Announcing the April tag

[Cheryl]

Ty Karin, that does sound like an excellent option!

[Magdalena]

Amy, I'm glad to hear you liked it so much! I can't wait to start it. It sounds like just my cup of tea!

[Josephine]

Hi, everybody. I'm new here, and I'm thrilled that my first tag is something I love so much! I've just checked out the audiobook version of Yes Please, which I expect to fit nicely, but otherwise, I'm going to have to narrow down some choices.

Some recommendations:
Crocodile on the Sandbank - pretty much anything by this author would fit. I love these books so much that I named one of my dogs after the main character
Daughter of the Forest - I considered myself a pretty strong woman, but I probably would have shriveled up and died halfway through this
Cleopatra: A Life - a fabulous nonfiction account that helps dispel some of the more hostile myths
The Butterfly Garden - kind of on the dark side but soooooo good
The Female of the Species - again, a little on the dark side, but an excellent book for examining rape culture
A Trace of Smoke - historical fiction that takes place in Germany as the Nazis are taking control

[Anita]

Josephine wrote: "Hi, everybody. I'm new here, and I'm thrilled that my first tag is something I love so much! I've just checked out the audiobook version of Yes Please, which I expect to fit nicely,..."

So thrilled you are excited for this month's tag! Welcome!!! Thank you so much for giving the little comments with your tag suggestions. That's so helpful. I love dark books as a general rule, so I see two that I now know to check out.

[annapi]

Welcome, Josephine! I absolutely second your recommendations of Crocodile on the Sandbank and Daughter of the Forest!

[Susie]

Thanks Josephine! I generally like dark books so you’ve given me a few to add to my list.

[[deleted user]]

Jamie wrote: "I've got a few in mind including:

Radium Girls
The Woman Who Would Be King
Their Eyes Were Watching God"


I've been eagerly waiting to get my hands on The Radium Girls.!!!!

[[deleted user]]

I'd highly recommend " The War of Women and the Brave Ones Who Fight Back "

Its quite a powerful documentation on real life events that have happened and continue to happen across the world.


Has anybody read " The Women of the Castle " ?

[Nicole R]

Hi Shaurya! I read The Women in the Castle (by Shattuck, right?) and it was good!

It was not the best WW2 historical fiction I have read, but it was engaging.

[[deleted user]]

Nicole R wrote: "Hi Shaurya! I read The Women in the Castle (by Shattuck, right?) and it was good!

It was not the best WW2 historical fiction I have read, but it was engaging."

Yes by Shattuck.
I was contemplating on weather to go ahead with it or not. Also the title reads " The Women " OF " the Castle " on amazon, which added to my confusion.

Just ordered another one for now "Lilac Girls " . Bust yes I guess I'd be reading the former as well.

[Sue]

So many great suggestions on this thread! I can recommend Bossypants and I think I'll be trying Pope Joan

[Sushicat]

Turns out a book I started late for autobiography also fits this month's theme: The Complete Persepolis. I loved the book.

[Kszr]

Book Concierge wrote: "This is a tag I use with some regularity (570 books on my shelf have this tag).

Looking at JUST the 5-star reads on my shelf with STRONG WOMEN tag, I would recommend:
[book:The Sandcastle Girls|13..."

Some GREAT recommendations here!!!

[Nicole R]

Shaurya wrote: "Just ordered another one for now "Lilac Girls " . Bust yes I guess I'd be reading the former as well. ."

I liked the Lilac Girls MUCH better!

Are you a big WW2 historical fiction fan? Another that I recommend (a combo WW1 and WW2 H.F.) is The Alice Network. It was well-loved here on PBT!

[Anita]

Sue wrote: "So many great suggestions on this thread! I can recommend Bossypants and I think I'll be trying Pope Joan"

Oh, I so hope you enjoy Pope Joan! A book I really enjoyed reading and definitely fits the tag of "strong women".

[Karin]

I think a book I'm currently reading for a discussion counts, so am going to use A Legacy by Sybille Bedford. It's clear that the women are the strongest people in the book, and it's based largely on the life of the author (well, people in her life, and the central people are two very strong women).

[Critterbee❇]

Thinking of either one of Kerry Greenwood's Phyrne Fisher Mysteries or Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

[Book Concierge]

I just finished one of the Maisie Dobbs series ... definitely a strong woman!

[Anna]

Book Concierge wrote: "I just finished one of the Maisie Dobbs series ... definitely a strong woman!"

I love that series. Most definitely a strong woman.

[Idit]

I have two recommendations from books I've read in the last few weeks.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - a very easy but rewarding read. both the grandma and the grandchild are both so strong and beautiful people
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - Miles Franklin wrote this at 1901. It's semi autobiographical and was not printed for a while because of that. Her spirit is so strong and she is so frustrated of her situation as woman that's expected to be passive in old australian society. She ended up starting to finance a prize for Australian Woman author - so extra mark for strong women

[Hilde]

Idit wrote: "I have two recommendations from books I've read in the last few weeks.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - a very easy but rewarding read. both the grandma and the grandchild are both so..."

I agree, Idit. The Summer Book is lovely :)

[☘Misericordia☘]

Circe
This one is totally strong!

The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir
And this one very hard. Managing to live through all that is... an incredible feat.

[Robin P]

I just joined the group a day or so ago and the book I had started reading in April is The Other Alcott about May Alcott, sister of Louisa and the model for Amy, but much more independent. Louisa is also a major character as well as several woman artists.

I enjoy several mystery series with strong women. The Lydia Chin mysteries by S.J. Rozan, the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King, the Royal Spyness and Molly Murphy series by Rhys Bowen, for instance. Then there are time traveling women- Max in the St. Mary's series by Jodi Taylor and the women in Doomsday Book and Blackout by Connie Willis.

In YA, there is the Bloody Jack series about a girl who runs away to sea disguised as a boy during the Napoleonic wars and the books by Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give andOn the Come Up.

I really like the nonfiction writing of Rebecca Traister on women - Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger and All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation and Gail Collins - When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present and No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America