Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten All Time Favorite Book Characters
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely folks over at The Broke and the Bookish post a top ten list topic so that book lovers like you and me can pour over our shelves and make our own lists. You can check out all the other Top Ten Tuesday‘s on their site!
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Guys, this list was hard. In the best way, mind you. But still hard. Because usually–USUALLY–there’s a character that I like in every book I read. And you know, the thing with all of these fun and creative Top Ten Tuesday topics is that I am generally a shifty list-maker. Like, I could make one list at one time, and depending on a variety of factors, I could go back and try to compose that same list 10 minutes later and come up with totally different things. So these 10 characters are without question 10 of my favorite book characters, but are they my unequivocal, set-in-stone top 10? Maybe not. But DANG if I don’t love these characters (and one pig) LIKE BURNING. BURNING, I tell you!
The Penderwicks (The Penderwicks series)
Oh, my crazy girls. Guys, I feel like I mention the Penderwicks in every other Top Ten Tuesday. I seriously can’t help it. I know that some people maybe think their books are slow and boring, but NOT ME. I think they’re quiet and funny and full of love and just…wonderful, thanks in no small part to the girls themselves. Rosaline is the oldest and the most responsible; Skye is the spunkiest and roughest around the edges; Jane is the dreamiest and the most dramatic; and Batty–BATTY!–is the sweetest and the most adorable. I LOVE THEM ALL.
Etienne St. Clair (ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS)
HOLY CRAP. This guy set off all of my swoon alarms, melted my panties, broke my heart, gave me butterflies, and was one of those really great YA book boys. Because he’s real: he screws up, sends mixed signals, and clings to his current girlfriend when EVERYONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD can see that he should be with Anna. I loved the two of them together, but Anna and Etienne wouldn’t be nearly as swoony if HE wasn’t WONDERFUL. One of my all-time YA boyfriends. Possibly numero uno.
Lennie Walker (THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE)
The reason that Lennie is on this list and not Joe Fontaine, another one of my all-time YA boyfriends, is because, well, I was in the mood to put Lennie instead. That’s about it. But make no mistake: she DESERVES to be on this list because she’s so sad and broken and lost that she doesn’t recognize herself in her grief over her sister Bailey’s death. Her actions aren’t perfect, but I appreciated where they came from. And I LOVED her poems. SIGH.
Katsa (GRACELING)
I remember when I first read GRACELING and was kind of blown away by how modern Katsa was without seeming out of place in her own story. She wants to be her own woman, make her own decisions, stand on her own two feet. She’s kick ass and smart and independent. I LOVED too that Po doesn’t want to take those things from her unless she wants to give them in her own way and time. Fantastic character.
Wilbur (CHARLOTTE’S WEB)
I’ve mentioned before how I think that little piglets are super adorable. It’s possible that you missed it, though, so I’ll tell you guys again: I think little piglets are super adorable, thanks in large part to Wilbur, a very special pig indeed. He’s so sweet and brave and funny! And I loved how he started out a little naive, then lost a little bit of his innocence when Charlotte dies, but he never loses his sweetness or loving heart.
Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson and the Olympians series)
Percy, Percy, Percy. You are one cool customer. You’re brave verging on reckless, funny, awkward, and sweet, although I know you would want me to keep that last part between us. But you jump headlong into adventures with your equally awesome friends, and you fight off some nasty mythological creatures. You’re the bomb.
Jon Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire series)
So I LOVE ASoIaF. It’s one of my favorite series no question, and it’s full of tremendous characters (Tyrion, Arya, AND MORE), but my favorite is the bastard, Jon Snow. (I mean he is an illegitimate child, not that he’s a big jerk.) Sure he starts the series off a little emo and angsty, but he gets better. Darker, maybe. He certainly grows up very fast into a capable, smoldery young man who has to make difficult decisions. BOOM.
DJ Schwenk (Dairy Queen series)
I LOVE The Dairy Queen series by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. LOVE IT. I love it because it takes place on a farm in a small town and deals with family issues, relationships, self-discovery, and lots of good coming-of-age stuff. NONE of it would be half as fantastic if it wasn’t for DJ Schwenk, a frank, humble, funny, hard-w0rking, endearing high schooler who ROCKS MY SOCKS OFF. Seriously. She makes these books awesome almost by herself.
