By Taylor Jasmine | On April 11, 2026 | Comments (0)
I find literary centenaries fascinating. What books were being read and discussed one hundred years ago? What books and stories have become classics?
Because of the hoopla surrounding the centenary of The Great Gatsby in 2025, I did a similar roundup of books and stories by women writers from 1925,
All of these books and stories following are in the public domain, so you might find free versions of them online on sites like Project Gutenberg. Many are still circulating in print form in public or university libraries; and audio versions of most are available as well. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 11, 2026 | Updated March 31, 2026 | Comments (0)
There have been plenty of roundups of famous first sentences from beloved novels. I even did one here. But famous last lines? Or more accurately, not-so-famous last lines — it’s time to take a look at how eleven women writers chose to tie up their iconic works. Don’t be afraid to look, there are no spoilers here.
The best first lines surely are evocative, and set the stage for what’s to come, like this one from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. “Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
And what devoted reader isn’t familiar with the first line of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice — “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On February 11, 2026 | Updated March 31, 2026 | Comments (0)
Rereading favorite books from childhood as an adult is the literary equivalent of a warm bowl of comfort food or a soft blanket. Their nostalgic pull is undeniable, likely because the stories we want to return to usually invoke a feeling of safety and predictability — the opposite of what life often feels like to us as adults.
Here are seven such revisits, some focusing on single books, others on entire series. Let’s dive in with several by Literary Ladies Guide contributor Marcie McCauley, who is our resident expert on revisiting beloved children’s literature with an adult perspective.
These are followed by two others, one by Nancy Snyder and another by Jill Fuller. Here’s what’s ahead: Read More→
By Marcie McCauley | On February 4, 2026 | Updated February 7, 2026 | Comments (0)
E.L. Konigsburg summed up her stories as being about the “everyday, corn-flakes, worn-out-sneakers way of life” when she won the Newbery Award for her children’s novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler in 1968.
This prize-winning novel was a favorite of mine from the first reading—the first sentence, even — because it begins with Claudia’s failure.
She knows she’s never going to be able to run away in “the old-fashioned way”— in the “heat of anger with a knapsack on her back.” She reflects on her situation and makes a plan: she learns to rise to meet challenges in her own way. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On January 15, 2026 | Comments (0)
Founded in 2022, Quite Literally Books is a woman-owned indie publisher with a mission of creating new editions of forgotten or neglected classics by American women authors.
Bremond Berry MacDougall and Lisa Endo Cooper, the two women behind Quite Literally Books, are longtime BFFs who have been bonding over their love of reading since they were twelve.
Learn more about Quite Literally Books on their website and Substack. Read More→
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