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Celebrating women writers with a curated list of my personal favourites!
My fetish for reading began when I was 5. Since then, I’ve read novels and short stories of mostly crime genre, with a predilection to classics. I read very less contemporary works and that quite changed in the last year. Based on the books I read till now, I’ve thought of discussing about my favorite women who write. (Writing about my favourite women authors is not anything against authors of other genders. If I write something lauding A, doesn’t mean that I debase B, C and D).
The first book I read as a kid is apparently Panchatantra tales and the next are Famous Five novels. Enid Blyton has a riveting way of keeping kids hooked to her books. Also, one of the famous five is a dog. What more do you want? The Famous Five go on adventures and unravel many new things and also solve crimes. It would take kids one summer vacation to finish all 22 novels in Famous Five series. It looks like Famous Five was written only to inculcate reading habit among kids!
I’m so fortunate that I was born at the right time, to read Harry Potter as the books were being released. (If you think movies were better, sorry, we aren’t friends anymore). Rowling created a universe in itself through Harry Potter. I remember being in 8th class when Harry Potter ended. Harry Potter needs no introduction. I don’t think I should further explain why J. K. Rowling is in this list.
I started reading Harper Lin’s food and murder mystery stories randomly, without any review/recommendation. I’m so glad I did that. They are precise, enticing, light-hearted and will leave you with a smile when you finish. May be I’m able to relate to them and feel them because they have young female leads. If you want to read short crime stories with a contemporary touch, you should try reading Harper Lin.
One of the first books I read after school was Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen’s stories are vivid, classic and expressive. They celebrate sisterhood and women and love. Jane speaks brilliantly of women’s views and rights through her books. For all classic readers, if you haven’t started reading Jane Austen, I’d suggest you to.
I was reading Mahabharata related novels, from various perspectives when I came across Karna’s Wife by Kavitha Kane. The book was fabulous. Then I read The Fisher Queen’s Dynasty, which was unputdownable. (That’s a word?) Kavitha’s works are a celebration of the women of the epics. Had I not read her works, I’d never be able to acknowledge these powerful women of Mahabharata.
I read three books of C.M. Sutter which are crime fiction. All have strong female leads and intriguing investigation process. The female lead is fiercely strong; will keep you turning pages. Her book ‘Greed’, is on my reading list. For those who like crime and can read longer books, Retribution and Snapped are an experience not to be missed.
Other favorite books by women authors: 1. Period Power by Nadya Okamoto 2. Wise and Otherwise by Sudha Murthy. 3. I am Malala by Malala.
I acknowledge that there are hundreds of women out there writing books beyond fantastic. I revere all of them. I regret that I am unable to include all of them in this teeny-weeny list. (because, depressingly, reading is not my profession). However, I’ll keep reading books of women and extending the list!
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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