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
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