Female Author List Fun Statistics

Fun Statistics!
 
Here’s the list of 100 Must-Read Books by Female Authors
 
How did I come up with the list?
 
GENERAL CALCULATIONS
 
Out of 28 lists, there were 646 books. Then those were narrowed down to:

 
100 books total by 87 female authors
 
23 books in translation 
(not originally written in English)
 
44 books by world authors 
(Either: not from North America/Europe OR a POC from those 2 continents)
 
15 books in translation by world authors
 
 
HIGHEST RANKED
 
Overall  – 1. Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte (English, 1818-1848)

Fun Fact: I personally HATED this book. Here's my review.

By world author – 4. Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison (American, 1931-2019)

In Translation - 9. The House of the Spirits (1982) by Isabel Allende (Chilean, 1942- )

 
OLDEST vs. NEWEST

Oldest book (in translation by a world author) – Pillow Book (1002) 

by Sei Shonagon (Japanese, 1017-1025)

Oldest in English (by a white author) - Pride and Prejudice (1813) 

by Jane Austen (English, 1775-1817)

 
Newest book (in translation by world author) – Home (2012) 

by Leila S. Chudori (Indonesian, 1962- )

Newest in English (by a world author) - Skata Witch (2011) 

by Nnedi Okorafor (Nigerian-American, 1974- )

Newest by a white author (in translation) - My Brilliant Friend (2011) 

by Elena Ferrante (Italian, 1943- )

 
MULTIPLE BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR

There are 3 authors that have 3 books on the list:

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (Nigerian-American, 1977- ) – ranked 37, 38, 89

Morrison, Toni (American, 1931-2019) - ranked 6, 13/14, 41-43

Woolf, Virginia (English, 1882-1941) - 4, 5, 21

Adichie had 3 additional books and Woolf had 1 additional book removed from the list in order to allow for the recognition of other authors.
 

There are 7 authors who have 2 books on the list:

 Allende, Isabel (Chilean, 1942- )

Alvares, Julia (American, 1950- )

 
Austen, Jane (English, 1775-1817)

 
Eliot, George (English, 1819-1880)

 
Garner, Helen (Australian, 1942- )

 
Lispector, Clarice (Ukrainian-Brazilian, 1920-1977)

Pineiro, Claudia (Argentine, 1960- ) 

These 10 authors make up 23% of the entire list!

 
AM I SPEAKING YOUR LANGUAGE?

23 books in translation:

-Spanish - 6 books

-French - 5 books

-Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese - 2 books each

Languages that had 1 book on the list:

-Arabic
-Armenian
-Chinese
-Dutch
-Indonesian
-Korean

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

The location is where the author is from, but the digit refers to the number of books.

At least 7 books with authors from each continent:

Africa - 8
     -Egyptian (1), Nigerian (5), Senegalese (1), Zimbabwean (1)

Asia - 7
     -Chinese (1), Indian (2), Indonesian (1), Japanese (2), South Korean (1)

Australia - 7
     -Australian (6), New Zealander (1)

Europe - 35
     -British/English (25), French (3), German (2), Irish (2), Italian (1), Scottish (1), Ukrainian (1) 

North American - 35
     -American (31), Canadian (1), Native North American (3)

South American - 8
     -Argentine (3), Brazilian (2), Chilean (2), Mexican (1)
 

DATE NIGHT

The books span 1,010 years from 1002-2012. There were 16 years that had 2 books published and 6 years that had 3 books published. Those 22 years (out of 1,010 years) published 50 books on the list!

Basic Dates

Expanded Dates

Detailed Dates:
by decades (mostly)	1935-1939 (5 years) - 4 books
1000-1009 - 2 books	1940-1949 - 9 books
1472 - 1 book	1950-1959 - 7 books
1810-1819 - 3 books	1960-1969 - 9 books
1845-1849 (5 years) - 3 books	1970-1979 - 13 books
1850-1859 - 2 books	1980-1989 - 12 books
1860-1869 - 2 books	1990-1999 - 10 books
1890, 1918 (2 years) - 2 books	2000-2009 - 11 books
1920-1929 - 7 books	2010-2012 (3 years) - 3 books

How I Came Up with My List of Books by Female Authors

Here’s the list of 100 Must-Read Books by Female Authors

 

STEP 1. Choose the lists to compile my own list.

