I enjoy classic books. There’s something about books that have stood the test of time that intrigues me.
But let’s face it, historically books by white men are the ones most often considered as “classics.” Some books by white women have been included and the canon is expanding to include writers of color and writers outside of Europe and the US but often, one has to do some research to uncover these titles even though there are a wealth of them.
And if you’ve visited my website before, you know that my focus is on reading “for the rest of us,” or books by womxn and others of historically marginalized populations.
So when I recently decided to join The Classics Club, I knew I wanted to focus on classics by womxn, including Black women, women of color, queer women, and women outside of the US and Europe.
The Classics Club was created in 2012 to inspire people to read and write about classic books. The idea is to pick a list of 50 or more classic books that you commit to reading and sharing on your site over the next five years. After reading the guidelines and how to join, I decided it would be something I would like to take on but with my own twist (of course).
One thing I appreciate about The Classics Club is that you can define “classic” how you like. I gave my list a lot (like, A LOT) of thought and narrowed down the most important factors in its creation:
- Of course, my classics are all by women.
- I focused on classics in feminism, gender, women’s, and queer studies (and not just White Feminism™ although there are some of these titles included).
- I wanted the majority of writers to be BIWOC or/or international.
- I was open to fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, histories, and more. I excluded poetry for the most part as I am just not a big fan.
- I was open regarding publication date and wanted to include titles from throughout history until 2010, which I just chose because I wanted a Nnedi Okorafor book.
- I focused on books that I have never read but there are some on the list that I haven’t read in many years and I wanted to re-read them.
You’ll note the exclusion of some books that you might think would be obvious choices given the criteria above (Zami, Jane Eyre, The Color Purple, Bluest Eye, etc.). Sometimes this is because I have read them before and am not looking to re-read them; other times, this is because I just don’t want to read them or just didn’t want to include them on this list. Bottom line: I included what I wanted!
My list is below. I’ve included the original publication/writing dates and plan to read them in chronological order. It’s possible the list may change or grow over time. I will be adding Amazon links and more tags, and I will regularly update the list as I make my way through and will link titles to the posts I write about them.
UPDATE: I’ve removed Vindication of the Rights of Woman and replaced it with Still Brave (#99).
So, here are the 100 titles I’ve chosen to read by August 23, 2023:
- The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon by Sei Shōnagon (c10th century) – Read my review!
Tags: Japanese, memoir, women in translation, history - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (1848)
Tags: British, white, literary fiction - Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth (1850)
Tags: Black American, history, memoir - The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts (c1855)
Tags: Black American, literary fiction - Our Nig: or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black by Harriet E. Wilson (1859)
Tags: Black American, fiction - The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride: A Rediscovered African American Novel by Julia C. Collins (1865)
Tags: Black American, fiction - The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader by Ida B. Wells (1885-1927)
Tags: Black American, history - Iola Leroy by Frances EW Harper (1892)
Tags: Black American, historical fiction - The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
Tags: White American, short stories, feminist, mental health - The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899)
Tags: White American, American South, literary fiction - Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery (1908)
Tags: Canadian, white, children’s - American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings by Zitkala-Sa (1921)
Tags: Native American (Sioux), poetry, folklore, biographical - Plum Bun: A Novel Without A Moral by Jessie Redmon Fauset (1928)
Tags: Black American, Harlem Renaissance - Passing by Nella Larsen (1929)
Tags: Black American, Harlem Renaissance - A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (1929)
Tags: British, white, feminism, writing - Nightwood by Djuna Barnes (1936)
Tags: White American, lesbian, literary fiction - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
Tags: Black American, historical fiction, American South - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943)
Tags: White American, coming of age, family, American North - Nada by Carmen Laforet (1945)
Tags: Spanish, women in translation, fiction - The Living is Easy by Dorothy West (1948)
Tags: Black American, Harlem Renaissance - The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Tags: French, white, feminist theory - Pinjar: The Skeleton and Other Stories by Amrita Pritam (1950)
Tags: Indian, WIT, fiction - Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks (1953)
Tags: Black American, family, coming of age, fiction - Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone (1953)
Tags: Japanese American, memoir, immigration - Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall (1959)
Tags: Black American, immigration, American North - Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller (1959)
Tags: White American, lesbian, historical fiction, romance - A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1959)
Tags: Black American, play, family - Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus by Carolina Maria de Jesus (1960)
Tags: Brazil, poverty, memoir - The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (1962)
Tags: British, white, feminist - The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963)
Tags: White American, feminist - Efuru by Flora Nwapa (1966)
Tags: African (Nigerian), literary fiction - Jubilee by Margaret Walker (1966)
Tags: Black American, historical fiction, American South - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)
Tags: Dominican, feminist, literary fiction - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (1969)
Tags: White American, queer, science fiction, GNC - Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether (1970)
Tags: Black American, American North, family, coming of age - Sexual Politics by Kate Millett (1970)
Tags: White American, feminist theory, literary criticism - Sisterhood is Powerful by Robin Morgan (1970)
Tags: Essays, feminism - Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm (1970)
Tags: Black American, memoir, politics - Black Women in White America by Gerda Lerner (1970)
Tags: Austrian American, Black American, history - Sappho Was a Right-On Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism by Sidney Abbott and Barbara Love (1972)
