# Guys, which novels with a female main character do you particularly like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407 "2017-06-08T01:31:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/61 "2017-06-09T14:34:14Z")
Alexis Carew (author J. A. Sutherland, four books so far), which seems to be “Horatio Hornblower” in space. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/62 "2017-06-09T14:37:20Z")
I’ve read all of these relatively recently and enjoyed them. I have specifically looked for books with female main characters and/or written by women to try and expand the perspectives in the fiction I’m reading. Breq in the Ancillary series by Anne Leckie is basically genderless but probably biologically female. This whole series specifically focuses on a culture that cares little about gender. I thought it was a great trilogy though the middle book was a little slow. Although Justin Cronin’s vampire trilogy has a lot of characters, male and female, the premise is based on his daughter asking him to write a book about a girl who saves the world. Although I’m not sure she gets the most pages, I would argue the girl is the main character. N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy has a female main character in the first two books. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, about a pregnant 14-year-old in the lead-up to Hurricane Katrina. Uprooted by Naomi Novik, about a girl given as payment to the local wizard so she can become his witch apprentice. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/63 "2017-06-09T16:29:59Z")
_plans to read many of these_ ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/64 "2017-06-09T16:44:03Z")
Orson Scott Card’s Women of Genesis series. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. When I was young My Sweet Audrina and the Flowers in the Attic trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/65 "2017-06-09T17:06:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Y.T. (for Yours Truly) is her name. She’s fits the description of “a female main character”, doesn’t she? Since roughly half the book is about her? That’s right, YT. It’s been a few years (decades) since I read it, but I don’t recall YT having nearly as much POV or driving as much action as Hiro; I do recall thinking that she was so interesting that Stephenson should write a sequel with YT as the main character. If we’re going have to argue about this, I hope you’ll be willing to listen to R.E.A.S.O.N. Another Stephenson novel **SevenEves** is broken into two timelines, both of which have a female main character; seems appropriate for the title. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/66 "2017-06-09T17:34:41Z")
Of the ones that have so far only been mentioned once above I’ll add a second recommendation to Octavia Butler’s _The Parable of the Sower_, _Wild Seed_ and P.C. Hodgell’s _Godstalk_. But my highest recommendation and a kick to myself for not mentioning earlier: > [@Dancer\_Flight](#): > > Expendable, Vigilant, Ascending, Radiant (James Alan Gardner - The entire League of Peoples series is excellent, but the listed ones have female protagonists) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Bombastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mr\_Bombastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Bombastic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/67 "2017-06-09T17:58:06Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > When discussing fiction, you’ll come across the idea repeatedly that girls will readily read books about boys, but boys usually won’t willingly read books about girls. Does this change when the boys grow up to be men? I bet for a lot of men it does. > > So guys, please think about books you’ve read with just one main character (so, **nothing like Game of Thrones** with its mixed gendered cast of characters that are focused on in turn in alternating chapters, obviously), who happens to be a woman or girl. > > Which books fitting the bill have you particularly enjoyed? I’m not asking only about [ones you identified with](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649966) – though it’s great if that’s why you liked the book – but simply enjoyed reading about. > > Ladies, can you think of any books with female protagonists that the boys and men in your life raved about? If you like military Science Fiction, you should check out In Fury Born, by David Weber. Set in the future, Drop Commando Alecia Devries is mortally wounded while killing the planet pirates who killed her family. As she lay dying, in the cold, she cries out…“ANYTHING. Anything for a chance at those responsible for this”, for she had merely killed those whose hands had done the deed. Someone heard that cry. Tisophone, the last of the Furies, has slept for millennia in the void; awaiting the call to action. Her sisters have passed away while she slept, and she is diminished in her power. She answers that cry…“Anything, little one?” Tisophone may not be what she once was, but she is more than Alecia can imagine. She takes her to a place where time has no meaning. Naturally, when help finally arrives, they cannot explain how she survived, wounded and dying, in the bitter cold for an entire week. And they want answers Also, naturally, she cannot tell them. Eventually, they escape custody, steal a cutting edge AI cruiser and set out to get justice for her murdered family. The Furies reborn. And all Hell is about to be unleashed. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/68 "2017-06-09T18:00:30Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I love Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. Yes, she has a habit of getting saved from things to some extent. But I love her and the stories just the same. It’s just the right type of fantasy for me. And, while she has a husband, that means no romance plots thrown in, either. Oh, and she actually gets older. > > Nothing else comes to mind right now. But that series will always be in mind when people mention female protagonists. Hey, I downloaded one of her novels and never got around to reading it. Something about Jane Eyre? (do you have to know Jane Eyre to understand the novel?) Do romance plots bother you, particularly? Also, isn’t it sad that marriage and romance are often regarded as mutually exclusive concepts? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/69 "2017-06-09T18:09:54Z")
