Top Ten Tuesday (33)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Characters Who Remind Me of Myself or Someone I Know

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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Holy crap, guys! This is hard! You know why? Because I could be a BUNCH of characters from a book, and also none. Let me explain: So, as you can probably imagine, I was pretty shy and nerdy in high school. Yeah, I had my friends and I was loud and goofy and fun with them. But I wasn’t popular, and boys made me STUPID and also a little bit mute. I feel like there are tons of characters in YA who are socially awkward, maybe not so confident, like to read, but still fun and dorky. So as much as I see myself in characters like that, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book and thought, “OMG THIS IS MY LIFE.” It’s been a case of close but no cigar. So we’ll see what I come up with. I’m telling you right off the bat: this could be the first Top Ten Tuesday that is not actually ten. 

Hadley from The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.So the thing about me and Hadley is this: I have never met a hot British guy on a plane and had an instant, real connection to him. Alas. But I HAVE had the unfortunate experience of feeling sad and bitter and a little bit jealous of the happiness and success of people who are important to me, much like Hadley feels about her dad and his impending nuptials. Not my finest moment, friends, but the truth. THANKFULLY, like Hadley, I realized that I was being kind of awful and got over it.

Rosalind from The Penderwicks. Guys! It’s been a LONG TIME since I mentioned the Penderwicks! I can’t leave them off of this list, though, because I always saw parts of myself in Rosalind, the oldest Penderwick. I’m the oldest, too, so I can see myself in her and her sense of responsibility and mothering nature. She often feels like she has to be the one following or enforcing the rules and cleaning up everyone else’s mess. I feel you, girl.

Bailey from The Sky Is Everywhere. Bailey always reminded me of my own sister, but not explicitly. For starters, I’m the oldest, like Bailey was. Also, my sister is not an actress either. Nor is she dead, THANKFULLY SO MUCH. But what we saw and heard of Bailey and her relationship with Lennie (who is kind of like me: she reads while walking, loves making lasagna, and plays the clarinet) reminded me very much of my sister. It seemed like their personalities were big and fun and so different from my own and Lennie’s. If I ever lost my sister, I would feel like I had lost something almost EXACTLY like Bailey. That same influence on me.

Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. This could also totally be Jane Bennet from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. My sister and I are like Elinor and Marianne the most, though, so this is like a twofer. Elinor is basically me all the way, and Marianne is so much like my sister. It’s pretty crazy, actually, how much of each of us I see in these two sisters. Also, young Hugh Grant? Pretty much LOVE IT.

Tris from Divergent. SIKE! I’m the opposite of this. Wuss, non-fighter, lover of cheese and the great outdoors. #Amity

Denna from The Name of the Wind/The Wise Man’s Fear. Her hair is brown, my hair is brown. She likes gingers, specifically Kvothe; I like gingers, specifically Kvothe. That’s about it. I’m grasping here, guys.

Look at that! I managed six! So two of them maybe don’t count so much, but whatever. Also, there’s a theme that I wasn’t expecting but should have: being the oldest, it’s really no surprise that I see myself in lots of older sisters I read.