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 (@kingrat@sfba.club) 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. Phil in SF says:

    our protagonist Emily discusses aging & making music with fellow female musicians

  2. A Shadow in Summer by  (Long Price Quartet)

    No rating

    From debut author Daniel Abraham comes A Shadow in Summer, the first book in the Long Price Quartet fantasy series. …

  3. Blindsight by  (Firefall, #1)

    4 stars

    Two months since the stars fell...

    Two months of silence, while a world held its breath.

    Now some half-derelict space …

  4. In the Bleak Midwinter by  (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne, #1)

    3 stars

    It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is …

  5. River of Souls by  (River of Souls, #0.5)

    3 stars

    Driven by his dreams, Asa will stop at nothing to find Tanja Duhr again: he will leave home, disappoint his …

  6. Assassin's Quest by  (The Farseer Trilogy, #3)

    2 stars

    King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz—or so his enemies and friends believe. …

  7. The Trap by  (Alias Emma, #3)

    3 stars

    She has just one week to stop a killer.

    Emma Makepeace is headed to Edinburgh for the global G7 Summit …

  8. A Fountain Filled With Blood by  (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne, #2)

    2 stars

    In In the Bleak Midwinter, Julia Spencer-Fleming's Malice Domestic-winning first mystery, Reverend Clare Fergusson was quickly introduced to a more …

  9. The Mercy of Gods by 

    4 stars

    How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about …

  10. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by  (Dark Lord Davi, #1)

    5 stars

    Groundhog Day meets Deadpool in Django Wexler’s raunchy, hilarious, blood-splattered fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending …

  11. Red Mars by  (Mars Trilogy, #1)

    3 stars

    For centuries, the barren, desolate landscape of the red planet has beckoned to humankind. Now a group of one hundred …

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