but tend to gravitate to a point of view from a male perspective.

Some of my favorite genre fiction writers are female..whether they're 'good' writers or not is purely open to speculation. But I know I'd miss the works of writers like Sharyn McCrumb, Nevada Barr, and Virginia Lanier. And those are just the mystery writers.

Of course, we have to understand that the creator of this thread really doesn't care, and that we're really just preaching to the choir when we carry on our discussion around him. He's not here to be persuaded or to carry on well-thought out discussions..

abecedarian said:

Of course, we have to understand that the creator of this thread really doesn't care, and that we're really just preaching to the choir when we carry on our discussion around him. He's not here to be persuaded or to carry on well-thought out discussions..

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Actually I created this thread and I was very serioius about it. I think you must be referrering to the "why can't women write" thread.

My favourite female author is Margaret Atwood, although Diana Gabaldon and Philippa Gregory are up there also.

I don't think I can count a female amongst my favourite writers although I would like to read more by Amanda Prantera after reading Spoiler earlier this year. I have I, The Divine by Rabih Alemmadine on order, which looks potentially good. I quite like Muriel Spark (well, the two I've read) although her books are so thin their content has struggled to be anything more than average. I've still to read The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie though.

I liked Anne Rice and Poppy Brite as a teen, but I've since moved on. I quite liked a few of the short stories in Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter Of Maladies, although I can't quite remember why I never finished the collection.

MonkeyCatcher said:

My favourite female author is Margaret Atwood, although Diana Gabaldon and Philippa Gregory are up there also.

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I love Diana Gabauldon too. I've read her series twice.

Anne Tyler, Anne Rice, Jean Auel.

Jane Austen, definately
While Elizabeth Kostova has a great story and great writing, she drags it out too much.
Meg Cabot, a light and entertaining read.
J.K.Rowling, I'm surprised she hasn't appeared in this thread yet.
Libba Bray, I actually remember reading her book on a class trip and not paying attention.
Cornelia Funke, I loved Inkheart. Although inkspell didn't really live up to expectations.

My favourite female authors include:

• Margaret Atwood (I love how she gets into ones soul and makes one think about life in general and engrosses her reader)

• J.K. Rowling (writing children's books and making adults fall equally in love with her writing clearly screams talent. Also writing in a genre that is dominated by male writers and becoming incredibly successful as a result)

• Alice Munro (who knew such tame story such as "Love of a Good Woman" would have such a immeasurable impact on my life)

• Tracey Chevalier (love her "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and can't seem to find the time to read it again!)

• Meg Cabot (great for the beach and with her Size 12 is Not Fat series, I will be looking more from her in the present future).

• Laura Ingalls Wilder (loved these books and will continue to do so, despite not reading them for quite some time)

Louise Erdrich
Patricia Highsmith

...to name two as yet uncounted on this thread.

Also, the comic writer, Fay Weldon's pretty good in that comic way. Yes, she's chatty and mundane - and murderous and hilarious.

All time favorite, Harper Lee.

I really like Pam Houston as well

Willa Cather
Agatha Christie
Jane Austen

I love Agatha Christie's Poirot series, although I've never really been able to get into her other stuff. I also like some other female mystery writers like Martha Grimes, Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich, although I burned out on Grafton's "alphabet" series somewhere around "O" is for Outlaw. I may go back and pick that up again.

I didn't think I'd like the Harry Potter books for some reason, but then someone gave me the first one, and I've been hooked ever since. I also like the short stories of Flannery O'Connor and some of Margaret Atwood's novels. I just started The Visitor by Sherri Tepper, and I think I'm going to like it a lot. It's one of those post-apocalyptic dystopian books, which is a genre (sub-genre?) that I really like for some reason.