Fables: A Suggested Reading Order

Fables (comics):

A Suggested Reading Order

Note: If you're interested in my mini-reviews, a running character list, and some pictures of the comics themselves, please see my other post -

Reviews of Fables.

Description: Fables is a comic book series published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint beginning in 2002. The series deals with various people from fairy tales and folklore – referring to themselves as “Fables” – who have been forced out of their Homelands. The Fables have traveled to our mundane world and formed a clandestine community in New York City known as Fabletown. Extended Fables Introduction/Description.

Publisher: Vertigo

Publication Date: 2002-2015+

Genre: Contemporary/Dark Fantasy

Creators: Bill Willingham, Lan Medina

Printing Formats:

-Individual issues

-Trade paperbacks with textured matte paper (collects a couple issues together)

-Deluxe hardcovers with smooth glossy paper (collects several issues together)

-Compendiums, which collect all of Fables together into 4 books

All are comics with the below exceptions:

-A Wolf in the Fold (prose story, 2003)

-1001 Nights of Snowfall (graphic novel, 2006)

-Peter and Max (prose novel, 2009)

-Pinocchio's Army (prose story, 2011)

-Werewolves of the Heartland (graphic novel, 2012)

-Fairest in All the Land (2013, graphic novel)

-The Wolf Among Us (video game, 2013)

-Fables #150: Farewell (graphic novel, 2015)

LEGEND (for the colored and bolded text below):

Fables

Jack of Fables spinoff

Fairest spinoff

Limited Series

One-Shots and non-comic formats

Comments

What I own

A Suggested Reading Order:

DELUXE V1 Fables #1-5: Legends in Exile (2003)

Fables #6-10: Animal Farm (2003)

DELUXE V2
A Wolf in the Fold (2003, prose story)
Fables #11-13: Bag O' Bones, A Two-Part Caper (2004)

Fables #14-17: Storybook Love (2004)

Fables #18: Barleycorn Brides (2004)
Fables: The Last Castle (2004, one-shot)

The Wolf Among Us (2013, video game)

Note: This is a video game that was adapted later as a print comic. Another game will possibly be released in 2025. The game is a prequel to the series and could be played whenever, but I recommend playing it after #10: Animal Farm and before #51: Big and Small. More specifically, I suggest right before #22: Cinderella Libertine.

Fables: The Wolf Among Us Vol 1: #1-7 and Vol 2: #8-16 (2014) 

Note: A video game adapted later as a print comic. Just play the game. The only parts worth reading in the comics are The Crucible in #1-7 and Bloody Mary's story in #8-16. When the Crooked Man meets Bloody Mary in the greenhouse, stop reading.

DELUXE V3
Fables #22: Cinderella Libertine (2005)

Note: #22 can be read before, mid, or after March of the Wooden Soldiers. It makes sense to read it before if you plan to play the game right before Cinderella Libertine.

Fables #19-21; #23-27: March of the Wooden Soldiers (2004)

DELUXE V4
Fables #28-33: War Stories, The Long Year/The Mean Season (2005)

    -Also includes #22: Cinderella Libertine (2005), not in Deluxe V4
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (2006, graphic novel)

DELUXE V5
Fables #34-35: Jack Be Nimble (2006)
Fables #36-41: Homelands (2006)

    -Also includes #34-35: Jack Be Nimble (2006), also in Deluxe V5
Fables #42-45: Arabian Nights and Days (2006)

    -Also includes #46-47: Ballad of Rodney and June (2006), not in Deluxe V5

DELUXE V6

Fables #46-47: Ballad of Rodney and June (2006)

Fables #48-51: Wolves, Happily Ever After, Big and Small (2006)

DELUXE V7

Fables #52-59: Sons of Empire (and 4 mini one-shots), Jiminy Christmas, Father and Son, Burning Questions (2007)

Fables #64: The Birthday Secret (2008)

DELUXE V8
Fables #60-63; #65-69: The Good Prince (2008)

