Literary characters you've fallen in love with

[CriticalSock]

Ok, there have been three women that I have fallen in love with purely from reading books:

Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of Green Gables
Dorothy Parker

Laura Ingalls Wilder had that independent, self sufficient thing going on, coupled with a keen obervance of the world around her.

Anne of Green Gables despite suffering from being a fictional character was feisty, determined, creative and loving (to her adopted parents).

Dorothy Parker was keen witted, slutty and alcoholic. If I had directed the film Mary Poppins, Dorothoy Parker would have been the lead role... Practically perfect in every way...

I also have a thing for Germaine Greer, but that's a whole other story.

So, what literary characters, fictional or otherwise have you fallen in love with?

[jiggeryqua]

Halo Jones

[sphenisc]

Darrell Rivers

[Elizabeth I]

That's easy - Mr. Darcy. And even more so now that I know he's really Colin Firth.

[CriticalSock]

Halo Jones? Yoweee!!!! But... what about Judge Anderson??

[Vortigern99]

First, allow me to second Anne of Green Gables. Her melodramatic nature and expansive imagination are traits my wife and I both share with her and adore.

Second, from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series, Eilonwy Daughter of Angharad is irascible, defiant, plucky and sharp-tongued... all the best qualities a beautiful princess with red-gold hair should have.

Third, from GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, Brienne of Tarth is ugly, manly and self-righteous... but she also has an iron determination and a keen understanding of what's right and honorable and fair.

I love them all. More to follow later as the occur to me.

[CriticalSock]

Did Mr Darcy really become a love interest before Colin did that dive into the pond though? I mean, on paper, he's a pretty cold fish....

[jiggeryqua]

Halo Jones? Yoweee!!!! But... what about Judge Anderson??

Judge Anderson is more of a lust object. With Halo, it was lurve.

[CriticalSock]

First, allow me to second Anne of Green Gables. Her melodramatic nature and expansive imagination are traits my wife and I both share with her and adore.

Second, from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series, Eilonwy Daughter of Angharad is irascible, defiant, plucky and sharp-tongued... all the best qualities a beautiful princess with red-gold hair should have.

Third, from GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, Brienne of Tarth is ugly, manly and self-righteous... but she also has an iron determination and a keen understanding of what's right and honorable and fair.

I love them all. More to follow later as the occur to me.

When you say love, Mr V. Sir, do you really mean love? as in daydream about meeting (even if it means postulating an inter-reality drive that can reach alternate realities where fiction actually becomes fact?)

[CriticalSock]

Judge Anderson is more of a lust object. With Halo, it was lurve.

I'm 100% behind this! i can't believe I forgot about halo jones until now! If I have to be brutally honest though, when it comes to comic chicks... Tank Girl will always have a special place in my heart.

[CriticalSock]

First, allow me to second Anne of Green Gables. Her melodramatic nature and expansive imagination are traits my wife and I both share with her and adore.

Second, from Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series, Eilonwy Daughter of Angharad is irascible, defiant, plucky and sharp-tongued... all the best qualities a beautiful princess with red-gold hair should have.

Third, from GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, Brienne of Tarth is ugly, manly and self-righteous... but she also has an iron determination and a keen understanding of what's right and honorable and fair.

I love them all. More to follow later as the occur to me.

Tell me more!!! :)

[fuelair]

I'd have to go with Anne Shirley - particularly as played by Anne Shirley - saw the movie well before I knew it was a book. Then Alianora in Three Hearts and Three Lions (Poul Anderson). Pre-/High School. LONG ago!!

[CriticalSock]

I'd have to go with Anne Shirley - particularly as played by Anne Shirley - saw the movie well before I knew it was a book. Then Alianora in Three Hearts and Three Lions (Poul Anderson). Pre-/High School. LONG ago!!

The movie Anne Shirley was a piece of work. I don't think I've ever seen a character in a book so faithfully represented since, I don't know, feck, Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies??

[Damien Evans]

Ginny Weasley
Galadriel
Luthien
Eowyn

[Vortigern99]

When you say love, Mr V. Sir, do you really mean love? as in daydream about meeting (even if it means postulating an inter-reality drive that can reach alternate realities where fiction actually becomes fact?)

The answer is yes. I'll leave it at that. ;)

Tell me more!!!

Hmmm...


Kate in Richard Adams' Girl in a Swing is also a favorite: beautiful, charming, sexually adventurous, with a quirky accent and an impulsive love for fun... but also, need I point out, haunted by a dark secret which makes her, strangely, all the more sympathetic.

Hermione Granger is pretty hard to beat, too, though when it comes down to it I'm probably more a fan of the luscious Emma Watson than of the character as described in the books.

[Elizabeth I]

Did Mr Darcy really become a love interest before Colin did that dive into the pond though? I mean, on paper, he's a pretty cold fish....

And that wasn't even Colin that did that dive.

But, yes, the idea of love, twue wove, breaking through that cold shell around Darcy is still pretty appealing.

[kittynh]

OK OK every future skepchick woman as a young teen falls in love with Sherlock Holmes.

Really.

A few of us wanted Nancy Drews boyfriend, Ned, but just because we wanted to be Nancy Drew. She did get to go to college dances with him.

[poeatszeitgeist]

OK OK every future skepchick woman as a young teen falls in love with Sherlock Holmes.


As a young teen? Please. I am still in love with Sherlock Holmes.

Something about eccentric misogynists makes my heart flutter.

Also, Mr. Darcy, of course.

And Mr. Rochester.

I like brooding men. Too bad they're never nearly as great in real life. All those writers keep lying to me, and I keep eating it up.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Wow...boys and men read Anne of Green Gables? Really? Really? And Little House on the Praire? Really?!

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin from Harry Potter :D

Ron from Harry Potter and Fred and George. And Percy (I always liked him).

Mr. Darcy

Holden Caulfield, a little

Half the characters from The History Boys

Sherlock Holmes...hmm, no. I'm reading all the stories for the first time now and I find him too heartless, too cold, too inhuman, too unlikable.

However, maybe if I had read the stories at the right age and time (i.e. as a melodramatic swoony teenage girl prone to these types of daydream crushes), I would have fallen in love with him. Actually, I have strong feeling that I would have.

[jmcvann]

Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)

[Lucian]

Grendel. Mr. Darcy.

[JcR]

I had my face buried in Jack London and Farley Mowat books when I was a boy.
Hmmm! Still thinking of a character.

[Bikewer]

Let's see...

Modesty Blaise. Really well-written thrillers strong on characterization. Modesty makes most contemporary female action-types look slightly anemic....

Morgaine. Of C.J. Cherrhy's "Wells" series, she's slightly insane from the awesome task she's been confronted with; the only survivor of a group sent out to seal Stargate-like "Wells" that span the galaxy.

Felice Landry from Julian May's Pliestocene Exile stories. Felice is seriously messed up, and also "the most powerful psychokinetic in the world" . A scary date....

[Howie Felterbush]

Third, from GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, Brienne of Tarth is ugly, manly and self-righteous... but she also has an iron determination and a keen understanding of what's right and honorable and fair.



Myself, I'm waiting for Arya to turn eighteen.

[Dragoonster]

Dorcas from The Book of the New Sun series
Galadriel from LOTR
Mara Jade from Star Wars novels

[Lolly]

I like "Ranger" from the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich (and also the other guy whose name escapes me), and "Spenser" from the Spenser series by Robert B Parker.

