So what better time than this to finish 'THE' book tag, pinned on me by Preethi of incessant musings. This tag has been appearing on everyone's blog of late, and of course as usual i'm doing it verrry late. Considering I had a few earth shattering issues to handle (READ THAT AS SETTLING BACK TO SCHOOL ROUTINE AND YELLING MY LUNGS OUT!!!), i think preethi is going to forgive me here...
The tag reads, list out my top ten literary characters... I wish it was authors, because if a chracter has managed to speak to you, it is clearly the writer's magic working there..because it is so difficult to envisage various characters and bring them to life with words...
And so i delved into the recesses of my mind to discover those characters who i fell in love with when i was in school....It was at school where i was also exposed to shakespeare and the other classics (we had a wonderful english teacher)
1. Rebellious Jo from "Little Women" by Louis May Alcott ...
I found so much in common with this spirited girl. She remains my favorite girl...
2. Carefree Huck Finn from the Adventures of Huckle berry Finn by Mark Twain...
He surely did take me on a roller coaster ride right from his escape from his drunk father to the adventures shared with his friend Tom Sawyer...
3. Allan Quatermain from King Solomon's Mines by Sir H Rider Haggard...
Did you know the novel was the consequence of a one pound bet? Haggard's brother claimed that he would not be able to write a novel half as good as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. But Haggard did ,taking readers like me on a complete adventure trip filled with drama, murder and a treasure hunt...
4.
The indomitable Sherlock Holmes and the very likeable Hercule Poirot...
hats off to these two gentlemen for their extremely unique ways of ensuring that my leisure hours were satisfactorily occupied. I remember being gifted a volume of "The Adventures of sherlock Holmes" and devouring it from page to page,my admiration for the detective growing immensely with each mystery he solved... As for the Belgian detective, i love him..and my mission was to read everyone of Agatha Christie's books by hook or crook, exam or no exam...which i achieved soon enough...
5. The "villain'of Wuthering Heights...the vengeful Heathcliff...
i should be hating him but oh what's forbidden did seem so alluring especially to a young mind....
6. Tom from Uncle Tom's cabin...
i read this when i was perhaps in class 5.. it dealt with slavery and racism...
7. The unnamed narrator in 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier...and Jane of Jane Eyre
8. Perry Mason...
another dashing man and a defense attorney to boot...it's been ages since i read an earl stanley gardner!!!
9. Kabuliwalla by Rabindranath Tagore.
Needs no introduction and brings a lump into my throat everytime I read it
10. Of course the Secret Seven and Famous Five,
who enlivened many a bored day with their adventures and delicious scones...I used to always be 'hungry' after reading one of Enid Blyton's books...
11. The absentminded Lord Emsworth, the sly Jeeves and the comic Bertie Wooster...
Bring on the smiles...:)
12. Meggie Cleary in the Thorn Birds...
and her journey into love and out of it...
a special mention about the adorable Calvin who makes so much sense as long as it is not my son saying that :P
sigh...so many more to write and already 14 characters written down...
I'm ending this reluctantly...and i loved doing this, because this brought back many fond memories...
Now to pass on the tag...
Sumana, Romila, Rayshma, WIAN, JLT...
Who's your favourite?
24 comments:
I remember my days with H Finn..it was a part of our syllabus in 8th grade I guess..It was fun at school
btw one book from childhood I would never forget is Don Quixote..I just loved his stupidity and all the charectors in the book
Some good Reads there.
**Of course the Secret Seven and Famous Five,
used to be addicted to em! :)
Later on, I read alot of Classics like Pride n Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights etc etc. The Bronte sisters' Writing fascinated me so very much.
Keshi.
did you watch sean connery as allan quatermain in 'the league of extraordinary gentlemen' ?
wow :) That was like back to the golden school days. Lovely list there and I am glad to see that I didnt miss out many of your favourites!
Thanks for tagging. This time, I promise to be prompt. I give myself maximum of a week from now :D
Sigh!! Am so out of touch with books.
hmmm....YELLING MY LUNGS OUT??....lol....
i like secret seven too..one of the earliest books i started reading!...