DELUXE ED1

Jack of Fables #1-5: The (Nearly) Great Escape (2007)

Jack of Fables #6-11: Jack Frost and Jack of Hearts (2007)
Jack of Fables #12-16: The Bad Prince and Jack O'Lantern (2008)

DELUXE V9

Fables #70-75: Kingdom Come, Skullduggery, War and Pieces (2008)

Fables #76-82: Around the Town, The Dark Ages, Return to the Jungle Book (mini story arc), Waiting for the Blues (2009)

Peter & Max: A Fables Novel (2009, prose)

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love #1-6 (2010)

DELUXE ED2

Jack of Fables #17-21: Americana and Gary Goes to Denmark (2008)

Jack of Fables #22-27: 1883 and Turning Pages (2009)

Jack of Fables #28-32: Books of War (2009)

DELUXE V10
The Great Fables Crossover (2010):
Fables #83; Jack of Fables #33; The Literals #1
Fables #84; Jack of Fables #34; The Literals #2
Fables #85; Jack of Fables #35; The Literals #3

    -Also includes Werewolves of the Heartland (2012, graphic novel)

    -Note: It could be read here, but I suggest reading it a little later - or not at all.

DELUXE ED3
Jack of Fables #36: Jack 'n' Apes (2010)

Jack of Fables #37-40: New Adventures of Jack and Jack (2010)
Jack of Fables #41-45: The Kings of Earth and Sky / Fulminate Blade (2011)

Jack of Fables #46-50: Jack Dragon and Gary (mini one-shots) and The End (2011)

Mini Blue Ox (various, one-pagers)

Note: There's no particular order to read them in, since they're printed in the middle of existing comics. There's enough that I wanted to call them out and count them as a one-off collection, though.

DELUXE V11
Fables #86-91: Boxing Days, Witches (5) (2010)

Celebrity Burning Questions (2011, 4 mini one-shots)

Fables #92-98: Out to the Ball Game (2), Rose Red (5) (2011)

Pinocchio's Army (2011, prose story)

Fables #99-100: Dark City and Single Combat (2011)

After the Duels (2011, 2 mini one-shots)

Cinderella: Fables are Forever #1-6 (2012)

Werewolves of the Heartland (2012, graphic novel)

DELUXE V12

Fables #101-107: The Ascent, Super Team (5), Waking Beauty (2011)

Note: #107: Waking Beauty can be read in publication order, and/or right before you read Fairest V1.

THE UNWRITTEN V9 #50-54 (2014)

Note: non-canon crossover, can/should be skipped

DELUXE V12

Fables #108-111: Inherit the Wind (2012)

DELUXE V13
Fables #124: The Revolution in Oz (2013)

DELUXE V12

Fables #112: All in a Single Night (2012)

Fables #113: In Those Days (2012)

DELUXE V13

Fables #114-121: Cubs in Toyland (2013)

FAIREST V1
Fairest #1-7: Wide Awake (6), Lamia (2012)

Note: Can be read anytime after Fables #107, but before Fables #125.

DELUXE V14

Fables #138: Root & Branch (2014)

Note: This is hard to figure out time-wise due to conflicting story elements, but I recommend reading it here.

DELUXE V13

Fables #122-123: The Destiny game (2013)
Fables #125-129: Snow White (2013)

FAIREST V2
Fairest #8-14: Hidden Kingdom (6), Aldered States (2013)

Note: Fairest #8-13 is hard to pin down time-wise, but can be read anytime after Fables #98. Fairest #14 should be read right after Fables #129, though.

DELUXE V14
Fables #130-137: June Bug, Camelot (7) (2014)

Fables #139-140: The Boys in the Band (2014)

FAIREST V3

Fairest #15-20: The Return of the Maharaja (2014)

Note: Read sometime after Fables #82.

Fairest in All the Land (2013, graphic novel)

FAIREST V4

Fairest #21-26: Of Men and Mice (2014)

Note: Read after Fables #130.