[Sideroxylon]

Molly Millions

[Vortigern99]

Third, from GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, Brienne of Tarth is ugly, manly and self-righteous... but she also has an iron determination and a keen understanding of what's right and honorable and fair.
Myself, I'm waiting for Arya to turn eighteen.

Why bother waiting? 17 is legal here in Texas; I understand it's 16 in California and in other states of the US, and even younger in other first-world nations such as France. Heck, in Terry Gilliam's new film the young (and luscious) heroine is 15-about-to-be-16, and she's presented in all manner of alluring outfits and poses. This Puritanical mindset of "It's pedophilia unless she's 18!" is representative neither of biological nor legal reality.

And anyway, it's your own imagination. Let it run wild. :cool:

[pgwenthold]

Beatrice Quimby (Beezus) from the Beverly Cleary books

Amelia Sachs, the tall redhead from Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series.
a) love her name (Amelia will be our daughter, if we ever have one)
b) redheads are hot

[Soapy Sam]

I might not have 40,000 pounds a year in rents, or own half of Derbyshire, but I could have shown Lizzy Bennett a better time than that tongue-tied twit Darcy.

[kittynh]

I remember I got this book called "The RIvals of Sherlock Holmes" then I got the second book that featured rivals. Dover books came out with editions featuring slueths that were at one time quite popular and had been forgotten.

Arsene Lupin - a crook, but darn clever. Oh yeah, I'd take up a life of crime with him.

Several of them were quite interesting.

I never got into the Mr.Darcy thing. However a few of the gentlemen from the Georgette Heyer mysteries (she wrote fabulous mystery stories with the most inventive deaths I've ever heard about... ok, poison in the toothpaste?) were all to fall in love with. If your library has a copy of "Death in the Stocks" or "Behold Here's Poison" worth a read.

[Bikewer]

I forgot Molly, one of my favorites. She showed up in a Gibson short story, then he expanded her into a character that figured prominently in all three "Sprawl" novels.

[Tanja]

I think I lack imagination or ability to visualise words to fall in love with literary characters. Film and TV characters, on the other hand...I could list a dozen at least a dozen. I fell for Colin Firth as Mr Darcy rather than for Mr Darcy himself.

[X]

Lady Thasha, from Redick's Voyage of the Chathrand series.

I'll second Eilonwy and Eowyn.

This one will sound odd: Investigator Frost from Greeb's Deathstalker novels.

And finally for this list (although there are more) is Cosette, from Les Miserables.

[fleabeetle]

I'd never heard of a biggish number of the ladies mentioned. Feel it likely that I'm about to return the favour -- for me, Doreen from S.M Stirling's "Island" trilogy; and Cassandra from his "Peshawar Lancers".

[Hokulele]

Severus Snape.

And I agree with Tanja, I liked Mr. Darcy, I swooned over Colin Firth's version.

[JohnG]

As a young teen? Please. I am still in love with Sherlock Holmes.

Something about eccentric misogynists makes my heart flutter.


Calling Holmes a misogynist is both too kind and too cruel. If anything he's a full fledged misanthrope or at least very cynical (probably hard to avoid when your career is devoted to the solving of crimes). Here are some relevant quotes to highlight his somewhat complex opinion of women:

"I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money"

"I have never loved, Watson, but if I did and if the woman I loved had met such an end, I might act as our lawless lion-hunter had done."

Mrs. Hudson remarks on Holmes' "remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women".

And of course there was Irene Adler, whom he regarded as The Woman for her intelligence, cleverness and character.

I think the worst thing you can say about Holmes regarding women is that he doesn't understand them (something he himself admits in at least one story).

As for me, well I wouldn't mind finding an Irene Adler of my own...;)

[Lisa Simpson]

Spenser. Excuse me while I start crying again...

[luchog]

Galadriel and Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. The movie version of Arwen Undómiel, but mainly 'cause of Liv Tyler (she didn't have enough development in the books).

Menolly from Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall trilogy. Didnt hurt that I read it at a time when I was actively involved with music.

Lapis Lazuli and Lorelei Lee Long from Heinlein's Time Enough for Love.

I read mostly sci-fi and fantasy growing up, and there was really a dearth of strong, well-developed (no, not like that you pervs) female characters. The vast majority of them are mere props, or poorly-characterized supporting characters at best, and existed almost entirely as something for the hero to rescue and/or romance; or they're painful Mary Sues.

Most of the characters I've had things for are from non-traditional literature (ie. graphic novel/manga) and film/television.

[Damien Evans]

Galadriel and Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. The movie version of Arwen Undómiel, but mainly 'cause of Liv Tyler (she didn't have enough development in the books).

Menolly from Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall trilogy. Didnt hurt that I read it at a time when I was actively involved with music.

Lapis Lazuli and Lorelei Lee Long from Heinlein's Time Enough for Love.

I read mostly sci-fi and fantasy growing up, and there was really a dearth of strong, well-developed (no, not like that you pervs) female characters. The vast majority of them are mere props, or poorly-characterized supporting characters at best, and existed almost entirely as something for the hero to rescue and/or romance; or they're painful Mary Sues.

Most of the characters I've had things for are from non-traditional literature (ie. graphic novel/manga) and film/television.

Agreed. She was a bit of a nothing character in the book (not books).

[CriticalSock]

Wow...boys and men read Anne of Green Gables? Really? Really? And Little House on the Praire? Really?!

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin from Harry Potter :D

Ron from Harry Potter and Fred and George. And Percy (I always liked him).

Mr. Darcy

Holden Caulfield, a little

Half the characters from The History Boys

Sherlock Holmes...hmm, no. I'm reading all the stories for the first time now and I find him too heartless, too cold, too inhuman, too unlikable.

However, maybe if I had read the stories at the right age and time (i.e. as a melodramatic swoony teenage girl prone to these types of daydream crushes), I would have fallen in love with him. Actually, I have strong feeling that I would have.


Yep, we really do. Anne of Green Gables is a life story in an idyllic rural setting that although it's a bit gushy and prosy it is still more complete in describing the people and the times than a just a silly romance novel.

The Laura Ingalls books are even more so. In fact I don't know why anyone would think they were only for girls. For children maybe, the writing is aimed at younger people, but the stories are classic adventure. Indians, panthers, harsh winters and locust swarms. With a strong family story binding it all together. Great stuff!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

This is how much of a girly reputation they have: in fifth grade, I offhandedly suggested reading Little House on the Prairie for book club just because I saw there was a copy on the shelf and the only other girl in my group screamed and "Ewww!"ed and then shrieked to the boys "You know what [my name] wants to read?! Little House on the Prairie!!! That's so lame!" to the "Ewws" and laughter of the boys.

That's right: they are so effeminate, most girls won't even read them. Well, most girls today and about 10-15 years ago. In previous generations, they read them.

[Blackadder]

Wow...boys and men read Anne of Green Gables? Really? Really? And Little House on the Praire? Really?!


Check and Check.



Hmm, did I ever fall in love with a fictional character? not sure, not really.. Bridget Jones ? Nah too old for me when the book was published... (Yes I read that too)

[Matt the Poet]

Lucy Honeychurch.

To be fair: a) I was sixteen and b) I saw the film first, so had the young Helena Bonham-Carter in my head.

But still, Lucy Honeychurch.

[jiggeryqua]

Wow...boys and men read Anne of Green Gables? Really? Really? And Little House on the Praire? Really?!


