I was looking for ideas for a post, and came across an old draft of this meme, which I apparently originally saw on Take Time to Smell the Coffee, probably a year ago. It seemed worthy of a resurrection.
1. If you could host a party with 7 literary characters, who would they be and why?
Moll Flanders, Odysseus, Tom Bombadil, Jerome K Jerome (yes, he’s a real person, but he is also a character in his own book), Tamar (from Genesis), Beatrice (from Much Ado About Nothing), Pudd’nhead Wilson. The clever wisecracks would stretch my mind, the laughter would nourish me for weeks, and whatever else that party might be, it would absolutely not be dull.
2. Who is your literary role model?
3. Which literary house would you like most to live in?
I flatter myself that I could turn Manderley into a happy home, but I probably couldn’t. So I’ll go with Rose Cottage from Robin McKinley’s Rose-Daughter.
4. Which literary couple would you like most for parents?
Gilbert and Anne Blythe.
5. Pick 3 literary characters you would like to have as siblings.
Dorothy Gale, Karana (from Island of the Blue Dolphins) and Soup.
6. Who is your favorite literary villain?
I have already discussed my appreciation of Professor Moriarty, so here I will say Grendel’s mother. I love that the old mother is even more dangerous than the son.
7. Name a character that most people dislike, but that you do not. Why do you like them?
This one is tough, because I don’t know who most people would dislike. The Rev. Dimmesdale, maybe? I think his character faced the truth about himself and was redeemed in the end. What more can any of us ask for?
8. Which minor character deserves a book all to themselves, in your opinion?
9. Which character do you identify most with in literature?
Josephine March.
10. If you could go into a novel, which one would it be and why?
I would not want to go into any of the novels I like. Too much murder, mayhem and monsters. If I had to, I would probably pick some place saccharine like Mitford, just because it’s safe and relatively free from turmoil.
11. Name 3 – 7 books that you rarely see on people’s favorite book lists, that are high on your own.
I think I’ve pretty much answered this already.
12. Which is your least favorite book of those that are considered “classics”?
I have never been able to finish Jude the Obscure. Oh, poor men. Life is so hard for poor men, the way they have to be responsible for their scr*wing. Boo hoo.
Doing this meme made me realize that I just don’t read enough (I said that to my husband and he laughed at me). So I will tag, if they are interested, some bloggers who read even more than I do: Bub and Pie, Julie the Bookworm, and Beck.
Last night you dreamed you went to Rose Cottage again?
AND YES! BUNTER NEEDS HIS OWN BOOK!
Oh, thank God you tagged me with this. I was reading through thinking “TAG ME TAG ME TAG ME” and voila, you did!
#4 — nice one.
I’m all aquiver! The whole way through this meme I’m thinking, “I want it I want it I want it…”
And Harriet Vane rocks.
OMG you’re a Dorothy Sayers fan too!!!
And ditto, I was thinking ooh I hope she tagged me… thanks!
I love Dorothy Sayers!
Do you know the Mapp & Lucia books? If not, I think you’d like them.
a great meme, very interesting, and makes me think that I have not read enough of the classics. I could not agree more with the Beatrice part, she would make a lively party companion!
Karana would be a good sibling. Always handy in a pinch.
I love this meme idea, but am now feeling a bit under read. The only thing I’ve read by Dorothy Sayers is snippets of “The Lost Tools of Learning.” By the way, Beatrice is one of my favorite Shakespearean characters. I want to name my next daughter Beatrice.
I love this meme! Love good books.
Ah but I’ve devoured everything of Hardy’s I could get my hands on.
I like your Moriarty thought, he’s not bad. I think it’s easier for me to answer the opposite: name a hero you dislike that others love.
Thank you for the best meme ever! I loved your answers.
[...] Veronica Mitchell tagged me for this one. Some of these questions were pretty tough and some were downright painful. The painful questions were the ones that asked you to consider fictional characters as if they were real. Who would you invite to a party, who would you want for a sibling, etc. Those questions made me aware of something I had never before articulated, though I’ve felt it all my life: the bittersweetness of fiction. Like the bittersweetness of parenting, it’s there all the time, underlying even the most intense pleasure. And the better the book, the more poignant it is, because it’s not real and you will never get to meet your best friends. [...]
Funny–when I saw that pic you posted, I thought that you look a little like I picture Harriet Vane. I love her too
She’s a great role model, although sometimes just a little too deferential of her lord and master, don’t you think?
I love this meme! I’m inspired to read more. Oh no, thinks my husband.