20 Must-Read Books by Women Authors for International Women’s Day 2023

For International Women’s Day today, I thought I’d showcase some of my favorite books by female authors. I am listing 20 fiction books from 20 extraordinary women in no particular order.

• Breasts and eggs by Mieko Kawakami – A strong feminist slant exploring fertility and body positivity in the modern era.
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Fun, gothic, creepy story with a tough, smart heroine at the center of it all.
• Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty – Fun, likable, relatable, light-hearted story about three sisters and their romantic escapades.
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – Old fashioned adventure/love story. Beautiful, leisurely, satisfyingly complex yarn.
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – Powerful, hard-hitting dystopia that sadly seems to be coming to life in many parts of the world.
• The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante – Slow, contemplative view of motherhood and its demands on the person.
• Three women by Lisa Taddeo – Non-fictional account of the sex lives of three women, but also so much more than that.
• Beloved by Toni Morrison – Interesting, experimental form of writing. Hard to read not just for the writing style but the themes of race and slavery. But worth it, ultimately.
• Beautiful world, where are you by Sally Rooney – Very relatable story about two women hitting the big 30 and evaluating their life choices and where to go from there.
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – Start of a fun time travel series about a modern woman time traveling into medieval Scotland and finding love there.
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – She’s more famous for her seminal Gone Girl, but her debût novel is the one I keep revisiting. Highly recommend the mini-series as well. Fantastic atmosphere, a disturbing plot, and a running theme of women sometimes being their own worst enemies.
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – Start of a fantastic historical fiction series on Cromwell. All three books in the series are a must-read.
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie – Christie’s first book, but definitely not her best. Still, this book and everything else she’s written are must-read books. Looking for fast, quick-paced, well-plotted mysteries? She’s the queen of this genre.
• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware – A more modern thriller writer somewhat in the same style as Christie.
• Milkman by Anna Burns – Stream of consciousness story that gets us into the head of an 18-year-old woman living in Northern Ireland during the troubles.
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy – She has written just two fiction novels, but both are fantastic reads. Somewhat political but very humanist and inclusive. Her non-fictional essays are great too.
• Antony and Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough – Part of her famous Masters of Rome series. It’s the only book I read, but so good that I intend to read the rest of her books someday.
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters – Writer specializing in queer women’s stories. All her books are excellent, but this is a fun read. Gothic, Dickensian, but with queer women. This book is a riot!
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi – A tale of the author’s life in Iran during the Iranian revolution. Told in graphic novel format, this story is an eye-opening insight into her life, and life in Iran at the time.
• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri – A book of longish short stories (aren’t they the best type of short story?) about the Bengali American experience. With Jhumpa Lahiri, I enjoy the shorts better than her longer stories.

So, these are some of my favorite books by women. Do you have any favorites from this list? Any you would care to recommend?