Another Literary Meme

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?

Harriet Vane.

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?

Bunter.

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.