Women Writers Meme

I don't tend to do many memes, but this one seems interesting. I think I first saw it at The Little Professor.

Lists of "books to read" and the like never work for me. Because my background is interdisciplinary, there are plenty of canonical works I haven't read in favor of more "unofficial" or alternative works. I do wonder how the selections were made for this particular list, though. There are plenty of women writers who've been left off, and some more popular authors I wouldn't have bothered including (like Danielle Steele). Also, I read a ton of stuff by men. I don't know why exactly*, but male authors outnumber female authors on my bookshelves. My friend Melanie and I have talked a lot about how neither of us listen to many female musicians. That's starting to change for me lately, but my favorite bands are all still male.

Instructions: Bold the ones you've read. Italicize the ones you have wanted/might like to read. Place question marks by any titles/authors you've never heard of?? Put an asterisk if you've read something else by the same author. (I'm also adding other women writers who were originally left off in parentheses. These might include authors I've read and/or those I remember and think belong on the list.)

* Alcott, Louisa May–Little Women
Allende, Isabel–The House of Spirits
* Angelou, Maya–I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
* Atwood, Margaret–Cat's Eye
* Austen, Jane–Emma
Bambara, Toni Cade–Salt Eaters
?Barnes, Djuna–Nightwood
(Barry, Lynda--Cruddy)
de Beauvoir, Simone–The Second Sex
* Blume, Judy–Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
Burnett, Frances–The Secret Garden
Bronte, Charlotte–Jane Eyre
Bronte, Emily–Wuthering Heights
(Brooks, Gwendolyn--Blacks)
Buck, Pearl S.–The Good Earth
Byatt, A.S.–Possession
*Cather, Willa–My Antonia
*Chopin, Kate–The Awakening
*Christie, Agatha–Murder on the Orient Express
Cisneros, Sandra–The House on Mango Street
Clinton, Hillary Rodham–Living History
(Cooley, Martha--The Archivist)
Cooper, Anna Julia–A Voice From the South
? Danticat, Edwidge–Breath, Eyes, Memory
Davis, Angela–Women, Culture, and Politics
Desai, Anita–Clear Light of Day
Dickinson, Emily–Collected Poems
Duncan, Lois–I Know What You Did Last Summer
DuMaurier, Daphne–Rebecca
*(Ehrenreich, Barbara--Nickel and Dimed)
Eliot, George–Middlemarch
Emecheta, Buchi–Second Class Citizen
*Erdrich, Louise–Tracks
*Esquivel, Laura–Like Water for Chocolate
*Flagg, Fannie–Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Friedan, Betty–The Feminine Mystique
Frank, Anne–Diary of a Young Girl
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins–The Yellow Wallpaper
? Gordimer, Nadine–July's People
*Grafton, Sue–S is for Silence
Hamilton, Edith–Mythology
*(Hamilton, Jane--The Book of Ruth)
*(Hegi, Ursula--Stones From the River)
Highsmith, Patricia–The Talented Mr. Ripley
*hooks, bell–Bone Black
* Hurston, Zora Neale–Dust Tracks on the Road
Jacobs, Harriet–Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Jackson, Helen Hunt–Ramona
*Jackson, Shirley–The Haunting of Hill House
(Jen, Gish--Mona in the Promised Land)
Jong, Erica–Fear of Flying
Keene, Carolyn–The Nancy Drew Mysteries (any of them)
Kidd, Sue Monk–The Secret Life of Bees
*Kincaid, Jamaica–Lucy
Kingsolver, Barabara--The Poisonwood Bible
Kingston, Maxine Hong–The Woman Warrior
Larsen, Nella–Passing
*L'Engle, Madeleine–A Wrinkle in Time
* Le Guin, Ursula K.–The Left Hand of Darkness
Lee, Harper–To Kill a Mockingbird
Lessing, Doris–The Golden Notebook
? Lively, Penelope–Moon Tiger
?Lorde, Audre–The Cancer Journals
Martin, Ann M.–The Babysitters Club Series (any of them)
*McCullers, Carson–The Member of the Wedding
McMillan, Terry–Disappearing Acts
? Markandaya, Kamala–Nectar in a Sieve
Marshall, Paule–Brown Girl, Brownstones
Mitchell, Margaret–Gone with the Wind
* Montgomery, Lucy–Anne of Green Gables
Morgan, Joan–When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost
* Morrison, Toni–Song of Solomon
Murasaki, Lady Shikibu–The Tale of Genji
Munro, Alice–Lives of Girls and Women
Murdoch, Iris–Severed Head
Naylor, Gloria–Mama Day
Niffenegger, Audrey–The Time Traveller's Wife
*Oates, Joyce Carol–We Were the Mulvaneys
*O'Connor, Flannery–A Good Man is Hard to Find
Piercy, Marge–Woman on the Edge of Time
Picoult, Jodi–My Sister's Keeper
Plath, Sylvia–The Bell Jar
*Porter, Katharine Anne–Ship of Fools
*(Prose, Francine--Blue Angel)
*Proulx, E. Annie–The Shipping News
*Rand, Ayn–The Fountainhead
Ray, Rachel–365: No Repeats (huh?)
Rhys, Jean–Wide Sargasso Sea
(Ribon, Pamela--Why Girls are Weird)
*Robinson, Marilynne–Housekeeping
? Rocha, Sharon–For Lac
Sebold, Alice–The Lovely Bones (it's in my unread pile)
Shelley, Mary–Frankenstein
*(Shields, Carol--The Stone Diaries)
Smith, Betty–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie–White Teeth (also in my unread pile; started and abandoned)
Spark, Muriel–The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Spyri, Johanna–Heidi
Strout, Elizabeth–Amy and Isabelle
Steel, Danielle–The House
* Tan, Amy–The Joy Luck Club
Tannen, Deborah–You're Wearing That
(Tartt, Donna--The Secret History)
*(Townsend, Sue--The Adrian Mole Diaries)
Ulrich, Laurel–A Midwife's Tale
Urquhart, Jane–Away
* Walker, Alice–The Temple of My Familiar
*Welty, Eudora–One Writer's Beginnings
*Wharton, Edith–Age of Innocence
*(Weiner, Jennifer--Good In Bed)
* Wilder, Laura Ingalls–Little House in the Big Woods (I've read all of the LH books)
*(Winterson, Jeanette--Written on the Body)
*(Wittlinger, Ellen--Hard Love)
Wollstonecraft, Mary–A Vindication of the Rights of Women
* Woolf, Virginia–A Room of One's Own (I love Mrs. Dalloway)

Okay, I have to stop before this post eats my whole blog. Librarians shouldn't try this, because it's a huge time-suck. The reference desk is dead today, though, so it was okay.

*Yes, I know that men outnumber women in the canon and all that.