Yes, such gender distinctions are really crass. Not that I've read either of those books, but as a youth I read my sister's Mallory Towers collection. I was a little in love with Alicia (I think that was her name). At about the same age I read my mother's copy of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management too (not that I ever fell in love with Mrs. Beeton, but I did once mention Mrs. B's take on bread and cheese* to a girlfriend's mother - she responded "you've read Mrs. Beeton?!" Her daughter turned out to be full of similar prejudices.)

*"Fit only for navis", apparantly

[Buckaroo]

Diana Villiers, from Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Yes, such gender distinctions are really crass. Not that I've read either of those books, but as a youth I read my sister's Mallory Towers collection. I was a little in love with Alicia (I think that was her name). At about the same age I read my mother's copy of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management too (not that I ever fell in love with Mrs. Beeton, but I did once mention Mrs. B's take on bread and cheese* to a girlfriend's mother - she responded "you've read Mrs. Beeton?!" Her daughter turned out to be full of similar prejudices.)

*"Fit only for navis", apparantly


I have never heard of those books being American but there's a line to be drawn between books that are pretty much unisex and books that are aimed at girls only. The Wizard Of Oz has a female protagonist but is pretty much unisex. Miyazaki films always have a female protagonist but are pretty much unisex. Diana Wynne Jones is a female author with female protagonists but her books are generally unisex.

Anne of Green Gables and Little House are aimed at girls only, pretty much.

Something like The Baby Sitters Club...forget about it. Not a single boy in the universe has ever read a sentence of any of them.

[jiggeryqua]

Not a single boy in the universe has ever read a sentence of any of them.

No real Scotsmanboy...

[sackett]

Becky Sharp of the remarkable enbonpoint. She never deserved what she got, and I for one doubt that it happened that way. Thackery was such a priss that he just had to give her a bad end.

I think she retired to the south of France with plenty of money, chocolates, and young men -- until she got tired of vapid conversation and took up with an intellectual American of mature years and inventive boudoir manners. Eat yer hearts out, fellahs!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

No real Scotsmanboy...


Ok, then, let me ask you this. Have you ever met a boy who read The Baby Sitters' Club? And didn't despise it? Ever? One? Once? Or met one who didn't laugh and scream at the very idea?

Yeah, me neither.

Some things are in a gray area. Even a very gray area.

This one is not.

I suspect that even gay boys would have no interest in/disgust at a book series like that.

Edit: This is a little off topic but boys have a reluctance to even open a book by a female author with a female protagonist. Hence J.K.Rowling's unisex pen name and male protagonist. If Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling was called Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling, only girls would read it.

Oddly, it doesn't work the other way around. Girls generally identify with a male protagonist and put themselves in his place. When I read the Harry Potter books, I was Harry Potter. Other girls and women say the same thing.

Same story with other novels. If someone named Charlotte Dickens ever wrote Nicole Nickleby, Davida Copperfield and Olive Twist, they would never have reached the audience they did. Heck, even women might not have read them!

[LibraryLady]

Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby

and

Lord Peter Wimsey

[jiggeryqua]

Ok, then, let me ask you this. Have you ever met a boy who read The Baby Sitters' Club? And didn't despise it? Ever? One? Once? Or met one who didn't laugh and scream at the very idea?

Yeah, me neither.

Some things are in a gray area. Even a very gray area.

This one is not.

I suspect that even gay boys would have no interest in/disgust at a book series like that.

Edit: This is a little off topic but boys have a reluctance to even open a book by a female author with a female protagonist. Hence J.K.Rowling's unisex pen name and male protagonist. If Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling was called Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling, only girls would read it.

Oddly, it doesn't work the other way around. Girls generally identify with a male protagonist and put themselves in his place. When I read the Harry Potter books, I was Harry Potter. Other girls and women say the same thing.

Same story with other novels. If someone named Charlotte Dickens ever wrote Nicole Nickleby, Davida Copperfield and Olive Twist, they would never have reached the audience they did. Heck, even women might not have read them!

I don't even know 'The Babysitter Club' series - but then I don't what every male of any age I ever met has read, or not. But neither of us knowing a boy who has read it demonstrates nothing but that - neither of us knows a boy who has read it. That's a very small sample to base a prejudice on.

'Even gay boys', by the way? I don't begin to know where begin addressing that, so I'll let it go.

Meanwhile, there was a nice piece by Hitchens (in Vanity Fair, I think) about why there are so few female comedians. I expect his arguments could cover storytellers too. It's off topic, so I won't find a link, it should be easy enough to google if you're interested.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Actually, writing was traditionally one of the few professions that women could have and one of the very few where they were equal or nearly equal to men (it was even something of a female dominated profession at one time- especially when it came to novels, which were once considered "a woman's medium".)

Virginia Woolf talks about this here-

http://s.spachman.tripod.com/Woolf/professions.htm

This is, of course, completely anecdotal but in my experience young girls actually enjoy books and stories more than boys do. For whatever reason, they are more active in literature and English classes and get better grades in it and are more likely to be English teachers, English professors, English majors, etc.

Women make worse comics, I'll actually buy. Women make worse storytellers, I don't.

[Elizabeth I]

Edit: This is a little off topic but boys have a reluctance to even open a book by a female author with a female protagonist. Hence J.K.Rowling's unisex pen name and male protagonist. If Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling was called Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling, only girls would read it.

Oddly, it doesn't work the other way around. Girls generally identify with a male protagonist and put themselves in his place. When I read the Harry Potter books, I was Harry Potter. Other girls and women say the same thing.

Not me. I was Hermione.

[JohnG]

Lord Peter Wimsey


Good one. I'll add Harriet Vane to my list along with Irene Adler.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Dorian Gray, in a way.

I truly liked him and wanted him to be rescued in time.

From the very start of the novel, I was hoping against hope he wouldn't go down that obviously bad path and was rooting for him the entire time and was strongly rooting for things to work out between him and Sybil but, alas...

[Hokulele]

Becky Sharp of the remarkable enbonpoint. She never deserved what she got, and I for one doubt that it happened that way. Thackery was such a priss that he just had to give her a bad end.

I think she retired to the south of France with plenty of money, chocolates, and young men -- until she got tired of vapid conversation and took up with an intellectual American of mature years and inventive boudoir manners. Eat yer hearts out, fellahs!


Oh, yes. I deliberately refused to see the movie version as her character in the book was so, so, delicious and I didn't want to have my mental picture destroyed.

[CriticalSock]

Ok, then, let me ask you this. Have you ever met a boy who read The Baby Sitters' Club? And didn't despise it? Ever? One? Once? Or met one who didn't laugh and scream at the very idea?

Yeah, me neither.

Some things are in a gray area. Even a very gray area.

This one is not.


But we're not talking about the Baby Sitters Club. Which (after only a quick look on Amazon, so sorry if I'm wrong) looks like Mills and Boon for teenagers.

If I'm going to fall in love with a character in a story then they're going to be female, of strong character, have that certain, as the French say, I don't know what. Oh and also DO interesting things.

I'm not a fan of Westerns. It's a genre that seems to be full of pulp to me. But one of my most read books is Shane by Jack Shaeffer. It's a Western, but somehow transcends the genre, in the same way that Anne of Green Gables and the Little House books do.


I suspect that even gay boys would have no interest in/disgust at a book series like that.

Er... what?


