Yesterday I asked the internet for recommendations of short books written by women, with no criterion for what constituted “short.” Here’s what people offered. Books I’ve already read are in bold. (Recommenders are in parentheses.)
- Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red. (Carmen Machado)
- Willa Cather, A Lost Lady. (Debbie Kennedy)
- Willa Cather, My Antonia. (Sarah Boden)
- Kate Chopin, The Awakening. (Rebecca Coffey, Krystal Rios)
- Marguerite Duras, The Lover. (Diana Spechler, Josh Rhome)
- George Eliot, Silas Marner. (Amy Parker)
- Marian Engel, Bear. (Carmen Machado)
- Louise Erdich, Love Medicine. (Maureen McHugh)
- Elena Ferrante, Days of Abandonment. (Amy Parker)
- Carolyn Forché, The Country Between Us. (Joseph Tomaras)
- Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm. (Jed Hartman)
- Carolyn Ives Gilman, Halfway Human. (Jeanne Griggs)
- Nadine Gordimer, July’s People. (Maureen McHugh)
- Helene Hanff, 84 Charing Cross Road. (Jed Hartman)
- Zora Neal Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God. (Amy Parker)
- Rachel Ingall, Mrs. Caliban. (Carmen Machado)
- Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House. (Rebecca Coffey, Amy Parker, Carmen Machado, Maureen McHugh)
- Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived In The Castle. (Amy Parker, Maureen McHugh)
- Tove Jansson, Tales from Moominvalley. (Jed Hartman)
- Sesyle Joslin, The Spy Lady and the Muffin Man. (Jed Hartman)
- Hitomi Kanehera, Snakes and Earrings. (Nick Mamatas)
- Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy. (Valérie Savard)
- Barbara Kingsolver, Pigs in Heaven. (Patrice Sarath)
- Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees. (Patrice Sarath)
- Nella Larson, Quicksand. (Alea Adigwame)
- Ursula Le Guin, Fish Soup. (Jed Hartman)
- Ursula Le Guin, Very Far From Anywhere Else. (Jed Hartman)
- Tanith Lee, Don’t Bite the Sun. (@Rwenchette)
- Doris Lessing, Memoirs of a Survivor. (Maureen McHugh)
- Doris Lessing, The Fifth Child. (Amy Parker, Rebecca Coffey)
- Denise Levertov, Collected Earlier Poems. (Joseph Tomaras)
- Bertie MacAvoy, Tea with the Black Dragon. (Dana Huber)
- Katherine Mansfield, At The Bay. (Debbie Kennedy)
- Katherine Mansfield, Prelude. (Debbie Kennedy)
- Patricia McKillip, Stepping from the Shadows. (Jed Hartman)
- Jane Mendelsohn, I Was Amelia Earhart. (Stephanie Feldman)
- Naomi Mitchison, Travel Light. (Jackie Monkiewicz)
- Katherine Faw Morris, Young God. (Nick Mamatas)
- Toni Morrison, Sula. (Maureen McHugh)
- Jenny Offill, The Dept. of Speculation. (Josh Rhome)
- Yoko Ogawa, Revenge. (Alexandra Geraets, Joseph Tomaras)
- Sharon Olds, The Cold Cell. (Jed Hartman)
- Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea. (Valérie Savard)
- Joanna Russ, Picnic on Paradise. (Karen Meisner)
- Joanna Russ, The Female Man. (Jed Hartman)
- Ruth Sawyer, Roller Skates. (Jed Hartman)
- Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. (Monica Byrne, Justin Cosner, Carmen Machado)
- Cynthia Voigt, Dicey’s Song. (Jed Hartman)
- Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome. (Amy Parker)
- Kate Wilhelm, Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang. (Maureen McHugh)
- Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry. (Jed Hartman)
- Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse. (Amy Parker)
- Margarite Yourcenar, Coup d’Grace. (Maureen McHugh)
I already own a copy of the most recommended book, The Haunting of Hill House, so that’s in the stack (as are several others). I think the first new one of these I’ll add is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.