1. Your Outside Reading Choices Women’s Literature Not just books written by women…

2. Beloved by Toni Morrison ADULT THEMES/Supernatural themes This book follows a woman and her family as they struggle with their past in slavery, a horrific incident of infanticide, and the woman’s attempt at a relationship with a man as they are haunted by a supernatural being. Intricate and disturbing.

3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou This is an autobiographical book about her and her brother’s coming of age as African Americans in the South during the 1960’s. It’s a straightforward, lyrical telling.

4. Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor Zany, irreligious story of Hazel Motes, a Korean war veteran and son of a preacher, who begins his own church of atheism with a cast of outcasts. It’s pretty dark and shocking.

5. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck This is an epic story of China, following one poor farmer and his long suffering wife and children. We see him struggle to own land and advance his family in a land of change. Culturally interesting told in a formal, older style of writing. (not as old as the Bronte’s or Shakespeare, though)

6. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton A woman trapped by her upper class society, makes poor decisions about her future and doesn’t play the game. The pressures of society and her inner needs are in conflict. This is Edith Wharton of Ethan Frome fame. You know what her writing is like!

7. Silas Marner by George Eliot Yes, it is a woman. She had to write under a pseudonym to be accepted at the time. It is a story told in turn of the century England about a gentleman unjustly accused of theft who then must navigate his life in the hierarchical society of the day. It was first published in 1861, so the language is older and intricate.

8. The Color Purple by Alice Walker ADULT THEMES Epistolary novel told by Celie, a young African American girl who is abused by her stepfather then by the man she is married off to. Through struggle and adversity, she finds out who she is. Straightforward writing style.