Fictional women we do like, and why?

[LoudRowdyDuck]

May we have a thread about good fictional female characters, please? Since Elephants' thread is reminding me how many 'feisty' (=patronized) women characters there are out there!

I'll start: I like CJ in the West Wing. I think she's fantastic and I like that towards the end when she's happily planning her future career and her new partner gets pissy she hasn't discussed it with him, her response isn't 'omg, how awful of me', it's 'oh. so I didn't, oops. Moving on!'

Roz from Spooks. I want to be her when I grow up.

Pippi Longstocking

Flora Poste from Cold Comfort Farm

Harriet Vane in the Lord Peter Wimsey books. A lot of the time, anyway. Although I'm influenced by the telly series when she was played by the glorious Harriet Walter.

sorry, I forgot the 'why'. Well, Pippi is the strongest girl in the world. She can pick a horse up in one hand. She lives by herself and is completely unconventional, kind, emotional, loyal and imaginative. DD (aged 5) is completely in love with her

Flora Poste sorts everybody's life out. She knows her own mind, sees straight through misogynist tossers like Mr Mybug and is completely self-possessed and in control.

I must watch Spooks - is it generally good?

seth - agree!

I've thought of another one - I very much like Imogen Quy in the Jill Paton Walsh detective stories.

Mind you, seth, it was a bit depressing for me when I realized (some time after reading Pippi Longstocking) that there was going to come a time when both my brothers were taller and stronger than me.

And come it did.

yes LRD, I don't think dd yet knows quite how fictional Pippi is

Nancy Blackett in Swallows and Amazons . Not just because she is good at sailing and defeating Great Aunts, but because she's a good leader: fair, magnanimous, inclusive, as well as inspirational for the other characters.

Awww, she'll get over it (I got over it with hugely un-feminist high heels ).

I also had one of Astrid Lindgren's other books with Ronia the Robber's Daughter, which is less good because as soon as the lovely, tough girl-robber meets a boy, she goes and makes a little house and starts playing mummies and daddies with him, and waiting for him to rescue her.

Very disconcerting.

Cross posted - yes, indeed! And 'ruthless'.

I wonder if children's books are better at this than adult drama/fiction.

right. won't get that one then!

Yes,Harriet Vane for me too.She's independant,intelligent,and when she finally marries Peter they seem to have a good equal balanced partnership.

And Marcus Didius Falco's Helena.

reality - must get more of his stuff then. I've only read Neverwhere - what should I start with next?

seth - it's still good ... just not as good. It does have strong female characters but reading it as an adult it is a bit too 'all women are domestic at heart' for me.

Edie Mcredie from Balamorie. She spends a lot of time fixing her bus and doing other mechanic type fixing things.

Yes I spend too much time watching Cbeebies.

Pretty much every woman in the novels of Barbara Pym.

How nice to share a cup of redbush tea with Precious Ramotswe.

A friend of mine is in the Barbara Pym Society.

Ripley in Alien - how cool is she?

Vittoria in The White Devil - in a world of evil people, she is utterly ruthless but brave and heroic. So much more interesting that the weedy Duchess of Malfi ...

I wouldn't say Spooks is generally good, it came and went, but in the series before the series that's just finished they promoted Ros to be operational head and she displayed enormous reserves of kickass, sarcasm and just plain cool. Not admirable exactly, she did torture that guy, and that other guy, and she shot her colleague, and there were those two times she got involved in semi-fascist plots to overthrow the Government (but we've forgotten about them).

Anyway, no I couldn't honestly describe Spooks as generally good in the normal sense, but when it rocks it does rock quite hard, and Ros was all kinds of awesome. (and Not Dead, she wasn't dead the last time they buried her and I didn't see the body so she's still Not Dead).

I may possibly be confusing feminist rolemodelling with tragic school girl crush.

If we're actually talking realistic and admirable fictional women then Ruth from Spooks is perhaps the way to go.

CJCregg -
That is such a good name!

I have a soft spot for the Duchess though. She may get scared, but before that she makes it quite clear to her man who's in charge. It's only the sadistic bad guys who get her - otherwise she'd be fine, I think.

I feel very useless though - I've steered clear of Precious Ramotswe as I've heard the books are bad - change my mind?

I am however keen to watch Spooks now.