Reading & Writing as Heroic Acts: The Heroine’s Bookshelf
The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder by Erin Blakemore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Sometimes you love a book not so much for the new things it brings you, but for how it names what you’ve always known. Such is The Heroine’s Bookshelf. By profiling twelve of the most influential female literary heroines of the past two centuries and the women authors who created them, Blakemore narrates the soul-shaping encounters we have with literature. While the process of internalizing life lessons from fiction may be a largely unconscious process for many, Blakemore allows readers into her own transforming encounters with each book and its author, thus inviting readers into deeper awareness of how reading can be challenging, healing and sustaining, rather than escapist or avoidant. Blakemore not only provides insightful looks into the courageous, contentious and sometimes tragic lives of authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Charlotte Bronte, but assists readers in thinking deeply about how we allow ourselves to shaped by the stories we enter. As this topic is something I’m already deeply passionate about, reading Heroine’s Bookshelf was a tender and encouraging reminder of the women who have knocked down walls so I could walk freely, and the literary heroines who have strengthened my imagination and my own sense of courage. I hope this book will reach those whose literary journeys have yet to venture beyond consumer chick-lit tailored to the status quo and wallet, rather than hope and integrity. I’m sure it will.
Further, while I loved the book for resonating where my heart already rings, there were still whole chapters that found me shocked, intrigued and totally inspired to pick up books that somehow never made it on my radar. And while Blakemore advocates passionately and compassionately for the heroines and authors who fought for their faith and freedom against adversity, her real victory is her ability to offer that same passion and compassion on behalf of characters and authors who’s integrity is less obvious and are more recognizable for their flippancy, selfishness and scandals. My favorite chapters were on Collette’s “Claudine” novels and Margaret Mitchell’s Scarlet O’Hara, whom Blakemore proudly proclaims as literature’s “most famous bitch.”
Heroine’s Bookshelf is a delight, both encouraging and entertaining, and definitely stirred my own sense of heroism with gratitude and gumption. Thank you Erin Blakemore.
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