"Strong Women" book titles - suggestions?

13 years ago

I was just browsing through my mind's files the other day (as you do), and started to compile a list of books (both fiction and non-fiction) which featured women who were strong in some way - leaders in their community, strong views/values, emotional strength - all kinds.

And thus this list was born (female metaphor there). Feel free to add your own suggestions. I don't consciously choose this type of book most of the time (clearly since I adore Victorian fiction on the whole), but I do like to read one every now and then for various reasons. Plus I find it to be fascinating that sometimes you can have an unlikeable protagonist, but still admire her for her strength, however it may manifest itself. (Year is year of pub.)

* The Stone Angel - Margaret Laurence (1964)
* Matilda - Roald Dahl (1988)
* Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga (1989)
* Emily Alone - Stewart O'Nann (2011)
* Firegirl - Tony Abbott (YA) (2006)
* The Hunger Games trilogy - Suzanna Collins (various)
* Once Were Warriors - Alan Duff (1990)
* Love Amongst the Butterflies - Margaret Fountaine (Vic writer; pub. 1978)
* Letters of a Woman Homesteader - Emily Pruitt Stewart (1914)
* My Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor (2006)
* Radioactive (Marie Curie) - Lauren Redniss (2010)
* Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (1891)
* A Sky Full of Kindness - Rob Ryan (2011)
* The Odd Women - George Gissing (1892)
* My Life in France - Julia Child (2009)
* The Diary of a Good Neighbor - Doris Lessing (2009)
* If the Old Could - Doris Lessing (2009)
* Diary of an Ordinary Woman - Margaret Forster (2004)
* The Dressmaker of Khair Khana - Gail Tzemech Lemmon (2010)
* Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery (1908)
* Monique and the Mango Rains - Kris Holloway (2006)
* Two Old Women (Alaska tribe) - Velma Wallis (1993)
* Lark Rise to Candleford - Flora Thompson (1945)
* The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloots (2010)
* Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education - Jane Robinson (2009)
* Nella Last's War - Nella Last (1981)
* A Child of the Forest trilogy - Winifred Foley (1974)
* Foreign and Female - Doris Weatherford (1986)
* House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros (1984)
* Still Alice - Lisa Genova (2009)
* Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia McLaughlin (1986)
* Persepolis books - Marijane Strapi (2003)
* Out to Pasture - Effie Lelander Wilde (1995)
* These is my Words - Nancy Turner (1999)
* Number One Ladies Detective Agency books - Alexander McCall Smith (1998ish)
* Magnificent Obsession: Queen Vic and death of Prince Albert - Helen Rappaport (2011)
* As We Are Now - May Sarton (plus epistolary as well) - bliss (1992)
* Bachelor Girl: The Secret Story of Single Women - Betsy Israel (2003)
* The Marie Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science - Julie des Jardins (2010)
* Song of the Lark - Willa Cather (1915)

Which titles would you suggest? Do you agree with the ones I...

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Comments (26)

dido1
13 years ago
Here are some classics:

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Helen Huntingdon in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

