28 February 2008

Booking through Thursday

booking

Who is your favorite female lead character?
And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)


Froniga, from The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge, was the first heroine (after Jane Eyre) I fell in love with. (I didn't love Jane, the character; I adored the book, but Jane herself, flinty Jane, frightened me a little. She still does. A little.) I adored the herbal lore, Froniga's conflicts between her dual gypsy and British heritage, the fine line between white witchery and the darker side, the descriptions of the aromas and colors in her garden... I can still remember my delight in the word "gillyflower." Then, as now, I missed the political context of the book, but I don't think it matters.

Honorable mention: Prudence, from Barbara Pym's Jane and Prudence, which I discovered in my thirties. Aside from the utterly delightful and wicked, almost-anthropoigical descriptions of country life in fifties Britain, with its vicars and jumble sales and tea, there's Prudence herself, with the contrasts between the city mouse to Jane's country mouse, eye shadow and jumble sales, marriage and spinsterhood (at age 29!) My favorite scene has Prudence sitting at a lunch counter and wondering if anyone is noticing the attractive woman reading Coventry Patmore. As you probably can guess, I was a (slightly older) single woman who often sat at counters reading, if not Coventry Patmore, then Montaigne, or Bronte...

13 comments:

Susan Higginbotham said...

I liked that scene too! Also the one where Jane is worried about Prudence's mental state after her breakup, and Nicholas tells Jane not to worry, Prudence is far too fond of herself to do anything rash. Makes me want to dig my copy out again!

Val Gryphin said...

Hummm, The White Witch sound intriguing - I'm going to have to look it up!

Donna Lee said...

I read a lot of biographies as a kid. Catherine the Great was my absolute favorite. I have no idea why. My fictional favorite was Morgaine, sister of Arthur. She was strong and smart. I guess I was drawn to strong women (still am).

Val Gryphin said...

Oh, and I'm glad someone else has read Crystal Singer ;)

Find me here

Bridget said...

I haven't read that Pym book yet, but I'm sure to get to it sooner or later.

Isn't it funny when you [sorta] see yourself in a book?

Jennifer said...

I've never read either book! I'll have to check them out.

Pooch said...

Reading about characters with whom we can feel a connection adds so much to our reading pleasure.
:)

Angela Young said...

Jane Eyre ... wonderful. Especially when she tells Rochester, passionately, that plain women have feelings too.

Khadijha Caitlin said...

I love Jane Eyre - shes one of my faves and I'm quite intrigued by "The White Witch". Its on my to read list.

sunt_lacrimae_rerum said...

What a great post. You know, I always identified a bit with Jane, even when I was much younger than Jame is (of course now I am older than Jane).

Did I ever tell you about my pilgramage to Barbara Pym's grave in the churchyard at Finstock, the small town she lived in near the end of her life? It was beautiful and I got such a great idea of what village life is like.

trish said...

Prudence from Jane and Prudence has surfaced in a couple of bloggers' answers...I think I should put this on my list of books to buy!

It's getting late to say happy BTT, so I'll say Happy Friday!! :-)

Paula said...

I have been wanting to read The White Witch.
Now I will have to add it to this weeks Barnes and Noble list.

Lesley said...

I am new to Pym. I've read only Excellent Women - and loved it. You're the second commenter to mention Jane and Prudence, so I must look for that one - thank you! And thanks for dropping by my blog on BTT.