A number of my recent reads from the 20th century have treated female characters basically as sexual accessories. I need a break from male authors.
This made me realize that I've never read Jane Austen or the Bronte Sisters because in highschool 25 years ago those were "the books for girls".
Let me know which is your favorite to read first. Bonus points for the least amount of women fauning over men.
by kalechipsaregood
3 Comments
Pride and Prejudice – there is some fawning, though, but in a good way. Wuthering Heights is somewhat depressing.
Between those four, maybe start with Pride and Prejudice. Sense and Sensibility might be a second choice–it explores the destructive aspects of fawning over men through secondary characters.
For the Brontes, you might actually consider starting with Villette by Charlotte Bronte; it’s not as heavy as Jane Eyre. (And Wuthering Heights is just… really, really doing its own thing. You probably aren’t prepared for it. If you read it, please keep in mind that nobody thought it was a romance until they found out a woman wrote it.) Only issue with Villette is the weird left turn it takes in like literally the last 3 pages, but it’s great up to that point.
I know it’s not on your list but *Tenant of Wildfell Hall* by Anne Brontë is imo the best of the Brontë sisters’ works, and is considered by many to be the first feminist novel.
Otherwise, Pride and Prejudice