I can't think of any specific titles at the moment, but her name popped into my head.

Night at the Circus is probably the closest to a hero journey.

Actually The Passion of New Eve is a hero journey but since the character starts as a male and then becomes female I'm not sure it really qualifies.

Tanith Lee's "The Birthgrave" qualifies, but was a really awful story. Come to think of it a lot of Tanith Lee would qualify. "Drinking Sapphire Wine". "The Silver Metal Lover" is a tragic romance between a woman and a robot. For various reasons I think it strongly qualifies as a a classic heroe's journey. The end especially - following descent into the underworld the hero(ine) returns to the land of the living with something of great value for her society, obtained at great personal expense and loss.

Also some of Lee's best smartass. Tanith Lee gives great smartass when she cares to. I think "The Silver Metal Lover" would be perfect for high school kids. (Though a lot to be said for Sapphire wine too.)

It occurs to me that Julie Powell may be a buffista and also that I've said some things that might come off as kind of nasty towards her.

If you're lurking, Julie, I assure you- I am so envious, really.

She satisfies my feminism in ways that none of his other women do (even the ones in Monstrous Regiment, which annoyed me for reasons I cannot recall at the moment).

You probably blogged about it!

I happen to have an irrational, deep love of Monstrous Regiment, so I'm sure there's stuff that sucked about it, but I can't *see* it for the stars in my eyes.

Laga, you're just reading Julie and Julia, right? Do you know what's gone on in Julie Powell's life since then?

You probably blogged about it!

I just ran a search on my Gmail for "regiment". Apparently I found it preachy and predictable. I'll probably read it again at some point, though.

Do you know what's gone on in Julie Powell's life since then?

Other than taking up butchery I have no idea.

I just ran a search on my Gmail for "regiment". Apparently I found it preachy and predictable. I'll probably read it again at some point, though.

It reminded me of my favorite fairy tales, the ones where the girls dressed as boys and did all the rescuing of the kingdom.

I am a TOTAL sucker for that.

Maybe you do or don't want to know, but the butchery was somehow connected to her crazy affair that she had, but now she's back together with the husband from J&J. I think -- I couldn't pay too much attention, but I'm pretty sure that's the gist.

Yeah, I hadn't heard that. I'm just reading the part where she talks about missing the series finale and I thought oh crap, what if she reads literary buffistas?

I still think reading the recipe before you go shopping is kind of important.