I know I’m a little late but in celebration of International Women’s Day I decided to do a list of Top 5 Female Authors of my Lifetime. I am 30 years old so that means anyone who I love that has published work in the last 30 years. As with all of my lists they are in no particular order.
1) Marian Keyes
I love Marian Keyes. Absolutely love her. I know a lot of people write her books off as “chick lit” and “forgettable fluff” but these people clearly haven’t read them. Marian (I feel like I can call her Marian because her books make me feel like I know her. I also follow her on Twitter and find her tweets hilarious!), has covered a range of topics including alcoholism, depression, domestic violence and rape. Her Walsh family books are my absolute favourites and I’ve read all of them more than once. Just because she’s a female Author who writes books mainly about women and for women does not mean they don’t contain worthy messages. Side note – her recipe book “Saved by Cake” is incredible and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try their hand at a variety of different dessert based recipes.
2) Kathy Reichs
Regular readers of my blog will know I love Reichs’ Temperance Brennan series of crime fiction books and also her Virals series aimed at young adults. I started to read Reichs books as I’m a fan of the TV series “Bones”, which is loosely based on the books and that Reichs consults on as well. They are very different from each other, pretty much the only thing that is the same is the main character is called Temperance Brennan and she is a leading Forensic Anthropologist, but I have come to love the books and the fact that Brennan is a female in quite a male oriented environment and, for the most part, manages to hold her own.
3) J. K. Rowling
I don’t think any list of female Authors would be complete without Rowling. I came to the Harry Potter series a little late as I just thought they were kids’ books and couldn’t understand why so many older people were getting into them as well. I decided to give them a try for myself eventually and was hooked right from the start. On the plus side it meant I was able to power through from “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” right up to “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” before I ran out of books and had to wait for the next one to be released. Whilst I wasn’t as big a fan of “The Casual Vacancy” and haven’t read any of Robert Galbraith’s books, I think the world and characters she created in the Harry Potter series were incredible. Although she was writing about a magical world, most of the problems the characters faced were extremely relatable. She also created one of my all-time favourite female characters in Hermione Granger so deserves a mention just for that!
4) Cecelia Ahern
I love the mix of magic and romance in Ahern’s books. Yes, they aren’t the most highly nuanced works of literature but for me they are the ultimate in escapism. I tend to blast through each of her books in a single day when they are released as I just don’t want to drag myself away from them once I start. I have read all of them more than once and love them just as much on repeat readings as I did the first time. I do, however, take issue with the film versions of her books. Not only do they not do them justice, they make them barely recognisable from the books. Not a fan! I wish she was able to retain greater control of film adaptations, the way Rowling did with the Potter films, so they couldn’t stray so far from the source material.
5) Jodi Picoult
Picoult is another Author who I try to buy as soon as a new release comes out. Each book does tend to follow a similar pattern, there is always some kind of social issue, usually something quite current, and a Court case. Through the course of her books she has covered many topics, including school shootings, raising children within a same sex relationship and even Nazi war criminals who have escaped to the United States. Picoult’s books are always well researched and the issues sensitively dealt with. She manages to remain impartial and give weight to each side of the argument in all the issues that she has covered. A lot of the main characters are female and I like that her characters are made out to be perfect. In reality, people have flaws and she depicts these flaws well within her characters.
Do you agree with my choices or is there someone you think should be on there instead? Let me know in the comments.
thebookwormery 