The Next Best Book Club discussion

Ok, didn't see this as another thread, but I was talking with some friends about this and thought that this would be a good topic for TNBBC. Who are your five (or whatever) favorite characters from different books? Doesn't matter if you liked the book, cause we're just looking at the characters in this thread.

Ok, here's mine:

1. Shadow from American Gods by Neil Gaiman
2. Harry Potter
3. Amir from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bod Owens from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
5. Juliet from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

Ok, let's hear it!!

In no particular order:

1. Jo March from Little Women
2. Edward from Twilight
3. Dev from Belong to Me by Marissa de los Santos
4. Hermoine from Harry Potter
5. Winnie the Pooh

No particular order:

1. Hermione and the Weasley twins from Harry Potter
2. Alice from Twilight
3. Bean and Petra from Ender's Game
4. Amelia from Lincoln Rhyme Series by Jeffrey Deaver
5. Sioned from Melanie Rawn's DragonPrince Series
6. Nancy Drew
7. Pippi Longstocking

It is hard to narrow down. I love so many characters!!

Subject to change at any moment;

1.Alice from '...in Wonderland' Lewis Carroll
2.Alex Delaware from Jonathan Kellerman
3.Kay Scarpetta from Patricia Cornwell
4.Rowan Mayfair from Anne Rice
5.Sookie Stackhouse

Let's see....

1- Odd Thomas (Odd THomas series- Dean Koontz)
2- Dexter (Dexter series - Jeff Lindsay)
3- Lionel (Motherless Brooklyn - Jonathan Lethem)
4- Howard (The Ha-Ha - Dave King)
5- Cipriano Algor (The Cave - Jose Saramago)

1. Roland Deschain (Dark Tower Series)
2. Eddie Dean (Dark Tower Series)
3. Ron Weasley (Harry Potter)
4. Aragorn (LOTR)
5. Stu Redman (The Stand)

Hmm... what does that say about me that 3 of my top 5 are Stephen King characters? If this was a top 10, I bet at least 7 of them would be.

1. Jerusha Abbott (Daddy Longlegs)
2. Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Roman Empire)
3. Cleopatra (anything)
4. Blackthorn, Anjin-san, Pilot (Shogun-James Clavell)
5. John Connor (Rising Sun-Michael Chrichton)

For now, my favorite characters -

1. Severus Snape (Harry Potter)
2. Aragorn (LOTR)
3. Faramir (LOTR)
4. Mr. Thornton (North & South)
5. Lisbeth Salander (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

oh...i totally forgot about lisbeth salander, kris!! i'm adding her to mine!!

Kris, I love Faramir too... And Eomer! But I could only pick one, and they both have such small roles. *sigh*

lol Maybe we should make it Top 10 characters!

1. dracula
2. harry, ron, heromine, and the twins
3. eric northman, pam, and sam merlotte (sookie stackhouse books)
4. jane eyre
5. matilda veronica (faking it)

ugh! there are so many more that a i LOVE, that 5 is just not enough!

Jennifer, your 5 is 11! LOL

but they are all from the same series and in all of the books together so really, its only 5 total!

LOL If you say so. They are still individual characters!

yes, they are. but they make each other better. and technically, w/o eric there would be no pam. and part of why i love those characters is b/c of how they develop together and their interactions make the stories better. but, if it will make you feel better: dracula, harry, ron, hermoine, and the twins can switch turns.

This is harder than it looks! The only no-brainer for me was:
1. Atticus Finch - To Kill a Mockingbird
Also,
2. Minerva Mirabel from In the Time of the Butterflies
3. Sofia from The Color Purple
4. Ponyboy from The Outsiders
and 5. was really hard, but I've sort of settled on Amir's father (Baba) from The Kite Runner

Jennifer, I don't have a problem with you having 11 favorites, I was just commenting because the thread specifically asked for 5.

I happen to agree with you that the interactions between the characters are what make them who they are.

I just also think that it's telling to find out who people pick as a favorite when asked.

I always have people laugh at me when we do favorite cartoon characters. I love Oscar from Sesame Street, Eyore from Winnie the Pooh, Boomer from The Fraggles (not technically a cartoon tho)and Squidward from Spongebob..... what does that say about me :) ha ha ha!!!!!!!!