Edit: This is a little off topic but boys have a reluctance to even open a book by a female author with a female protagonist. Hence J.K.Rowling's unisex pen name and male protagonist. If Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling was called Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling, only girls would read it.

Oddly, it doesn't work the other way around. Girls generally identify with a male protagonist and put themselves in his place. When I read the Harry Potter books, I was Harry Potter. Other girls and women say the same thing.

Same story with other novels. If someone named Charlotte Dickens ever wrote Nicole Nickleby, Davida Copperfield and Olive Twist, they would never have reached the audience they did. Heck, even women might not have read them!

You seem to be stereotyping boys left, right and centre!

Can you give evidence for your claims? That boys don't read books by women and that girls generally identify with leading characters even when they're male?

When I read Orlando, I was Orlando. So that's a little bit of anecdotal evidence to the contrary. Kind of. :)

[Dragoonster]

I have never heard of those books being American but there's a line to be drawn between books that are pretty much unisex and books that are aimed at girls only.

Why? They're still interesting. That's like saying a white person shouldn't read Native Son because he's incapable of having personal knowledge of being a black person. Well maybe not exactly like that but fairly similar.

As for me I read all of Judy Blume books as a kid, they were good and I identified with the protagonists even though I'm a dude. I also greatly preferred Nancy Drew to the Hardy Boys, but never considered it was because I was secretly gay! :jaw-dropp

[Dragoonster]

Oh, yes. I deliberately refused to see the movie version as her character in the book was so, so, delicious and I didn't want to have my mental picture destroyed.

I was trepidatious about X-Men, because Rogue has always been a big crush of mine from the comics and I'd developed a very concrete perception of her in my mind. That sounds a bit creepy and a lot geeky...but anyway I was hoping the character even if bad wouldn't imprint itself on me. Luckily I dig Anna Paquin and liked how Rogue was presented. And maintained my own version as the "correct" version.

[pgwenthold]

Why? They're still interesting. That's like saying a white person shouldn't read Native Son because he's incapable of having personal knowledge of being a black person. Well maybe not exactly like that but fairly similar.

As for me I read all of Judy Blume books as a kid, they were good and I identified with the protagonists even though I'm a dude. I also greatly preferred Nancy Drew to the Hardy Boys, but never considered it was because I was secretly gay! :jaw-dropp

Ramona Quimby was my hero.

Although I also liked Henry Huggins, Ramona was always my favorite.

(even in the Henry Huggins books, Ramona's cameos were classic - my favorite was when she wanted to be a robot inventor, just like Murph)

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Can you give evidence for your claims? That boys don't read books by women and that girls generally identify with leading characters even when they're male?

When I read Orlando, I was Orlando. So that's a little bit of anecdotal evidence to the contrary. Kind of. :)


As previously mention, J.K.Rowling was actually told by her publisher to choose a unisex pen name because, according to them, boys don't read books written by women. She has said so in interviews.

I'll try to see what more I can find on this later.

[LibraryLady]

How could I forget this??? Atticus Finch. I'm single because Atticus Finch is a fictional character.

[CriticalSock]

As previously mention, J.K.Rowling was actually told by her publisher to choose a unisex pen name because, according to them, boys don't read books written by women. She has said so in interviews.

I'll try to see what more I can find on this later.

Ah Yes, Wiki Says:

Her publisher Bloomsbury feared that the target audience of young boys might be reluctant to buy books written by a female author, and requested that she use two initials, rather than reveal her first name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pseudonym, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen; it has never been part of her legal name.[3]

You're right about the J K Rowling example. That makes me think that someone in Bloomsbury is an idiot. (Me vs Bloomsbury on Book purchasing demographics... You're not going to let me win that one are you?)

But how about all the women writers who have done just fine:

Dorothy Parker
Enid Blyton
Tove Jansson
Margaret Attwood
Virginia Woolf
Emily Bronte
Jane Austen
GOD!

Or, not that I've read them, but Stephanie Myers and her Twighlight series? Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel? (I'm just scrolling down Amazon's list now...)

Avatar: The Field Guide to Pandora: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora (Film Tie in) by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison???

I don't think there's any stigma to writing under a female name, although I'm sure there is a demographic of boys that would avoid books by women, but it'll be the same demographic that wouldn't have a Dora the Explorer lunchbox and who still wears pull up training pants...

[Mark6]

Does by "fell in love" OP mean that if I lived in the book's setting, I would want to date or marry the character in question?

If so, I have hard time naming one. There are many female characters I admire, but not in a romantic way. For example, I would want Lizard Tirelli next to me in a battle or in a shipwreck, but not in bed. A disagreement could prove fatal.

Even worse:
Myself, I'm waiting for Arya to turn eighteen.
Talk about death wish!

Likewise, there are many female characters I would not mind sleeping with, but cannot say to "fall in love" with.

After a long consideration, I came up with what may be very odd choice -- not least because she is a barely-sketched character, who appears[1] on less than a dozen pages of Alastair Reynolds' "Absolution Gap":

Morwenna

She is a modern (well, futuristic) equivalent of Little Mermaid -- a transhuman who falls for a baseline human man, and throws away her life for him. I was very sad when Morwenna died, more so because she died for that megalomaniac little con artist Quaiche. (I admit Quaiche genuinely loved her too, but he was still a megalomaniac little con artist.) So there: exotic, passionate, and devoted. I love Morwenna!

[1] Morwenna's memory is present throughout the book and is a very important part of plot, but she is not there to witness it.

[pgwenthold]

Or, not that I've read them, but Stephanie Myers and her Twighlight series?

What, are you suggesting this as an example of books that boys read?

The audience for Twilight is far and away overwhelmingly female.

[CriticalSock]

What, are you suggesting this as an example of books that boys read?

The audience for Twilight is far and away overwhelmingly female.

I was just addressing the JK Rowling had to conceal her femininity to publish successfully issue. As I said, I haven't read them. Too bitey for my liking... :)

[CriticalSock]

Does by "fell in love" OP mean that if I lived in the book's setting, I would want to date or marry the character in question?


This is the kind of thing I had in mind with the OP, yes.

[pgwenthold]

I was just addressing the JK Rowling had to conceal her femininity to publish successfully issue. As I said, I haven't read them. Too bitey for my liking... :)

I don't know if concealing her identity made the difference, but Rowling was far, far, far more popular with the male audience than Meyer has been.

Personally, I attribute it to Twilight being the vampire equivalent of Harlequin romance.

[Lucian]

But how about all the women writers who have done just fine:

Dorothy Parker
Enid Blyton
Tove Jansson
Margaret Attwood
Virginia Woolf
Emily Bronte
Jane Austen
GOD!


Well, the Brontes published under gender-neutral pseudonyms: Ellis, Currer and Acton Bell, and Virginia Woolf famously said that "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."

[Soapy Sam]

I dunno about "love " exactly, a mass murderer is hardly the most lovable of characters, but I find C.J.Cherryh's Signy Mallory disturbingly attractive. Likewise Pyanfar Chanur- and she's not even human.
Maybe I just like strong women / females.

[bruto]

This is how much of a girly reputation they have: in fifth grade, I offhandedly suggested reading Little House on the Prairie for book club just because I saw there was a copy on the shelf and the only other girl in my group screamed and "Ewww!"ed and then shrieked to the boys "You know what [my name] wants to read?! Little House on the Prairie!!! That's so lame!" to the "Ewws" and laughter of the boys.

