I like Carson McCullers, Donna Tartt, Ali Smith, Delia Owens, Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Maggie O’Farrell… etc.
I do this once every few years just to make sure I’m not getting stuck on male authors. Thanks!
Edit: remembered Emily St John Mandel and Sun-Mi Hwang!
by henryisonfire
36 Comments
Otessa Moshfegh?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (My favorite)
Jhumpa Lahiri
Sayaka Murata
Arundhati Ray
Lauren Groff
Helen Oyeyemi
Isabel Allende (I haven’t read yet)
Margaret Atwood
Annie Prloux (My favorite)
Yaa Gyasi (My fav)
Ruta Sepetys
Min Jin Lee
Vandana Singh (My favorite)
Alice Munro – read her short stories
Mary roach – non fiction)
Daphne Du Maurier
Claire Keegan (My favorite)
Sarah Waters
Jennifer Egan
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton.
Octavia Butler
Agatha Christie
Yoko Ogawa
Caitlin Doughty
Elaine Dundy
Toni Morrison
There are many, many female (and some NB) authors writing romance novels, if you’re willing to go for that.
A few science fiction possibilities for you: Ann Leckie, N. K. Jemisin, Becky Chambers, Mary Robinette Kowal.
Jane Casey, I adore all her works. Her way of storytelling is 11/10
Anni Taylor
Cornelia Funke
Emma Jameson
Seraphina Nova Glass
Kiersten White – specifically recommending Mister Magic.
Minka Kent
Harriet Steel
Laura Purcell
Sujata Massey – Perveen Minstry series. Based on India’s first female solicitor
Adele Parks
Kerry Fisher – the woman in my home is my top pick.
Emma Rous – she has an interesting way of telling the story and I loved it
Tana French – her best book imo is The Likeness
Heather Gudenkauf
Sue Watson – the Resort is my fave one from her
Liane Moriarty – Apples Never Fall is my fave from her
Helen Cooper
Simone St James
Lisa Jewell
Dervla McTiernan
Eva Gates – the lighthouse library series
Catherine Ryan Howard
Carola Dunn
Anna Lee Huber
Erin Morgenstern
Rajasree Variyar
Sarah A Denzil
I accidentally made this long list 🫢
Out of your list I have only read Margaret Atwood. Here are some of my favourites. These are mostly sci fi authors:
* Sarah Pinsker, an easy to read writing style that does not compromise the sci fi elements by dumbing things down.
* Hiron Ennes, nonbinary. So far has only written Leech, which was my favourite book I read last year.
* Ursula K. Le Guin. She wrote a lot of sci fi and fantasy, and the more she wrote, the more she got into challenging things people take for granted about real world society and politics.
* Margaret Killjoy. Similar in some ways to Margaret Atwood, but coming from the modern punk subculture.
* Carmen Maria Machado. I have only read her short fiction, which is very dark, sexy, and feminist.
* James Tiptree Jr. (pen name of Alice Sheldon). Wrote a mountain of short fiction and a couple of novels. I have only read her short fiction, and it’s all great.
* Charlie Jane Anders. I read The City in the Middle of the Night by her, sci fi that explores some ideas uncommon in the genre.
* I second the recommendation of Octavia E. Butler. She writes characters incredibly well.
* Joan D. Vinge. My favourite thing by her is The Snow Queen trilogy.
* Kameron Hurley writes grimdark sci fi and fantasy centered on morally ambiguous women.
* C. L. Moore, and early weird fiction and space western author.
* Julie E. Czerneda, sci fi and fantasy
* C. J. Cherryh, slow paced character driven sci fi and fantasy.
* Ann Leckie, sci fi and one fantasy novel about colonialism and cultural norms. I personally like Ancillary Justice and the stand alone book Provenance best.
Justice for Animals –Martha Nussbaum
Caste –Isabel Wilkerson
Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions –Sabine Hossenfelder
Bittersweet –Susan Cain
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? –Julie Smith
The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mortality –Karen Fine
Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away –Rebecca Goldstein
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen –Mary Norris
Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries –Kory Stamper
Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World –Annie Lowrey
Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals –Temple Grandin
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing –Marie Kondo
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail –Cheryl Strayed
The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer –Elizabeth Blackburn
How to Drag a Body and Other Safety Tips You Hope to Never Need: Survival Tricks for Hacking, Hurricanes, and Hazards Life Might Throw at You –Judith Matloff
– Jessica Townsend
– Shannon Hale (I’m particularly fond of her YA fantasies)
– Victoria Goddard (*highly* recommend The Hands of the Emperor)
– Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird is my favorite nonfiction)
– Tamora Pierce
– Becky Chambers
Let’s if I can do just nbs
Sarah Gailey
Akwaeke Emezi
Rivers Solomon
Dolki Min
Nghi Vo
Zadie Smith – she has a new one – The Fraud and I liked White Teeth
Ursula LeGuin!
