Tuesday 24 April 2012

Top Ten Tuesday (5)


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten All Time Favourite Characters in Books. This list isn't in any particular order.

1. Elizabeth Bennet The heroine of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is quick witted and good hearted, although quick to judge. Come on, everyone loves Elizabeth. Even Caroline Bingley loves her; she's just so jealous of her that she assumes this strong emotion she's feeling is hate. Pictured is Jennifer Ehle as Lizzie, from the 1995 BBC TV series. I've never understood why my Mom named me after Emma and not Lizzie Bennet. 

2. Harry Potter I had a bit of difficulty choosing one character from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, but I decided to choose the main man. Many of my friends hate Harry Potter the character but love the series. While Harry has a temper and often does very stupid (but brave) things, he is also incredibly selfless, brave, acts quickly under pressure and has great instincts. He also has a great capacity to love, which is what the books are all about, really. In the earlier books, I picture him close to how he's seen on the US Goblet of Fire cover.

3. Atticus Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is the main character's lawyer father. The Finch's live in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. When a clearly innocent black man is accused of raping a local girl, Atticus defends the man, Tom Robinson, in court, after going to great lengths to insure that Tom made it to the trial. Atticus is wise and always tries to do the right thing, no matter how difficult it is. It is eery how wonderful Gregory Peck's portrayal of him is in the 1962 film. 


4. Katniss Everdeen This girl. Katniss becomes a tribute in the 74th Hunger Games when she volunteers in place of her twelve year old sister, Prim. A strong hunter, Katniss will have to fight to survive if she wants to be the one person left standing when the games are over. Katniss is brave, strong and selfless. Sometimes it feels like girls in novels are sort of Bella Swans, who need a boyfriend. Katniss is the girl that sparks a revolution, and is one of the best things about The Hunger Games. You have to love The Girl on Fire. 

5. Anne Shirley Anne of Green Gables is an imaginative young girl who finds herself adopted by the Cuthberts of Avonlea, even though they were expecting a boy. Anne can turn the simplest things into something fantastical, and finds Avonlea full of kindred spirits. Able to live in the most beautiful place she can imagine, Anne leaves her sorrows behind and soon she becomes a big part of Green Gables. I love Anne's joy for life, her imagination and even her fiery temper. You can read my review of Anne of Green Gables here

6. Lyra Belacqua The main character of His Dark Materials series, Lyra is brave, rebellious, headstrong and worthy of the nickname Lyra Silvertongue. In a way she's quite wild, since she hasn't had a proper upbringing and was raised as an orphan.

7. Sherlock Holmes The famous consulting detective is completely brilliant, and his arrogance is probably deserved. Thank God Arthur Conan Doyle brought him back from the dead after The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes; can you imagine Sherlock Holmes without The Hound of the Baskervilles
8. Lucy Pevensie Perhaps not the most obvious choice, but I love Lucy. She's probably the main character of the series, and she certainly believes in Aslan the most. I've always liked how it's her goodness and innocence that protects her: what convinces Mr. Tummus to save Lucy is that she couldn't fathom that he would betray her. I should also say that I've always had a soft spot for Edmund, although Lucy probably would have had the brains never to eat magical food. I mean, everyone knows not to do that. Well, at least everyone who reads fairy tales. 


9. Jo March The main character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Jo is a headstrong and passionate writer. She is hopelessly flawed but so real it's hard to imagine she isn't a real person. Of course, that might be because she is based on the author herself. 

10. Augustus Waters Oh, Augustus. There is no picture of this wonderful boy, partly due to the fact that the book just came out, but also because who could completely capture everything that is Augustus? In John Green's newest book, The Fault In Our Stars, Augustus is a cancer survivor and an amputee, who falls in love with the book's main character, Hazel. He's obsessed with the idea of heroism and that our lives and deaths should mean something. Despite everything, he's not afraid to love. You can read my review of The Fault In Our Stars here

Honourable mention to Anna from Anna and the French Kiss, Frankie from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, Ed Kennedy from I Am The Messenger and Rudy Steiner from The Book Thief. 


Who are your favourite characters from books? 


12 comments:

  1. Great choices, I had such a hard time only choosing ten lol

    MY TT: youngadultbookhaven.blogspot.com

    your newest follower,
    Kristin

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  2. We share so many of the same favorite characters! However, I choose Will over Lyra for His Dark Materials because as much as I loved Lyra there is just something about WIll that I have always adored.

    I love what you had to say about Harry Potter. While he's not my favorite character in the books (that honor goes to Neville and the Weasley Twins) I do have a soft spot for Harry. He does have his moments of being moody, whiny and downright ridiculous but he's also a teenage boy and that doesn't take away from the fact that he acts selflessly when his friends are in danger, he loves fiercely and is so brave it hurts.

    Great list!

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  3. Hooray for Atticus! And I do love Harry Potter... I find it really difficult to pick my favourite Harry Potter character though, so I just don't do it! And I've seen Anne of Green Gables on a lot of lists today- I should probably read that, huh?

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  4. GREAT list! You have so many greats! Especially Atticus Finch and Lyra! Love them! I <3 classics! Here's our Top 10 this week! Happy reading! :)

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  5. Such a good list! We have Harry and Katniss in common. Jo is also my favorite character from Little Women and I love the Anne of Green Gables series too!

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. I'm so excited to find your blog because you have wonderful taste in literary characters! Elizabeth, Anne and Jo all made my list :) I can't believe I forgot Atticus! And couldn't have you have made a list of just favorite characters from Harry Potter?! It was too hard to choose!

    I love that you included Lucy! I've only read two of the Narnia books, but I recently bought a complete set so that I could finally read them all :) I'm excited to get started!

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  7. I loved Jo March in little women! She was my favourite character because she was so headstrong and stubborn. And I was somewhat sad that she didn't end up with Laurie. But she was such a great character :)

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  8. Yay for Anne and Jo! They both made my list too. And the others on your list are so great. I haven't read A Fault yet ... I need to get on that!

    My Top Ten Characters

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  9. Great choices. Scout made it onto my Top Ten. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorite books.
    Angela @ AJ Arndt Books Blog

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  10. Seriously, all 10 of the characters you picked are favorites of mine!!! I love this list.

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  11. I love that you chose Atticus and Lucy - they were great characters!

    I think #5 and then the rest of the HP series really killed Harry's character for me.

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