Conor (A MONSTER CALLS)
Conor! Don’t be sad! I’ll adopt you and bring you home and give you hugs and milk and cookies every day after school! Conor is one heart-breaking kid, guys, and I ADORE him. He’s got so many emotions rolling around inside of him in A MONSTER CALLS and it just kills you in a way that makes you want to shower him with kisses. I think about Conor all the time. I imagine what he’ll be like as he grows up (no, I’m NOT a crazy person). He stays with you for sure.
Harry Potter (Harry Potter series)
Because honestly. HE’S HARRY FREAKING POTTER. I could make this whole list out of characters from these books (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Mrs. Weasley, Snape, ALL THE OTHER WEASLEYS except Percy, Neville, and Hagrid, honorable mention to Dobby), but there’s no way I can put together this list without Harry. He changed ALL OF THE THINGS. Talk about a character staying with you long after you finish reading. He’s such a boss.
Lol. I totally laughed on your post of Etienne. Couldn’t agree less. He’s just so SWOONY. Awesome list!=D
Drop by my Top 10?
Oh Katsa, I loved her so much but I ended up going with Fire what amazing characters!
marissa
http://raegunwear.blogspot.com
Ahh, I forgot about wilbur…i loved that book as a kid!
Some good ones here and St.Clair’s been on a few TT’s :
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http://www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/top-ten-tuesday-all-time-favourite.html
St. Clair!!! Sigh. I love that boy. I also love Katsa and of course Harry Potter! Great choices. 🙂
My Top Ten Tuesday
PAHAHAHA! Etienne melted your panties?! That is seriously impressive! If guys could do that in real life I hate to think of the repercussions!
I love Harry Potter too- I chose Sirius just for pure sex appeal but Harry probably was always my favourite 🙂
My TTT: http://www.pocketfulofbooks.com/2012/04/top-ten-tuesday-favourite-characters-in.html
Oh my God, I TOTALLY forgot Sirius! Unbelievable. He would absolutely be on my Harry Potter Top Ten (Meaning 11, Plus an Honorable Mention) Best Characters List. GAH!
Yes. Etienne St. Claire. Le sigh…
I totally get why this was a hard list for you, I feel the exact same way, which is why I narrowed mine to female characters! I needed guidelines! 🙂
Love this list – some of my favorite characters are represented, like Katsa & Jon Snow.
Yes to the Harry Potter thing. I could make a list purely out of Harry Potter characters. Siriusly.
I really need to get to Anna and the French Kiss… Etienne sounds promising!
Aaaaand, now I’m going to have the “Harry Freakin’ Potter” song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Or week (as is usually the case when I start singing songs from A Very Potter Musical). I also now need to read Anna and the French Kiss!
Here’s my Top Ten Tuesday!
I love your voice in this post, especially about your melting panties, that made me laugh.
Great list 😀
Oh, your list makes me oh so happy! I love that you’ve listed characters I didn’t even THINK of! Connor! Etienne! PERCY FREAKIN JACKSON!
Aw, but even Percy came around in the end! Yeah, he was a massive prick for a couple books, but gold star for warm-fuzzy character redemption.
Aw, Wilbur. I’d love to hang out with him and Charlotte. Plus, who wouldn’t want to hang out with everyone on Harry Potter EVEN Voldemort. Personally, I want Snape as my dark, creepy friend, haha.
Yay for Jon!
I totally just had my “d’oh!” moment in regards to my list… I can’t believe I didn’t include any of the amazing characters from Harry Potter!
Absolutely great list, with a lot of characters that I need to get to know =)
I’d love it if you stopped by and checked out my Top Ten.
I so forgot Eitenne AND Katsa!!!! *FAIL* I also had Harry on my list!
That’s Some Pig!
1) I can’t get over my anger towards Etienne for his douchiness. I just can’t swoon for him. I’m sorry. DON’T HATE ME.
2) YES I <3 Jon, but Arya beat him out for my SoIaF pic because she wears boys clothing and does other badass things that I can't resist in my favorite chicks. Tyrion could have been there as well.
3) I could have made a list of only Harry Potter characters. For realz.
I’m not a hater, girl! I can see the douchiness of Etienne. But only in hindsight, haha. I seriously didn’t even get that vibe from him when I was reading. Clearly I have bad douche radar.
And honestly, picking between those three ASoIaF characters is almost like splitting hairs. They’re all so awesome!
I had DJ on my list too. I thought her character was such a nice balance of strength and fragility. I also loved that she really matured but remained true to herself throughout the series of books. She is one character that I would love to read about more!
Your list had lots of my favorites! Great taste! 🙂