It pains me to say that out of all my favourite writers, only one is female: Iris Murdoch. I haven't read a whole lot by any other female writers though, and I would like to be pointed in the way of the very best female writers. I know that I shouldn't distinguish between male and female writers too much, however I feel that I need to read more works by female writers to grasp more rounded ideas about literature!
So who're the best?
Austen's good
Or George Eliot.
I like Willa Cather, Rachel Carson, and Gretel Ehrlich. . . and several others.
“Oh crap”
-- Hellboy
Like male writers,there are good and bad ....
Some good ones are -
Jane Austen
George Eliot
Charlotte Bronte
Emily Bronte
Daphne du Maurier
Some bad ones are-
Ann Rice
Ayn Rand
Virginia Woolf
Margaret Atwood is becoming one of my favorite authors.
I also really like Edith Wharton, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Bowen, I love Morgan Llewellyn but she writes primary Historical Fiction revolving around Irish Lore, so to enjoy her writing it would help to have some interest in that subject matter. I also perosnally love Anne Rice, but she is not for everyone.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
I've never read Woolf, so I can't comment. Rice, I agree, is bad. Interview With The Vampire disappointed me greatly, because I'd heard so much good about it.Originally Posted by dfloyd
Ayn Rand was actually a pretty good writer. She was WRONG, philosophically, but Atlas Shrugged is a heck of a read - very enjoyable. I read it about ten times when I was young. I skipped the big radio speech after the first time, though, because there's only so much objectivism one can take without one's head imploding.
I rate:
Angela Carter
George Egerton
Elizabeth Gaskell
Margaret Attwood
Big fan of Marilynne Robinson. The last American winner of the Nobel, Toni Morrison, aint too bad either.
http://unidentifiedappellation.blogspot.com/
My fav female author is Amy Hempel. She's a short story writer and a minimalist. Not only is she my fav female author, but from a stylistic-standpoint, she's probably my fav author, period. Here's a link to one of my fav pieces from her.
http://www.pifmagazine.com/1998/09/the-harvest/
truth
that's silly.
people seem to like alice munro, lorrie moore, lydia davis...
I don't care for Austen much...technically she's great, but her characters and stories bore me. She is important to read though, I think. As is Edith Wharton, who I don't like. Same with Gertrude Stein. And I suppose it's probably important to read Toni Morrison--but I really---really- don't like her.
Willa Cather, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor (short stories--her novels suck), Shirley Jackson, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Elliot, Baroness Orczy, Katherine Anne Porter, Carson McCullers, Bobbie Anne Mason, Dorothy Allison, AS Byatt, Peal S.Buck, Isak Dinesen, Daphne DuMaurier, The Brontes, Margret Mitchell, Harper Lee. Ooh--I just thought of Sigrid Undset, too.
Lousia May Alcott, LM Montgomery are fine fun to read also--especially on a rainy day or when you need just an absolutely super fun read which is also not too intellectually demanding-but still good.
Last edited by _Shannon_; 06-28-2010 at 09:07 PM. Reason: to add one
"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult."
~E.B. White
Emily Dickinson: genius.
Oh---did you want poets, too? I just did fiction writers.
"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult."
~E.B. White
Accck! I always hate these sub-categories: Women Writers, Jewish Writers, Lesbian Writers, French Writers, Black Writers, Native American Writers, One-Legged, German/Italian, Albino, Transvestite, Jehovah Witness Writers. The term always smacks a bit of suggesting something less. Well... she's good... for a woman writer.
Having said this much, I find Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, Marianne Moore, Marina Tsvetaeva, Anne Carson, Flannery O'Connor, Virginia Woolf, the Bronte Sisters, and Marguerite Yourcenar to be among the strongest writers I have yet encountered... and if Harold Bloom is right, we'll have to add the "J" writer, responsible for a good portion of the Hebrew Bible.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
http://stlukesguild.tumblr.com/
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