Women in Art!

Blog title quoted from Wendy Wasserstein's

THE HEIDI CHRONICLES

Our beloved Moonrat has pointed out the disproportionate Y-chromosome heaviness of the Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2009 lists. She then challenged us in the comments to post our own favorite books by women authors written in 2009. (I assume that this includes books published in the final months of 2008 -- if PW makes this list in November, then surely the final months' publications count towards the next year. They can't just be screwing all winter release dates, right?)

Here are mine: I have made no attempt to sort by genre, pub date, alphabetical order, or anything else. I believe that all of these books are thought-provoking in some way, therefore elevating them beyond mere entertainment, and all constitute extremely worthwhile reading.

Commencement, by J. Courtney Sullivan

"Take Mary McCarthy's The Group, add a new feminist generation striving to understand everything from themselves and their mothers to the notion of masculinity that fuels sex trafficking, and you get this generous-hearted, brave first novel. Commencement makes clear that the feminist revolution is just beginning." -Gloria Steinem

Impossible Motherhood, Testimony of an Abortion Addict, by Irene Vilar

"Impossible Motherhood is like a journey into a harrowing underworld but guided by Vilar's gifts and her light we emerge in the end transformed, enlightened, and oh so alive." -Junot Diaz

Pretty Monsters, short stories by Kelly Link

"Kelly Link is the literary descendant of Jorge Luis Borges and Franz Kafka." -Audrey Niffenegger / "A new collection by Kelly Link - and once more, for a little while, the world is worth saving." -Michael Chabon

Liar, by Justine Larbalestier

"Readers will get chills paging through Larbalestier's suspenseful novel about a compulsive liar who becomes a suspect in her boyfriend’s murder... Readers will be guessing and theorizing long after they’ve finished this gripping story." – Publishers Weekly, starred review

Feel free to also check out the list by WendyCinNYC. And please, post your favorite books of 2009 by women authors in the comments!