"In times of struggle, there are as many reasons not to read as there are to breathe. Accompanied by the heroines on my bookshelf, I choose to do both. "
~ The Heroine's Bookshelf

In celebration of Women's History Month we turned to our bookshelves. The recommended titles this month were inspired from Erin Blakemore's terrific little book, The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Each chapter is a little gem, a combination of discussion and recommendations that sparkle with insight and with the love of reading. But, we could not help adding a few of our own heroes, real and imagined.

	Emma / Jane Austen
	Bridget Jones : the edge of reason / Helen Fielding
	Their eyes were watching God / Zora Neale Hurston
	I know why the caged bird sings / Maya Angelou
	The awakening / Kate Chopin
	Anne of Green Gables / Lucy Maud Montgomery
	Cold Comfort Farm / Stella Gibbons
	The color purple / Alice Walker
	Infidel / Ayaan Hirsi Ali
	Jane Eyre / Charlotte Brontë
	Fried green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe / Fannie Flagg
	Cleopatra : a life / by Stacy Schiff
	A tree grows in Brooklyn / Betty Smith
	The pursuit of love / Nancy Mitford
	Paula / Isabel Allende
	The lover / Marguerite Duras
	The hunger games / Suzanne Collins
	Gone with the wind / by Margaret Mitchell
	Like water for chocolate / Laura Esquivel
	The portable Dorothy Parker / with an introduction by Marion Meade
	Possession / A.S. Byatt
	The house on Mango Street / Sandra Cisneros
	White oleander / Janet Fitch
	The house of mirth / Edith Wharton
	East to the dawn : the life of Amelia Earhart / Susan Butler
	The secret life of bees / Sue Monk Kidd
	The help / Kathryn Stockett
	The secret garden / Frances Hodgson Burnett
	When I was Puerto Rican / Esmeralda Santiago
	Pride and prejudice / Jane Austen