That's right: they are so effeminate, most girls won't even read them. Well, most girls today and about 10-15 years ago. In previous generations, they read them.

This is one of the advantages of having kids. You finally get to read books to them that would have made you a social pariah 25 years before.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Ah Yes, Wiki Says:



You're right about the J K Rowling example. That makes me think that someone in Bloomsbury is an idiot. (Me vs Bloomsbury on Book purchasing demographics... You're not going to let me win that one are you?)

But how about all the women writers who have done just fine:

Dorothy Parker
Enid Blyton
Tove Jansson
Margaret Attwood
Virginia Woolf
Emily Bronte
Jane Austen
GOD!

Or, not that I've read them, but Stephanie Myers and her Twighlight series? Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel? (I'm just scrolling down Amazon's list now...)

Avatar: The Field Guide to Pandora: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora (Film Tie in) by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison???

I don't think there's any stigma to writing under a female name, although I'm sure there is a demographic of boys that would avoid books by women, but it'll be the same demographic that wouldn't have a Dora the Explorer lunchbox and who still wears pull up training pants...


The exact same counter argument occurred to me right as I was typing the argument.

That Bloomsbury demanded J.K.Rowling pick a misleading name is evidence of one of two things: a) Bloomsbury is run by prejudiced backwards thinking money grubbing morons who cater to prejudices of their audience, whether perceived or real, b) boys really are reluctant to read books by women and Bloomsbury isn't dreaming. Also, b) 2) that boys don't read books written by women is at least in part due to cretins like Bloomsbury thinking that they won't and therefore perpetuating a self fulfilling prophecy.

I, sadly, can find no published statistics either confirming or denying theory b). :( The closest I can find is this and it's about adults, not children:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/may/29/gender.books

So your theory is as good as mine.

[Dragoonster]

S.E. Hinton is another example of a female changing her writing name because the publishers or she felt boys wouldn't read her books.

This argument isn't much like one that boys shouldn't read female-authored books, or books about female characters though. It's more a business decision, or a response to boy's general reading habits.

[CriticalSock]

The exact same counter argument occurred to me right as I was typing the argument.

That Bloomsbury demanded J.K.Rowling pick a misleading name is evidence of one of two things: a) Bloomsbury is run by prejudiced backwards thinking money grubbing morons who cater to prejudices of their audience, whether perceived or real, b) boys really are reluctant to read books by women and Bloomsbury isn't dreaming. Also, b) 2) that boys don't read books written by women is at least in part due to cretins like Bloomsbury thinking that they won't and therefore perpetuating a self fulfilling prophecy.

I, sadly, can find no published statistics either confirming or denying theory b). :( The closest I can find is this and it's about adults, not children:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/may/29/gender.books

So your theory is as good as mine.

I must admit EeneyMinnieMoe that I was lying in bed for a long time last night thinking about this. I realised that I was arguing against boys not reading books by women because it felt wrong to me and I just didn't want it to be true.

It seems from the comments in this thread that there are a number of men on this forum who have no issue with reading books by women. But in the dark of the night, as I thought about it, endless troops of football loving beer chuggers marched past my bed laughing at me.

It may well be the case that they make up the majority of man-kind and Bloomsbury have hit the nail on the head, but I'm fervently glad that I'm not one of them!

[pgwenthold]

This is one of the advantages of having kids. You finally get to read books to them that would have made you a social pariah 25 years before.

That reminds me, I should start reading my son Charlotte's Web.

[pgwenthold]

I must admit EeneyMinnieMoe that I was lying in bed for a long time last night thinking about this. I realised that I was arguing against boys not reading books by women because it felt wrong to me and I just didn't want it to be true.

It seems from the comments in this thread that there are a number of men on this forum who have no issue with reading books by women.


One could ask the question if there is a correlation between the book styles and the authors. For example, if female authors write books like Harry Potter, I can read them. However, if they write books like Twilight, I can't. However, if guys write books like Twilight, I can't read that either, so it is not the sex of the author that matters, but the style of book.

IF (and I have no basis for claiming this is true, just hypothetical) it were the case that female authors were more likely to write books like Twilight, then there would be a correlation between whether I like books by female authors or not. IOW, if female authors are more likely to write books that appeal to a female audience, then that would do it. It wouldn't mean that males wouldn't like books by female authors, or would like the same story if it were by a male author.

[fuelair]

Ok, then, let me ask you this. Have you ever met a boy who read The Baby Sitters' Club? And didn't despise it? Ever? One? Once? Or met one who didn't laugh and scream at the very idea?

Yeah, me neither.

Some things are in a gray area. Even a very gray area.

This one is not.

I suspect that even gay boys would have no interest in/disgust at a book series like that.

Edit: This is a little off topic but boys have a reluctance to even open a book by a female author with a female protagonist. Hence J.K.Rowling's unisex pen name and male protagonist. If Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling was called Harriet Potter by Joanne Rowling, only girls would read it.

Oddly, it doesn't work the other way around. Girls generally identify with a male protagonist and put themselves in his place. When I read the Harry Potter books, I was Harry Potter. Other girls and women say the same thing.

Same story with other novels. If someone named Charlotte Dickens ever wrote Nicole Nickleby, Davida Copperfield and Olive Twist, they would never have reached the audience they did. Heck, even women might not have read them!From 4th grade to 10th grade :Zenna Henderson, Judith Merrill, Andre Norton (who I knew was female), Margaret St. Clair, C. L. Moore (who I knew was female), Theodora Keogh(I hope she is not the same person represented on Amazon currently as it will imply she came down in the world - but, just in case, I will be ordering the book) were a few of the female authors I read (I was male) Picked up and greatly enjoyed Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time. No problem with female heroines or authors. Knew other males of simlar tastes in lit. Ie: if it looks/sounds interesting, read it - and I haven't even started on mystery writers here.:)

[luchog]

Agreed. She was a bit of a nothing character in the book (not books).

Lord of the Rings was not the only work being referred to.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I must admit EeneyMinnieMoe that I was lying in bed for a long time last night thinking about this. I realised that I was arguing against boys not reading books by women because it felt wrong to me and I just didn't want it to be true.

It seems from the comments in this thread that there are a number of men on this forum who have no issue with reading books by women. But in the dark of the night, as I thought about it, endless troops of football loving beer chuggers marched past my bed laughing at me.

It may well be the case that they make up the majority of man-kind and Bloomsbury have hit the nail on the head, but I'm fervently glad that I'm not one of them!

You're a very funny chap :D

Whoa, I really made you ponder a question into the night?! Literature must be very important to you, if you take questions of gender based reading demographics that seriously. :)

I guess another factor to add to this very complicated equation is that dumb louts who wouldn't read books about, for or by women are actually very unlikely to read at all. They usually don't read anything beyond the daily paper and something like Dan Brown.

When it comes to literature, they'd be unlikely to read anything written by a man. They'd be just as likely to ignore Edgar Allan Poe, Evelyn Waugh and Gustave Flaubert as Jane Austen and George Eliot.

[Pardalis]

Nastasya Filippovna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastasya_Filipovna)

Crazy and beautiful, just my type, and she moves through the book almost like a ghost.

[theprestige]

Ghost in the Shell (all incarnations):
Major Motoko Kusanagi
Aw, heck: Batou, as well

Bram Stoker's Dracula... not in a love love kind of way, though. More like, the novel is really kind of a steampunk novel, I think.

