This week's BTT question:
Sometimes I find eccentric characters quirky and fun, other times I find them too unbelievable and annoying. What are some of the more outrageous characters you’ve read, and how do you feel about them?
Not an easy one, this. I really have trouble remembering characters I read in books. But I'll try anyway.
Hercule Poirot. That's the first name that came to my mind. I've been reading too much Agatha Christie over the last month and I'm almost getting used to Poirot's strange behaviour. But he's definitely one of the most quirky (and funny) characters I've seen.
Luna Lovegood. One of the most eccentric and yet one of the most likeable characters I've ever come across. You only need to read the Harry Potter series to know what I mean.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Now that I'm talking about the Potter series, how can I miss Hogwarts' very, very strange Headmaster? I mean, if he doesn't make it to this list, then who will? ;-)
General MacKenzie "The Hawk" Hawkins I didn't much like the two books -- The Road to Gandolfo and The Road to Omaha -- in which the Hawk made an appearance. But there's no denying the fact that he is one of the craziest characters to have lived within the pages of a book. unlike the other three characters I've mentioned, I'll put General Hawkins in the "unbelievable and annoying" category.
That's about all I can think of right now. Maybe I should do this meme next week, so I get enough time to remember some more characters, but I've already missed last week's BTT, and I don't want to miss another one this week. Here's my reply to last week's question.
What's your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller... whether they've read them or not, everybody "knows" those books. I'm talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, "Huh? Never heard of it?"
Mark Haddon's touching book about an autistic child, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time always brings that kind of reaction when I mention it. The closest that anyone got to placing the book in the literary world was when a friend asked me if it was a Sherlock Holmes story. At least he got the source of the title right! :-) (The title was taken from a sentence in Silver Blaze, a short story featuring Sherlock Holmes).
Another book that gets that reaction is Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Every time I mention that book, people try to correct me, saying it's a Spielberg movie and not a Crichton book. Ditto for Conan Doyle's The Lost World. Nobody seems to know that Conan Doyle first thought of the word "Jurassic Park", which Crichton used in his book that was finally made into a Hollywood movie.
Considering the popularity of The Da Vinci Code, I'm always surprised to find that very few people have read -- or even heard of -- The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. Both the books cover very similar topics and (at least in my opinion) The Rule of Four is almost as good as (if not better than) Dan Brown's best-seller, but it is the Da Vinci Code that everyone talks about. I guess the lack of controversy is why The Rule... isn't as famous.
13 comments:
Yes, I couldn't immediately think of characters at all when I read this question. You've come up with quite a few though and ones that I like.
I haven't heard of The Rule of Four. I'll look it up - it sounds interesting. I did like the Da Vinci Code, even though many people slated it for one or more reasons.
I do agree. General is so annoying. I love the Ludlum books. However the two you mention, I did not like at all.
Poirot is weird, Luna is crazy!
Here is my response!
I've heard of Rule of Four - just haven't read it yet!
A lot of people have mentioned the Potter series.
I have heard of those books (hurray for me) but haven't read them yet.
Yes, Luna is quirky but very lovable.
Jurassic Park got a bit too scientific for me in parts, but it was still a good book.
I'll have to check out The Rule of Four. I enjoy the topic of The DaVinci Code and the like.
I hadn't thought about Luna, but yes, I think you're right there.
Wow, I'm shocked people don't realize Jurassic was a Chrichton novel before it was a movie---usually it seems like everyone knows about his books.
I almost wrote about Luna, too - definitely a favorite (and a fellow Ravenclaw!)
I don't really like any of the Harry Potter characters which is probably why I never bothered to finish the series.
I've posted my four favorites on my blog.
Hapy BTT.
I didn't think of Hercule Poirot, though I wondered including about Miss Marple, who is my favourite Christie character.
Hercule Poirot is a great character!
And The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is on my Amazon Wish list -- it sounds excellent. :)
@booksplease, marg, ebony: You really must read The Rule of Four if you liked The Da Vinci Code. It's great.
@gautami: Yeah, humour somehow doesn't look right in Ludlum's hands.
@chris: Almost all the characters in the Potter series are quirky in some way, that's probably why.
@table talk: Luna is almost the definition of quirky, isn't she? ;-)
@heather: Well, actually I myself hadn't read the book when I watched the movie. It's only recently that I started reading Crichton.
@teabird: You're a Ravenclaw!!! So you go to Hogwarts? :D LOL! I took one of those online sorting tests myself. Apparently, I'm a Hufflepuff. :-)
@pussreboots: Well, I guess there are many people who feel that way. Quirky can get annoying sometimes. :-)
@geraniumcat: I've read very few Miss Marple books, that's why she's not on the list. On the other hand, I've been reading too much of Hercule Poirot recently -- 5 Poirot books in the past month -- and that's why he's on top of the list. :-)
@thomma lyn: The Curious Incident... really is excellent. :-)
Of course Luna Lovegod, she is such a great character.
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