Wondering how you can immerse yourself more fully in the worlds of your favourite fictional characters? Try reading what they read, to see the world through their eyes.
Kat Stratford (10 Things I Hate About You 1999)
Kat Stratford is the ultimate 90’s romcom it girl from the movie ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’. A high school student struggling with her peers and her family, Kat reads some pretty heavy hitting classics and feminist literature. Herself based on a literary character from William Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, Kat reads The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; helps another character find a copy of ‘The Feminine Mystique’ by Betty Friedan; and wants her English class to read Sylvia Plath, Charlotte Brontë and Simone de Beauvoir.
Read along with Kat if you like the early feminist classics and some 19th Century Literature, or check out The Taming of the Shrew to see the comparisons between Shakespeare’s play and the modern day movie adaptation.
The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
Following the courtship of Katherina, a spirited and strong-willed woman, by Petruchio, who is determined to tame her rebellious nature, employing unconventional methods to win her over.
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
A semi-autobiographical novel reflecting some of Plath’s own struggles with mental illness, Esther Greenwood travels to 1950’s New York for an exclusive internship but grapples with societal expectations, figuring out her identity, and finding her place in the world.
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë
After a difficult childhood the orphan Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall where she meets the brooding master of the house Mr Rochester. However, she hears strange laughter in the attic and discovers all is not as it appears.
Shirley
by Charlotte Brontë
Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar to solve his financial woes, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline, who, bored and desperate, lives as a dependent in her uncle's home with no prospect of a career.
Shirley, meanwhile, is in love with Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor—a match opposed by her family. As industrial unrest builds to a potentially fatal pitch, can the four be reconciled?
The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
A work of feminist philosophy, The Second Sex examines historical and contemporary structures of inequality, challenges traditional gender roles and advocates for equality.
