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18 books
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10 voters
Characterization Books
Showing 1-50 of 562
Characters & Viewpoint (Paperback)
by (shelved 3 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.04 — 4,735 ratings — published 1988
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Paperback)
by (shelved 3 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.19 — 826,902 ratings — published 2008
Babel (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.13 — 528,987 ratings — published 2022
There There (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 3.97 — 233,855 ratings — published 2018
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.56 — 799,653 ratings — published 2016
My Cousin Rachel (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.01 — 73,017 ratings — published 1951
All the Light We Cannot See (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.31 — 2,051,703 ratings — published 2014
Ivy and Bean (Ivy & Bean, #1)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 3.96 — 18,105 ratings — published 2006
Far from the Tree (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.24 — 50,317 ratings — published 2017
The War That Saved My Life (The War That Saved My Life, #1)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.49 — 119,932 ratings — published 2015
Dory Fantasmagory: the Real True Friend (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.43 — 2,591 ratings — published 2015
Red: A Crayon's Story (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.40 — 9,456 ratings — published 2015
Dory Fantasmagory (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.23 — 6,056 ratings — published 2014
Hattie Big Sky (Hattie, #1)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.03 — 20,175 ratings — published 2006
Sisters (Smile, #2)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.32 — 114,592 ratings — published 2014
Paper Towns (Paperback)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 3.70 — 1,514,425 ratings — published 2008
Psychology for Screenwriters (Paperback)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 3.93 — 435 ratings — published 2004
Saving Francesca (Paperback)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 3.99 — 33,469 ratings — published 2003
Eleanor & Park (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 3.92 — 1,277,240 ratings — published 2012
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Hardcover)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.05 — 288,102 ratings — published 2007
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman (Paperback)
by (shelved 2 times as characterization)
avg rating 4.31 — 2,251 ratings — published 1996
The Secret History (Paperback)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.15 — 1,102,222 ratings — published 1992
Yellowface (Paperback)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.72 — 1,138,892 ratings — published 2023
The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.28 — 350,290 ratings — published 2015
Heated Rivalry (Game Changers, #2)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.25 — 440,670 ratings — published 2019
City of Thieves (Hardcover)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.30 — 173,951 ratings — published 2008
James (Hardcover)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.41 — 584,305 ratings — published 2024
The Briar Club (Hardcover)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.28 — 316,684 ratings — published 2024
Sophie's Masterpiece: A Spider's Tale (Paperback)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.28 — 907 ratings — published 2001
The Word is Murder (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.92 — 106,248 ratings — published 2017
The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.22 — 253,299 ratings — published 2025
Wyvern's Gold (The Ruins of Men, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.59 — 1,191 ratings — published
The Remarried Empress, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.35 — 12,275 ratings — published 2018
Joan Is Okay (Hardcover)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.65 — 18,849 ratings — published 2022
The Good Little Mermaid's Guide to Bedtime (Hardcover)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.06 — 270 ratings — published 2024
Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.20 — 433,341 ratings — published 1995
Convergence (Intersolar Union, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.00 — 2,503 ratings — published 2021
Resilience (Intersolar Union, #2)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.95 — 1,097 ratings — published
Vigilance (Intersolar Union, #3)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.10 — 937 ratings — published
The Dark Maestro (Hardcover)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.80 — 3,820 ratings — published 2025
The Skeleton Key (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.75 — 12,030 ratings — published 2022
The Throne of Honor and Blood (The Mortal Fates #2)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 3.89 — 10,799 ratings — published 2024
Brambles and Bellflowers (The Garden of Eternal Flowers, #4)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.44 — 54 ratings — published
Reflections of Peonies (The Garden of Eternal Flowers, #3)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.42 — 79 ratings — published
Ashes and Lilies (The Garden of Eternal Flowers, #2)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.32 — 91 ratings — published
Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games, #0.5)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.50 — 1,258,245 ratings — published 2025
Her Feral Beasts (Her Vicious Beasts, #1)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.07 — 16,965 ratings — published 2023
A Murder Is Announced (Miss Marple, #4)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.01 — 89,750 ratings — published 1950
Bonding Berserkers (Bonding - The Ultimate Guide Book 5)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.30 — 448 ratings — published
Bonding Spirits (Bonding - The Ultimate Guide Book 4)
by (shelved 1 time as characterization)
avg rating 4.31 — 484 ratings — published
“Most of these stories are on the tragic side. But the reader must not suppose that the incidents I have narrated were of common occurrence. The vast majority of these people, government servants, planters, and traders, who spent their working lives in Malaya were ordinary people ordinarily satisfied with their station in life. They did the jobs they were paid to do more or less competently,. They were as happy with their wives as are most married couples. They led humdrum lives and did very much the same things every day. Sometimes by way of a change they got a little shooting; but at a rule, after they had done their day's work, they played tennis if there were people to play with, went to the club at sundown if there was a club in the vicinity, drank in moderation, and played bridge. They had their little tiffs, their little jealousies, their little flirtations, their little celebrations. They were good, decent, normal people.
I respect, and even admire, such people, but they are not the sort of people I can write stories about. I write stories about people who have some singularity of character which suggests to me that they may be capable of behaving in such a way as to give me an idea that I can make use of, or about people who by some accident or another, accident of temperament, accident of environment, have been involved in unusual contingencies. But, I repeat, they are the exception.”
― Collected Short Stories: Volume 4
I respect, and even admire, such people, but they are not the sort of people I can write stories about. I write stories about people who have some singularity of character which suggests to me that they may be capable of behaving in such a way as to give me an idea that I can make use of, or about people who by some accident or another, accident of temperament, accident of environment, have been involved in unusual contingencies. But, I repeat, they are the exception.”
― Collected Short Stories: Volume 4
“I ran across an excerpt today (in English translation) of some dialogue/narration from the modern popular writer, Paulo Coelho in his book: Aleph.(Note: bracketed text is mine.)... 'I spoke to three scholars,' [the character says 'at last.'] ...two of them said that, after death, the [sic (misprint, fault of the publisher)] just go to Paradise. The third one, though, told me to consult some verses from the Koran. [end quote]' ...I can see that he's excited. [narrator]' ...Now I have many positive things to say about Coelho: He is respectable, inspiring as a man, a truth-seeker, and an appealing writer; but one should hesitate to call him a 'literary' writer based on this quote. A 'literary' author knows that a character's excitement should be 'shown' in his or her dialogue and not in the narrator's commentary on it. Advice for Coelho: Remove the 'I can see that he's excited' sentence and show his excitement in the phrasing of his quote.(Now, in defense of Coelho, I am firmly of the opinion, having myself written plenty of prose that is flawed, that a novelist should be forgiven for slipping here and there.)Lastly, it appears that a belief in reincarnation is of great interest to Mr. Coelho ... Just think! He is a man who has achieved, (as Leonard Cohen would call it), 'a remote human possibility.' He has won lots of fame and tons of money. And yet, how his preoccupation with reincarnation—none other than an interest in being born again as somebody else—suggests that he is not happy!”
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