250 books by women all men should read

Absolutes are usually over the top but I thought this list is worth looking at. This list was generated in response to Esquire's magazine list of books for men, of which included only one female author.

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Our book for June is Excellent Women by Barbara Pym.

The Barbara Pym Society seems to be the place to go to find everything you need to know about Barbara Pym.

Wikipedia on Barbara Pym

The Guardian on Barbara Pym, 'Very Barbara Pym'.

She wrote about worlds of genteel poverty and longing with great warmth and wit. Excellent Women is one of the 20th century's most endearing and amusing novels, writes Alexander McCall Smith

Amazon site

A blogger on Barbara Pym

Quotes by Barbara Pym . Here's one choice quote:

"Of course it's alright for librarians to smell of drink."

What was Charles Darwin's illness?

AP on recent speculations about the connections between Darwin, his travels and his illnesses.

Junot Diaz on disaster, Haiti, globalization and more

Junot Diaz's essay in the Boston Review.

Book for May

Our next book will be Amongst Women written by John McGahern.

What wiki says about the book
NYTimes book review
Amazon link
Penguin.com has a list of discussion questions
Novelist Coim Toibin writes about how he was first introduced to this book by the author, John McGahern