Books That Maketh the Man – and the Woman

Is Middlemarch by George Eliot one of the definitive books all women should have in their personal library?

Whilst taking time to sift through her Tweets last week, Jane found this intriguing list via Gutter Bookshop's Twitter feed of 100 books to maketh a man: 'The Essential Man's Library' as it is being termed, somewhat open to interpretation.

The question that arises from this list, aside from the debates that could rage over whether the books listed are the definitive ones that address qualities of 'manliness' and whether any obvious choice is missing, is what would the list of 100 books to maketh a woman look like? Would it be dominated by female authors, of which there are certainly a few 'essentials' that spring to mind - George Eliot, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen... - (interestingly, only four books out of the 100 'books for men' listed were written by a female author) or would strong female characters take precedence? What would be the 'essential' life lessons women could take from certain individual books - or are there too many to mention?

We'd love to have your input - leave us a comment here, or tweet us with your choices...

And if you want to be in the loop with all that the director of TRO is up to, why not follow Jane on Twitter directly - or take a look at her newly located blog for lots and lots of interesting reading about reading.