500 Great Books by Women

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Book, 506 Books

The editors of this work-one is a teacher, one a writer, and one a women's bookstore owner-clearly love to read, are committed to promoting women's writing, and want to provide a useful guide for readers of similar inclination. The editors, along with some 30 contributors, have written brief descriptions (about 200 words) of 500 selected books. To be included, books had to be written by a woman and be in prose, in print, and in English (or in translation). The editors selected books they personally loved that represent multicultural and international perspectives. The entries are arranged thematically, including sections for art, family, identity, work, and 15 additional themes. The selections are somewhat unexpected, but they do include at least one sampling of the most acclaimed women writers (e.g., Angelou, Morrison, Weldon, and Oates).

This list was originally published in 1994 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
11787 Windbreak Linda M. Hasselstrom 1987 American English
8091 Winter Wheat Mildred Walker 1944 American English
7935 Woman On The Edge Of Time Marge Piercy 1976 American English
1034 The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston 1976 American English
11873 The Woman Who Was Not All There Paula Sharp 1988 American English
12802 A Woman's Civil War Cornelia Peake McDonald 1992 American English
3175 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
10414 Women In The Resistance And In The Holocaust Vera Laska 1975 Czech English
12058 Women Of Sand And Myrrh Hanan Al-Shaykh 1989 Lebanese Arabic
10544 Women Of The Shadows Ann Cornelisen 1976 American English
12230 The Women Outside Stephanie Golden 1990 American English
4839 Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey Lillian Schiessel 1982 American English
11555 Women's Ways Of Knowing Mary Field Belenky 1986 American English
10845 Women, Culture & Politics Angela Davis 1989 American English
11224 Womenfolks Shirley Abbott 1983 American English
5960 Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands Mary Seacole 1857 Jamaican English
13235 Working Class Women In The Academy Michelle M. Tokarczyk, Elizabeth A. Fay 1993 American English
11873 The Works Of Alice Dunbar Nelson Alice Dunbar-Nelson 1988 American English
12484 The World And The Bo Tree Helen Bevington 1991 American English
12230 The Worry Girl Andrea Freud Loewenstein 1990 American English
11873 Writing A Woman's Life Carolyn G. Heilbrun 1988 American English
15 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 British English
1649 The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1892 American English
10714 Yes Is Better Than No Byrd Baylor 1977 American English
12484 Yoruba Girl Dancing Simi Bedford 1991 British English
11313 Yours In Struggle Barbara Smith, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Elly Bulkin 1984 American English