I have to do this tag too courtesy Prats...To be honest I am going to read this after I am done iwth the tag. Let me see how much we match :) :)
You are forgiven... the school day books were something right? I just picked up my Jane Austen works again.. this time going to read Mansfield Park! I love Jo too and Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer... I am going to get glassy eyed and start dreaming again!!
BTW I love the pic of you and your two boys reading...
Woooooow ! u have an awesome memory! so many of ur fav characters were mine too...like Jo, like kabuliwalla...like famous five n secret seven....!
but i cldnt hv recollected it the way u did! way to go gurl!
n yeah..im back frm my vacation as well...n i already feel like i despertely am in need of another vacation!
rambler...
yes, we too had huck finn an dtom sawyer as part of teh sylabbus, but i was never happy with abridged versions and searched teh library for the actual book...
Keshi...
i loved jane austen's books too...emma was a fav, besides pride and prejudice
manuscrypts..
no, it sounds interesting, have added it to my 'to watch ' list..:)
WIAN
i'm sure these are fav of many...am waiting to see your list...don't make me wait too long...:)
solitaire...
you can always get back to reading, once you get the time that is...:)
brocas
ah! the lungs bit caught the doctor's eye, didn't it? :)
joy...
hmm good idea, though you have read a wider variety of books than me, for sure...
and yes, that's us in the pic...this was the initial days when we had just arrived in spore,and yearning for home and anything familiar...
Roaming around, we reached this huge bookstore and it had a cozy reading nook...swaraj and i just plonked ourselves(i didn't even remove my backpack as you can see) and grabbed the just released harry potter and the deathly hallows...and that is how the hubby found the three of us, lost to the world :)
now go do tha tag, i'm eager to read it ...:)
preethi...
i used to be a loyal Jane austen fan. for some reason i find myself hesitating to reread those books...i remeber reading "Far from the madding crowd" and not understanding parts of it..i think i read it too early...
have you read "Uncle tom's cabin"? that made a high imnpression on me, a loooong time ago...
pavi...
u're back!! so how was the vacation? and teh post vacation blues? i'm still having it...
and yes, i remember most of the books i read...i wish i could read with the same intensity now...
Hi Suma, I share a few of your faves. Kabuliwala in the first place. Daphne du Maurier is superb. More than her novels, I have found her short stories enjoyable. Remember "Birds" that Hitchcock made into a movie? Her stories of the supernatural did manage to get one tense.
And Jeeves & Wooster is an anytime pick for me too.. Infact,anything by PGW :)
On a diff note, I used to check in on your cub tales long way back and have enjoyed reading them all.. hope to see more in it soon!
-Balu
Balu,
i used to be hooked onto Daphne du maurier...I have seen Birds (that sure did give me the shivers) and quite positive that i've read her short stories...its been a long time, since i read her...I think i must reread them...
as for cub tales, u've reminded me..must update there...:)
While on Enid Blyton, did you ever read the Five Find-outers. Liked them the best - even over the Famous Five and Secret Seven series... and loved the boarding school series too (Mallory Towers and St. Claires)
rohini....i loved the mallory towers, naughtiest girl etc...but famous five was the first book in the enid blyton series...
five findouters - yes, i had read almost very single one of tehm...
my son used to be crazy about enid blyton, esp five find outers...
now that he's hooked onto animorphs and harry potter, that's kiddie stuff for him!!
Famous Five ROCKS! :D)
hey that pic is of yur boys ? shoo very cute!
i still read fairy tales! :D
and heyy... did this tag.. when u were basking in the glory of home.:P
here...: http://rayshmadoodlez.blogspot.com/2008/06/which-character-is-it-anyway.html#links
and i'm backk!!! :)
Wonderful listing..and rememberints the imprints left on you..WoW
if somebody tagged me on the subject //list out my top ten literary characters//
my page would be unfortunately blank..what all I have missed in life !!
TC
CU
there's a little child in you....
loved and can identify with a lot of books up there...and yes for the rest..i need to read more !!
Wow! that looks a lot like my list. Coming here after a long time and devouring each post now.
Will love doing this tag as I am the probervial book-worm who used to read everything other than school books:)
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