*serious face* You DON'T want to know. O_o

:P

Lori wrote: "I always have people laugh at me when we do favorite cartoon characters. I love Oscar from Sesame Street, Eyore from Winnie the Pooh, Boomer from The Fraggles (not technically a cartoon tho)and Squ..."

What about Templeton from Charlotte's Web? He almost made it to my list. :)

Becky wrote: "I just also think that it's telling to find out who people pick as a favorite when asked."

Now that you mention it and looking over my list, the characters I picked definitely are telling of my personality and preferences.

Ahhhhh... yes. I did love that little rat too :)

Kris wrote: "Becky wrote: "I just also think that it's telling to find out who people pick as a favorite when asked."

Now that you mention it and looking over my list, the characters I picked definitely are te..."

Mine are EXTREMELY telling. I fall for loyal, flawed, brave and tenacious underdog characters.

5 seemed like it would be so easy, and then when it came down to it, its not near enough! But, I'm glad you agree with me about the interactions, Becky!

Ronna, which would your TOP 5 be? If you had to choose, who would you pick?

Jennifer wrote: "5 seemed like it would be so easy, and then when it came down to it, its not near enough! But, I'm glad you agree with me about the interactions, Becky!"

I know Jennifer. It's hard to narrow it down. But that's the point! :)

Bah humbug! I'm all for breaking the rules! Lol :P

Ronna wrote: "Um, Bellatrix, Ian, Jace, Seth and Katniss

ahh, i wanted to add Niall too!
;D"

Well, I don't know anything about Ian, Jace or Seth, but Bellatrix and Katniss (along with your previous post) kinda point at you being a bit of a rebel! LOL ;)

1. Meg Murray (Madeleine L'Engle books)
2. Vicky Austin (Madeleine L'Engle books)
3. Harry Potter
4. Jo March (Little Women - Louisa May Alcott)
5. Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee)

I don't know your 1 or 2 Lisa, but I love your 3, 4 & 5!! :)

Oh Becky, You had a seriously deprived childhood. ;-)

A Wrinkle in Time is the book where Meg Murray is introduced

and Meet the Austins is the book where Vicky Austin is first introduced.

I still love both those books, and some of their sequels. Even though they're somewhat dated they're well worth reading.

Edit: In some of the sequels, these two characters/families both appear/have relationships with each other.

ok, well, i did put in a (or whatever) in the original post right after 5, so you can pick however many characters you'd want. i just picked five cause it seemed like a nice number. but i'm loving this thread...let's hear some more!!

Gah! It's like choosing between my children...>_<

Some of my favorites though (in no particular order):

1. John Carter (A Princess of Mars and sequels - Edgar Rice Burroughs)
2. Zifnab and his Dragon, and Haplo (Deathgate Cycle - Weis & Hickman)
3. Dorothy Gale, Bill(ina) the chicken, The Patchwork Girl, The Tin woodman, The Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz and Sequels - L. Frank Baum)
4. Cal Leandros (Nightlife and Sequels - Rob Thurman)
5. Louis de Pointe du Lac (Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice)
6. Gerald Tarrent (Coldfire Trilogy - C.S. Friedman)
8. Avery Cates (The Electric Church - Jeff Somers)
9. Lisbeth Salander (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson)
10. Hamlet
12. Alice (Twilight & Sequels - Stephenie Meyer)
13. The Grinch
14. Sherlock Holmes
15. Percy Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy)

I know I went way over five, but keeping it this short was tortuous!

As to what my choices say about me, I think it says that I like crazy people who are also heroic (more or less).

oooh Vicki.... Halpo... I read that series when I was much younger and LOVED Haplo!!

Ahhh memories!

Katie wrote: "This is harder than it looks! The only no-brainer for me was:
1. Atticus Finch - To Kill a Mockingbird
Also,
2. Minerva Mirabel from In the Time of the Butterflies
3. Sofia from The Color Purple
4...."


