"Strong Women" book titles - suggestions?

11 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...

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (26)

dido1
11 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
11 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
Related Discussions
Book Title Ideas
Q
Comments (8)
Most important to me is that an author provide realistic and complete information about the real drawbacks of the plants. Glowing, idealized descriptions are available for free in catalogs, where all the plants are spectacular, completely adaptable to various difficult situations, and trouble-free. It irks me no end to purchase a book that does not include information like susceptibility to pests and disease, reaction to less than ideal conditions, tendency to sprawl or spread ... you know what I mean. Nobody is perfect, and that goes for plants as well as people. A good gardening book delves into the flaws, not just the merits, of each perennial it covers. Also, the photos should NOT be close-ups of the flowers, they should show what the plants actually look like. This kind of picture probably does not sell books, at least not as well as lovely, artistic flower photos do, but that's what gardeners are interested in. Thanks for asking, and good luck with the book.
...See More
How 'bout trading alt-tech links or book titles?
Q
Comments (3)
Hi Joel - sorry it took so long to respond, but I thought of your post Monday, as I listened to our local radio station.They did a really interesting interview w/ a guy who has an alt. energy magazine - he's in Oregon & off the grid for maybe 35 yrs. Home Power Magazine Here is a link that might be useful: Listen to the interview here.......
...See More
Sources and book titles wanted
Q
Comments (4)
META tags will probably not do the job. Google and the like ignore them (and for good reason, I could type whatever I wanted in there whether my page was about it or not), instead their bots scan the actual content of the page. This puts flash sites at a disadvantage because the content cannot be read. In my opinion, flash is a useful tool in creating multimedia applications and presentations but it should NEVER have been used for web pages. It not only keeps the page from being indexed correctly in search engines, but keeps the pages from being able to be viewed by users with disabilities (those using aural, braille, or text based browsers). If you are just learning web design, I recommend getting a book on XHTML (eXtensible HTML) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). The w3c (Wolrd Wide Web Consortium) has listed these as the standards for web content and design respectively. By using CSS to describe ALL of your design parameters you allow greater access to the content of you site.
...See More
Which Book Title Appeals to You
Q
Comments (5)
I like #1 and #3 combined, as in My Daddy Says - What to do when your dream relationship shows up, with kids. The "THEIR kids" part makes it sound like a book geared towards the kind of step-parents that are looking for ways to sabotage their spouses relationship with their children. #5 might unintentionally limit the audience; there are plenty of people who were never previously married, and whose new spouse has children.
...See More
janalyn
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 years ago
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Who could have more backbone than Francie Nolan?
junek-2009
11 years ago
Don't forget "Olive Kitteridge".
woodnymph2_gw
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 years ago
The MAISIE DOBBS series by Jacqueline Spears
rouan
11 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
11 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
11 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
11 years ago
If you don't mind SF titles... Cordelia Naismith in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.
evenshade
11 years ago
I would like to add Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier to the list.
veronicae
11 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
11 years ago
"West with the Night" - Beryl Markham.

"Strong Women" book titles - suggestions?

Comments (26)

dido1

carolyn_ky

Related Discussions

janalyn

vickitg

martin_z

woodnymph2_gw

janalyn

veer

janalyn

martin_z

dedtired

junek-2009

woodnymph2_gw

oiveah

twobigdogs

woodnymph2_gw

frances_md

sherwood38

yoyobon_gw

rouan

carol_in_california

ccrdmrbks

georgia_peach

evenshade

veronicae

woodnymph2_gw

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US