Interesting information about Bibliophiles, Bluestockings, and Prolific Pens. Love those words in the title. Did learn more about Pear S. Buck and several librarians who made a difference. Enjoyed this.

This is a collection of short biographies of important and influenctial women writers. It covers a wide selection of authors. I've got many new books to add to my "to-read" list from this book.

LOL...

I found this book while waiting on line the night "Deathly Hallows" came out - nobody except me was prowling the women studies section, despite the fact that it was right next to where the line formed! This was fun to peruse while I waited, and in the end I bought it as well!

2009- Mainly a set of mini-biographies of women who were writers or in some other way had an impact on literature. Similar to format to the Uppity Women Series, and I believe from the same publisher.

Filled with great tidbits and fun facts

I gave this book a five up until the last chapter when it kind of fell apart in my mind. Then, looking back, I realized that a four is more appropriate anyway which I'll explain below.

The name is misleading because it's really about female authors throughout history, although I probably wouldn't have picked it up with a more boring title. The book is impeccably researched containing information about female authors throughout history, most of whom I'd never even heard of. The bits about each other are just long enough and very interesting. I wish the excerpts were longer, though.

The main drawback is that it is enormously weighted in favor of Western/European/American English fiction and poetry writers. There are a few French authors but most wrote in English. Most are white, as well. There are a number of African Americans but not nearly enough and some major African American authors such as Audre Lorde and Soujourner Truth are conspicuously absent. I think there is only one Asian writer and I don't recall any of any other race. Many groundbreaking feminist writers like Ursula LeGuin and other SF writers are just mentioned in a list of "other beloved writers," not acknowledging the huge challenges such writers had breaking into a male-dominated field.

The worst part is the final section which is about authors who have legions of fans so most are modern day authors. But there is little to explain the choices. For example, Rebecca Wells, the author of the YaYa sisterhood books is included, I think solely so they could write on the cover "from the Algonquin Hotel to the Ya-Ya sisterhood."

But despite its shortcomings, the book is well written and interesting. Each author is described with respect and admiration, even when their views weren't particularly popular. I do believe the author respects people of color and discussed lesbian and bisexual authors as positively as any others. I think she was just limited by her own worldview and language.

Interesting and fun mini-bios of women writers throughout history.

A fun little book -- which I picked up on sale -- all about other women like me, women who love books too much. I have read snippets from it now and then and from what I can tell, I'm far from alone. And furthermore, this close-to-obsession I have with books is not just idle curiousity, nor greed, nor escapism, nor mere vanity, but springs from something deep inside me, a genuine desire to LEARN and to KNOW! Not everything about everything, but as much as I can about the things I am interested in, which -- sadly (in some ways) -- seems to be a LOT!

Not a great book perhaps, but definitely worth the small price I paid for it.

I have the hardback edition, but since the cover isn't featured here on Good Reads yet, and I prefer the pretty pictures, I'm going with the paperback edition.

Interesting read - so many women writers unrecognized during their time. Many that I was not previously aware of -wonderful to read the mini-bios of the women. I plan to add several to my to-read list.

This was a really cool book. It allowed me to indulge my obsession with books and discover some new writers.

I am glad to have been introduced - or reminded of - some great women authors through this compilation. The concise overviews of many writing careers were perfect small snippets of inspiration. However, the layout of the pages was consistently confusing - with some odd notation on each page that was simple the title of the book but kept fooling me into thinking it was some key fact highlighted on the side of the page. My eye kept traveling there each time I turned the page. Also, I was disappointed not to have born and deceased dates outside of the text of each description. It was often hard to situate where each author fell unless they were someone I was familiar with. It is clear that Knight's passion is the salon - hosting group as they have much longer descriptions than other authors. I was also sometimes disappointed that when Knight cross-referenced other famous authors that any particular writer hung out with it was almost always a circle of men instead of highlighting women who interacted with other female authors.