Tags: White American, lesbian, feminism - Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973)
Tags: White American, romance, humor - Sula by Toni Morrison (1973)
Tags: Black American, coming of age, friendship - Between Two Worlds by Miriam Tlali (1975)
Tags: African (South African), autobiographical - Woman at Point Zero by Naawal el Saadawi (1975)
Tags: Middle Eastern, African (Egyptian), literary - Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society by Fatemah Mernissi (1976)
Tags: African (Moroccan), feminist, Islam, MENA - For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange (1976)
Tags: Black American, feminist, play, mental health - The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston (1976)
Tags: Chinese, creative memoir, immigration - Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (1977)
Tags: Native American (Laguna Pueblo), literary fiction - The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World by Naawal el Saadawi (1977)
Tags: Middle Eastern, African, feminist theory - Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman by Michele Wallace (1978)
Tags: Black American, feminist, feminist theory - Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (1979)
Tags: African (Nigerian), family, literary - Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979)
Tags: Black American, speculative fiction - Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks (1981)
Tags: Black American, feminist - Obasan by Joy Kogawa (1981)
Tags: Japanese Canadian, historical fiction, literary fiction - This Bridge Called My Back by Cherrie Moraga (1981)
Tags: Latinx, essays, feminism, creative nonfiction, poetry - Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis (1981)
Tags: Black American, feminist theory, history - But Some Of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women’s Studies by Akasha (Gloria T.) Hull (1982)
Tags: Black American, essays, bibliography - The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (1982)
Tags: South American (Chilean), magical realism, historical fiction - Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (1982)
Tags: Black American, short stories - Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology by Barbara Smith (1983)
Tags: Black American, lesbian, literary, feminism - In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens by Alice Walker (1983)
Tags: Black American, essays, feminist theory - Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks (1984)
Tags: Black American, feminist theory - House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984)
Tags: Mexican American, coming of age, historical fiction - Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (1984)
Tags: Native American (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe), family - Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde (1984)
Tags: Black American, lesbian, feminist theory, essays - Sisterhood is Global by Robin Morgan (1984)
Tags: Essays, transnational feminism - When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula Giddings (1984)
Tags: Black American, history - A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Tags: Canadian, white, dystopian - Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (1985)
Tags: British, white, lesbian, biographical - Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World by Kumari Jayawardena (1986)
Tags: Sri Lankan, transnational feminism, Asia, Middle East - Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua (1987)
Tags: Latinx American, lesbian, feminist, poetry, memoir - Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner (1987)
Tags: Austrian American, feminist, history - Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur (1988)
Tags: Black American, memoir - The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee (1988)
Tags: Indian American, short stories, Asian, immigration - Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (1988)
Tags: African (Zimbabwean), family, coming of age - Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)
Tags: Chinese American, immigration, family - Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins (1990)
Tags: Black American, feminist theory - Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler (1990)
Tags: White American, feminist, queer - To My Children’s Children by Sindiwe Magona (1990)
Tags: African (South African), autobiographical - How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (1991)
Tags: Dominican American, Latinx, coming of age, family, immigration - Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner (1993)
Tags: Austrian American, feminist theory, history - Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (1993)
Tags: Black American, coming of age, dystopian - Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought by Beverly Guy Sheftall (1995)
Tags: Black American, feminist theory, history - Paradise by Toni Morrison (1997)
Tags: Black American, literary fiction - The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (1997)
Tags: White American, historical fiction, Christianity - African American Women in the Struggle for the Vote, 1850–1920 by Rosalyn Terborg-Penn (1998)
Tags: Black American, history - Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1998)
Tags: Jamaican Canadian, speculative fiction - Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks (2000)
Tags: Black American, feminism - Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement by Bettye Collier-Thomas (2001)
Tags: Black American, history, feminism - this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation by Gloria Anzaldua (2002)
Tags: Essays, lesbian, feminism, creative nonfiction - African Women and Feminism: Reflecting on the Politics of Sisterhood by Oyeronke Oyewumi (2003)
Tags: African (Nigerian), feminism - Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby (2003)
Tags: Black American, biography, history - Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty (2003)
Tags: Indian American, transnational feminism, essays - Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (2003)
Tags: Iranian, memoir, Islam - Sisterhood is Forever by Robin Morgan (2003)
Tags: Essays, feminism - African Gender Studies: A Reader by Oyeronke Oyewumi (2005)
Tags: African (Nigerian), essays - Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai (2006)
Tags: African (Kenyan), memoir, ecofeminism - The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang (2008)
Tags: Hmong American, memoir, family - Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies edited by Frances Smith Foster, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, and Stanlie M. James (2009)
Tags: Black American, women’s studies, history - Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (2010)
Tags: African (Nigeria, Sudan), dystopian, magical realism
Whew.
Thanks to The Classics Club for the inspiration to undertake this challenge! Care to join me? Let me know or create your own Classics Club list!
Let me know what you think of my list! What books did I not include that you think I should have? What titles don’t deserve a spot on the list?