I mean, it's set in the early industrial era, and it's about a pre-industrial dude from a distant, barbaric, primitive place and time. He's seized by this urge to venture out into the world and see what has changed, and become part of that change. So of course he goes to London, to buy fancy suits, and see amazing machines, and revel in the civilizational awsomeness that is the modern postal service, and experience for himself the civilized pastime of real-estate transactions.

Of course, the moral of the story is that the leopard can't change his spots, and the modern world has no place for a vampire, so his hopes are dashed and his dreams are shattered, and he is hounded back to his wilderness lair and brutally slain by the world he tried to embrace.

I feel sorry for the guy, and I respect what he tried to do.

[Akhenaten]

http://www.yvonneclaireadams.com/HostedStuff/Arwen.jpg

[CriticalSock]

You're a very funny chap :D

\Bow


Whoa, I really made you ponder a question into the night?! Literature must be very important to you, if you take questions of gender based reading demographics that seriously. :)

You did yes! I love books and the thought of large sections of society missing out on quality reading just because of gender bias makes me sad and mad.


I guess another factor to add to this very complicated equation is that dumb louts who wouldn't read books about, for or by women are actually very unlikely to read at all. They usually don't read anything beyond the daily paper and something like Dan Brown.

When it comes to literature, they'd be unlikely to read anything written by a man. They'd be just as likely to ignore Edgar Allan Poe, Evelyn Waugh and Gustave Flaubert as Jane Austen and George Eliot.

Yes indeed! It's not a gender issue, it's a loutish issue! :)

Phew! I'm glad we got that sorted out. I can sleep tonight! :D

[jenspen]

Mr D'Arcy's great, Mr Knightley's even better, Henry Tilney's hilarious but Captain Wentworth's the man I want.

Stephen Maturin.

Ralph Lanyon of Mary Renault's "The Charioteer" (tragically for me, he was gay)

All of the above are sailors...hmmm....

Andy Dalziel for sheer male brutishness.

[Damien Evans]

Lord of the Rings was not the only work being referred to.

Really? Looks like it was to me:

Galadriel and Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. The movie version of Arwen Undómiel, but mainly 'cause of Liv Tyler (she didn't have enough development in the books).

[theMark]

Come on!

Esme Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (in their younger days ;) ), Sgt. Angua, ... in his books, Mr. Pratchett has created quite a few interesting female characters who are not of the fantasy fare damsel-in-distress cardboard cutout type.

[Verdruc]

Death from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

[LibraryLady]

Death from Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

For many a time you have been half in love with easeful Death (http://www.bartleby.com/101/624.html)?

[whatthebutlersaw]

Die hard Snapist (I'm a sucker for a good redemption arc and have the humanities' graduate's awe of a superior chemist/potions master)

Harry Flashman (Egad! Look at those whiskers!)

Papageno (Sweet, loving, uncomplicated, family orientated, easily pleased, musical and funny. Frightfully cute, as portraid by Håkan Hagegård, in Bergman's version)

And plenty more of course.

[Akhenaten]

Galadriel and Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. The movie version of Arwen Undómiel, but mainly 'cause of Liv Tyler (she didn't have enough development in the books).





Actually, Livvie is the only reason I picked Arwen myself, and Eowyn would have been a much better catch. She made Arwen look like a total girly.

Oh, wait . . .


I didn't like either Written Galadriel or Movie Galadriel particularly, and she always gave me the impression of someone with a hidden agenda that didn't totally align with the Fellowship's, a bit like Boromir.

[Vortigern99]

Bram Stoker's Dracula... not in a love love kind of way, though. More like, the novel is really kind of a steampunk novel, I think.

I love the novel too, but no, it isn't a steampunk novel. More below.

I mean, it's set in the early industrial era, and it's about a pre-industrial dude from a distant, barbaric, primitive place and time. He's seized by this urge to venture out into the world and see what has changed, and become part of that change.

No, the Count is seized by a thirst for blood which is unquenchable in his immediate environs, owing to the fact that after centuries of dealing with him the locals are now wise to his tricks, and by a desire to enthrall/enslave/"vampirize" as many unwitting victims as he can sink his teeth into and seduce into drinking his blood.

Rather wide gap between that and your version. ;)

So of course he goes to London, to buy fancy suits, and see amazing machines, and revel in the civilizational awsomeness that is the modern postal service, and experience for himself the civilized pastime of real-estate transactions.

The problem here is that we don't "see"/are not provided descriptions of Dracula buying fancy suits or being awestruck by machinery or (ahem) delighting in the postal service. He certainly uses the post to his advantage, and purchases real estate to pursue the goals I listed above, but as far as we're told he's not doing it to satisfy some aesthetic urge or sense of wonderment at the modern world.

More specifically, if Dracula is as you've described him then it's happening purely in your imagination... which is fine, it's just that Stoker by no means provides this characterization of him.

Of course, the moral of the story is that the leopard can't change his spots, and the modern world has no place for a vampire, so his hopes are dashed and his dreams are shattered, and he is hounded back to his wilderness lair and brutally slain by the world he tried to embrace.

I feel sorry for the guy, and I respect what he tried to do.

I was with you right up until that final sentence, then you lost me again. I love the novel and all the characters in it, including and perhaps especially Dracula, but I certainly cannot "respect" a (fictional) cold-blooded murderer who seeks to enslave others to do his murderous bidding.

Maybe that's just me, though. ;)

[theprestige]

I love the novel too, but no, it isn't a steampunk novel. More below.



No, the Count is seized by a thirst for blood which is unquenchable in his immediate environs, owing to the fact that after centuries of dealing with him the locals are now wise to his tricks, and by a desire to enthrall/enslave/"vampirize" as many unwitting victims as he can sink his teeth into and seduce into drinking his blood.

Rather wide gap between that and your version. ;)



The problem here is that we don't "see"/are not provided descriptions of Dracula buying fancy suits or being awestruck by machinery or (ahem) delighting in the postal service. He certainly uses the post to his advantage, and purchases real estate to pursue the goals I listed above, but as far as we're told he's not doing it to satisfy some aesthetic urge or sense of wonderment at the modern world.

More specifically, if Dracula is as you've described him then it's happening purely in your imagination... which is fine, it's just that Stoker by no means provides this characterization of him.



I was with you right up until that final sentence, then you lost me again. I love the novel and all the characters in it, including and perhaps especially Dracula, but I certainly cannot "respect" a (fictional) cold-blooded murderer who seeks to enslave others to do his murderous bidding.

Maybe that's just me, though. ;)
Fair enough. It's been a while since I read the novel. I'll give it another go, see what happens.

[luchog]

Really? Looks like it was to me:

Then you completely failed to notice the plural on "books".

[Damien Evans]

Then you completely failed to notice the plural on "books".

Nope. LOTR is only one book.

[Vortigern99]

Nope. LOTR is only one book.

LOTR is six books plus appendices a - f.

[Damien Evans]

LOTR is six books plus appendices a - f.

Depends on your definition of book, but yes, you could certainly make a good case for that argument.

[Akhenaten]

LOTR is six books plus appendices a - f.





Actually, it's seven (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=119956)

[Harpo]

Lyra Belacqua (from the His Dark Materials trilogy).

My son lent me the books and I was about 50 when I (reluctantly) read them. They certainly taught me not to pre-judge childrens fiction - I found them to be exciting, incredibly moving and thought provoking.