Yay for Ponyboy. He would have been on my list if I hadn't just read Belong to Me and become enamored with Dev. And then theres Teo from both of the Maria De Los Santos books. I think I want to be Teo, or Cornelia and married to Teo.

adding to my already too long list: inigo montoya from the princess bride!

Ronna wrote: "I'll break the rules and do more than five. Mwahahaha!! No particular order

1. Bellatrix Lestrange, Dumbledore (Harry Potter series)
2. Jane, Alice (Twilight series)
3. Ian (The Host)
4. Jace..."

Jane!! wow, I should have put her too. Did you hear that Dakota Fanning mis playing Jane in New Moon. She is perfec in my book! Small, blonde, and creepy (if you saw Hide and Seek).

Lisa wrote: "Oh Becky, You had a seriously deprived childhood. ;-)"

You know, it's funny. I think I read more YA NOW than I did as a kid. I used to read the newspaper and those Readers Digest Condensed Books and a lot of "YA Horror"esque stuff... Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, RL Stine, Christopher Pike, that kind of stuff.

I didn't get into fantasy or sci-fi at all until my adulthood.

I keep changing mine! I'll have to keep thinking about it.

1. Javert from Les Misérables (such a fascinating villian!)
2. Jean Valjean from Les Misérables
3. The Bishop from Les Misérables
4. George & Fred Weasley from the Harry Potter books
5. Tom Bombadil from LOTR

I obviously like Les Mis, huh?

Kim wrote: "I keep changing mine! I'll have to keep thinking about it.

1. Javert from Les Misérables (such a fascinating villian!)
2. Jean Valjean from Les Misérables
3. The Bish..."

I was intrigued by Tom Bombadil from LOTR also. I was sad they left him out of the movie as I had hoped to see him on the big screen.

This took a while.

1. Shevek in The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. Helen Schlegel in Howards End by E.M. Forster
3. Mick Kelly in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
4. Tyrone Slothrop in Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
5. Lusa in Prodigal Summer A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

I want to add a few more. But I'll limit myself to five.

1. David Weiser in Who Was David Weiser? by Paweł Huelle.
2. Harriet in Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.
3. Lily Bart in The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.
4. Herbie Bookbinder in City Boy by Herman Wouk.
5. Hermione Gart in HERmione by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle).

1. Lord John Grey in Voyager and subsequent novels by Diana Gabaldon
2. Michael K in Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee
3. Harry Bosch in The Black Echo and subsequent books by Michael Connelly
4. Hank Thompson in Caught Stealing A Novel trilogy by Charlie Huston
5. Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams*

* An Honorable Mention goes to Ford Prefect.

Marvin IS a really great character!! <3

1.) Matilda from Matilda by Roald Dahl (She's so smart and entertaining and amazing)
2.) Mattie Gokey from A Gatheirng Light by Jennifer Donnelly (Gotta love a bibliophile!)
3.) Ron Weasely from Harry Potter (Funny, witty and a good person)
4.) Lucy from A Room with A View by E.M. Forester (She chooses love over a high status marriage, which is an amazing thing considering the time period in which thsi book is set.)
5.) Tibby from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (Tibby is relaistic and honest.)

Oooh, very tough question. Let's see:

1. Eomer in The Lord of the Rings
2. Anne Elliot in Persuasion
3. Mr. Thornton in North and South
4. Faramir in The Lord of the Rings
5. Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility

That was hard, lol; had a couple of other characters in mind tied for 5 or 6 xD

When I read a good book I find it hard not to love the characters. but of the books I read recently:

1) Death from the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett (because really how can you not love him?)

2) Ender from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card by

3) Tiffany Aching from Discworld by
Terry Pratchett

4)Katniss from The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins

5)Locke Lamora from The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

*Please note that this is not in order from favorite to least, because if I was really force to choose one, I'd feel like I was choosing who is my favorite child.

Ack! Ender, Katniss, Matilda, etc. It should be 100 favorite characters for sure!

Jennifer wrote: "1. dracula
2. harry, ron, heromine, and the twins
3. eric northman, pam, and sam merlotte (sookie stackhouse books)
4. jane eyre
5. matilda veronica (faking it)

ugh! there are so many more that..."

Eric!!! Woohoo!