To celebrate National Women’s History Month and Year of Reading Women (#readwomen2014), our books to read in March 2014 are written by women. I recommend that you read a book each week for a total of four books, but I commit to reading seven or eight. Though Middlemarch is a staple on the lists of must-read books, I doubt that I will attempt to read it for March because it is close to 900 pages in length. I possess all the books on the list except for The Golden Notebook and The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, so I will choose my books to read from books that I already have.
Female Authors: Books to Read in March 2014
- Anne of Green Gables (The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, … Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside)
), Lucy Maud Montgomery - Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
- Middlemarch (Penguin Classics), George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Men, Mary Wollstonecraft
- Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar
- Gone with the Wind, 75th Anniversary Edition, Margaret Mitchell
- The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
- The Golden Notebook: A Novel, Doris Lessing
- The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson
- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
), Lucy Maud Montgomery
, Virginia Woolf
, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
, Marguerite Yourcenar
, Margaret Atwood
, Doris Lessing
, Emily Dickinson
, Jane Austen
, Emily Bronte
, Charlotte BronteUse the random number generator below to select which four books or more to read in March 2014.
The Authors
Lucy Maud Montgomery: Born on November 30, 1874 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, Lucy Maud Montgomery is best known for her Anne of Green Gables series of novels. Published in 1908, Anne of Green Gables was an immediate success, and Montgomery wrote six more books creating a series in response to requests. Anne of Green Gables tells the story of an imaginative, orphan girl, Anne Shirley, who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert.
Virginia Woolf: Born on January 25, 1882, Kensington, United Kingdom, Virginia Woolf made a significant contribution to litereture. Her best known works include Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and A Room of One's Own. Mrs Dalloway is about the day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway.
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans): Born on November 22, 1819 in Arbury Hall, United Kingdom, Mary Ann Evans was a novelist, journalist, and translator. She used a male pen name because she wanted her work to be taken seriously. Her best known works are Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner (Book Review – Silas Marner By George Eliot), and Middlemarch. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, George Eliot “developed the method of psychological analysis characteristic of modern fiction”
Mary Wollstonecraft: Please read my post, Mary Wollstonecraft, the Founder of Feminism. Born in April 1758, Mary Wollstonecraft was a writer, reformer, feminist, and best known for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women. She is also the mother of Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein. She wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, “The first sustained argument for female emancipation… and an analysis of the injustices and disadvantages women suffered as a result of social, economic, political, and educational inequality.”
Marguerite Yourcenar: Marguerite Yourcenar was a French novelist who was born on June 8, 1903 in Brussels, Belgium. Her two most substantial novels Memoirs of Hadrian and The Abyss are historical novels. Memoirs of Hadrian is about a 2nd-century Roman emperor, Hadrian. I learned about Emperor Hadian in my Introduction to Architecture course, which was one of the courses I have already taken for my informal liberal arts education.
Margaret Atwood: Born on November 18, 1939 in Ottawa, Canada, Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. Atwood is a prolific writer who has published novels, short fiction, children's stories and non-fiction works. A friend told me not ago that The Handmaid's Tale is her favourite Margaret Atwood book.
Doris Lessing: Born on October 22, 1919 in Kermanshah, Iran, Doris Lessing was the oldest woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her well-known novel, The Golden Notebook is considered by many to be a feminist classic.
Emily Dickinson: Born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, Emily Dickinson was a poet who led a reclusive life. Her collection of poems appears on many of the must-read book lists.
Jane Austen: Born on December 16, 1775 in Steventon, United Kingdom, Jane Austen is one of the best known classic literature around the world. Her books, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are also well known.
Emily Bronte: Born on July 30, 1818 in Thornton, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, Emily Bronte was a novelist and poet. She is best known for her only novel Wuthering Heights, and she is a part of the Bronte Sisters.
Charlotte Bronte: Born on April 21, 1816 in Thornton, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, Charlotte was the eldest of the three Bronte Sisters. Her most successful book is Jane Eyre, although Villette, and the Professor were quite popular as well. I have read both Villette and The Professor but didn't write any reviews.
Why not choose four or so books to read with me in March 2014! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Liked this post? Share it and subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.
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