For me, Pullman's genius is that you can't help but fall in love with Lyra. I've spoken to several people (both male and female, young and old) about this and she's a representation of everyone's first love. It's hard to put into words, it's not a predatory or lustful thing, it's more a reminder of the innocence of youth and the excitement of discovering that feelings of love exist.

[Vortigern99]

Depends on your definition of book, but yes, you could certainly make a good case for that argument.

My definition of the word book in this context is that the word book is used at the beginning of every book in LOTR. Book I, Book II, Book III, etc.; it's all right there in print since 1955, so no argument is necessary unless you're just being willfully ignorant and contentious. Even if the entire novel is collected into one massive tome, it consists of six books so designated by the author of the work.

[Vortigern99]

Actually, it's seven (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=119956)

I take it by your linking to an 18-page thread with no clear indication as to where this assertion is corroborated that that thread is the seventh book?

If so: LOL.

If not: WTH?

[Lucian]

My definition of the word book in this context is that the word book is used at the beginning of every book in LOTR. Book I, Book II, Book III, etc.; it's all right there in print since 1955, so no argument is necessary unless you're just being willfully ignorant and contentious. Even if the entire novel is collected into one massive tome, it consists of six books so designated by the author of the work.

But is that the way Tolkien originally designated them? I thought he had intended a 2 volume work, LOTR (vol. 1) and Silmarillion (vol. 2), and the publishers split LOTR into 3 volumes.

I should point out that I don't really care: you can count them however you like.

[Vortigern99]

But is that the way Tolkien originally designated them? I thought he had intended a 2 volume work, LOTR (vol. 1) and Silmarillion (vol. 2), and the publishers split LOTR into 3 volumes.

I should point out that I don't really care: you can count them however you like.

The answer to the first question is yes -- the six-book arrangement is as Tolkien designated it.

He wanted LOTR to be published as one continuous volume, but sub-divided into the six books as I've explained. His publishers, against his own judgement, split the work into three volumes, each comprised of two books.

The Silmarillion was the first project he offered his publishers as a possible sequel to the best-selling The Hobbit, but they turned it down. He wrote LOTR instead.

So you see, I'm not "counting it however I like". I'm explaining the publishing history and designation of books according to Tolkien's own arrangement.

[Lucian]

The answer to the first question is yes -- the six-book arrangement is as Tolkien designated it.

He wanted LOTR to be published as one continuous volume, but sub-divided into the six books as I've explained. His publishers, against his own judgement, split the work into three volumes, each comprised of two books.

The Silmarillion was the first project he offered his publishers as a possible sequel to the best-selling The Hobbit, but they turned it down. He wrote LOTR instead.

So you see, I'm not "counting it however I like". I'm explaining the publishing history and designation of books according to Tolkien's own arrangement.

Sorry, I meant "you" in the general sense.

[bruto]

The answer to the first question is yes -- the six-book arrangement is as Tolkien designated it.

He wanted LOTR to be published as one continuous volume, but sub-divided into the six books as I've explained. His publishers, against his own judgement, split the work into three volumes, each comprised of two books.

The Silmarillion was the first project he offered his publishers as a possible sequel to the best-selling The Hobbit, but they turned it down. He wrote LOTR instead.

So you see, I'm not "counting it however I like". I'm explaining the publishing history and designation of books according to Tolkien's own arrangement.

By that rule, high school students working through summer reading lists should be overjoyed. Make your way through Tom Jones, and not only do you get to fall in love with the lovely and lively Sophia Western, but you can check 18 books off your list!

[Damien Evans]

My definition of the word book in this context is that the word book is used at the beginning of every book in LOTR. Book I, Book II, Book III, etc.; it's all right there in print since 1955, so no argument is necessary unless you're just being willfully ignorant and contentious. Even if the entire novel is collected into one massive tome, it consists of six books so designated by the author of the work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book
In novels, a book may be divided into several large sections, also called books (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, etc).

And I could say the same to you. Lord Of The Rings is One Book. It is also Six books. To claim it is not One is stupid.

[Staropeace]

The billybumbler,Oy,from The Dark Tower,King series

[gumboot]

Hrm... interesting question...

If I'm honest, my answer would be something like:

"Every pretty love interest in every fantasy novel I read between the ages of 14 and 18". At that age you fall in love so very easily, and shallow fantasy novel princesses (why are they all princesses?) are so very perfect.

If I had to pick just one... it would probably be Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. Funnily enough I acted in a stage adaptation, and had a huge crush on the actress playing Scout mostly as a result of the character (I played Dill - her love interest, but the quasi-romance subplot of the book doesn't appear in the play). Later, I had a major crush on another stage love interest - Lorna in Lorna Doone. Except this time it was entirely based on the actress - upon reading the book I was so sick of hearing "Our Jan Ridd" go on about how much he loved Lorna that I secretly wanted her to die.

[Pinkymcfatfat]

Raoul Duke from 'Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas' and Crowley from 'Good Omens'.

[Vortigern99]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book


And I could say the same to you. Lord Of The Rings is One Book. It is also Six books. To claim it is not One is stupid.

Okay then, by the definition you've supplied, LOTR is one book, three books and six books. This means that the message you posted in #95, above, in which you said LOTR is not three books but only one, is incorrect.

Basically, we all win. I'm willing to move on if you are.

[Uzzy]

I'd agree with Major Motoko Kusanagi, along with Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato. Mainly as I'm a bit of a fan of that stuff.

As for western literary characters, I'd pick Buffy.. and, uh.. Cersei Lannister.

[luchog]

LOTR is six books plus appendices a - f.

Not to mention many volumes of background material included in The Silmarillion and [/i]The Books of Lost Tales[/i].

[Fiona]

Couldn't say I fell in love with any fictional character: but I really like Flora Poste :)

[Damien Evans]

Not to mention many volumes of background material included in The Silmarillion and The Books of Lost Tales.

None of which are part of Lord Of The Rings.


ETA: Though they are useful for understanding some of the stories told in it, and give far more background on Arda

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I actually happened to read this online today and it is relevant to a discussion we've had on this thread:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-weaver/boys-and-reading_b_504201.html

So I thought it would be worth posting; maybe someone will be interested in reading it.

[gumboot]

I'd agree with Major Motoko Kusanagi, along with Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato. Mainly as I'm a bit of a fan of that stuff.

As for western literary characters, I'd pick Buffy.. and, uh.. Cersei Lannister.


Would it be wrong if I said Arya Stark? Would it make it any more acceptable if I pointed out that in my head I always picture her to be of legal age?

I don't know how anyone could love Cersei Lannister. That woman is pure poison.

[CriticalSock]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I actually happened to read this online today and it is relevant to a discussion we've had on this thread:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-weaver/boys-and-reading_b_504201.html

So I thought it would be worth posting; maybe someone will be interested in reading it.

Thanks EeneyMinnieMoe, that made interesting though depressing reading.

There's a comment in there about single sex schools helping boys to develop reading skills. Interestingly I went to an all boys school where an excellent teacher (Ms Price) ignited my love of reading. I remember no hint that reading was sissy from my schooldays. I do remember that in my last year there the school merged with an all girls school which I directly attribute to my completely average exam results! :)

(We probably don't want to resurrect this thread though, the "Lord of the rings book\books" thing might kick off again and we'd all be killed in the conflict!)

