10 Comments

I loved The Lion Women of Tehran and Yellowface.

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Barb: I'd never heard of the first one until I started on this post. So many books I want to get to!

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I loved The Lion Women more than Yellowface. It’s so good!

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For a rewarding example of the last of your two-girl patterns, check out Atwood’s Cat’s Eye.

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Thanks, Russell. It was mentioned in some of the sleuthing I did, but somehow it slipped through the net. I'll slip it into an update.

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In this category (of which I am a huge fan! I've read about a third of the books you list), I'd like to add Sigrid Nunez's The Last of Her Kind, which I read several summers ago and still think about for its complex and intense portrayal of female friendship.

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One of the next couple of posts will be called Adds & Updates--I'll be sure to include Nunez. I ended up taking a couple off the list that weren't begun close enough to girlhood. I think my next one from this list will be either SWING TIME or THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN. As always I appreciate hearing from you.

I should probably add that I'm working up a post about Tyranny. Wonder why.

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The Last of Her Kind is perhaps stretching the definition of girlhood--the two meet as freshmen in college--but is worth the read regardless: it fits with the overall girlhood dynamics you mention. Also, I loved SWING TIME! (Smith's novels don't always resonate with me, but that one most certainly did.)

I'll be interested to see your post on tyranny -- very timely indeed.

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Merci.

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My birth year is 1954. I'd love to see what you come up with.

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