Rating: 
Summary: Open this book to find more wonderful books
Review: After reading some of the negative reviews posted on this book, I found myself compelled to respond. I am not sure how to define a great book. And clearly, anyone having the audacity to draw up an unconventional list of great books is asking for criticism. o Is Jane Austin as good as writer as Stendhal? o Are the Bronte sisters as important as Dickens? o Is Edith Wharton as interesting as Thomas Mann? Some people see these as an important choices. As a reader, I find myself drawn to them all, and drawn to lists that expand on what I've already read. If you want a standard list of good reading there are plenty around. Try the "New Lifetime Reading Plan" compiled by Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major. For fun you could read "Great Books" by David Denby. (He's a baby boomer writing about revisiting the classics by re-taking 2 courses in humanities and literature at Columbia University.) I, however, prefer not to choose. The feminine voices in 500 GBBW are additions to, and not replacements for those other great books. Reading has always been a way to reach across time, and culture, to make us feel as, and for someone else, and to hear about something we have not or cannot experience. Excellent translations have given access to the words of Allende as well Homer. Some have made this an issue of political correctness. If listening to a different voice that happens to be feminine is political correctness, then three cheers for PC. If you want to stay out of political correctness, but want to find and revisit some truly wonderful books, try "500 Great Books by Women".
Rating:
Summary: 500 Best books by women!
Review: Here is an articulateguide to more than 500 books written by women, a unique resource that allows readers the joy of discovering new authors as well as revisiting familiar favorites. The book, i.e., 500 Great Books by Women : A Readers Guide by Erica Bauermeister, et al , is organized by themes such as art, family, growing old to mention a few. Highly Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A guide.
Review: I disagree with the opinion that, in order to appreciate this book, you need to be female as has been asserted. In fact, if fewer people felt this way, books authored by women would probably circulate with greater force and efficiency. Now, although I found some titles listed in this book to be based more in personal preference, I do agree that many of them are, as stated, great. Not, in all cases, award-winning or critically acclaimed. But that wasn't the point of the book. I found it helpful to search for a title by using the topic index. In general, the book is helpful and can be used as a guide or a springboard. It shouldn't become a bible of women's literature.
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Summary: A book all women must obtain. Unity, sisters!
Review: I think we all know that women writers are basically more talented, less recognized, and underrated, in comparison to the weaker sex (male writers). I wrote this book, along with my others (type in keyword "Erica Bauermeister" on your left) to direct everyone in the right direction when looking for quality literature. I've never said that men were inferior. Separate, but equal.
Rating: 
Summary: Political correctness gone amok.
Review: If your teaching a class on feminist political correctness this is the book for you. This book provides lots of racial, ethnic, geographic and sexual identity diversity, but its pretty thin on the great book part. The overwhelming majority of the 500 books are from the 20th Century and yet there is not one reference to Gina Berriault that I could find. Perhaps her political credentials were not good enough; all she can do is write great fiction. If you really want to read a great book written by a woman, then read The Lights of Earth, or Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault.
Rating:
Summary: Political correctness gone amok.
Review: If your teaching a class on feminist political correctness this is the book for you. This book provides lots of racial, ethnic, geographic and sexual identity diversity, but its pretty thin on the great book part. The overwhelming majority of the 500 books are from the 20th Century and yet there is not one reference to Gina Berriault that I could find. Perhaps her political credentials were not good enough; all she can do is write great fiction. If you really want to read a great book written by a woman, then read The Lights of Earth, or Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault.
Rating:
Summary: quality work
Review: Thank God that someone out there cares about work by and about half the world's population! Not only is this an astonishingly extensive listing, but I have also actually taken the time to track down and read several of the suggested books, to discover, to my eternal delight, that women really do write top-quality stuff! This reference could be the starting point for a real challenge to the phallo-santified "Canon"...
Rating:
Summary: quality work
Review: Thank God that someone out there cares about work by and about half the world's population! Not only is this an astonishingly extensive listing, but I have also actually taken the time to track down and read several of the suggested books, to discover, to my eternal delight, that women really do write top-quality stuff! This reference could be the starting point for a real challenge to the phallo-santified "Canon"...
Rating:
Summary: A good start to a reading list
Review: This book does a great job bringing your attention to lesser-known works. However, I have a few problems. First, the organization (by themes, rather than title or author) makes it hard to find titles without resorting to the index. Also, it is limiting to list only one book per author, and the attempt to include diverse authors leads to the omission of such greats as Lorrie Moore. It's worth owning, but shouldn't be regarded as a last word.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beginning... but some Flaws
Review: This book is a start to finding some excellent books written by women. And the synopses of the 500 books were well-written and quite enticing. However, some of the selections seemed arbitrary. Though the authors make no claims of being all-inclusive (which they couldn't be, anyway), it seemed too much like the books were chosen on the authors' personal opinions alone. (See Booklist's review above.)
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