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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters Who Should Have Their Own Books

It's Top Ten Tuesday time!  Today's topic from The Broke and the Bookish is Character who should have their own book.  This was a little difficult for me since I read a lot of mysteries which don't really have a large number of characters you want to see from their POV or romances where generally the character WILL have their own book.  These are some characters that really stuck with me!

1.  Lucy Eylesbarrow from 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie - Lucy rivals Miss Marple for finding out stuff and her job as housekeeper extraordinaire who never stays in one place for long would make for a really fun series!

2. Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery - Every Anne book I reread last year had me wanting one thing - more Gilbert!  He's funny, he's practical, he's kind and romantic and just plain nice.

3. Rue and Thresh from The Hunger Games - Rue was my favorite character when I read this book and I'd love to know more about her and Thresh and the world they come from.

4. Sebastian Grey from What Happens in London by Julia Quinn - Okay, technically he got his own book but his personality was so muted it really didn't count.  I laughed until I cried over some of his antics in What Happens in London.

5. Edward Valentine in What Happens in London by Julia Quinn - Henry's brother Edward seemed to be just starting to pull himself out of the hole he drunk himself into and was starting to face his demons.  I'd definitely love to see more of him!

6. Miss Havisham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - The image of that dusty room with Miss Havisham is one of the few things that stuck with me from Great Expectations.  I'd love to hear more about her.

7.  Lucille from The Lucky Harbor series by Jill Shalvis - We all know Lucille from her crazy outspoken ways around Lucky Harbor but what's her story?  She strikes me as having some stories of her own that would be worth knowing.

8.  Meg from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Practical Meg, oldest daughter of the March clan doesn't get much page time.  What did she think of her father going off to war and all the family had to endure?  What was her life like after her marriage?

9.  Mrs. Craven from The Secret Garden - Mrs. Craven's death is the reason The Secret Garden becomes secret.  We know that she is beautiful and kind but absolutely nothing about her.

10.  Lady Danbury from pretty much any Julia Quinn - Yes back to Julia Quinn.  I love her characters and Lady Danbury is one that has been around from the beginning.  I'd like to see her take HER turn around the ballroom!

So those are my 10!  What do you think?  Did I leave anyone out?




26 comments:

  1. I like it! Never thought about a favored character having their own books but I agree, and love the ones you picked.
    Mysteries are my favorite too

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    1. Thanks! I had a tough time with this one. Mysteries are my favorite genre too but they're not big on character development!

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  2. Great list! I'm also a big fan of Anne of Green Gables, and am considering doing a big re-read. Don't you just love Gilbert? Here's my TTT. Happy reading!

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    1. I adore Gilbert! You should definitely do a reread. I really enjoyed retreading them as an adult!

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  3. Great list! Yes to Lucy Eylesbarrow, Meg March, Miss Havisham and Mrs Craven. To be honest, there are so many characters that it would be interesting to know more about..
    Rachel @ Dashing Good Books

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    1. Now that I started thinking about it I came up with several more. I do wish someone would start a series with Lucy as the detective!

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  4. I would have loved to see more for Meg too... While I love Jo, I would have enjoyed seeing more focus on the other sisters. :)
    http://youmeandacupofteablog.blogspot.com/2014/11/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-seven.html

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    1. I definitely agree that Jo got most of the focus. I never could forgive Amy for the whole Laurie thing but I thought Meg was interesting. Plus most of the extra work would've fallen on her.

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  5. Have you read the Thursday Next series? Miss Havisham as written by Jasper Fforde is amazing. Completely amazing.

    Great list!

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    1. I haven't but now I'm of to go look for it! Thanks for the rec!

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  6. Oh man, what a great list! I would LOVE more Gilbert! I mean that in a very general way ;) but honestly, a book from his POV would be wonderful. I haven't read The Secret Garden in YEARS, but I feel like any sort of prequel - and especially from Mrs. Craven's POV - would be an interesting read.
    My list:
    http://sarahcantstopreading.blogspot.com/2014/11/top-ten-tuesdsay-top-ten-characters-who.html

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    1. Thanks! I would love to see more of the backstory for The Secret Garden. I reread it not to long ago and lived it even more than I did as a child!

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  7. I almost listed Gilbert, but couldn't fit him in. I would love to read a book from his perspective.

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    1. Oh me too! I realized after my last read that I kept wanting to hear his side of things or get more of his perspective!

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  8. This one would have taken me forever to figure out, but it looks like you have a good list! My daughter's been reading Anne of Green Gables- I didn't realize until recently that there was more than one book...

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    1. If she doesn't have it you MUST get her the set! I read the first one I had to pieces. Montgomery's other books are fantastic as well!

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  9. Great list! So many others I can think of - which is probably credit to the author, that they have made their characters so plausible and intriguing.
    The first Mrs. Rochester in Jane Eyre - but then she got her own book in Wide Sargasso Sea.
    Rebecca (I think there were some attempts, but not sure if they actually featured her POV or were from someone else's).
    One of the other Bennet girls from Pride and Prejudice, not just Elizabeth.
    Daisy from The Great Gatsby - what, if anything, does she have to say for herself? Or is she really as vacuous as she seems?

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    1. Oh Daisy is genius! I'd love to see her side of things. I have read a Rebecca POV and it was interesting but not as good. I need to reread Mrs. Rochester's book! It's been so long since I've read it I've forgotten it almost completely.

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  10. I agree, this would be a difficult topic for me to come up with answers for. You did a great job though, Katherine. I'm only familiar with the characters you mention in #3.

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    1. Thank you! This topic made me realize that most of the books don't lean towards side characters!

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  11. Mrs. Craven would be an interesting book. I always like to know about characters backgrounds.

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    1. I would love to know more about the Cravens! I'm sure this would be the case for a number of classics that I either haven't gotten too or it's been too long!

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  12. Yes to Rue and Thresh! It would be so cool to see 11 before the games. How they handled being chosen, etc... Good thinking! :)
    Happy reading!
    Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life

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    1. Thank you! I think I would want a different ending though! I was wrecked enough but I'd be destroyed if I was more invested!

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  13. I love Lucy Eylesbarrow, and I never would have thought of her! And Gilbert, yes, of course.

    I'd love to see a cross-over book with Lady Danbury and Lady Osbaldestone from Stephanie Laurens' Cynster books. Lady Danbury is funnier, but they are both formidable presences.

    I always hated that Meg practically disappears after she gets married, and doesn't really appear as a strong, positive character again until Jo's Boys (and even then, it's mainly as an actress in Jo's play.) But it fits with the expectations of the time, I guess.

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    1. Oh I forgot about Lady Odsbaldestone! She'd be great too! I do wonder why Agatha didn't use Lucy more. She was such a strong well drawn character. Of course there were hints of her getting married at the end of 450 but still!

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