Stop defining women by the men they know
This is my least favourite book naming convention. (Also, stop defining them by anyone they know might be more accurate; I just added a book that sounds great but the title fits this annoying trend, but I can't tell the gender of the botanist in the title from the description.)
created by kathytrithardt
last updated May, 2026
Comments
Tell me why it is 2026 and I still see this naming convention being used? Which have you noticed recently?
Yessss I hate this title convention. It's a sure way to make me not pick up a book. I once saw a photo from a bookstore where they put name tags on all these books with the women's actual names 😄
Oh that is absolutely brilliant!!
How about The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan? It’s a good book with an unfortunate title.
Adding!
Interestingly, Faro’s Daughter by Georgette Heyer is actually NOT about a woman’s relationship to a man in her life. Faro is a card game, and the FMC has unusual role dealing cards in her aunt’s gaming hell.
Okay, that is actually fascinating, but I'm gonna keep it on the list because with that premise they could have come up with a better title!
oh my god why are there so many 😭
There’s also The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan. I enjoyed that as well.
Adding!
Ugh, it's such a common thing for historical romance books, and I hate it 😩
Too true!
Category romances, historical and contemporary, do a lot of this. Then again, they have frequently have bad titles (set by marketing executives).
Yes, all of this!
So I get why the professions have a bunch of entries in terms of this convention, but what did Sicilians do to get two entries from different authors? 😂
Right? Those guys don't get a title, just where they are from, and one of the lovers is more innocent than the other 😂
but like, they're mostly all the same right? Just repackaged and rebranded? lol
One would hope there are differences.
The only reason I would read a book like this is if it was like a book abt women empowerment, becoming a person instead of an object if that makes sense
