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There are many lenses through which to look at books in the decade just past. But one thing is certain: Women writers were a powerful force.

Early in the decade, bestseller lists were dominated (sorry) by E.L. James Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, which sold 35 million copies in the United States making the novels the three bestselling books of the decade in any genre.

As the decade ends, the current book-selling champ is Michelle Obama with her memoir, Becoming. With more than 10 million copies sold worldwide (fueled by an unprecedented rock-star book tour), it was the bestselling book of 2018 and might take the 2019 title. Another contender is Delia Owens, a 70-year-old wildlife biologist whose first novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, is an unlikely phenomenon, selling more than 4.5 million copies and spending 30 weeks at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

What these books have in common, and what they share with many other notable books of the decade, is that they were written by women. According to the NPD Group, a market research company that analyzes fields including book-selling data, women wrote eight of the 10 bestselling books between 2010 and 2019. (The only men on the list are John Green with The Fault in Our Stars and Stieg Larsson with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo both, by the way, books about female characters.)

Its not just a matter of copies sold, either. Many of the decades major book prizes were won by women. Take fiction awards: Five of the 10 National Book Awards went to women Jesmyn Ward won two, for Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing as well as seven of nine National Book Critics Circle awards (but only two of nine Pulitzer Prizes).

The decade has seen an extraordinary run of literary fiction by women, starting in 2010 with Jennifer Egans amazing A Visit From the Goon Squad. It was followed by such standout books as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Americanah, Donna Tartts The Goldfinch, Lauren Groffs Fates and Furies, Elizabeth Strouts My Name Is Lucy Barton and many, many more.

And, of course, there is the comeback novel of the decade, Margaret Atwoods darkly stellar The Handmaids Tale, published in 1985 but suddenly relevant. Atwood followed it up this year with a timely sequel, The Testaments.

Popular fiction by women included juggernauts like Gillian Flynns Gone Girl, Paula Hawkins The Girl on the Train and Veronica Roths Divergent series. Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games was published in 2008, but it ranks as the No. 4 bestseller of this decade with 8.7 million copies.

Women wrote major works of nonfiction as well. The decade had barely begun when Rebecca Skloot published The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; the same year saw publication of Isabel Wilkersons The Warmth of Other Suns. Other nonfiction standouts include Elizabeth Kolberts The Sixth Extinction, Katherine Boos Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Jane Mayers Dark Money.

There have been a number of stunning memoirs by women since 2010, including Patti Smiths Just Kids, Helen Macdonalds H Is for Hawk, Margo Jeffersons Negroland, Cheryl Strayeds Wild, Roxane Gays Hunger, Valeria Luisellis Tell Me How It Ends and Tara Westovers Educated. The true crime genre is exploding in popularity, and much of it is written by women, such as Ill Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, Furious Hours by Casey Cep and American Fire by Monica Hesse.

Women arent just writing more; they read more. According to the Pew Research Center, 78 percent of women report having read one or more books in the last year, while only 68 percent of men have.

The surge of womens writing shows no sign of slowing. Among the most anticipated books of 2020: Zora Neale Hurstons Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick, Hilary Mantels The Mirror and the Light, Louise Erdrichs The Night Watchman and Emily St. John Mandels The Glass Hotel. And thats just between January and March. Looks like a promising decade.

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From Michelle Obama to E.L. James, women ruled the decade in books - Tampa Bay Times