Favorite Woman Authors

I have blogged many times about my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. It would be a little unfair to leave Robert E. Howard and Stephen King off of that list, too. However, I haven't blogged much about my favorite female authors, and I do have some whose books I love and reread every so often.

My favorite has to be Colleen McCullough.




























Sorry for so many links, but this entire series is brilliant. Anyone who loves the history of Rome simply cannot miss out on these books. I studied Roman history all my life, as it was my favorite period (especially Republican Rome), but I still learned more from this fictional account of history than I ever had before. McCullough uses real history as best she can, while fictionalizing most of the action within the historical pieces. Her writing is vivid and exciting, and I will most likely reread this series throughout my entire life, just as I do with Tolkien or Martin.

My next favorite is Ursula LeGuin, primarily for her fantastic Earthsea series. I do have a bunch of her other books on my shelf, but I have not gotten around to reading them yet. Regardless, no fan of fantasy should miss her Earthsea books. If you think young wizards discovering their power and going through a wizard school is cliche by now, well remember that LeGuin did it first. Sorry, Harry Potter!















 The last one I will feature this time is a lesser known author, but she deserves better, all the more so because the subject of her fantasy novels is one I would normally think I wouldn't like, yet she manages to make it truly interesting. It is Katherine Kurtz for her Deryni cycles. There are too many of them to put them all up here, so I will just put one and let you know that the entire series is well worth reading. Religion plays a huge role in these, and I have never been thrilled with such books, but Kurtz makes it work very well. 

 Now, there are many more female authors that I love. I must mention J.K. Rowling since I will certianly be revisiting the Harry Potter novels, despite the fact that I am not a big fan of YA books. I have some books on my shelves that I have not yet read, while I have heard good things about the authors, such as Mary Kay Penman or Robin Hobb.

 So, what female authors will you always reread?