FAIREST V5

Fairest #27-33: Clamour of Glamour(6), Goldilocks and the Three (or More) Bears (2015)

Note: Read Fairest #27-32 after Fables #137. Fairest #33 is a prequel to the Fairest in All the Land graphic novel and could be read before that, or in publication order.

DELUXE V15

Fables #141-149: Happily Ever After (and 9 mini one-shots) (2015)

Fables #150: Farewell (2015, graphic novel)

Everafter: From the Pages of Fables V1

Everafter #1-6: The Pandora Protocol (2017)

Note: Everafter is an incomplete series and leaves multiple story arcs hanging. Unless you're a completionist like me, I recommend skipping these.

Everafter: From the Pages of Fables V2

Everafter #7-12: The Unsentimental Education (2017)

Note: Everafter is an incomplete series and leaves multiple story arcs hanging. Unless you're a completionist like me, I recommend skipping these.

Deluxe V16

Fables #151-162: The Black Forest (2024)

Batman Vs. Bigby! A Wolf In Gotham #1-6 (2021)

Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey

Title: Winds of Fate (Mage Winds Trilogy #1)

Author: Mercedes Lackey (American, 1950- )
Originally published: 1991

Page count: 446

Dates read: 5/30/23-6/17/23

2023 book goal progress: 12 out of 23

Author Challenge: Mercedes Lackey

Read my other book reviews for my 2023 goals HERE.




Description on back of book:
High magic had been lost to Valdemar centuries ago when the last Herald-Mage gave his life to save the kingdom from destruction by dark sorceries. Yet now, the realm is at risk again. Elspeth, Herald and heir to the throne, must take up the challenge, abandoning her home to find a mentor who can awaken her untrained mage abilities. Others, too, are being caught up in a war against sorcerous evil.

The Tayledras scout Darkwind is the first to stumble across the menace creeping forth from the '"Uncleansed Lands." As sorcery begins to take its toll, Darkwind may be forced to call upon powers he has sworn to never use again if he and his people are to survive an enemy able to wreak greater devastation with spells of destruction than with swords.

First sentences:
"The legend: Long ago, in the days of the first King, for whom the Kingdom of Valdemar is named, it came to the King that he was growing old. Now Valdemar had led his people out of the hand of a tyrannical monarch and had no wish to see them fall again into the hands of tyranny. He knew that his son and Heir was a worthy, honest man - but what of his son's sons and theirs?"

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 9
Writing Style - 8
Plot                - 7
Intrigue          - 7
Logic             - 3
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

I was really looking forward to having Elspeth as the main character and for about the first half of the book, it was great. Then she turned into the Brat again, a teenage one at that, and she wouldn't listen to anything Skif or even her Companion would say. Of course, they didn't call her out on her shit as harshly as Talia would have, which is what needed to be done. So, unfortunately, the second half of the book was a pain to get through because Elspeth was just a stupid and selfish Brat. 

Anyway - it isn't too bad because the whole book actually tells two stories and every other chapter followed either Elspeth and Skif or Darkwind and his tribe. I really enjoyed learning about the tribal cultures in the world of Valdemar - including their past and present issues. It was still good overall, I just hope Elspeth turns around again because she's currently annoying and I don't support her at all. I want to like and support the main characters I read about, and I just can't at the moment.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Mercedes Lackey have the last words:

"Magic isn't an answer, it's a tool, and any tool can be done without."

The Children of Men by PD James

Title: The Children of Men

Author: PD James (English, 1920-2014)
Originally published: 1992

Page count: 241

Dates read: 5/20/23-5/28/23

2023 book goal progress: 11 out of 23

May Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub 

Read my other book reviews for my 2023 goals HERE.




Description on back of book:
The human race has become infertile, and the last generation to be born is now adult. Civilization itself is crumbling and suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may just awaken his desire to live... and they may also hold the key to survival for the human race.

First sentence:
"Early this morning, 1 January 2021, three minutes after midnight, the last human being to be born on earth was killed in a pub brawl in a suburb of Buenos Aires, aged twenty-five years, two months, and twelve days."

Favorite quotes:
"If from infancy, you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils."

"There was some dignity and much safety in the self-selected role of spectator, but, faced with some abominations, many had no option but to step onto the stage."

"The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 4.9/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 5
Atmosphere   - 6
Writing Style - 3
Plot                - 4
Intrigue          - 6
Logic             - 5
Enjoyment     - 5
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This was a pretty bad book. It was boring and I didn't feel connected with any of the characters. The concept seemed really interesting, but the story was told horribly. It had an advanced vocabulary and even simple words were British, so, being an American, I didn't know some of the words. For having the main character be an Oxford professor, there was no Oxford comma and other grammar seemed weird. The ending was unsatisfactory and didn't really have a resolution. I don't recommend this book.

Book to movie review:

They created new characters, removed others, and even combined some. The general overarching storyline is the same, but there are some significant plot changes along the way. I'd say the movie is better, but it's still pretty mediocre. It's not worth your time.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let PD James have the last words:

" 'Do I believe in God? No, it's too late for me. I believe in Julian's strength and courage and in my own skill. But if he gets us through this maybe I'll change my mind, see if I can't get something going with Him.'

'I don't think He bargains.'

'Oh, yes He does. I may not be religious, but I know my Bible. My mother saw to that. He bargains alright. He's supposed to be just. If He wants belief, He'd better provide some evidence.'

'That He exists?'

'That He cares.' "

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Title: The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicle #2)

Author: Patrick Rothfuss (American, 1973- )
Originally published: 2011

Page count: 1,107

Dates read: 4/10/23-4/23/23; 5/2/23-5/17/23

2023 book goal progress: 10 out of 23

Author Challenge: Patrick Rothfuss

Read my other book reviews for my 2023 goals HERE.




Description on back of book:
"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me.

So begins the tale of a hero told from his own point of view - a story unequal in fantasy literature. Now, in day two of the Kingkiller Chronicle, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

First sentences:
"Dawn was coming. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts."

Favorite quotes:
"We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect."

"It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers. That way, when he finds the answers, they'll be precious to him. The harder the question, the harder we hunt. The harder we hunt, the more we learn."

"Stories don't need to be new to bring you joy. Some stories are like familiar friends. Some are dependable as bread."

"A story is like a nut. A fool will swallow it whole and choke. A fool will throw it away, thinking it of little worth. But a wise woman finds a way to crack the shell and eat the meat inside."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.3/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 8
Atmosphere   - 8
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 7
Intrigue          - 7
Logic             - 6
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

I like this series a lot! I wish the books were half their length, though - they're super long. I wish the author hadn't written that Kvothe was supposed to tell his story in three days - and that each day he told his story, would be a single book.

I have very mixed feelings about Felurian, who is a Fae seductress (akin to a siren/mermaid - without any fins). I think femme fatales that focus on sex and seduction are a very overused trope and just annoy me. Women can be clever and get what they want in so many other ways instead. I can't help but think that they're there in stories more for the pleasure of men than to represent a strong female character. I'm not the biggest fan of Denna (his main love interest), but I think Felurian is even worse than her. I wish he had stumbled into the land of the Fae and come across Felurian along the way instead of her magically seducing him.

Unlike Felurian, who I hated at first and then slightly liked; I loved the Adem culture and then came to slightly dislike it. The Adem are a people of highly secretive mercenaries (based on a Tai-Chi-esque martial arts). They are viewed as an extremely equal society... then you see they're actually quite matriarchal, which was nice.... until you realize they're very sexist. Women are better at all things and men don't have anything to really live their life for. It was really neat to learn about a vastly different culture than ours, but disturbing to see how even a seemingly utopia has its pitfalls and blindspots.

