Recommend Female Authors to me

[AvidMerrian]

I have decided to only read female authors for a while.

i tend to read literary fiction or non-fiction.

Some Books I have liked are

Milkman
a visit from the goon squad
Ducks Newburyport
Wolf Hall trilogy

Stuff I didn’t like
Donna TarT
Annue Ernaux
Doris Lessing
Elin Shaflek
A little life.

My two favourite all time authors are Samuel Beckett and Knausgaard.

Since it's Women in Translation month a few suggests:
Mieko Kawakami
Elena Ferrante
Cora Sandel
Claudia Piñeiro
Scholastique Mukasonga
Hiromi Kawakami
Duanwad Pimwana
Leïla Slimani
Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi.

There's some excellent suggestions on the 'slightly dated' threads of mid 20th century female writers so check that. Quick shout out in particular for Winifred Holtby.

Anna Kavan
Bernadine Evaristo
Evie Wyld
Ottessa Moshfegh
A.L. Kennedy
Emily St John Mandel
Salema Godden
Claire Keegan
Olivia Laing
Olga Tokarczuk
Marianne Robinson
Ayobami Adebayo
Hannah Kent
Yaa Gyasi
Ham Kang
Eleanor Catton
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Doireann ní Gríofa
Tove Jansson
Doris Lessing
Sarah Hall

*Han Kang 😅

Oh, ignore Doris Lessing, sorry!

Donna Tartt
Eleanor Catton
Kate Atkinson
Anne Tyler

I’ve recently read and enjoyed books by Elizabeth Jane Howard and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I also really like Zadie Smith’s writing, including her essays e.g. Feel Free.

FWIW OP, my go-tos are the historical greats:

Any Jane Austen - it gives me huge pleasure to re-read her, I aim for at least one every year
George Eliot - I think Middlemarch is my favourite
Slightly left-field but Georgette Heyer's romance books are all very enjoyable and some are really exceptional - Cotillion and The Talisman Ring are both fab

And for pure LITERATURE, Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey is 592 pages of total joy!

Muriel Spark (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Girls of Slender Means, A Far Cry from Kensington)

Virginia Woolf

Jane Gardam (Old Filth trilogy)

Have you tried any Curtis Sittenfeld? The first one of hers I read was called Prep and I loathed the main character so much I didn't try any more of hers for ages. Eventually though I decided to give her another go and have really enjoyed American Wife, Eligible, Sisterland and Rodham.

Can also recommend:
Lionel Shriver
Kate Atkinson
Laurie Graham

Actually I think Laurie Graham has written some brilliant stuff. Though not do much lately sadly.

A few female novelists I admire:

Lionel Shriver
Virginia Woolf
Anita Brookner
Iris Murdoch
Elizabeth Jane Howard

Has anyone mentioned Pat Barker yet?

I thought The Silence of the Girls (about the events of the Iliad) was phenomenal as was the Regeneration Trilogy (about the First World War). I have the Women of Troy on my next to read list now!

Meg Mason : Sorry and Bliss

Still Life - Sarah Winman
The heat of the moment - Sabrina Cohen-Hatton
Charlotte Bronte
Lionel Shriver as PP, some excellent some dire

Yes to Olivia Laing!
Rebecca Solnit
Maya Angelou

AM Homes.

I've really enjoyed books by Ann Patchett this year. Also Madeline Miller, Margaret Atwood, Maggie O Farrell.

Natsuo Kirino
Margaret Attwood
Jean Rhys
E.M. Delafield
Angela Carter
Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Jane Austen
Marge Piercy

Lots of my favourites in this list, but I’ve not yet spotted a recommendation for Mary Lawson. I’ve enjoyed three of her novels and this has just reminded me to buy the 4th.

I’d start with Crow Lake but A Town Called Solace is a standalone piece which I would also recommend highly.

Zadie Smith