Strong Female Characters

Welcome to Featured Fridays! Here you’ll find what I’m reading or watching or listening to, or a favorite product or two. It won’t always be something I necessarily like or the latest thing that everyone else is into, but hopefully it will be help you find something new and interesting to try in your life.

For my very first Featured Fridays, I had a post all ready, and then, much like What Is…Wednesdays, the events of the past week changed my course. So, this Featured Fridays is about a few books I’ve read recently that have strong female characters and are good at exploring what it is to be a woman in the world.

I believe strongly in the power of art and storytelling to expose us to things we don’t see, think, or feel in our own everyday lives. Stories, for so long, whether on the page or on the screen, have mostly revolved around male main characters or have used the male gaze to depict women.

If we want women’s basic rights to be respected, then we need to write, read, and watch more stories about women and those who identify as female. We need to get inside their heads, understand their complexities, and feel what they feel. We need to inspire empathy.

And I also believe in some good, old-fashioned entertainment to keep our spirits up.

I may discuss each of these more in depth in future posts of Featured Fridays, but for now, here are four female-centric stories that will keep you interested, entertained, and show you what women can do.

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

I’m reading this one right now and, in full disclosure, I have not finished it yet. But I am about 25% of the way through and am loving it and the voice of the main character, Kaikeyi. Based on Indian myths that the author was told by her mother and grandmother, Kaikeyi is about a girl born into a royal family who must use her wits and her personal strength (and a little magic) to gain power over her own life. I think we could all use a little of that magic right now. I’m excited to keep reading it and let you know how it is.

The Change by Kirsten Miller

Three women on the cusp of “the change” – that’s menopause for those of you who don’t know – obtain and hone powers to defend themselves, and the girls and women in their community. They’re fed up with how they’ve been treated as women, and they do something about it! As a woman on the cusp of my own change, I found it encouraging and motivating. It’s also a book that keeps you on your toes until the very end and is very cathartic in this post-Roe world.

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

I loved reading this novel, which is based on the true story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko. She was one of the first female snipers in the Soviet army during WWII and eventually became the most successful female sniper of all time. But she is not at all who you would expect her to be. Before her stint in the army, she was a single mom studying to become a historian. On top of it all, she became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt during a Soviet propaganda campaign that toured the United States in an effort to get the U.S. to join the war. While this is a fictionalized version of her life, it’s an inspiring and entertaining read.

These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of essays by Ann Patchett. The essays cover everything from female friendships, being childless by choice, being a writer, and even life during the pandemic. It’s funny, it’s informative, it may even make you cry. And it’s written by a strong female voice.

Whatever you read or watch or listen to, make sure it has some strong female-identifying characters in the mix. And ask yourself: Do they seem authentic to you? Did you learn something new about women from them? Did they entertain you?

As always,

Stay Curious.