Tuesday Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the top ten books that make me swoon…  The problem?  I’m not really much of a swooner…  So these may not be swoon-worthy so much as great love stories.

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Rudy & Liesel, young, innocent love…
2. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – Clare & Henry throughout time…
3. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – Scarlett & Rhett – frankly my dear…
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Daisy & Gatsby, poor, poor Gatsby…
5. Fault in our Stars by John Green – Hazel & Augustus, so sweet & so sad…
6. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell – in all their quirky teenage wonderfulness…
7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – And her doomed love for Count Vronsky…
8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – Catherine & Heathcliff wandering the moors…
9. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein – The tree & the boy…
10. Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare – Not my favorite, but how can it not be on the list???

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Tuesday Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the top ten most memorable secondary characters.  Those characters in novels that were not the main focus, but that captured your imagination, made you want to see more of them.  Some of mine come from the same series of books, series that have wonderful casts of characters, which is part of what makes those series great.

1. Rudy – Liesel’s dearest friend in The Book Thief.  He is sweet and awkward, funny and brave.  Everything a first love and a best friend should be.
2. Neville Longbottom – Who doesn’t love this dorky and awkward wizard from the Harry Potter series?  Especially when he finds it in himself to become a courageous hero.
3. Professor Snape – The poor misunderstood and heartbroken seeming-villain of the Harry Potter series who is ultimately proven to be a hero.
4. Professor McGonagall – Another character from the Harry Potter series – tough, brave, smart, kind, and caring she really should have been the headmaster long ago!
5. Foaly – The geeky, arrogant, but utterly cool and brilliant centaur in the Artemis Fowl series.
6. Holly Short – The tough, determined elf police woman from the Artemis Fowl series.  Her relationship with Artemis is humorous, difficult, and touching.
7. Hassan Harbish – The funny, smart, witty sidekick in An Abundance of Katherines always made me laugh.
8. LuLu – How to describe LuLu?  This ex-prostitute who squeezes into spandex, eats lots of fried chicken and donuts, and manages to nearly kill everyone she tries to help is a laugh a minute in the Stephanie Plum series.
9. Hawk – I adore this funny, smart, tough, will-do-anything pal to Spenser in the series by Robert B. Parker.  You know he always has Spenser’s back and their relationship is both hilarious and touching.
10. Cokie – The mulatto driver for the madam in Ruta Sepetys’s Out of the Easy is ultimately the one who is there for Josie.  His constancy and his humbleness while doing what is right make him one of my favorites.

 

Top Ten Characters I Would Crush On If I Were Also A Fictional Character

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week the challenge is to list the characters that we would “crush on” if we were also a fictional character (because of course no real person ever actually crushes on a fictional character – that would just be silly and we are all firmly planted in reality…).  This was actually a really difficult list for me, I don’t tend to crush on fictional characters all that  much – I might like them, think they’re funny, inspiring, intriguing – but the idea of having a “crush” on them was a little weird for me, and I may have ended up with a list of male characters that I like, but don’t “like-like”, but I tried…

1. Jack Reacher  – The main character in Lee Child’s Reacher series (the way that he is written – NOT Tom Cruise!!!), he is certainly characterized as being smart, tough, good-looking, and good with women.  He’s a tough guy, and you know that he’s going to move on after the current catastrophe is resolved, but hey – not a bad guy to have around if your life needs saving…
2. Morelli vs Ranger – For fans of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series I will provide my thoughts on the Morelli vs Ranger question.  My vote?  Morelli.  Sure, Ranger is supposed to be crazy hot, but so is Morelli and wouldn’t it be nice to have a guy who was there even when your car wasn’t on fire?
3. Edward vs Jake – For fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight stories – I pick Jake.  Sorry, but vampires are creepy – all that undead, blood-drinking, not sleeping, pale skin – doesn’t do anything for me.  Jake may be a werewolf, but at least they’re living, somehow makes it less weird, I guess?
4. Atticus Finch – The dad in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely crushable – honest, ethical, a great single dad – and always Gregory Peck in my mind…
5. Lucas Davenport – The main character in John Sandford’s Prey series is intense, well-dressed, extremely wealthy from his former dork-days (I’ve always been a sucker for a cute dork), and always catches the bad guy – what’s not to like?
6. Robert Langdon – I have a soft-spot for smart guys, and Langdon from the Dan Brown books is definitely uber-smart, travels all over the world, and has crazy history-changing adventures.  Sounds like fun to me… as long as I don’t get killed…
7. Cliff Janeway – Cliff Janeway is a former cop turned rare book dealer in John Dunning’s Janeway series.  A tough guy, always saves the day, who knows and loves books – what’s not to love?
8. Rhett Butler – I’m much more reasonable than Scarlet ever dreamt of being, Rhett wouldn’t have to curse at me…
9. Inspector Gamache – Inspector Gamache from Louise Penny’s mystery series is probably just a character that I really want to know – not necessarily a crush – I would be happy to have him as a friend, an uncle, a colleague – his constance, his sincerity, his intelligence, his kindness – I have always wished that I could actually meet him!  Plus, he’s married to a librarian… 😉
10. Rudy – The perfect childhood crush – filled with innocence and adoration – the boy that will do anything for you while begging for a kiss and annoying you – Rudy from Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is my definition of great childhood love.