Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the bloggers over at the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers from all around create lists based on the chosen topics, and post links to the host blog to share our love of books. This week the topic is Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters In Books. As an avid reader of books I find myself “falling” for characters quite often, but when it came to sitting down and picking my favorites, I found that there weren’t as many that actually stuck with me…so I guess these are the ones that have truly made an impression on me. P.S. These are in no specific order…just the order they popped into my head.
The only book that I've liked the movie just as much as the book.
1) Matilda. This one probably is my all time favorite but it’s also the one I fell in love with first. I use to stay up late at night hiding under the covers with a flash light to read and re-read this book, and it was mainly because of Matilda. As the black sheep of my family I could relate to her out-cast status and sympathize with her struggles. I also could relate to her avid love for books and admired her strength in not stooping to the level of the immature adults that play such a prominent role in this book…and plus let’s face it, what young girl doesn’t want to have magical powers? I can’t say for certain, but Matilda could have totally been the inspiration for the character of Hermoine…which leads me too…
2) Hermoine. I love how strong her character is…and how no matter how much people call her a know-it-all she still strives to better herself and learn as much as she can. I wish I’d had that kind of self esteem as a teen…hell, I wish I had that kind of self esteem now!
3) Nancy Drew. Who wouldn’t have loved to be a teen sleuth? I admire her tenacity and overcoming odds to find out the information she wants…not the kinda girl you want to mess with! I also like that she’s real…she has faults…she doesn’t always say the right things or make the right choices and that just makes her all the more likable.
4) Severus Snape. For some reason I liked him from the very beginning of the series…maybe I just like to root for the underdog, but there was just something about him that made me think he couldn’t possibly be as evil as the students thought. (Looking back now on some of my old teachers, I wonder if maybe they were quite as bad as I thought?) My heart broke for him in book 7 when he passes away and to know how much he loved Harry’s mother yet knew that nothing would ever come of it. And even with his broken heart he still looked after Harry…how hard would it be to look out for your lost-loves child when he looks exactly like the guy who won over the girl and stole her from you?
5) The Giving Tree. I’m not sure if a true can really be considered a character, but, it’s my list so, I’m counting it :p I know everyone cites the Lorax as their first call to the environmental movement, but for me it was the Giving Tree. I know trees don’t really get a choice in real life…if humans want to chop them down, we do…nothing the tree can do, but I loved the idea of the tree willingly giving herself to this little boy…kind of reminded me of the loyalty of dog. In all reality, without the trees, our race would cease to exist. We owe so much to these giant beauties and yet after we reach an age were we stop reading Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss we seem to forget that. We seem to forget how miraculous and amazing those trees really are.
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden (P.S. Jeff S. I still hate you for getting me addicted to this series...and no, you're not getting off the hook anytime soon.)
6) Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden (from the book serious by Jim Butcher). For those not familiar with this series Dresden is a first class wizard working as a private investigator in Chicago. He’s rude, arrogant, demanding and cranky…all the good qualities of a favorite book character, right? No matter how much you want to not like him, deep down Dresden is just a good ol’ boy. He’s a gentleman and no matter how much he doesn’t want to, he always makes the right choice…and he can also shoot fire out of his staff, so that’s definitely points in his favor.
7) Death (The Book Thief-P.S. I’ll be reviewing this book soon…and have another fun post coming up about this book, be sure to check back.) I feel in love with this book from the first sentence where Death introduces himself. I loved the concept of death as a character…especially as a narrator of a story. He uses color to interpret the souls of people he’s carrying off and I loved his dry, cynical nature.
8) Tia and Tony (Escape to Witch Mountain) I use to watch this movie with my younger brother when we were kids…and recently read the book. I loved the book as much as the movie, and it took me right back to those childhood days snuggled up on the couch. Secretly I always wished my brother and I were really aliens stranded here from a distance planet and that any day we’d discover our magical powers…sadly, that never happened.
Couldn't help but relating to Francesca.
9) Francesca (Bridges of Madison County) I know, adulteress…yeah, yeah. I read this book recently after I got divorced and well…I could really relate to Francesca. Having just left a bad marriage I could understand what she was reaching out for…what she needed to feel. This little book made me feel like maybe someone else understood what it felt like to be in a loveless marriage…like I wasn’t completely alone.
10) Judith Dunbar (Coming Home by Rosemunde Pilcher) Another romance novel, and yet I don’t like romance novels…but I really think this book is more than just the flowery cover. It’s a coming of age novel that follows Judith from being abandon (okay, at a boarding school and with an aunt) by her parents and rediscovering her baby sister after many years have passed to her first crush and finally finding her love. The book isn’t based on the romance though…and in fact it only really occupies one chapter, but it’s about human relationships and dynamics. I admired her independent spirit and related to her when she felt alone, overwhelmed and like she didn’t have a place in this world. Yet, she continues on and becomes an amazing woman…the kind of woman we all strive to become.