I know most ‘best of’ lists tend to be biased towards books written in English by white men. In order to try to balance it out a bit, I decided to make a list of female authors from around the world. I found lists that fit into the following 4 categories:

 

General (biased towards white men writing books in English):

-100 Best Novels – Modern Library

-100 Must-Read Classic Books - Penguin

-The Greatest Books of All Time – thegreatestbooks.org

-The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time – The Guardian

-100 Life-Changing Books – National Book Award

 

World (lists of World Literature, non-white authors, and books in translation):

-Top 100 Works in World Literature – Norwegian Book Clubs

-The 100 Best Books of World Literature – ABC.es

-Top 100 World Literature Title – Perfection Learning

-The 100 Best Novels in Translation – Boyd Tonkin

-100 Must-Read Classics by People of Color – Book Riot

 

Female (lists of books by female authors):

-The 107 Female Authors Everyone Should Have on Their Bookshelf - Stylist

-102 of the Greatest Books by Female Authors – List Challenges

-100 Must-Read Classics by Women - Book Riot

-The Best Female Authors of All Time (100) - AbeBooks

-Must-Read Books by Women (53) - Penguin

-40 of the Best Books for Women Written by Female Authors – rd.com

 

Continent (not North America or Europe):

-100 Best African Books of All Time – Short Form

-Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century – ASC Library

-10 Essential African Novels – Publishers Weekly

-100 Must-Read Books by Asian Authors – Book Riot

-35 of the Best Books by Asian Authors – Woman’s Day

-25 Books That Will Transport You Through Asia – Lonely Planet

-100 Must-Read Australian Books – Book Riot

-Top 50 Australian Books – List Challenges

-50 Must Read Australian Novels

-100 Must-Read Latin America Books – Book Riot

-Top 20 Latin American Books to Read Before You Die – Latin Times

-10 of the Best Latin American Novels – The Guardian

STEP 2. Compile a list of all the books and tabulate an initial order.

I went through all the links above and typed the books into a spreadsheet. Each book got 1 line and I kept a tally of how many of the links listed it. There were 646 books from the 28 lists. To be on a ‘must-read’ list, it needs to be tested by time - 10 years for this list. Any book published in 2013 or later was taken off the list.

 

To come up with the order, I first looked at which books were mentioned by the most links. Then I highlighted the 39 books by females from my 100 Inclusive Must-Read Book List to make sure those were included.

I then looked at which authors had the most books listed. Based on the books on the most links, I highlighted at least: 1 book from each author with 3 books, 2 books from authors with 4-5 books, and 3 books from the author with 6 books. I made sure there were no more than 3 books per author in order to allow for other authors to be recognized.

 

STEP 3. Check the diversity of the list.

At this point, I had about 77 books on my list with many of the rest having a similar ranking. I decided to check the diversity because I wanted at least 20 books in translation and at least 5 books by an author from all 6 inhabited continents. I only had 11 books in translation, so I found all of them that were mentioned on at least 2 lists and highlighted them. Asia was the only continent that didn’t have 5 books, but I added to all the continents until they had 5 or more books each.

STEP 4. Double-check the diversity of my list.

I recounted again and I had over 20 books in translation and at least 7 books from each continent. I still only had 94 books on my list of 100, though. I found books by Native North Americans and added them to my list. The last couple, I chose from the highest ranked not yet included in my list... and I had 100 books! For those with the same rank, I put them in order by publication - oldest to newest; for those with the same rank and published in the same year, I put them in alphabetical order by the author’s last name.

 

The list has:

100 books total by 87 female authors

 

23 books in translation 

(not originally written in English)

 

44 books by world authors 

(Either: not from North America/Europe OR a POC from those 2 continents)

 

15 books in translation by world authors

 

More Fun Statistics for the Female Author List!

100 Must-Read Books by Female Authors

 100 Must-Read Books by Female Authors

As most ‘best of’ lists tend to be biased towards books written in English by white men, I have attempted to create a list exclusively of females. This list, hopefully, is also more inclusive of authors who didn’t originally write in English and authors NOT from North America and Europe. Also, for a book to be on a ‘must read’ list, it should be tested over time. I decided to have my list be of books published 10+ years ago - so 2012 and earlier.

 

I want to keep this post short and just focused on the list itself, but more info is available:

-How I Came Up with the List of Books by Female Authors

-Fun Statistics for the Female Author List!

-100 Must-Read Books: An Inclusive List (not only female authors)

 

As I read the books, I will link my review to the book title in the list below. As I’m not doing this for work or school, I’m not giving myself a time restraint and I don’t have to go in order. Also, if I decide I really don’t like a book and I don’t want to finish it – then I won’t finish it. I will post a short review and link it to the title and move on to another book.

 

Read: Why didn’t you finish the book?

All books are ranked, though some have the same number. Those with the same rank were put in publication order, oldest to newest. Those with the same rank and publication year were put in order alphabetically by the author’s last name.

