Celebrating my Favourite Women Authors! Happy Women’s History Month!

Posted On March 19, 2021

Hi Readers! It has been way too long, and honestly this time I have no excuses. After my month-long reading slump, I got back into it with Kristin Hannah’s ‘The Four Winds’. Just the fact of being out of the slump has made me lazy & I have given up trying too hard. I read when I get the time or when I am in the mood or when there is literally nothing else I want to do. But, lately, I am not able to read for a whole day & worse is I don’t feel like reading all day. I know! Forgive me, readers!

I have wanted to write a post about my favourite women authors since the beginning of this month, and now I finally have some time. Today’s my birthday! And, I am doing all the little things that make me happy instead of doing one extreme thing. I took the day off from work, watched The Office, read a bit, did book photography for this post, listened to Taylor Swift, did some yoga followed by eating my favourite red velvet cheesecake & drinking my favourite Hibiscus Tea & so on & so forth!

Now that I am finally on a non-work keyboard, I can literally feel the creative side of my brain waking up, hahah! So, first of all, I wish all my amazing readers a Happy Women’s History Month!! Being a voracious reader (I hope I still am), I thought of the best & only way I could contribute to celebrating women ‘ Praising all my favourite women authors!! When I thought of writing this post, I did not realise just the sheer number of women authors I absolutely love! I know a lot of people read books specifically by women authors or black women authors or so on. But, it works best for me if I read as per genre, which is why I was in awe of myself when I found out the number of my women author idols!

 

~~JHUMPA LAHIRI~~

I have only read 2 of Jhumpa Lahiri’s books, but I have loved them both ‘ Unaccustomed Earth & Interpreter of Maladies. Her ability to bring out emotions in the readers is remarkable. Even the stories I do not relate to, I can imagine relating to which then make me so entirely empathetic & it’s a whole maze of new feelings to discover. Honestly, no other author writes about emotions in a story that reads simple but ends up opening new horizons.

~~KRISTIN HANNAH~~

My favourite genre is Historical Fiction & Kristin Hannah is the queen of Historical Fiction, so naturally she rules my world. The Nightingale still remains my absolute favourite novel of hers, with The Great Alone coming in to a close second. I also liked Firefly Lane even though it was a different kind of novel that the ones I read. I am currently reading ‘The Four Winds’, which is going well & I am sure there will be something big hitting me soon, leaving me bereft & I cannot wait for it! I will forever read every historical fiction novel that Kristin Hannah writes!

~~HANYA YANAGIHARA~~

Hanya Yanagihara has written two novels. I have read them both. A Little Life is the book that wrecked me emotionally & remains in my Top 5. It will always be the book that I recommend too much to too many people. The People in the Trees is a completely different story with its own infinite sets of life lessons. The kind of power over words that Hanya Yanagihara possesses is truly unmatched. She may write one bland paragraph but there will be an ocean worth of wisdom between the lines. Her writing makes me want to dream big things. It inspires me in a way that I feel my dreams are completely unachievable but also completely achievable, if that makes sense. She is my literature powerhouse & her books will always remain on the metaphorical & literal top of the bookshelf.

~~MADELINE MILLER~~

‘The Song of Achilles’ & ‘Circe’ are the two books written by Madeline Miller. I have read both of them & loved them both more than words can state. For someone who was not a fan of mythological fiction, she sure turned me around faster than I even realized what was happening. I can totally imagine following her in a forest practicing the beauty & power of witchcraft through literature. I am in awe of her intelligence, imagination & simplicity. Anyone is capable of writing these two books, but only Madeline Miller can write them in a way that will leave the reader drowning in a pool of their own tears, befuddled, in a sort of mythological heaven. The thing I loved about both the books was the after-effect they had on me. You can describe the story of both the novels in 15 sentences or less & yet the loss of words & loss of thought after finishing these books is something else.

~~TAYLOR JENKINS-REID~~

On a more fun & not-so-serious note, Taylor Jenkins-Reid is my go-to author when I want to read something casual, but not too boring. Beach reads are not for me, because the stupidity of the characters in such books only makes my blood boil. So, when I am not in a mood for anything intense, I turn to her. I have read ‘Daisy Jones And The Six’ &‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’. I absolutely enjoyed reading both these books. There is just so much content in the story which I love & so many characters none of whom are neglected or are a cliché. There’s a magical quality to her writing which made both these books a hard to put down. I haven’t read her earlier books, which are more of the romantic genre. I don’t want to either, because I have read reviews that state these two are her best. Here’s to many more in-between books that let me soar high in the sky leaving me up above the slump pit!

 

~~OTHERS~~

Donna Tartt’s ‘The Goldfinch’ is in my Top 10. I think it was the first book I read of that length. It completely convinced of reading big books. Now I like big books & I cannot lie! I also plan on reading Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ soon enough.

It goes without saying that J.K. Rowling is among my favourite authors. While I do not like her opinions on some matters, she gave me a whole wizarding world to find comfort in. So, she will always stay in here.

When it comes to modern-age poets, I have had my difficulties with all of them. I think Rupi Kaur comes close enough to be included in this list. I loved reading her first books of poems ‘The Sun and her Flowers’ but thought her next 2 books to be not as rich as the first one.

 

So, that’s all folks! I am super happy that I got write today! Happy Women’s History Month!

 

Until next month,