From Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying in 1972 to Torry Peters’ Detransition, Baby in 2021, the last 50 years has seen some powerful, innovative and provocative books by women writers. Here is a list of 50 amazing books written by amazing women in the last 50 years.
- Fear of Flying, by Erica Jong
- The Optimist’s Daughter, by Eudora Welty
- The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Corregidora, by Gayl Jones
- A Book of Common Prayer, by Joan Didion
- Foreigner, by Nahid Rachlin
- The Dream of a Common Language, by Adrienne Rich
- God on the Rocks, by Jane Gardam
- Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler
- The Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel
- The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
- The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
- Foreign Affairs, by Alison Lurie
- The Good Terrorist, by Doris Lessing
- The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
- The Bone People, by Keri Hulme
- Beloved, by Toni Morrison
- Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn
- Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler
- The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
- A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley
- The Volcano Lover, by Susan Sontag
- The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx
- The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields
- We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates
- The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
- Charming Billy, by Alice McDermott
- Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Three Junes, by Julia Glass
- Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
- Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
- March, by Geraldine Brooks
- Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
- The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai
- Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
- The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver
- A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
- The Round House, by Louise Erdrich
- Family Furnishings, by Alice Munro
- Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng
- The Goldfinch, by Donna Tart
- The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert
- The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd
- An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
- Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid
- Remembered, by Yvonne Battle-Felton
- The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez
- No One is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood
- Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters
Did we leave out some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to celebrate Women’s History Month by picking up these books and more at your local HPB or HPB.com. Happy reading!
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How could you leave out To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee? Also Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard is one of the best non-fiction books, revitalizing the personal essay. And what about House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, which introduces us to magical realism?