Celebrate National Reading Month With This Literary Roundup
Check out these 10 page-turners that put the writing prowess of female authors from past and present on display.
From Virginia Woolf to Harper Lee, female writers have been making their mark in the literary world for centuries. In honor of National Reading Month, we curated a literary list that demonstrates the storytelling talent of these masterminds from the past 10 decades.
1920s: Mrs. Dalloway
From the famous opening line—“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”—Virginia Woolf packs a series of powerful moments into the time span of a single day in her novel Mrs. Dalloway. Published in 1925, the story follows a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class housewife living in post-World War I England. Woolf delves into the mind of Clarissa, and various other characters, as Clarissa prepares to host a party later that night. Often weaving together moments from the past and present, Woolf illustrates themes such as mental illness and feminism, resulting in one of her most well-known novels.
1930s: Gone with the Wind
Written by Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind chronicles the life of Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in Atlanta during the Civil War and Reconstruction period. After finding herself impoverished, due to the Union soldiers’ capture of her town during Sherman’s March to the Sea, she does everything she can to maintain the affluent lifestyle she’s accustomed to. In 1937, Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for the novel, which has sold more than 30 million copies.
1940s: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Author Betty Smith showcases a classic coming-of-age tale in her 1943 novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The plot centers on young Francie Nolan as she grows up in an impoverished New York household in the early 1900s. Throughout the novel, Francie must work after-school jobs, handle her alcoholic father and eventually figure out what she wants to do with her life upon leaving home. Split into five parts, the story captures Francie’s growth from adolescence to adulthood and demonstrates the power of perseverance during hard times.
1950s: Atlas Shrugged
Author Ayn Rand’s final and longest novel, Atlas Shrugged, portrays a dystopian version of the United States. In this world, many successful industrialists have left their lives in the U.S. behind, resulting in economic collapse. The novel contains a wide spectrum of characters, from Dagny Taggart, the woman running a transcontinental railroad, to Francisco d’Anconia, the genius turned playboy. Combining science fiction and romance, Atlas Shrugged is a timeless read that has managed to maintain its popularity throughout the decades.
1960s: To Kill a Mockingbird
Published in 1960, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird reached immediate success, receiving the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and securing a place in many high-school English courses. Translated into 40 languages, the modern American classic tells the story of a young girl named Scout growing up in fictional Maycomb, Ala., in the 1930s. When her father defends a black man against rape charges, Scout and her brother become witnesses to the evils of racism that plague the South. Lee released a follow-up book, Go Set a Watchman, in 2015, which illustrates the life of Scout as an adult.
1970s: Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia chronicles the adventures of fifth-grader Jesse Aarons and his new neighbor, Leslie Burke, in their imagined enchanted-forest kingdom. With the help of his new friend, Jesse, who comes from a poor family and is the only boy in a family of five children, learns to be courageous and to act like a king. The novel, which has been adapted for film twice, won the Newbery Medal in 1978, making it one of the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children.
1980s: The House on Mango Street
Writer Sandra Cisneros’ most acclaimed book, The House on Mango Street, tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago. Cisneros writes the tale through a series of short vignettes that spans a year in the lives of Esperanza, her family and neighbors on Mango Street. Enduring poverty and sexual assault, Esperanza eventually turns to writing as a way of escape.
1990s: The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible follows the lives of a missionary family that travels to the Belgian Congo in the 1960s. Alternating narrators, each chapter gives readers insight into the perspective of the mother, Orleanna Price, and her four daughters as they adjust to life in an African village. Throughout the work, the family witnesses political turmoil, a clashing of cultures, illness and death. Filled with biblical allusions and powerful notions about religion and forgiveness, the novel was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in fiction in 1999.
2000s: The Glass Castle
In her memoir, The Glass Castle, writer Jeannette Walls demonstrates the hardships of growing up with dysfunctional parents. Walls details what it is like living with her three siblings, an alcoholic father and a mother who spends her time painting. During her upbringing, the poverty-stricken family moves throughout Arizona and California, escaping debt and run-ins with the law. Published in 2005, the book spent 261 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers List, and a film adaptation by Paramount is now in the works.
2010s: Americanah
Published in 2013, Americanah follows the story of a Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who moves to the United States to attend college and escape the military dictatorship occupying her home country. Immersed in a new nation, she witnesses racism in American culture and starts a successful blog called Raceteenth or Various Observations about American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black. Drawing on race and global tensions, the novel won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2013.
Mrs. Dalloway image courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Gone With The Wind image courtesy of Imprint Pocket Books. The House On Mango Street image courtesy of Vintage Books. The Poinsonwood Bible image courtesy of Corbis. The Glass Castle image courtesy of Scribner. Americanah image courtesy of Anchor Books.
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