 

Now, what you’ve all been waiting for…

 

100 Must-Read Books by Female Authors

 

Rank	Title	Author	Published Language
1	Wuthering Heights	Bronte, Emily (English, 1818-1848)	1847
2	Pride and Prejudice	Austen, Jane (English, 1775-1817)	1813
3	Frankenstein	Shelley, Mary (English, 1797-1851)	1818
4/5	Mrs. Dalloway	Woolf, Virginia (English, 1882-1941)	1925
4/5	To the Lighthouse	Woolf, Virginia (English, 1882-1941)	1927
6	Beloved	Morrison, Toni (American, 1931-2019)	1987
7	The Handmaid's Tale	Atwood, Margaret (Canadian, 1939- )	1985
8	Jane Eyre	Bronte, Charlotte (English, 1816-1855)	1847
9	The House of the Spirits	Allende, Isabel (Chilean, 1942- ) translation Magda Bogin	1982 Spanish
10	The Color Purple	Walker, Alice (American, 1944- )	1982
11	To Kill a Mockingbird	Lee, Harper (American, 1926-2016)	1960
12	Middlemarch	Eliot, George (English, 1819-1880)	1971
13/14	The Age of Innocence	Wharton, Edith (American, 1862-1937)	1920
13/14	Song of Solomon	Morrison, Toni (American, 1931-2019)	1977
15-17	The Tale of Genji	Shikibu, Murasaki (Japanese, ~973-1031)	~1008 Japanese
15-17	Their Eyes Were Watching God	Hurston, Zora Neale (American, 1891-1960)	1937
15-17	The Joy Luck Club	Tan, Amy (American, 1952- )	1989
18-20	Little Women	Alcott, Louisa M. (American, 1932-1888)	1868
18-20	The Heart is a Lonely Hunter	McCullers, Carson (American, 1917-1967)	1940
18-20	Wide Sargasso Sea	Rhys, Jean (Dominican-British, 1890-1979)	1966
21	Orlando	Woolf, Virginia (English, 1882-1941)	1928
22-28	Rebecca	Maurier, Daphne Du (English, 1907-1989)	1938
22-28	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Spark, Muriel (Scottish, 1918-2006)	1961
22-28	The Sea, The Sea	Murdoch, Iris (Irish-British, 1919-1999)	1978
22-28	Like Water for Chocolate	Esquivel, Laura (Mexican, 1950- ) translation Carol and Thomas Christensen	1989 Spanish
22-28	The Secret History	Tartt, Donna (American, 1963- )	1992
22-28	The God of Small Things	Roy, Arundhati (Indian, 1961- )	1997
22-28	White Teeth	Smith, Zadie (English, 1975- )	2000
29-36	Dante's Divine Comedy	Tr by Sayers, Dorothy L (English, 1893-1957)	1472 / 1957 Italian
29-36	The Death of the Heart	Bowen, Elizabeth (Irish-British, 1899-1973)	1938
29-36	I Capture the Castle	Smith, Dodie (English, 1896-1990)	1948
29-36	A Wrinkle in Time	L'engle, Madeleine (American, 1918-2007)	1962
29-36	The Golden Notebook	Lessing, Doris (British-Zimbabwean, 1919-2013)	1962
29-36	So Long a Letter	Ba, Mariama (Senegalese, 1929-1981) Translation Modupe Bode-Thomas	1979 French
29-36	Kindred	Butler, Octavia E. (American, 1947-2006)	1979
29-36	The Poisonwood Bible	Kingsolver, Barbara (American, 1955- )	1998
37/38	Purple Hibiscus	Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (Nigerian-American, 1977-)	2003
37/38	Half of a Yellow Sun	Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (Nigerian-American, 1977-)	2007
39/40	The Hour of the Star	Lispectpr, Clarice (Ukrainian-Brazilian, 1920-1977) trans. Giovanni Pontiero	1977 Portuguese
39/40	In the Time of the Butterflies	Alvares, Julia (American, 1950- )	1994
41-43	Emma	Austen, Jane (English, 1775-1817)	1815
41-43	My Antonia	Cather, Willa (American, 1873-1947)	1918
41-43	The Bluest Eyes	Morrison, Toni (American, 1931-2019)	1970
44-50	Passing	Larsen, Nella (American, 1891-1964)	1929
44-50	The Man Who Loved Children	Stead, Christina (Australian, 1902-1983)	1940
44-50	Nectar in a Sieve	Markandaya, Kamala (British-Indian, 1924-2004)	1954
44-50	The Bell Jar	Plath, Sylvia (American, 1932-1963)	1963
44-50	The Complete Stories	O'Connor, Flannery (American, 1925-1964)	1971
44-50	Nights at the Circus	Carter, Angela (English, 1940-1992)	1984
44-50	Breathing Lessons	Tyler, Anne (American, 1941- )	1988
51-59	North and South	Gaskell, Elizabeth (English, 1810-1865)	1854
51-59	Poems of Emily Dickenson	Dickinson, Emily (American, 1830-1886)	1890
51-59	And Then There Were None	Christie, Agatha (English, 1890-1976)	1939
51-59	The Pursuit of Love	Mitford, Nancy (English, 1904-1973)	1945
