She Writes Day of Action—Favorite Books Written by Women in 2009

Today I’m participating in the She Writes Day of Action. She Writes is a community that gives female authors a place to showcase their work, voice concerns, further their writing skills and more. This Day of Action was conceived as a response to a list that Publisher’s Weekly posted of what it considers to be the best books of 2009. Not one woman, and only one person of color, is included in the top 10. Although the list expands out to 100, and books by women obviously make that list, it seems incredible that not one book written by a woman was considered good enough for the best of the best.

I’ve had no such difficulty finding excellent books written by women this year that are great for mother-daughter book clubs. In fact, most of the books I have reviewed and recommended this year are written by women. Here’s my Top 10:

Al Capone Shines My Shoes—Gennifer Choldenko

Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different—Kristin Tubb

Dear Big V—Ellen Leroe

Dear Pen Pal—Heather Vogel Frederick

Flash Burnout—L. K. Madigan

The Last Will of Moira Leahy—Therese Walsh

North of Beautiful—Justina Chen Headley

Operation Redwood—S. Terrell French

Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning—Danette Haworth

Water Steps—A. LaFaye

This doesn’t mean that men are not writing books that appeal to mothers and daughters, because they do. And in fact, my list of favorite authors for mother-daughter book clubs includes a healthy mix of both genders. I’ve always stressed to my daughters that gender shouldn’t be a consideration for competence, and that they should form opinions of others by their actions.

Even so, some days prompt a sense of solidarity with certain groups and today is the day for women writers. I’m headed to Powell’s this afternoon to drop off a few brochures about mother-daughter book clubs. I’ll just have to pick up a book written by a woman while I’m there. The difficulty will be in limiting myself to just one.

If you’d like to find out about books written by members of She Writes, click on over and peruse the images on the banner. My book, Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs is there, along with many other excellent selections.