Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)
1. Lyra from the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. She’s just so… badass. At thirteen years old she not only saves her own world, but saves other dimensions as well (okay, with a little help…). She has the strongest mind of a lot of female characters I’ve read in the past few years, and though her age shows, she’s nonetheless selfless and helpful. Her mission in life is to do the right thing.
2. Lucy from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I’m going for the L’s here. But seriously, she was the most willing to believe in possibility. As I understood it, she liked to make up stories, but when she became one it excited her all the more. None of it ever seemed odd to her - it fit right in place with her life - and I like that about her.
3. Cordelia from Shakespeare’s King Lear. Off the bat, she’s disowned for refusing to praise her father like her other sisters do. She’s the most level-headed in the whole play (in my opinion) but also the most strong-willed. She’s married based on her virtue, and her loyalty to her father (despite being kicked out of the family) strengthens throughout the play. She still refuses to give empty flattery to King Lear, but in the end she ends up forgiving him for his idiocy.
It must be very difficult to write female characters with any dimension or personality - either that, or I’m reading the entirely wrong books. I had to dig through my past reading lists just to think of these (except Lyra, who has always stood out in my mind). I had to remind myself whom I admired. There just weren’t a lot that I really loved. I spent last year trying to read more female authors; maybe this year I’ll try to read more female characters. 
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Lucy is a great choice!
cjh