I try pretty hard to dissuade the third grade boys I teach from the idea that books starring girls are boring or inappropriate for them. My favorite read-aloud is \*\*The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle [/quote] , a crackerjack high seas adventure. Other excellent children’s books with female protagonists that any boy should be ashamed to dislike: -Coraline -Matilda -The Mighty Miss Malone -The Girl Who Drank the Moon -The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (and the others in the series) -Rain Rein (not super my cuppa, but a lot of kids, boys and girls, loved it) -Because of Winn Dixie -Dicey’s Song As an adult, I read a ton of books with female protagonists. Most of my reading is sf, so most of my recommendations have already ben mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/70 "2017-06-09T18:17:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Other excellent children’s books with female protagonists that any boy should be ashamed to dislike:… A little older target audience, but the _Hunger Games_ books were devoured equally by boys and girls in my kid’s class. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/71 "2017-06-09T18:24:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Other excellent children’s books with female protagonists that any boy should be ashamed to dislike: Well, sure. But some books are aimed at a female or male audience. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/72 "2017-06-09T18:34:30Z")
I second (3d? 4th?) Emma, Jane Eyre, Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Mockingbird. Never cared for Vanity Fair or Tess, tho there is a major female co-protagonist in another of my faves by Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd. One I don’t believe has been mentioned yet is Dalva, by Jim Harrison (one of my fave authors - tho most of his protagonists are male.) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/73 "2017-06-09T19:01:55Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Although Justin Cronin’s vampire trilogy has a lot of characters, male and female, the premise is based on his daughter asking him to write a book about a girl who saves the world. Although I’m not sure she gets the most pages, I would argue the girl is the main character. Agreed - Peter Jaxson has the main POV and is the most relatable character, but Amy is clearly the trilogy’s central character and raison d’etre. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/74 "2017-06-09T20:49:37Z")
In no particular order, many previously mentioned: Bernhard Schlink “The Reader” Amber Dermont, “The Starboard Sea” Louise Erdrich, “The Plague of Doves” Jean Hanff Korelitz “Admission” Peter Hoeg “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” Shirley hazzard “The Transit of Venus” Zadie Smith. “On Beauty” Arundhati Roy, “The God of Small Things” Ann Patchett “Bel Canto” Audrey Niffenegger “Time Traveler’s Wife” Stieg Larsson “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” et seq Rachel Kushner “The Flamethrowrs” Elizabeth Gilbert, “The Signature of All Things” Charles Portis “True Grit” Jodi Picoult “My Sister’s Keeper” Anne Tyler , “Ladder of Years” Sarah Waters " Fingersmith" Michele Young-Stone. “The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors” ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/75 "2017-06-09T21:40:16Z")
Connie Willis’s _Doomsday Book_ and _Passage_ _The Diamond Age_ And as a youngster, I enjoyed the Hardy Boys, but preferred Nancy Drew. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/76 "2017-06-09T21:54:26Z")
_Moll Flanders_, by Daniel Defoe. It’s a novel about a poor, powerless woman, born in the 17th century, who decides not to take any more crap—and doesn’t. She uses every skill and trick she has to level the playing field with men, and succeeds (with some ups and downs along the way). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/77 "2017-06-09T22:00:06Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > Connie Willis’s _Doomsday Book_ and _Passage_ > _The Diamond Age_ Things like Connie Willis books and _The Diamond Age_ technically don’t meet the OPs criteria because they have multiple alternating POV characters, some of which are male. (Some of Connie Willis’s work has a single POV character that is female–you could go with the hilarious novella _All Seated On the Ground_.) (The OPs criteria–if taken seriously–rules out many good books with good female characters who are the POV character for _some_ chapters but not _all_ of them.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/78 "2017-06-09T22:24:16Z")
Susan Coopers _Greenwich_, but the others are centered more around Will Stanton. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/79 "2017-06-09T22:26:06Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > _Moll Flanders_, by Daniel Defoe. It’s a novel about a poor, powerless woman, born in the 17th century, who decides not to take any more crap—and doesn’t. She uses every skill and trick she has to level the playing field with men, and succeeds (with some ups and downs along the way). That sounds interesting. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407/80 "2017-06-09T22:42:14Z")
dup [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-which-novels-with-a-female-main-character-do-you-particularly-like/788407.md?page=5)