Sometimes it feels like the story arcs jump around a bit - Rothfuss probably feels he needs to jam as much as possible into each book because he only has 3 books to tell the entire tale. He's created a narrative for much more than 3 books and I wish he would move away from that. In case you're wondering - the third book is not out yet, with no idea when it will be - and it's been 12 years. Anyway, it's an incredible book, but it sometimes feels disjointed and rushed - despite its length.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Patrick Rothfuss have the last words... but first a preface for the quote.

In real life, whilst I'm not reading fantasy, I'm a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant. Speech teachers are known for working on a person's pronunciation - lisps, stutters, gliding (replacing 'l' or 'r' with 'w'), and other articulation/fluency disorders. We actually work on much more than just that including language (grammar, syntax, vocab, etc), voice (pitch, volume, vocal hygiene, etc), swallowing (I don't do this as an assistant), and pragmatics (social skills).

Social skills encompass A LOT: understanding emotions (what it looks like, how to react, how to calm yourself down, etc), knowing how to have a conversation (how much to talk, asking follow-up questions, staying on topic, etc), respect/empathy (understanding different relationships, what it means to be a friend, etc), problem-solving, perspective taking, expected vs. unexpected behaviors, and much more.

Another topic of social skills is nonverbal communication, which includes facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice. The Adem culture has a VERY different form of nonverbal communication than we do. Instead of facial expressions to signify emotions, they use a complex hand gesture form of communication. The Adem keep blank faces in public and use their hand gestures to signify emotions. Eye contact is also considered rude since your eyes are meant to be watching a person's hands. 

As Kvothe learns this new way of communicating, he makes the below statement.  When he says the gestures are not as simple as facial expressions - he means the gesture interpretations are more specific, so there are more signs to learn than we have facial expressions. The thing is, each of our facial expressions has its own intricacies and can be interpreted differently depending on the context - so, in my opinion, facial expressions are more complex than Ademic gestures. Nonetheless, I very much related to his below statement.

"In the hours that followed, I learned that Ademic hand gestures did not actually represent facial expressions. It was nothing so simple as that. For example, a smile can mean you're amused, happy, grateful, or satisfied. You can smile to comfort someone. You can smile because you're content or because you're in love.  A grimace or a grin looks similar to a smile, but they mean entirely different things.

Imagine teaching someone how to smile. Imagine trying to describe what different smiles mean and when, precisely, to use them in conversation. It's harder than learning to walk."

(Fun Fact: I don't have to imagine. As I've already said - that's literally part of my job. In addition to other facial expressions, I'm currently teaching one of my students the definition/use/emotion of a smile, grin, grimace, smirk, and sneer.)

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Title: Death on the Nile

Author: Agatha Christie (English, 1890-1976)
Originally published: 1937

Page count: 214

Dates read: 4/23/23-5/2/23

2023 book goal progress: 9 out of 23

April Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub 

Read my other book reviews for my 2023 goals HERE.




Description on back of book:
The Scene: An exotic cruise in the land of the ancient Pharaohs.

The Victim: She made such a lovely bride. Alas, a tiny bullet interrupted what seemed to be the perfect honeymoon.

The Suspects: The boat was crawling with them, including the ex-fiance of the groom and the groom himself who has a couple million motives ($) motives for murder.

First sentence:
"Linnet Ridgeway! That's her!"

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 6.4/10 - ⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 6
Atmosphere   - 5
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 7
Intrigue          - 8
Logic             - 6
Enjoyment     - 6
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This is a Hercule Poirot novel and I had high hopes. Unfortunately, this story moved very slowly. There were so many characters, I had to take notes to keep them straight. Poirot also asked a lot of leading questions and occasionally spoke French, which annoyed me. I also had a suspicion of who it was all along and I was correct. It's always a boost to feel clever and solve the mystery, but I prefer being surprised with an unexpected twist. To be fair, there is a big twist in the end, but I guess I've read so many mysteries that I can read between the lines. I suggest Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd over this one.

Book to movie review:

I'd say the movie is better than the book, but the movie is pretty mediocre.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Agatha Christie have the last words:

"Love can be a very frightening thing. That is why most great love stories are tragedies."

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!