The year of the female author

Someone (and I'm not sure who) decided that 2014 should be the "Year of reading women." When I discovered this I had already read about 3 books in 2014 - and low and behold, they were all written by women. So I thought, why not commit and read only female authors in 2014. This year I only challenged myself to read 15 books (and with 5 under my belt I am well on my way) so adding an additional element to the challenge seems easy enough.

I actually tend  to prefer women writers - so I don't think this is too hard for me. Some of my favorites are Gene Stratton-Porter, Philippa Gregory, Sylvia Plath and Geraldine Brooks. I put together this carousel at Amazon - featuring 10 of my favorite books written by women - and I tried to leave out anything too common (like Harry Potter books or Hunger Games...)



I'm currently reading God Save the Queen by Kate Locke, which was recommended to me by a friend who designed the cover! I'm really enjoying it. Do you have any women authors you recommend? Anyone else taking this challenge?