Passes the "Bechdel Test" Public

Created and curated by Phil in SF

This list contains books that:

  • have at least two women in them,
  • who talk to each other,
  • about something other than a man.

Wikipedia has a decent intro on the origins of the metric: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test

Beware that this test is very limited in probative value. "The Bechdel test only indicates whether women are present in a work of fiction to a certain degree. A work may pass the test and still contain sexist content, and a work with prominent female characters may fail the test." This is just one thing a person may want to consider in their reading. There are many others.

I (@[email protected]) track this in my reading as a check to make sure I am including reading that includes non-token female characters because American publishing often overly focuses on men's stories, and that is quite often reflected even more strongly in what American men choose to read.

  1. The Wall by  (Sumer, #1)

    No rating

    ‘Imagine a horizon.’

    ‘I can’t.’

    Mithila’s world is bound by a Wall enclosing the city of Sumer — nobody goes …

  2. Dream Count by 

    3 stars

    Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past …

  3. The Martian Contingency by  (Lady Astronaut, #4)

    5 stars

    Years after a meteorite strike obliterated Washington, DC—triggering an extinction-level global-warming event—Earth’s survivors have started an international effort to establish …

  4. "C" is for Corpse by  (Kinsey Millhone, #3)

    3 stars

    After a near-fatal car accident, a young man asks Kinsey to protect him. When he is promptly murdered, Kinsey vows …

  5. Elder Race by 

    4 stars

    Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

    But a demon is terrorizing …

  6. The Treatment (Jack Caffery, #2)

    4 stars

    In a quiet residential area in London, a couple is discovered bound and imprisoned in their own home. Savagely battered …

  7. The Nigerwife by 

    No rating

    Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a hand­some husband; a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria; and …

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