[Andronicus]

Dejah Thoris. (http://www.google.com/images?q=deja%20thoris&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi)

P.S. - I'll save my "What is literature?" rant for it's own topic to avoid forum jacking.

[Helen]

I think I fell intensely in love with pretty much every male character of every book, fictional or otherwise, I read from age 8 to 11-12, or so:blush: This would have included more or less all Norse and Greek gods and heroes, several musketeers, circumnavigators, adventurers, cowboys and Indians, various detectives such as Sherlock Homes and Lord Peter Wimsey, and of course every single male in every book about horses that I could find.

I've had a very varied love life:p

[timhau]

Lisbeth Salander, as pictured by Noomi Rapace (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_06tyggsNmiU/S41wEtnGQ5I/AAAAAAAAABo/oPlGfXKiNJk/s320/Noomi-Rapace5.jpg).

[bumlet5]

When I was a little little girl (as in just learning to read, about 3yrs old), I identified the most with Ramona Quimby.

After that it was Harriet the Spy for a year or two.

Then Pippi Longstocking.

By about 10 it was Anne Shirley (seeing a pattern here?).

I started to get interested in boys shortly after, and having read the entire series, Anne and Gilbert was my ideal couple, not specifically because I liked Gilbert, but more of the relationship between them. They seemed to be completely into each other yet have their own personality. It was the first time in novels that I had seen a relationship that was a partnership of equals, with neither being higher or lower than the other. To this day, it's difficult to find a literary romantic relationship that is as much of a partnership as that.

And for the record, I wasn't a fan of Mr. Darcy.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Thanks EeneyMinnieMoe, that made interesting though depressing reading.

There's a comment in there about single sex schools helping boys to develop reading skills. Interestingly I went to an all boys school where an excellent teacher (Ms Price) ignited my love of reading. I remember no hint that reading was sissy from my schooldays. I do remember that in my last year there the school merged with an all girls school which I directly attribute to my completely average exam results! :)



Some wild speculation on my part here:

All children fidget, squirm and get bored easily in school but young boys are generally more active than girls are, have shorter attention spans, clown around more, are less patient, are louder and more disruptive. Not only is their behavior not looked down on by other boys but is actually encouraged.

Maybe the differences in young boys' behavior explain why they pay less attention in class and read fewer "whole books" and long books but are likely to read stuff like comic books. It also explains why girls tend to do better in school at the elementary school and middle school level. I remember reading a study years ago that found that young girls do much better than young boys in subjects like reading and marginally better in math- but that reading skills even out at the high school and college level and boys then surpass girls in math. I might try to find it. Anecdotally, I remember being told by a teacher in elementary school that the girls always did much, much better in reading and writing than boys on the CityWide tests (that's a standard test elementary school level test given in New York City's public schools.)

If boys are more physically active than girls by nature, it's little wonder they can't sit down for three hours to read a long book (or perform well at any other stationary and time consuming activity). That doesn't mean that girls are smarter than boys or vice versa, it just means that boys would rather be doing something more stimulating, louder, more active. And maybe girls are better at the arts and humanities than boys are because they think more emotionally and less clinically; there are fewer female scientists, engineers, programmers, mathematicians, logicians, doctors, etc. than male scientists, engineers, etc. It could be a matter of different natural aptitudes.

Hmm, was there any stigma attached to boys reading in my elementary school? None of them really wanted to do it (with a few exceptions here and there) but I don't remember anyone having the crap kicked out of him for coming to school with a book. I don't remember anyone being particularly laughed at or called names but it is possible it happened.

I was a complete and total bookworm and the most I ever got was a raised eyebrow, surprised comments and some bemusement and confusion at my inexplicable desire to read books- this from both boys and girls.

Still, girls have it easier. They allowed to be intellectual by other girls and boys aren't by other boys. They might be deemed nerdy and geeky for being quiet and bookish but it's rare that, say, the popular girl stuffs them into a locker for it.

[Blackadder]

I have been a bookworm boy all my life. It didn't stop me from going outdoors: fishing, tree-house building or playing soccer... that where activities for the day, reading was for the night and rainy winter days. (my mum had to cut down the power to my room sometimes, because nothing else would stop me reading 'Tom Sawyer' or 'the Adventures of Robin Hood' or 'the Wind in the Willows'

And as said before, I also read everything by Laura Ingalls Wilder and also some other books from my sister's part of our private library . A lot from Astrid Lindgren for example

To go BOT, it was Annika , not Pippi that was my first fictional love (but I guess that was more from the tv series than from the books)

Girl at the left is Annika. (LOL Times surely have changed! Imagine letting children 'try out' smoking in modern childrens tv. This series is from around 1970

http://29.media.tumblr.com/MhArk9gLvfewgk71fxaw05sjo1_500.jpg

[Schrodinger's Cat]

When I was a little little girl (as in just learning to read, about 3yrs old), I identified the most with Ramona Quimby.

After that it was Harriet the Spy for a year or two.

Then Pippi Longstocking.

By about 10 it was Anne Shirley (seeing a pattern here?).

I started to get interested in boys shortly after, and having read the entire series, Anne and Gilbert was my ideal couple, not specifically because I liked Gilbert, but more of the relationship between them. They seemed to be completely into each other yet have their own personality. It was the first time in novels that I had seen a relationship that was a partnership of equals, with neither being higher or lower than the other. To this day, it's difficult to find a literary romantic relationship that is as much of a partnership as that.

And for the record, I wasn't a fan of Mr. Darcy.

<squeal!> Harriet the Spy! Oh I LOVED her! Also Nancy Drew and Ramona Quimby and pretty much any protagonist from any Judy Blume book.

As for books I've read as an adult..they entire fellowship from the LOTR series. I loved them all. Also Faramir was my absolute favorite from the series, though he wasn't part of the fellowship. Also Hagrid from Harry Potter.

But above all others, forever and ever, it shall be Wesley from the Princess Bride

[bruto]

It's been something like (yikes! I shouldn't have actually counted!) 45 years, so I don't remember the details, but I do remember vicariously falling in love with Lena, in Conrad's Victory. I remember the ending broke my heart, but I guess it's almost time to read it again.

[CriticalSock]

Couldn't say I fell in love with any fictional character: but I really like Flora Poste :)

Is that Flora Poste as in Robert Poste's child? I only saw the film, but Kate Beckinsale as Flora was hot hot hot!

[pgwenthold]

<squeal!> Harriet the Spy! Oh I LOVED her! Also Nancy Drew and Ramona Quimby

This is an old thread, but if you look very early on, I gave my example, and it was Beatrice "Beezus" Quimby.

Although I liked Ramona, she was too young for me to be in love with.

BTW, if you want something fun, you should get any of the Beverly Cleary books on audio read by Stockard Channing. She is so good.

[Noztradamus]

First, Nancy Blackett from Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series.
To a pubescent boy, she was awesome. But I also realized that no real teenage girl could be that capable, determined, courageous, intelligent, optimistic, and good-natured.

When you are young, you think you know everything

[CriticalSock]

First, Nancy Blackett from Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series.
To a pubescent boy, she was awesome. But I also realized that no real teenage girl could be that capable, determined, courageous, intelligent, optimistic, and good-natured.

When you are young, you think you know everything

I'd go with Nancy, but I'd be thinking of Titty...

(Because she was the artistic dreamer type, like me of course!)

[Woolgatherer]

Clay Basket from "Centennial"- It also didn't hurt that she was played by Barbara Carrera in the T.V. miniseries.