51-59	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Highsmith, Patricia (American, 1921-1995)	1955
51-59	I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings	Angelou, Maya (American, 1928-2014)	1969
51-59	Picnic at Hanging Rock	Lindsay, Joan (Australian, 1896-1984)	1975
51-59	Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit	Winterson, Jeanette (English, 1959- )	1985
51-59	The Secret River	Grenville, Kate (Australian, 1950- )	2005
60-62	The Mill of the Floss	Eliot, George (English, 1819-1880)	1860
60-62	Near to the Wild Heart	Lispector, Clarice (Ukrainian-Brazilian, 1920-1977) translation Alison Entrekin	1943 Portuguese
60-62	Thursday Night Widows	Pineiro, Claudia (Argentine, 1960- ) translation Miranda France	2005 Spanish
63-65	The Haunting of Hill House	Jackson, Shirley (American, 1916-1965)	1959
63-65	Play It as It Lays	Didion, Joan (American, 1934-2021)	1970
63-65	Interpreter of Maladies	Lahiri, Jhumpa (American, 1967- )	1999
66-74	Suite Francaise	Nemirovsky, Irene (Ukranian, 1903-1942)	1942 / 2004 French
66-74	The Grand Sophy	Heyer, Georgette (English, 1902-1974)	1950
66-74	Memoirs of a Woman Doctor	Saadawi, Nawal El (Egyptian, 1931-2021)	1958 Arabic
66-74	A Backward Place	Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer (German-British, 1927-2013)	1965
66-74	A Wizard of Earthsea	Guin, Ursula K. Le (American, 1929-2018)	1968
66-74	Thus Were Their Faces: Selected Stories	Ocampo, Silvina (Argentine, 1903-1993) trans. Daniel Balderston	1988 Spanish
66-74	We Were the Mulvaneys	Oates, Joyce Carol (American, 1938- )	1996
66-74	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Rowling, J.K. (British, 1965- )	1997
66-74	Persepolis	Satrapi, Marjane (Iranian-French, 1969- )	2007 French
75-88	The Pillow Book	Shonagon, Sei (Japanese, 1017-1025)	1002 Japanese
75-88	Our Nig	Wilson, Harriet E. (American, 1825-1900)	1859
75-88	Cheri	Colette (French, 1873-1954)	1920 French
75-88	American Indian Stories	Zitkala-Sa (Yankton Dakota-American, 1876-1938)	1921
75-88	A Diary of a Young Girl	Frank, Anne (German-Dutch, 1929-1945)	1944 Dutch
75-88	The Harp in the South	Park, Ruth (New Zealander-Australian, 1925-2004)	1948
75-88	Memoirs of Hadrian	Yourcenar, Marguerite (French-American, 1903-1987)	1951 French
75-88	One Fine Day	Panter-Downes, Mollie (Armenian-American, 1932- )	1971 Armenian
75-88	Ceremony	Silko, Leslie Marmon (Laguna Pueblo-Anglo/ Mexican-American, 1948- )	1977
75-88	The Joys of Motherhood	Emechta, Buchi (Nigerian, 1944-2017)	1979
75-88	Nervous Conditions	Dangarembga, Tsitsi (Zimbabwean, 1959- )	1988
75-88	Please Look After Mother	Kyung-Sook, Shin (South Korean, 1963- )	2008 Korean
75-88	My Brilliant Friend	Ferrante, Elena (Italian, 1943- )	2011 Italian
75-88	Home	Chudori, Leila S. (Indonesian, 1962- )	2012 Indonesian
89	The Thing Around Your Neck	Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi (Nigerian-American, 1977-)	2009
90	Daughter of Fortune	Allende, Isabel (Chilean, 1942- ) translation Margaret Sayers Peden	1998 Spanish
91-94	How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents	Alvares, Julia (American, 1950- )	1991
91-94	The First Stone	Garner, Helen (Australian, 1942- )	1995
91-94	The Spare Room	Garner, Helen (Australian, 1942- )	2008
91-94	A Crack in the Wall	Pineiro, Claudia (Argentine, 1960- ) translation Miranda France	2009 Spanish
95-98	The Fountain Overflows	West, Rebecca (British, 1892-1983)	1957
95-98	Love Medicine	Erdrich, Louise (Ojibwa-American, 1954- )	1984
95-98	People of the Book	Brooks, Geraldine (Australian-American, 1955- )	2008
95-98	Akata Witch	Okorafor, Nnedi (Nigerian-American, 1974-)	2011
99	Half a Lifelong Romance	Chang, Eileen (Chinese-American, 1920-1995)	1948 Chinese
100	The Tenant of Wildfell Hall	Bronte, Anne (English. 1820-1849)	1848

 

I might have to compile a list for sci-fi and/or fantasy. I love lists and statistics and research and… READING!

 

I hope there are some familiar titles and some not-so-familiar titles in my list above. 

Happy reading!