Katie Scarlett in Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary - Gustav Flaubert
carolyn_ky
13 years ago
Hannah Fowler in Hannah Fowler by Janice Holt Giles
Jo in Little Women, Louisa Mae Alcott
Amelia Peabody in the Elizabeth Peters series
Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hester in the Monk series by Anne Perry
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Sueb, I seem to be in the minority with the Is This Tomorrow book. It got pretty good reviews on Goodreads, but I just thought did not like the writing or the story line. I wonder if I missed something! I can't wait to read Me Before You - I read another JoJo Moyes book this summer and while the subject matter didn't sit that well with me (involves an affair), I really liked it. I also loved The Kitchen House, Defending Jacob and Elizabeth Berg books. Looking at your list, it seems we have similar tastes so not sure what it was about that Caroline Leavitt book but though I finished, it wasn't one I'd typically recommend. I just finished about called The History of a Pleasure Seeker. Oh my! I never read that really erotic book (can't think of the name of it but it was all the rage earlier this year tho' didn't interest me) but um, this book was had quite a few erotic sex scenes that I had no idea before I read the book. I thought the book was actually fairly well written for a new writer but the ending was lacking. I have no idea how I happened upon it - I didn't have it on my list of books to read so I think it must have been on display and I grabbed it on a whim. Totally not the genre I typically read but it was a decent read.
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Kath, I wasn't familiar with Mackellar's poem, thanks for posting it. UK book titles are the same as the Australian ones. Downunder is still a a recognised term for Australia here though I don't suppose they call England 'Upover' anymore than they used to refer to us as home. BTW I felt that Downunder was rather thin on substance. I don't think BB had spent long enough there. I never realised that A Town Like Alice had an American title. I remember when I first heard the book mentioned, as a child, it sounded 'unusual' but can't see why US readers seem not to be expected (by editors/movie folk) to be capable of dealing with the occasional oddity. Whatever the title I think it is still a cracking read. On the Beach is another one with a most unusual 'plot' that works surprisingly well . . . for a story dealing with nuclear fall-out. re Fuller's book. I think the title is Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight which has been well-recommended over here. I haven't read it but usually the expression 'going to the dogs' or if you are from London 'going down the dogs' means spending the evening at the local 'dog track' ie greyhound racing. I think the book is set in Rhodesia and I have no idea if there were any 'dog tracks' or if white people would have been seen there. 'Going to the Dogs' also means a deterioration in ones circumstances/business/way of life. Mary does any of the above appear in the book?
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Thanks guys, I will check that out. A little about myself: I am recently widowed, I live in the mid west in a 2 year old patio home. I have two friends in the development who keep me so busy, it's hard to find reading time. My main interest right now is traveling. I have been reading since the first grade teacher stopped reading books to the class. My favorite books are historical novels...not the romances. I just bought......and am re-reading the Outlander series. That's some heavy reading, about 800 pages per book and 6 in the series. I also like The Earth Children Series. I ran out of historical novels years ago and went to books about strong women, Danielle Steele's books for example. I like light reading most of the time. Books like The Little Lady Agency by Hester Brown, her second was Little Lady, Big Apple. I like Fern Michaels, they are such an easy read which helps at my age. I especially like her Sisterhood Series and Hey Goodlooking. Another one I like is Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz. The list goes on and on. If you don't mind I will hang in here for a while. There was another book I was interested in. If I remember right the title was "Under the ____ Tree". It was about a woman who's husband surprised her with a divorce, he gave her nothing except a house in a small town and kicked her out. In spite of feeling so alone, she makes a life for herself in her new environment. I am going to check out Ladder of Years, thanks again.
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janalyn
13 years ago
Wow, there are so many I do not know where to start. We should narrow it down to Strong Women We Love to Hate, but that can be another post. :)

1.The first: Nancy Drew (I had to put that one in since it was where my love of reading developed. Late late nights as a kid reading those books. All of them!
2. The latest: almost all the prominent female characters in George R.R. Martin's series, Game of Thrones are totally bad-ass. Arya, Catelyn Stark, Brienne Tarth, Cersei Lannister and the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen.

It is rare that a book that I enjoy does not have a strong female character. As I said above, I even enjoy them if they are on the wrong side of the good and evil line.
vickitg
13 years ago
"Year of Wonders" - Geraldine Brooks
"Equal Rites" - Terry Prachett (most of his books have strong female characters)
"The Widow's War" - Sally Gunning
"Clan of the Cave Bear" - Jean Auel
"State of Wonder" - Ann Patchett
"Smilla's Sense of Snow" - Peter Hoeg
"Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. vincent Millay" -Nancy Milford
"Pride and Prejudice" and others by Austen
"Bean Trees" and "Pigs in Heaven" - Kingsolver
"Molokai" - Alan Brennert
"Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" - Helen Simonson
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" - Maya Angelou
"I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots" - Susan Straight
"The Help" - Kathryn Stockett
"Cold Mountain" - Charles Frazier
"The Bone People" - Keri Hulme

To name a few. :-)
martin_z
13 years ago
No-one has mentioned any Margaret Atwood!

The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace and The Handmaid's Tale spring to mind.

And also

Never Let Me Go and A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Interestingly, all the books mentioned in this list have strong female protagonists, but very few of them are what I would describe as "girl books"!

And what about I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith? OK, that one IS a girl book.

(Ducks behind bookcase full of books with strong female characters to avoid flying missiles from RP...)
woodnymph2_gw
13 years ago
"My Antonia" - Willa Cather
"O Pioneers" - Willa Cather
"A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep" - Rumer Godden
"Elizabeth I" - David Starkey (non fiction, of course)
"Kristin Lavransdatter" - Sigrid Undset (a trilogy)
"Out of Africa" - Isak Dinesen
"Riding the White Stallion Home"
janalyn
13 years ago
Hey Martin!!

