Who are your favorite characters ever?

[K.S.R.]

Some characters seem to stay with you long after you've finished a book. Who are the ones you like best. Why7

[Jim]

Probably the two that have stayed with me the longest are Billy Fisher (from Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar) and Holden Caulfield (from Salinger's Catcher in the Rye). I find I reference them more than any other books I've read. When I read them I too was looking for a way out of a life I felt trapped in and these books told me that it didn't matter if you lived in Yorkshire or New York there were people going through the same things.

Interestingly it was the narrator of Larkin's poem 'Mr. Bleaney' that had the most powerful effect on me. He doesn't have a name. I have never been able to shake the feeling I first got, and still get, every time I read it.

[K.S.R.]

For starters, I would say Atticus Finch is probably my favorite character ever. Every girls dream of what a father should be like, perhaps? There's not one character in To Kill a Mockingbird that doesn't stand out, though. I feel like I know them all.

Next, I would have to say Mr. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. His dialogue and teasing banter of his wife endeared me to him right from the start.

[Tommy]

My favorite character ever would have to be Sydney Carton, from A Tale of Two Cities. I pretty much love all the characters in that book, but he's my favorite.

[Kim]

I have to second Atticus Finch for sure! And Scout too.

As her creator, I have to pick Calle from my first novel Songs for a Teenage Nomad - I would feel unfaithful if I didn't :-) She will always hold a place in my heart.

Here's a short list: Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, Hamlet, Quoyle (Shipping News), Lyra (Golden Compass), Joe (Book of Joe), Stephen Dedalus, Rayona (Yellow Raft on Blue Water, Adah (Poisonwood Bible).

And sooooo many more...

[K.S.R.]

Oh yes, Anne of Green Gables. Unforgettable. I've never laughed outloud so many times when reading a book. The down feathers all over her black dress, jumping on the bed, not knowing the old lady was under the covers...

[Tara]

I think one of my all time favorite characters is Cannie from Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. I thought Cannie was so real and she reminded me of a dear friend of mine. Her feelings about her ex-boyfriend, parents, friends and co-workers was very easy to relate to and I just kept thinking that she would be the kind of person I would love to have as a friend. I still think she'd be a great person to have as a friend.

Another character that has stuck with me is Elphaba from Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I LOVED Ellphaba! I have to admit I'm probably the only woman in the world who didn't really like The Wizard of Oz but I thoroughly enjoyed Wicked and thought Elphaba was extremely passionate about her beliefs and willing to do anything to fight the good fight (so to speak). She wasn't really bad in this book, the way she's characterized in Wizard of Oz and I think that's why I liked her so much. I liked that she wanted to fight for the rights of the Animals and stood up for what she believed in. That was awesome.

[Tara]

I have to third Atticus Finch and second Scout! My mom and I were talking about those characters the other day. We both love them!

[Ari]

Some of my all time favorite characters are:

Lestat from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles
Steerpike from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series
Cutter from Wendy & Richard Pini's Elfquest series
and Ponyboy Curtis from S.E.Hinton's The Outsiders.

[Lynn]

My all time favorite character in a published story is Ramses from Anne Rice's "The Mummy-or Ramses the Da&%ed". I absolutely love that book. I read it at least once a year.

[[deleted user]]

I have always loved loved loved Lily Bart. (House of Mirth)

[Stormi (StormReads)]

Mr. Rochester -Jane Eyre

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett- Pride and Prejudice

Faith -A Passion Most Pure

[Karen]

I like NovaLee Nation from Where the heart is. Here's a young girl who could have just settled for her lot in life, but opportunity presented itself when her loser boyfriend leaves her at a walmart to give birth. She raises her daughter --gets a job at the said Walmart and makes a name for herself as a photographer. She makes many friends and cares about the people around her. Love finds her as well. She gets closure on her past when she helps the ex-boyfriend get home after a nasty trainwreck leaves him an amputee.
I wish I had her guts.

[Susan]

Patterson's Alex Cross is my absolute favorite.

[Amy]

My favorite character is Sigismondo from the Elizabeth Eyre Italian Renaissance mysteries. These books are just amazing and so rich with detail about the period. And you just have to love Sigismondo. I'm still trying to figure out how you can still love him after he admits in one of the books that in his distant past he had a job as a torturer.

