October ClassicsCAT: women's classics

Image found on Wikipedia

When you say classic women writers, you immediately think Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Bronte sisters, Mary Shelley, Maria Edgeworth, Fanny Burney, Katherine Mansfield, George Sand.

Maybe you have also come across Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Margaret Oliphant, Edna Ferber, or others who were dismissed in their own time as lightweight or not serious enough. In that case, the catalogue of Virago will prove a treasure trove to find a book for this month’s theme.

Selma Lagerlöf, Grazia Deledda, Sigrid Undset, Pearl S. Buck, Gabriela Mistral were Nobel Prize Winners before 1945.

If you want to be adventurous, you might try Sei Shonagon, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Fanny von Reventlow, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Gertrud von LeFort, Vicki Baum, Anna Seghers, Nelly Sachs, Christine de Pizan, Colette, Germaine de Stael, Marguerite Yourcenar, Simone de Beauvoir, Bozena Nemcova, Emilia Pardo Bazán…

And there’s always a list to explore on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:19th-century_women_writers
Have fun discovering a new author or rereading an old favourite! And please remember the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/ClassicsCAT_2023

ETA: Bearing in mind that we chose "published at least fifty years ago" as a cutoff date, the options for this month also include genre fiction like romance or mysteries. Try Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie or one of their colleagues.

At the moment, I'm thinking of reading some of Nellie Bly's works or possibly something by Eudora Welty

I'm planning on reading Frost in May by Antonia White.

I'm planning on a reread of Jane Eyre.

I'll be reading something by Elizabeth Gaskell (not sure yet what) and re-reading Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

I have decided on something on the lighter side with The English Air by D. E. Stevenson originally published in 1940.

Elizabeth Gaskell for me too, as I already had North and South down for Victober.

>1 MissWatson: how far back would I need to go?

>8 fuzzi: When we first set up the group we agreed that books older than fifty years would meet the requirements. I sort of forgot about the first half of the 20th century and may add some suggestions later.

I found a book for teens written in 1948 and part of a beloved series I read when I was a child. Where the Heart Is by Janet Lambert.

I'm considering The Party at No. 5 by Shelley Smith that was published in 1954.

I'm thinking of reading something by Thea Astley, perhaps The Well-dressed Explorer, which won the Miles Franklin Award in 1962.

since it didnt fit as a historic fiction I chose bread givers Outstanding immigration memoirin the Lower East circe 1920. The background of the author is very interesting. immigrated from russia at a young age didnt get the chance to write coz of the I just finished the forward and notes'religious resticktions' aka what the father demanded. This was published briefly and only since the 70s since it was found and published (also reading this for RTT theme for October Traditions)

Finished The Devil Loves Me by Margaret Millar. A good read. First published 1942.

>9 MissWatson: So according to this standard, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn would qualify...published in 1943. I've never read it and its been on my Kindle for a few years. Maybe I can fit it in this month.

>15 beebeereads: Go for it!

Read another by Margaret Millar, The Listening Walls, 1959.

If you haven't chosen your read for this month and would like something short, there is a group read starting of 5 stories by Elizabeth Gaskell. October Bonus: these are considered some of her "gothic" tales.

Come join in here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/354038

I reckon I can fit a Heyer into the month.

been wanting to read thiw for a whil old new york

I completed Agnes Grey, a Bronte I had never read.

I'm going to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I thought that I had read it, but it may have been in the pre-LT days. It's on the Kindle, so even if I start to remember it, it would certainly be worth rereading.

Finished Flowers for the Judge by Margery Allingham. Golden Age crime from 1936.