A Gentleman’s Guide to Lady Novelists

I read a lot of novels, most of which would be classified as literary fiction or science fiction (and often both). After a period in my twenties when I pretty much only read books by women — I think of that as my “how to be a woman” phase — I have progressively broadened my reading habits and tastes. At a certain point it just got more interesting to read books by people whose life experiences differ significantly from my own.

That’s why I felt a little sad to read an interview with Philip Roth, one of my favorite gentleman novelists, not long before he died. In that interview, Roth mentioned a dozen books he had recently read, only one of which was written by a woman. (A second was translated by a woman.) Admittedly, Roth has come in for plenty of feminist criticism over the years, so maybe I should not have been surprised. But his American Pastoral is one of my most beloved books, so I was surprisingly disappointed to discover that actually, we lady writers didn’t figure much in his own reading habits. (Unless this dozen is somehow strangely atypical, and he usually lounged around reading Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood.)

I shared my disappointment on Facebook, and a friend asked me to recommend some female authors for those who’d like to broaden their reading habits. It’s a challenge I loved, in part because I always enjoy recommending books, but…