From Leo, to Taryn....and anyone else that cares to write

I think this is a great question. I love the male dominated books that seem to litter our classrooms and the canon. I also realize that not all people love these books or the books' bias toward the male sex (and sometimes gender). This actually has recently stressed me out because I want to find "good" (if Jeff will allow me usage of the term) female authors who write in "good" female protagonists. I have been avidly reading female authors in hopes of finding this diversity. It is not as easy as it sounds. I am not saying female writers are not as good or that the protagonists are not as compelling, but what I am saying is that female writers have not been on the scene as long and therefor it is hard to find a large selection to choose from.

I believe Frankenstein is one of the greatest books of all time, let alone the best written by a woman, but the protagonist is male. Wuthering Heights seems to deal more with the male hero than you or I might like. And as you implied, Scout is just a little too butch.

So, what I would like is the titles of good books written by women. I am sure that between the nine of us that I could gather a pretty solid list. I have no problem bringing in diversity as long as the novels stack up to the rest.