Great list of authors! We have similar taste. I’m limiting myself to three reccomendations, but I have more if you want them!!
​
* If you’re comfortable with fantasy, Alix E. Harrow is one of my favorite authors that I’ve encountered in the past 5 years. She writes really clever, fantasy stories with well fleshed out main characters and lots of grappling with history and social issues. [*The Once and Future Witches*](https://www.npr.org/2020/10/17/924561383/the-once-and-future-witches-will-have-you-spellbound) got me out of a reading slump a few years ago, so I always like to recommend it as a start.
* Ann Patchett is also great if you haven’t read her stuff yet. *Tom Lake* is the newest, which is getting a ton of (well deserved) buzz, but you can never go wrong with *Bel Canto*, in my opinion.
* Finally, I have recently fallen in love with Rebecca Makkai. I read [*I Have Some Questions for You*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61053829-i-have-some-questions-for-you) last year, and now I’m devouring all of of her other work.
The Autobiography of Red By Anne Carson
Teh quick and the Dead by Joy Williams
Pussy, King of the Pirates by Kathy Acker
The lefthand of Darkness by Ursula Leguin
Ice by Anna Kavan
Alison Rumfitt
Alison Rumfitt
Mostly Sci-Fi/Fantasy:
Martha Wells
Jacqueline Carey
Leigh Bardugo
Sara Douglass
Elizabeth Haydon
Kate Quinn (historical fiction)
Naomi Novik
Christina Henry
Kim Harrision
Pip Williams (historical fiction)
Rachel Gillig
Maria Adelmann
AJ Hackwith
Louise Erdrich (indigenous fiction)
Catherynne M Valente
Hilary Mantel, Rachel Cusk, Octavia Butler, NK Jemisin, Joan Didion, Susanna Clarke.
Going back through my “read recently” list:
* Gabrielle Zevin
* Natasha Pulley
* Madeline Miller
* Veronica Roth
* Katy Hays
* Kira Jane Buxton
* Susan Walter
* Annalee Newitz
I’ve been doing this too for the past 2 years and here are the ones I’ve read so far:
– Sylvia Plath
– Caroline Deyns
– Julia Serano
– Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha
– Mona Chollet
– Alice Hattrick
– Jane Austen
– Maryse Condé
– Virginia Woolf
– Sarah Waters (<3)
– Emily Brontë
– Toni Morrison
– Maya Angelou
– Elizabeth Gaskell
– Anna North
– Lola Lafon
– Angela Y. Davis
I spend a lot of time digging through goodreads for other women/nb authors and love to do that! so I have many more on my to read list but can’t recommend them yet
Lionel Shriver, Carrie Fisher, and Erica Jong
Amelie Nothomb
A.M. Homes
Emma Donoghue
Lauren Groff
Angie Kim
OTTOMH
The *Empire Trilogy*, co-written by Janny Wurts & Raymond E Feist is good fun.
Robin Hobb’s very well respected, though I haven’t read her since I was a child, really must get back to it.
Dame Agatha Christie’s books are good, uncomplicated fun.
Alice Munro, Miriam Toews, Lauren Groff, Marilynne Robinson, Jennifer DuBois, Edan Lepucki, Alice Walker, Miranda July, Carmen Maria Machado, Lydia Davis
Ursula K Le Guin
Toni Morrison
Iris Murdoch.
Maggie Smith, Maggie Smith, Maggie Smith!
And also Rachel Cusk, Sheena Patel, Catriona Ward, Coco Mellors, Claire-Louise Bennett.
In the mystery genre Janice Hallett all the way.
Taylor Jenkins reid
Alice oseman
Holly black
Leigh borough
Some of my faves:
Sarah Waters
Emma Donoghue
Shirley Jackson
Julia Alvarez
Jane Austen
Isabel Allende
Caitlin Doughty [non-fiction]
Yaa Gyasi
Pat Barker
Sue Monk Kidd
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Gillian Flynn
Sarah Vowell [non-fiction]
Toni Morrison
Mary Roach [non-fiction]
Anything by Jean Hanff-korelitz. My fave is “The Plot”
If you like nonfiction Mary Roach is a lovely,funny and intelligent writer. I cannot recommend the book Spook enough. Really thought provoking. Her other works are just as good, in my opinion, but Spook was the first I read and is still my favorite of hers.
Kristin Hannah
Becky Chambers
Martha Wells
C.L. Clark and R.F. Kuang!
Mariana Enríquez! She does creepy magical realism and horror.
Flannery O’Connor. Great, dry short stories that reveal subtle evils inherent to the land.
Lucia Berlin, Lauren Groff, Flannery O’Connor, Zadie Smith, Elena Ferrante.