I snagged this from Ted. It is a list of the 100 most influential books written by women. I love book lists so I wanted to see how I well I did with this one. I’ve read a lot of these authors but not necessarily the books listed so only 26 from the list. Oh well, at least there are some good suggestions on here to keep in mind.
The bold ones are the ones I’ve read. And, I’ll add one at the end which I think should definitely be on this list. What do you think? Which ones would you have added?
1. Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind
2. Anne Rice, Interview With the Vampire
3. Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
4. Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
5. Virginia Woolf, The Waves
6. Virginia Woolf, Orlando
7. Djuna Barnes, Nightwood
8. Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
9. Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
10. Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome
11. Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness
12. Nadine Gordimer, Burger’s Daughter
13. Harriette Simpson Arnow, The Dollmaker
14. Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
15. Willa Cather, My Ãntonia
16. Erica Jong, Fear of Flying
17. Erica Jong, Fanny
18. Joy Kogawa, Obasan
19. Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook
20. Doris Lessing, The Fifth Child
21. Doris Lessing, The Grass Is Singing
22. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
23. Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time
24. Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres
25. Lore Segal, Her First American
26. Alice Walker, The Color Purple
27. Alice Walker, The Third Life of Grange Copeland
28. Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon
29. Muriel Spark, Memento Mori
30. Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
31. Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina
32. Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
33. Susan Fromberg Shaeffer, Anya
34. Cynthia Ozick, Trust
35. Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
36. Amy Tan, The Kitchen God’s Wife
37. Ann Beattie, Chilly Scenes of Winter
38. Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
39. Joan Didion, A Book of Common Prayer
40. Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays
41. Mary McCarthy, The Group
42. Mary McCarthy, The Company She Keeps
43. Grace Paley, The Little Disturbances of Man
44. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
45. Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
46. Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart
47. Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
48. Mona Simpson, Anywhere But Here
49. Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
50. Toni Morrison, Beloved
51. Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
52. Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mr. Fortune’s Maggot
53. Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools
54. Laura Riding, Progress of Stories
55. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust
56. Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower
57. Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
58. A.S. Byatt, Possession
59. Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
60. Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle
61. Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac
62. Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus
63. Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca
64. Katherine Dunn, Geek Love
65. Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle
66. Barbara Pym, Excellent Women
67. Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
68. Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
69. Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist
70. Nancy Willard, Things Invisible to See
71. Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry
72. Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Disturbances in the Field
73. Rosellen Brown, Civil Wars
74. Harriet Doerr, Stones for Ibarra
75. Harriet Doerr, The Mountain Lion
76. Stevie Smith. Novel on Yellow Paper
77. E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
78. Rebecca Goldstein, The Mind-Body Problem
79. P.D. James, The Children of Men
80. Ursula Hegi, Stones From the River
81. Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
82. Katherine Mansfield, Collected Stories
83. Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
84. Louise Erdrich, The Beet Queen
85. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
86. Edna O’Brien, The Country Girls Trilogy
87. Margaret Drabble, Realms of Gold
88. Margaret Drabble, The Waterfall
89. Dawn Powell, The Locusts Have No King
90. Marilyn French, The Women’s Room
91. Eudora Welty, The Optimist’s Daughter
92. Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
93. Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John
94. Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle
95. Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
96. Iris Murdoch, A Severed Head
97. Anita Desai, Clear Light of Day
98. Alice Hoffman, The Drowning Season
99. Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
100. Penelope Mortimer, The Pumpkin Eater
101. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros** (my addition)
I’ve read lots of the same books as you but not as many – must try harder.
Also where is Jane Eyre?
I second Jane Eyre and there’s no Austen either. They paved the way for female writers so I don’t get that.
This is fun… I glanced at it, but I’m going to copy it and post it up over at my place when I get a chance to take a better look through it.
Fun list! I’ve only read 12 books on it though…I agree with the others, where is Austen and Jane Eyre? Would also like to see A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I was very pleased to see #33 on the list, Anya which I read a few years ago and was one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’ve not met anyone else who has read it. Highly recommended.
Very cool! I want to look over it more closely, too. I agree that Jane Austen and Betty Smith should be included. And what about Kate Chopin?
I’m upset that The Awakening by Kate Chopin is absent. And, hello, what about a little Anais Nin?
Jodie – I know, where is Jane Eyre!
Chrisbookarama – Yep, it’s a weird list isn’t it? I can’t imagine why Austen wasn’t included either.
Melissa – Looking forward to seeing your list!
Tara – Oh a Tree Grows in Brooklyn is so good. I don’t think I’d ever heard of Anya. I’m adding to my TBR list!
Tiffany – Kate Chopin – another writer I’m surprised is absent from the list!
Sarah – Good call on Anais Nin!
They must have only listed 20th century authors as there are way too many important women authors they are missing. I’ve read about as many as you have, but I’m afraid a few of them were so long ago I’d hate to count them.
I don’t think I would do very well on this on list. I haven’t read most of them. I hope to get to Virginia Woolf this next year.
I think I’ll copy-paste this list to add to my own TBR. I agree … unthinkable that Anais Nin and Jane Austen aren’t there!
I’ve only read 9! How sad!
This is fun! But I don’t think I have read most of them. BTW, I love your new template. 🙂 Merry Christmas!
I’ve only read 13 and I agree with all the comments that there seem to be some important ones missing.
Danielle – It’s a strange list isn’t it? I need to go back to Ted’s blog to see where it came from and see if they give an explanation on how the authors were chosen.
Literary Feline – I’ve only read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf but I can highly recommend it. I really want to read something else by her.
Aloi – Oh good, I want to see your list!
Marg – Ah don’t worry. I usually don’t do well on these lists either. I need to make my own must reads 🙂
Melody – thank you! Merry Christmas to you too 🙂
Tanabata – 13 is good in my mind! 🙂
Maybe this list is limited to 20th century women writers
or has some other limitations. Louisa May Alcott’s Little
Women has certainly been influential for every woman
I know. And though it’s not my favorite book, you can’y
deny that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
was a huge influence at the time of its publication.
Kelly – I think that’s what it is because otherwise why were so many great women writers left off. Good point.