[Allie]

Gemma Doyle from the trilogy by Libba Bray. She seemed so human and outgoing, and outspoken, in a world where women aren't supposed to speak theif minds and have their own lives, and I admire that.
Who else? Eli Wiesel, from his book, Night. I don't know if he qualifys as a character because it was a true story, but I love that book, he's so frank and haunting.
Anne, from Anne of Green Gables of course. Duh.
Neville from Harry Potter. He's so sweet and shy and I just love him!

[Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona)]

Could really never choose! Um...some I like:

Fang and Iggy from Maximum Ride
Percy from Percy Jackson and the Olympians
David from the Uglies Trilogy
Mr. Kaguera from the Manga Miracle Girls
And Redd from the Looking Glass Wars. She's a good villain.

[Allie]

OMG David and Redd!!! how could i 4get them!!!??? i'm in love with david. seriously. when she was with zane i was like NNOOO KILL HIM I LIKE DAVID ZANE IS DUMB.
sry i feel v. strongly about him.

[Arlette]

I guess my favorite character is Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With The Wind, which is also my favorite movie. I think I like her best because I can relate to her. No, I didn't live through the Civil War, but I am from the deep south, New Orleans to exact, and my uncle and aunt had a plantation which I spent many of my summers on with my little cousins.
Also my name is close to Scarlett, my name is Arlette, and you probably won't believe this but I cross my heart and kiss my elbow, I'm telling the truth. Until I had my second child, I too had an wighteen inch waist. I remember in high school some girls didn't believe that so one brought a measuring tape to school one day and I let her measure my waist and sure enough it was eighteen inches. And I kept it that size till I had my second child.
I also love Scarlett because she was a fighter and kept her family safe after the war and things were so difficult.

[Arlette]

I love your choices. I love those people also. I loved both movies that were made in the 1940s with some of my favorite actors and actresses.

[Arlette]

Grat choices. I love To Kill A Mocking Bird, and Gregory Peck made the perfect Atticus Finch.

I loved the book and the movie Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Bennett was a riot. Have you ever seen the movie of Pride and Prejudice that was made in 1941. Greer Garson was so lovely as Elizabeth, and I loved Eda Mae Oliver who played Mr. Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine. She was one of my all time favorite actresses when I was growing up.

[Arlette]

I too like all the ones you mentioned. Especially Elizabeth Benbett, and also Jane Eyre. I loved little Adel who was played by a delightful child actress, Margaret O'Brien. She was a big child star after Shirley Temple.

[Arlette]

Oh how I love that book A Tale of Two Cities, and I agree with you about Sydney Carton. I saw the movie with Ronald Coleman when it first came out back in the 1930s. Ronald Coleman was perfect as Sydney Carton, and that's what prompted me to read the book when I was a little older.

[Toni]

I enjoyed Ramses from The Mummy, also, and was always disappointed that there wasn't a sequel as I thought there was going to be. Two other characters I like are the "Gentlemen Bastards" Locke Lamora and his sidekick Jean from The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas under Red Skies. They remind me of the characters from some of those old adventure movies made during the Forties and Fifties--lovable, handsome, devil-may-care rogues. I also like Harry Copperfield Blackstone Dresden from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Harry's a wizard and is slowly isolating him from everything that makes a person human in his attempts to protect the city of Chicago from the supernatural forces and creatures that dwell in it.

[Rosemary]

Arlette, I enjoyed your post about Scarlett, and your reference to superstitious rituals to verify the truth reminded me of how my mother taught me that after rhyming in a sentence (Scarlett/Arlette) you should always kiss your thumb and make a wish. Wishing you fun reading!

[Rosemary]

Jim, your character choices caught my attention. Of course, I was deeply influenced by Holden Caulfield after reading Catcher in the Rye, but I'd no idea Billy Liar was a book before it was a movie. Now there's another novel for my to-read list. I saw the film so long ago but still remember Tom Courtney's wistful Billy and Julie Christie as the girl (can't remember her charachter's name)who told him "you just get on a train . . ." A short story that echoes the emotions of both Holden and Billy is Paul's Case by Willa Cather.
Thank you for your comment on Larkin's "Mr. Bleaney". It sent me off to read the poem, and now I'm haunted, too.