It Seems I Like Girls

Girl authors. Or rather, the stories women write. Some of them, anyway.

I was casting around for something to write about for this blog post, when, after updating my list of books I've read so far this year, it struck me that all my favorite new books this year seemed to have been written by women authors. Was this in fact, true? So I went through my reading list for 2025 to date, and then back to 2024 as well, just to see just how many of my "A" grade stories were written by women.

Here are the numbers;

In 2024 I started 54 books, DNF'ing 5 of them. So far in 2025 I've started 81 books, and DNF'ed 17 of them, for a combined total of 135 books started.

Out of those 135 books, 34 books received a grade of "A" from me (25%). Not a bad average... On the other end, DNFs accounted for 16% Do I have a bell curve going on here? Too much work to do the math, or maths, depending on where you live. Anyway...

In 2024 18 books received a grade of an "A" or "A-" and of those, 13 (72%) were written by a women. Of the five written by men, two were P G Wodehouse books, one was a reread of Riddle of the Sands and two were by Jasper Fforde, one a reread of Shades of Grey and then the first read of Red Side Story.

So far in 2025 16 books have received a grade of an "A", of which 13 (81%)were written by a woman. All three of the "A" books written by men were rereads of Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey Series. 

However, these numbers are somewhat misleading, since they included series written by women. 

In 2024 only three women authors accounted for the 11 women-written books earning an "A" grade. They were Ellis Peters for her Brother Cadfael series, with 9 "A" grade books. The other two were Winifred Watson for her Miss Petigrew Lives for a Day, and Yangsze Choo for The Fox Wife.

So far in 2025, the five women authors accounting for the 13 books earning an "A" grade are Georgette Heyer for some of her historical and Regency romances, Beth Brower for all 8 of her Emma M Lion books, Paulette Jiles for News of the World, Jean Webster for Daddy Longlegs, and L M Montgomery for Anne of Green Gables and Anne of the Island. (Anne of Avonlea earned a B+ I'm reading Anne of Windy Poplars, it has a good chance of an A as well.)

Of course, being a woman doesn't get you a free pass. Susanna Clarke's Piranesi was the worst book I've read so far this year, and Pat Murphy's The Adventures of Mary Darling is a close second in that category. 

Nor do women dominate my reading in the number of authors. I read 30 different authors in 2024 of which 13 were women (43%) And so far in 2025,  I've read 47 different authors of which 17 were women (36%). They fare better in the number of books; in 2024, 29 of the 54 books I read were by women (54%). And so far in 2025, 46 of the 79 books I've read were written by women (58%).

Those are the numbers. But in the end, they are inconsequential. What matters is what is it about these "A" book writers that strike a cord with me?

I'm not going to make any sweeping statement about woman authors or the books they write. There are all sorts of women authors and they write all sorts of books. Plus there are plenty of woman authors in both lists whose books I enjoyed, but did not earn an "A" grade from me. 

What I can say is that the women authors who do did earn an "A" from me is that they wrote some wonderful books, clever, witty, insightful, often lyrical without being purple, and mostly cheerful, or at least hopeful. Their stories are focused on life as it is lived everyday by regular people, rather that epic accounts of the great and powerful, wars and disasters. This is simply the type of story I enjoy. Everyday life somewhere else is interesting to me, i.e. all those places and times you can't get to from here and now.

Of course, not all of the "A" story authors earned an "A" grade from me for every story. I even DNFed a Heyer story. Even they don't get an automatic free pass. But they are all authors that I can confidently pick up one of their books and expect to like, if not love.

I don't know if the fact that they're women gives their writing and stories the something special that appeals to me. Or if it's just that they are writing the type of book I most enjoy, and doing so with a great skill. I do however, think the types of books they write are not often written by men. However, Joseph Lincoln books are much in the same vein; small domestic stories about everyday people, and I enjoy them as well. And there is nothing grand about a P G Wodehouse story either. So story type does count. But male authors like Joe Lincoln or Wodehouse are rare. I think that you will find this special ingredient in women authors much more often. It's likely not a matter of talent or skill, rather, that they are writing from a different perspective, and see the world with different eyes from men. Whatever it is, it is impossible for me to put into words, nor do I care to go to the trouble to try to do so. Their stories are what they are, and I'm content to appreciate them for what they are.