I wonder if The Egg and I has a strong female protagonist?? Don't know, as I will never read it because it is forever married to The Betty McDonald Society which still holds the "RP's WIERDEST Thread Ever" Title.
LOL

We had some great discussions here on many of the books you named. :)
veer
13 years ago
janalyn, luckily I read the various book by Betty MacDonald well before we had that strange exchange/verbal abuse from those German? B MacD groupies. I think all the MacDonald women were 'strong' especially her very calm Mother and her extremely bossy sister Mary
janalyn
13 years ago
I just remember that they were trying to make money and were obnoxious about it. Very, very obnoxious. That thread was in the 100s of posts. I think it went on its agonizing journey for a couple of years?

Psst - And thank you all for ignoring my spelling and grammar mistakes etc. I can't believe I got the e's and i's mixed up on weird. I need to proofread more...I'm not going to make that a resolution because often I am snatching time and in a hurry when I post here. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it. :)
martin_z
13 years ago
Blimey - The Egg and I, and the Betty MacDonald Society. I'd managed to erase that from my memory...

That was in the days when we also had non-stop HP threads.
dedtired
13 years ago
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Who could have more backbone than Francie Nolan?
junek-2009
13 years ago
Don't forget "Olive Kitteridge".
woodnymph2_gw
13 years ago
More strong women (IMHO)
Beatrix Potter
M.F.K. Fisher- "How to Cook a Wolf" and "As We Were"
Madeleine L'Engle - "A Two -Part Invention"
oiveah
13 years ago
There's a very wonderful little known book called BEKA LAMB which is written by Zee Edgell. The book is tremendous and the protagonist is a young woman coming of age who is clearly bright and has great potential. Her grandmother is also a strong woman. The quite elderly grandmother is very involved in politics and loves to share ideas. This is an AMAZING book and I recommend it!
twobigdogs
13 years ago
Love this list and shall share it with my book club.

It is early yet, still my first cup of tea so I only have a few titles to add at present:

Work - Louisa May Alcott
The Odd Women - George Gissing

PAM
woodnymph2_gw
13 years ago
Two more:
"The Sound of Wings" (about Amelia Earhart)
"Bring Me a Unicorn" and "Gift From the Sea" - Ann Morrow Lindbergh
frances_md
13 years ago
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

This is a nonfiction book about the author's determination to complete a long trek on the Pacific Crest Trail, while at the same time coming to terms with a difficult life.
sherwood38
13 years ago
In the last few years I have read several books that I feel fit this category.

Elly Griffiths -Crossing Places & her Dr Ruth Galloway series
Linda Castillo- Sworn to Silence & and her Chief Kate Buckholder series
Jacqueline Winspear - The Maisie Dobbs series
Chevy Stevens - two books-Still Missing & Never Knowing
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Pat
yoyobon_gw
13 years ago
The MAISIE DOBBS series by Jacqueline Spears
rouan
13 years ago
I would also recommend any books by Robin McKinley, except for Dragonhaven which has a male main character instead of a female.
carol_in_california
13 years ago
Immortal Wife my Irving Stone. It is a biography of Jessie Benton Fremont, wife of John C. Fremont and daughter of a US Senator back in the 1840's.
Very interesting read about a strong woman.
ccrdmrbks
13 years ago
Gosh-just a quick look over my shelves produces (excluding already mentioned):
Bel Canto Ann Patchett
The "Phryne Fisher" series by Kerry Greenwood (Australian author)
Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout
...and Ladies of the Club Helen Hooven Santmyer
In This House of Brede Rumer Godden
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
Barbara Pym's books
The Agatha Christie "Miss Marple" and "Tommy and Tuppence" mysteries
georgia_peach
13 years ago
If you don't mind SF titles... Cordelia Naismith in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.
evenshade
13 years ago
I would like to add Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier to the list.
veronicae
13 years ago
Most of the books I have in mind are already on the list. One non-fiction book that I have read and passed around and that has deeply touched the readers:
Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor. It's essentially a journal of the first year of her widowhood and motherhood. She is a magnificently strong woman, surrounded by many of the same.
woodnymph2_gw
13 years ago
"West with the Night" - Beryl Markham.

"Strong Women" book titles - suggestions?

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