Flavorwire's Fascinating Female Friendships in Literature

In my view, Claire Messud was on point when she said (in a now-famous response to an interviewer balking at an "unlikeable" character) that "if you're reading to find friends, you're in deep trouble." But that only applies to friends for yourself. That is, because, at least for me, reading about friendship — fraught and bad and dangerous as it may be — is one of my deepest pleasures, particularly when the friendships are between women. But while Ferrante Fever is still in full swing, it's amazing to me how rare it still is to find complex female friendships in literature for adults (YA has it a little more locked), and even the whiff of a good one can send me straight to the bookstore. In case you've been having the same feeling, here are 25 books that investigate female friendship in one form or another. More please.