Anyway, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some other books I've read with the word "girl" in the title and see how they stack up. This isn't even all of them, as I've left of some of the less memorable ones, and there are also tons of books with the word "girl" in the title on my to read list too. It turns out that in addition to thrillers, there are a lot of historical novels with "girl" in the title too, plus a smattering of contemporary fiction, and a lot of forgettable chick lit too. I'll try to put them roughly in order of how much I liked them (high to low) within each genre.
Thrillers/Mysteries
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - The book that spawned a million imitators; I imagine I don't need to describe it to you since you've probably either read it, seen the movie, or at least heard about it. I read it with my book club, and put it on my 2012 top 10 list.
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James - This was an enjoyable gothic mystery/thriller with a historical aspect. I described it in my round up last year of some of my favorite mysteries and I also put it on my "best of the rest" of 2018 list.
The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - I was thinking that "Gone Girl" started the trend of thrillers with "girl" titles, but this book came first! And its sequels both have "girl" in the title too. Another one where I doubt I have to describe it because everyone has either read the book or seen the movie. After a slow start, this was definitely one of those can't put it down thrillers! A very memorable vacation read for me too.
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda - I included this on my post of some of my favorite thrillers. It's a little gimmicky with its structure of telling the story in reverse chronological order, but it worked for me - a different spin on the unreliable narrator.
Girls Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke - This was a fun psychological thriller about 3 friends who go on vacation to Mexico together, and one disappears after the girls night out of the title, with the story unfolding in two timeframes - from the morning of the disappearance forward, and from the start of their vacation to the disappearance.
Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon - Jennifer McMahon amazingly pre-dated the "girl" thriller trend, as this one was published all the way back in 2008. I really enjoyed this and the two other books I read of hers back then, but for some reason haven't kept up with her subsequent books - this reminds me that I need to catch up on her other books!
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter - This was a good book which I read with my book club, but I hesitate to recommend it unless you really like disturbing books, as I still get freaked out when I think about it, and I read it 3+ years ago. A very suspenseful mystery/thriller but boy was it scary and upsetting.
The Girl With No Past by Kathryn Croft - When this novel starts, we know that something unspecified terrible happened in the narrator's past, and that just as she is starting to come out of her shell many years later, she begins to suspect that her past is coming back to haunt her. This is one of those books that was very suspenseful and entertaining, but then totally goes off the rails in a preposterous fashion towards the end.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Haskins - For me, this book was just pretty good, not great, in part because it did feel a little derivative of "Gone Girl" to me - not only with the girl title, but also because it was like the author was saying "you like an unreliable narrator? Great, I'll give you 2of them!" I did enjoy it though. And for me this was the rare book where the movie adaptation was better than the book.
Historical Novels
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly - This World War II/Holocaust novel was published in 2016, but I only just got around to reading it this year and it is a strong contender already for my 2019 top ten list, depending on what else I read this year of course!
Girls on the Line by Aimee K. Runyan - An interesting historical novel about female telephone operators who become part of the Army Signal Corp in Europe during World War I. This was on my "best of the rest" list for 2018.
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff - This just came out last month, and I enjoyed it a lot - it was set during and just after World War II and was about female undercover agents in France during the war.
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant - A charming novel written like an oral history, as an 85 year old woman born in 1900 tells her granddaughter the story of her childhood and young adulthood as a young Jewish woman born in Boston to Russian immigrant parents.
The Subway Girls by Susie Orman Schnall - An enjoyable dual time period historical novel which goes back and forth between 1949, where a young Brooklyn woman named Charlotte is trying to figure out her future while also applying to be "Miss Subways," and the present, where a woman named Olivia who works in advertising is working on a pitch to the MTA for a new subway advertising campaign.
Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister - This historical novel is about Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton detective, which was a private detective agency based in Chicago in the 1850s and 1860s when the book was set. I expected it to be more of a mystery, but it was more of a biographical novel as the various cases she deals with are mostly dealt with somewhat summarily. Pretty good but not great.
The House Girl by Tara Conklin - This was another book club book, so apparently my book club has read a lot of "girl" title books too. This was a mediocre dual time period historical fiction about slavery; I read it about 5 years ago and barely remember it.
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan - Disappointingly boring historical novel about the real life girl who was the basis for Degas's sculpture of a ballet girl. Another one I can barely remember.
The Girls by Emma Cline - This was the "it" book of Summer 2016, but I really didn't like it. But I remember it because I was very disappointed by it. It's set in the 1960s about a teenage girl who ends up hanging out with a Manson Family-like cult. The writing was good, but the narrator is very remote which made it hard to get engaged. And while the seedy, slightly creepy vibe of the book makes sense given the story, it also made for an uncomfortable read.
Chick Lit
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank - This short story collection was on my first ever top 10 list, from 1999. I don't really remember it now, 20 years later, but I do remember loving it.
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner - This was the sequel to "Good in Bed," Jennifer Weiner's first book. Not quite as good as "Good as Bed" which was a 5 star read for me and on my 2002 10 favorites list, but a very good book in its own right.
Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky - From the period of time when publishers were for some reason churning out, and I was reading, books that put a fantasy spin on chick lit.
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella - The main character in this one is a typical Sophie Kinsella self-obsessed single gal in her 20s, but the twist here is that her personal development is spurred on by the ghost of her recently deceased great aunt. Silly but an enjoyable read; not her best book but not her worst either.
I also read a bunch more relatively unmemorable chick lit back in the day with girl in the title, like The Girls' Almanac by Emily Franklin, Hex and the Single Girl by Valerie Frankel, The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes, Girl Most Likely to by Poonam Sharma, and What a Girl Wants by Liz Maverick.
Contemporary Fiction
The Girls by Lori Lansen - A five star read for me from my 2007 10 favorites list, this was a moving novel about conjoined twin sisters.
A Girl Could Stand Up by Leslie Marshall - Another five star book, this one from my 2006 10 favorites list. And as a story about a young girl whose parents die and is taken in by her quirky uncles, this is one of the only books on this list where the title refers to an actual young girl, as opposed to a woman.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See - This book, about a girl who is a member of a Chinese ethnic minority group living in a remote village where they grow tea, seems like a historical novel at first but then eventually you realize it's happening relatively in the present. A quiet but lovely novel.
My Best Friend's Girly Dorothy Koomson - This novel, about a woman who asks her best friend to adopt her daughter, isn't super memorable to me nearly 11 years later, but it was on my 2008 10 favorites list.
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close - I loved Jennifer Close's two subsequent novels, but didn't love her first book though this was the one that got all the critical acclaim. This was one of those inter-connected short story collections masquerading as a novel, about various members of a group of female friends from college through their 30s. I liked it enough to go on to read her other books, but this one was a bit slight.
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok - This novel is about a girl and her mother who emigrate from Hong Kong to the US, and their struggles with poverty, working in a sweatshop, school, etc. A quick read, and an interesting one, but rather depressing and at times a bit underwritten.
The Flood Girls by Richard Fifield - This was set in 1991, so not long enough ago to be considered historical fiction. One of those quirky small town filled with quirky characters kind of books. It was fine but not memorable; I read it less than 2 years ago and can't really remember anything about it.
Inside Out Girl by Tish Cohen - Another book club book with "girl" in the title! We read this one 7 years ago and I really don't remember it at all but I didn't think it was so great at the time either.
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Phew, that is a lot of "girl" books! Any favorites or least favorites of the above or that I didn't mention?
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