F&SF Books (mostly by women) Meme

[ironphoenix]

Ones I've read are in bold. If I've read something else by that author, only the author's name is in bold. Ones on my "some day soon" list would be in italics if I had such a list. Ones I've read synopses of and don't want to read would be struck out if there were any. Ones I hadn't heard of before this list are underlined.

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg
Chime by Franny Billingsley
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
Tithe by Holly Black
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Synners by Pat Cadigan
Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Survival by Julie E. Czerneda
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
King's Dragon by Kate Elliott
Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman
Slow River by Nicola Griffith
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
The God Stalker Chronicles by P.C. Hodgell
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff
God's War by Kameron Hurley
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr
The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Ash by Malinda Lo
Warchild by Karin Lowachee
Legend by Marie Lu
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
The Thief's Gamble by Juliet E. McKenna
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
The Grass King's Concubine by Kari Sperring
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
City of Pearl by Karen Traviss
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Farthing by Jo Walton
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Comments

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Best add two more: Survival is just the first in the Species Imperative series. The books are only kinda stand-alone, with the questions raised answered in later installments.

And no Sheri S. Tepper? She is slowing down, but has several good yarns.

Where'd ya get the list?

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

I got the list from metahacker.

Are you recommending Survival and sequels?

Any specific books I should look for from Tepper?

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

"A Drihn is robust or a Drihn is not." The entire Species Imperative series, starting with Survival, yes, it's worth reading.

Tepper has an enormous range. I guess I've read The Gate to Women's Country more than once, along with After the Long Silence and Raising the Stones. To be fair, those last (and a few others) are in a loose series that starts with Grass, which is also decent.

Speaking of series, I've enjoyed Northshore and Southshore the most, but they're pretty hard to find. They were, in fact, being looked for as an obscure thing on whatwasthatbook. I'm glad I was around to identify.

[foms.livejournal.com]

This is the earliest reference that I've seen:
https://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/08/08/60-essential-science-fiction-fantasy-reads.html

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

But peristaltor asked where I got the list!

[xiphia.livejournal.com]

I own a number of the ones you haven't read, if you ever want to borrow.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

If you think they're worth recommending, I'd be happy to!

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

There are so many awesome women not on this list. Andre Norton, for one.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Agreed; I never consider such lists exhaustive!

[oni-neko.livejournal.com]

I think I've at least heard of most of the books on this list and While I know I own some of the ones you haven't read. I can't remember which ones are on my bookcase here and which ones are in boxes at my parents'. Which makes it tricky to just blindly offer to lend you any that you might interested in.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

If you take a look and find something you'd recommend, I'd be happy to give it a shot!

[beable]

Specifically looking at your underlined books or authors (at least the ones that I have read), I definitely recommend:

Farthing - Jo Walton

The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (I bought but have not yet read Raven Boys on the stength of how awesome Scorpio Races was)

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Actually even more than The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, I highly recommend Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

The Female Man (and Joanna Russ's writing in general) is on my "to read" list as having been heavily recommended to me in the past.

I have not yet read Killing Moon, but I highly enjoyed The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

I have not read Slow River, but Ammonite by Nicola Griffith was pretty groundbreaking when it was printed.

In terms of Seanan McGuire: The Toby series (which starts with Rosemary and Rue) is pretty solid if you enjoy serial urban fantasy.
For me, I think they really grew into something extra special starting with the 3rd book.

[beable]

Not on the list, but brought to mind because of the discussion above about Sherri Tepper:

I recommend (and am happy to loan) He, She, It by Marge Piercy.

It's a future cyperpunk/emvironmental-dystopian retelling of The Golem Of Prague that was written in 1991.

Also: Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta