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I noticed something interesting as I was compiling this week's list - a lot of my favourite heroines are also part of my favourite friendships. The heroines that I added to my list this week that weren't on my last TTT were either runner ups for that TTT, or she doesn't have any close friends. Interesting. And also that I don't have ANY favourite heroines from adult fiction. Which is also interesting, and worth pondering. In any case, in the interest of not having repeats for this list (since six of them were on my last list - Anya Balanchine, Lirael, Kyoko, Hermione, Kami Glass, and Anne Shirley) just assume they would have been here today, but that would make my list boring.
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As soon as I saw this topic, this is immediately who I thought of. She's by far one of my absolute favourite heroines! And any of you who read ToG and didn't like it (particularly because there wasn't much assasinage), Crown of Midnight will change your mind. Go read it!
Alanna and Aly from Tamora Pierce's Tortall series
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Well, there doesn't appear to by much in the way of Aly fanart, and none of the two together. I guess I'm the only one who loves Aly so much...in any case, these are probably my favourites out of all the Tortall series..(ok now I hurt and feel bad, I LOVE THEM ALL). I've always thought it was great how different the two of them are - Tamora Pierce has really individual heroines!
As soon as I saw this topic, this is immediately who I thought of. She's by far one of my absolute favourite heroines! And any of you who read ToG and didn't like it (particularly because there wasn't much assasinage), Crown of Midnight will change your mind. Go read it!
Alanna and Aly from Tamora Pierce's Tortall series
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Well, there doesn't appear to by much in the way of Aly fanart, and none of the two together. I guess I'm the only one who loves Aly so much...in any case, these are probably my favourites out of all the Tortall series..(ok now I hurt and feel bad, I LOVE THEM ALL). I've always thought it was great how different the two of them are - Tamora Pierce has really individual heroines!
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Lyra has to be one of my favourite characters from one of my all time favourite books! She's manipulative, precocious, and deeply loyal...and she has that selfishness and cruelty (at least in the beginning) that children have because it's just how they work. And I love that about her - she's not a little adult, she's a child in a really messed up world.
Sabriel from Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy
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Although I might empathize with Lirael an insane amount, I have always, always loved Sabriel. After all, she's the one who introduced me to this world. Also isn't this artwork crazy detailed?
Lyra has to be one of my favourite characters from one of my all time favourite books! She's manipulative, precocious, and deeply loyal...and she has that selfishness and cruelty (at least in the beginning) that children have because it's just how they work. And I love that about her - she's not a little adult, she's a child in a really messed up world.
Sabriel from Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy
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Although I might empathize with Lirael an insane amount, I have always, always loved Sabriel. After all, she's the one who introduced me to this world. Also isn't this artwork crazy detailed?
Lizzie Bennet from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
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What would this list be without one of the wittiest heroines of them all? Lizzie Bennet has always been my favourite of Austen's heroines, and with one book left to go, I don't see anyone toppling her off the throne.
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What would this list be without one of the wittiest heroines of them all? Lizzie Bennet has always been my favourite of Austen's heroines, and with one book left to go, I don't see anyone toppling her off the throne.
Katsa from Kristin Cashore's Graceling
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Although Fire and Bitterblue are also easily added on this list, I am at least trying to only make my list ten entries long this time!
Vicky Austin from Madeline L'Engle's A Ring of Endless Light
Although Fire and Bitterblue are also easily added on this list, I am at least trying to only make my list ten entries long this time!
Vicky Austin from Madeline L'Engle's A Ring of Endless Light
Aaaand there's absolutely 0 fan art for Vicky Austin. Any volunteers? Vicky is just such a timeless heroine. It doesn't matter if you are introduced to her at age ten or ...twenty three (since that's all I can confirm), she is extremely relateable.
Sunshine from Robin McKinley's Sunshine
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I realized in making this list that pretty much all of my non-contemporary heroines were feisty, badasses and I thought I'd at least try and include one who wasn't. While Sunshine isn't my favourite McKinley heroine, she does fit the bill. And while I sometimes might feel like yelling at her, she's extremely complex as a character. She felt like an actual person, and not like it was just me in this book, and that is something I don't often feel when I read. Sadly, this is one of McKinley's most overlooked books, and it deserves more love!
Stargirl from Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl
I realized in making this list that pretty much all of my non-contemporary heroines were feisty, badasses and I thought I'd at least try and include one who wasn't. While Sunshine isn't my favourite McKinley heroine, she does fit the bill. And while I sometimes might feel like yelling at her, she's extremely complex as a character. She felt like an actual person, and not like it was just me in this book, and that is something I don't often feel when I read. Sadly, this is one of McKinley's most overlooked books, and it deserves more love!
Stargirl from Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl
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Who here did not love Stargirl? This was easily one of the best books I read read in middle school, and I think it should be added to all classroom lists because there is just so much to learn from Stargirl - and from the narrator who I feel most of us feel like a lot of the time. Particularly in middle school.
Kanoko from Riniko Tsujita's Koi dano Ai dano
Ahhhh Kanoko you brilliant, scheming, yet oblivious girl! Other than Kyoko who I will love for all of time, Kanoko is probably my favourite manga heroine. She may be in a shoujo manga, and they might use a lot of the expected tropes you get in shoujo manga, but you are not helpless. Or sweet and good. Kanoko is very smart and manipulative - a lot of qualities you'd normally see in the "evil" shoujo characters. Except she's the heroine. And that's AWESOME. Technically this is the sequel, although the first series is short and feels more like a prequel than a starting point, but it's well worth starting there to get a real feel for her character (and to explain a lot of things you won't understand about her in the later manga if you skip the prequel)
Who here did not love Stargirl? This was easily one of the best books I read read in middle school, and I think it should be added to all classroom lists because there is just so much to learn from Stargirl - and from the narrator who I feel most of us feel like a lot of the time. Particularly in middle school.
Kanoko from Riniko Tsujita's Koi dano Ai dano
Ahhhh Kanoko you brilliant, scheming, yet oblivious girl! Other than Kyoko who I will love for all of time, Kanoko is probably my favourite manga heroine. She may be in a shoujo manga, and they might use a lot of the expected tropes you get in shoujo manga, but you are not helpless. Or sweet and good. Kanoko is very smart and manipulative - a lot of qualities you'd normally see in the "evil" shoujo characters. Except she's the heroine. And that's AWESOME. Technically this is the sequel, although the first series is short and feels more like a prequel than a starting point, but it's well worth starting there to get a real feel for her character (and to explain a lot of things you won't understand about her in the later manga if you skip the prequel)
No worries about getting confused re: the topic - I got confused re: TTT when I first started out, and I would make up my OWN topics, ROFL. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the heroines you picked and LIZZIE BENNETT FOREVER! :D
My Top Ten Tuesday
There's no way you can read His Dark Materials and not love Lyra! She's one of my all time favourite characters too. And I agree with you on the others I've read too - I love Elizabeth Bennet for her wit. Great list!
ReplyDeleteYou've picked some great heroines! :-) Stargirl is such a great character.
ReplyDeleteBahahaha that's fantastic! I feel a little bit better. I looked at the list again, and I have NO CLUE how I came up with this topic since it's not even an option for a later date haha!
ReplyDeleteI <3 Lizzie...and I really need to watch The Lizzie Bennet Diaries now that I am thinking about it...
Hmm, I don't know if I have a TTT list for next week *has to go look at her drafts now* Anyway, great list! Sabriel is such an awesome character with awesome abilities xD Lyra and Elizabeth Bennett are fantastic too :)
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Love it! I recently reread Sabriel and totally fell back in love with her. I always worry about rereading books I read as a teenager because I don't know if I will like them as much as I did. But I liked it even more the second go around. I also totally agree with ToG. I didn't particularly like Celaena in ToG, but she totally won me over in Crown of Midnight. Oh, and this is TOTALLY off topic, but I was thinking you should put a little video of you playing your oboe for one of your Day in the Life posts. I want to be awed! I played flute and dabbled in violin and I was competent, but not great. Professional musicians amaze me. :D
ReplyDeleteI love The Ring of Endless Light shout out. I was just perusing another L'Engle book and re-meeting young Polly Austin. :)
ReplyDeleteLol that's how I usually am...I should have been clued in by the fact that I DIDN'T have a draft for this week haha!
ReplyDeleteI have been craving a His Dark Materials reread, so I think I'll be doing that pretty soon. I think this is the longest I've gone without rereading it too, it's been more than two years now!
I know EXACTLY what you mean! I just had that happen with Daughter of the Forest, which I still liked, but I wasn't all swoony and amazed like I was the first time :-/
ReplyDeleteI really should! I had hoped to have a video of our Peter and the Wolf, crazy choreography, costumes, and all, but I still haven't got a copy of it :-/. If anything comes up before my recital that someone has recorded, I'll definitely post it just for you ;-)...and if not, my recital will be some time in May, and I'll post something from that for sure!
It's my goal over the next few years to finish all the Madeleine L'Engle books, especially now that I know there are so many crossovers! I think knowing more about Polly would definitely have helped me understand An Acceptable Time a bit more. And also I love L'Engle (A Ring of Endless Light is definitely one of my all time favourites by her on that note) and should just read everything by her because duh.
ReplyDeleteOh yay!! Peter and the Wolf is one of my favorites. My grandparents had this Leonard Bernstein record of it and so now it always reminds me of them. :)
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter about the topic change, loved your list regardless and the fanart :O Amazing!
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Obsessive Compulsive Reader
I agree with all your choices! Especially Stargirl, Katsa, Alanna, and Celeana (And Lizzie Bennet and Lyra and, well all of them!!) :)
ReplyDeleteI now really want to pick up Sunshine! Also, what are your favorite Robin McKinley books? I want to read more by her!
I do love fanart, it's always so fun to look up so these TTT posts are really great for that!
ReplyDeleteOh man...I honestly have loved every novel I've read by her (well, her Beauty and the Beast ones aren't my favourites). The Blue Sword is probably my favourite YA of hers, and Spindle's End is my favourite retelling (in fact it might be my favourite retelling of anything ever). Deerskin comes pretty close on that front though - but I will say it gets pretty dark. It's a retelling of Donkeyskin, so if you know that at all, you'll understand why it's dark. Sunshine is probably the most different from all her other books, which is why a lot of her standard readers really didn't like it, which I think is a shame, because her writing is just fantastic, no matter what she decides to do with it.
ReplyDeleteShe is so unique!
ReplyDeleteWait really?? My guesses are Pride & Prejudice and....I'm going to go with His Dark Materials. But I know you read a lot of fantasy (and also I might be completely wrong). I think Garth Nix's trilogy is definitely up your alley if you haven't read that yet (at least judging by what I've seen on your blog/your list this week haha)
ReplyDeleteYou know, a lot of people really didn't like her character (because of a lot of the characteristics I named) which I just think...sucks. Perfect goody goodies are no fun to read about! And Lizzie is definitely a go to heroine for me!
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