Non-fiction for Real Women

I like a good memoir or a non-fiction book by a strong women who has opinions and experiences that the rest of us can learn from. These women are like on-the-page mentors and have taught me a lot of things while at the same time making me laugh or cry or both as I read their stories. 

"How to Be a Woman" by Caitlin Moran

"Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady" by Florence King

"Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers" by Stephanie Levine

"The Mitford Girls" by Mary S. Lovell

"Female Chauvinist Pigs - Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture" by Ariel Levy

"Mennonnite In A Little Black Dress" by Rhoda Janzen

About the English Upper Class

We all have topic that we are especially fond of reading about and one of my favourite topics is the English upper classe. Why, you ask? I have no idea - but I have an odd attraction to reading about these wellie-wearing, tweed-clad, labrador-petting people. If you share my fascination, you're likely to enjoy these novels: 

"Snobs" by Julian Fellowes

"Past Imperfect" by Julian Fellowes

"The Shooting Party" by Isabel Colegate

"My Last Duchess" by Daisy Goodwin

"Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh

"Palladian" by Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that Elizabeth Taylor)

"The Pursuit of Love" by Nancy Mitford

In the Style Of Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of my favourite authors and many are the times where I have lamented that fact that she didn't write more books. If it was up to me, she would have written ten times as many books! Alas, she didn't so for years I have been on the hunt for books that remind me of her style and where the characters have the same sense of humour, a similar innocence and spirit and the same capacity for reflection.

This is what I have found - if you like books by Jane Austen, you will also like:

"I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith

"The Nonesuch" by Georgette Heyer

"Jane Eyre" by Jane Eyre

"Regency Buck" by Georgette Heyer

"Old Friends and New Fancies" by Sybil Brinton

"Vanity Fair" by William Makepeace Thackeray