Marta Bausells 

Which books by women have had the biggest impact on you?

The most influential books by women include To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice, according to a public vote organised by the Baileys fiction prize. We are sure lesser-known books have shaped your life too. So tell us which books written by female authors have had an impact on you – and why
  
  

Baileys most influential books by women
The Baileys top 20... Who would you add to the list? Photograph: Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Photograph: Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction

A list of "the most life-changing books by women" that includes To Kill a Mockingbird, The Handmaid's Tale, Wuthering Heights and The Bell Jar is brilliant, but hardly surprising. These were the titles that came up when the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction asked readers and influential writers about the books written by women that have had the biggest impact on their lives.

The hashtag #thisbook got the conversation going on Twitter, thousands voted, and today Baileys unveiled the 20 titles. Several authors joined in on the social media channel:

Here's a refresher on the list:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
2) The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
3) Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
4) Harry Potter – JK Rowling
5) Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
6) Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
7) Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
8) Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
9) The Secret History – Donna Tartt
10) I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
11) The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
12) Beloved – Toni Morrison
13) Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
14) We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
15) The Time Traveller's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
16) Middlemarch – George Eliot
17) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
18) The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
19) The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
20) The Women's Room – Marilyn French

It's no wonder these titles have "impacted, shaped or changed readers' lives", but we want to know about less well known books that have had a big effect on you: let us know in the comment thread below, and explain why they did.

 

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