It happens to the best of us. We go from crushing a book a day to barely scratching the surface of our reading list in months. Especially in recent years, it’s easier to forget that reading shouldn’t feel like a chore. If you’re looking to revive a love for reading, I’ve compiled a list of female authors that should do the trick. All of these women write from various and unique angles. After all, women are known for their unshakeable intuition and broad emotional spectrum. Some of these women even dared to write before women’s work was deemed valuable. There are thousands more worth exploring, but here seven female authors I can vouch for to help you revive your love of reading.
Liane Moriarty
Moriarty is probably best known for her novel turned hit series Big Little Lies, but I can vouch for the rest of her work. Moriarty manipulates mundane realities to thrill the reader. She entwines credible surprises into the everyday life of seemingly ordinary characters. Moreover, her backdrops and story settings are always exceptionally realistic. As a result, while immersed in her stories, I often forget I’m reading. She impresses upon us the impermanence of life and reminds us to never take anything for granted.
Favorite Book: The Husband’s Secret
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is my sounding board from beyond the grave. Her no-nonsense voice of reason has guided me throughout my life in tons of different situations. Whenever I’m upset, I turn to her for advice. She doesn’t coddle or pamper, but instead holds up a mirror to her reader and explains things logically, sans all emotional frills. For anyone stuck wallowing in self-pity, Christie’s voice can reinvigorate you like a strong cup of coffee.
Favorite Book: Crooked house
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood has one of the most unique voices of the last century. Although she’s best known for Handmaid’s Tale, this dystopian account of a patriarchal and totalitarian society barely scratches the surface of Atwood’s work. She will cut you deeply with her sharp, dark, and sometimes heart-wrenching prose, but if you’re looking to dive deeply into other worlds, Atwood is your entry.
Favorite Book: The Blind Assassin
Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah is a prolific writer, with over twenty published novels, but I was enamored mainly by her historical fiction. Her world war tales are ones of survival and highlight the quiet strength of women. She focuses on the battles women faced in their homes, especially in enemy-occupied regions. The characters in her novels reveal new perspectives and make today’s problems feel just a little less dire. Her characters are deeply relatable and their struggles often mirror my own.
Favorite Book: The Nightingale
Toni Morrison
If you’ve read anything by Toni Morrison, you already know what a privilege it is to read her. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, after the success of her novels Song of Solomon and Beloved. Morrison is constantly challenging society in her powerful novels about African-American identity in the United States, Her books are a challenge to read but even more so a necessity. Painful, but unmatched in both beauty and prose.
Favorite Book: The Bluest Eye
Maeve Binchy
Maeve Binchy gives an insider look into a plethora of diverse lives. That is one gift only few authors can offer. She portrays life as it is through her various characters– with all its charms and travesties. At the end of her books, you feel as though you have also lived in whichever tiny town she’s described. So many of her characters resonate with me, and to some capacity I find myself in each and every one of them. In short, Binchy isn’t one to preach, but you always come away with a lesson.
Favorite Book: Circle of Friends
Jane Austen
In an era when women held no influence, Austen took up her pen and poured her thoughts onto paper. Like Austen, her spitfire female protagonists have minds of their own and are still household names a century later. On the surface, her books may appear to be mainly about soirees, romance, and high tea. But there is an underlying current of feminism, as Austen flawlessly depicts women’s inner strength, sacrifice, resilience, fortitude, loyalty, and boundless love.
Favorite Book: Pride and Prejudice
The above are just a few of my favorite female authors, but there is a plethora more worth reading, and it would be a disservice not to continue discovering them. Comment your favorite female authors below!
P.S. Don’t forget to check out the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie!