Best Books by Female Authors

A list of great books by female authors.

Do NOT use this list as a promotional tool!! Books that break this rule will be removed.
1

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4.29 avg rating — 4,378,877 ratings
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2

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4.26 avg rating — 6,331,468 ratings
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3

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4.15 avg rating — 2,145,278 ratings
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4

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4.14 avg rating — 2,125,667 ratings
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5

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4.47 avg rating — 10,401,807 ratings
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6

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3.89 avg rating — 1,864,584 ratings
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7

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4.16 avg rating — 2,287,744 ratings
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8

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4.06 avg rating — 1,030,785 ratings
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9

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4.34 avg rating — 8,963,917 ratings
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10

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3.88 avg rating — 1,654,176 ratings
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11

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4.19 avg rating — 3,847,678 ratings
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12

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3.96 avg rating — 449,762 ratings
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13

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4.08 avg rating — 1,221,188 ratings
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14

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4.12 avg rating — 2,567,232 ratings
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15

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4.32 avg rating — 1,014,265 ratings
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16

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3.79 avg rating — 318,086 ratings
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17

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4.10 avg rating — 757,328 ratings
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18

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4.62 avg rating — 3,816,944 ratings
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19

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3.68 avg rating — 213,625 ratings
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20

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4.05 avg rating — 909,022 ratings
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21

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4.15 avg rating — 720,496 ratings
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22

by
4.57 avg rating — 3,826,805 ratings
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23

by
4.47 avg rating — 2,838,737 ratings
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24

by
4.40 avg rating — 188,564 ratings
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25

by
4.02 avg rating — 167,242 ratings
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26

by
4.58 avg rating — 4,355,686 ratings
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27

by
4.10 avg rating — 191,938 ratings
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28

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4.27 avg rating — 706,190 ratings
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29

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3.80 avg rating — 191,162 ratings
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30

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4.50 avg rating — 3,489,267 ratings
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31

by
3.97 avg rating — 180,119 ratings
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32

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,808,728 ratings
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33

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3.86 avg rating — 241,021 ratings
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34

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4.43 avg rating — 4,074,505 ratings
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35

by
4.25 avg rating — 651,024 ratings
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36

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4.58 avg rating — 3,376,809 ratings
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37

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,233,467 ratings
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38

by
4.08 avg rating — 303,986 ratings
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39

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3.98 avg rating — 1,224,463 ratings
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40

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3.99 avg rating — 107,657 ratings
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41

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4.33 avg rating — 3,711,144 ratings
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42

by
3.70 avg rating — 56,318 ratings
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43

by
3.98 avg rating — 357,376 ratings
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44

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4.09 avg rating — 1,310,375 ratings
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45

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4.01 avg rating — 328,490 ratings
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46

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4.01 avg rating — 272,530 ratings
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47

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4.15 avg rating — 202,503 ratings
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48

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4.02 avg rating — 119,631 ratings
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49

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3.99 avg rating — 112,829 ratings
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50

by
4.21 avg rating — 220,143 ratings
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51

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4.16 avg rating — 1,207,027 ratings
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52

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4.22 avg rating — 31,405 ratings
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53

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4.25 avg rating — 131,116 ratings
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54

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3.96 avg rating — 305,280 ratings
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55

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3.79 avg rating — 162,708 ratings
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56

by
4.20 avg rating — 608,434 ratings
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56

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4.26 avg rating — 214,452 ratings
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58

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3.86 avg rating — 357,533 ratings
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59

by
3.87 avg rating — 98,990 ratings
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60

by
3.89 avg rating — 81,349 ratings
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61

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4.01 avg rating — 1,010,230 ratings
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62

by
4.23 avg rating — 21,146 ratings
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63

by
4.30 avg rating — 477,863 ratings
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64

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4.10 avg rating — 1,237,281 ratings
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65

by
3.93 avg rating — 748,099 ratings
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66

by
4.17 avg rating — 43,167 ratings
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67

by
4.09 avg rating — 3,339,083 ratings
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68

by
4.20 avg rating — 242 ratings
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69

by
4.15 avg rating — 46,341 ratings
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70

by
4.28 avg rating — 281,475 ratings
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71

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3.83 avg rating — 140,583 ratings
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72

by
4.08 avg rating — 813,674 ratings
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73

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3.78 avg rating — 75,015 ratings
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74

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,254,960 ratings
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75

by
3.92 avg rating — 59,455 ratings
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76

by
3.96 avg rating — 157,845 ratings
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77

by
4.15 avg rating — 173,439 ratings
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78

by
3.91 avg rating — 45,067 ratings
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79

by
4.12 avg rating — 264,823 ratings
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80

by
4.34 avg rating — 165,438 ratings
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81

by
3.59 avg rating — 96,300 ratings
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82

by
3.77 avg rating — 23,490 ratings
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83

by
3.88 avg rating — 147,830 ratings
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84

by
3.80 avg rating — 268,781 ratings
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85

by
4.27 avg rating — 132,595 ratings
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86

by
3.72 avg rating — 60,537 ratings
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86

by
3.95 avg rating — 956,465 ratings
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88

by
3.70 avg rating — 234,027 ratings
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89

by
4.17 avg rating — 814,984 ratings
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90

by
3.95 avg rating — 69,147 ratings
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91

by
4.08 avg rating — 186,847 ratings
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92

by
4.14 avg rating — 45,464 ratings
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93

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 252,865 ratings
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94

by
4.19 avg rating — 768,751 ratings
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95

by
4.20 avg rating — 407 ratings
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96

by
4.73 avg rating — 105 ratings
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97

by
3.88 avg rating — 51,742 ratings
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98

by
4.69 avg rating — 114 ratings
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99

by
3.85 avg rating — 413,261 ratings
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100

by
4.02 avg rating — 31,837 ratings
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1,360 books · 542 voters · list created December 3rd, 2011 by Taylor (votes) .
3 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Taylor 1809 books
47 friends
Alexa 1326 books
49 friends
Katie 1206 books
129 friends
Janel 64 books
6 friends
Suzyberry 1964 books
10 friends
Erika 1096 books
161 friends
Cheryl 652 books
77 friends
Scout 301 books
0 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-10 of 10 (10 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Alexa (new)

Alexa Does anybody know how to combine the two editions of Beloved into one?


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

Where's Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'? I think it was the best book I read last year.


message 3: by Andréa (new)

Andréa There seem to be quite a few books on this list that violate the list's requirement that "books added must have at least 5000 ratings on GR." Some of the books on here have ratings in only the double or even single digits.


message 4: by Andréa (new)

Andréa Stu wrote: "Where's Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'? I think it was the best book I read last year."

No one had added/voted for it yet. I've added it now.


message 5: by pegah (new)

pegah Just 401 books?!!


message 6: by Taylor (new)

Taylor Ah yes, GR makes it difficult to keep on top of deleting the under 5000 ratings; when I go to the "delete specific books" option it no longer shows how many ratings each book has, so I have to physically write out a list and then find those books individually then delete them. Too time consuming! I will, however, keep up on removing books that are obviously being up voted to promote unknown/indie authors.


message 7: by Taylor (new)

Taylor Also, there are some books with less than 5000 ratings that are by amazing female authors! Notably bell hooks... she really should be a lot more popular.


message 8: by Beverlee (new)

Beverlee Loved this list - great job compiling and putting it out there for voting but also for finding great recommendations!


message 9: by Nente (new)

Nente Checking for duplicates removed 9 books.
The restriction of 5000 ratings seems to have been removed by the list's creator. I'm glad: that made it really difficult for a non-English-language book to make it onto this list at all.


Charlotte Igelkott Taylor wrote: "Ah yes, GR makes it difficult to keep on top of deleting the under 5000 ratings; when I go to the "delete specific books" option it no longer shows how many ratings each book has, so I have to phys..."

I don't know if you still want to keep promotion campaigns off the list or where you draw the line, but here are a few candidates for removal:
Don't Close Your Eyes (currently #32)
Complicated Moonlight (currently #36)
Syrian Brides (currently #67)
Dawn Among the Stars (currently #99)
Finding Identity (currently #132)
The Daughter Of Kurdland: A Life Dedicated to Humankind (currently #165)
Females of Valor(currently #166)
Zoroastrians' Fight for Survival (currently #167)
Ange'el (currently #207)
Mary, Everything (currently #209)

...and then there are a few with just two votes each, but where the same two persons have voted for several books by one author and nothing else, or books where the author themself is one of the voters. I'm a librarian myself, and would be happy to do a cleanup round every now and then if you'd be willing to specify what "use the list as a promotional tool" means to you.


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