Friday, June 08, 2007

Fiction fun


It's all rainy outside and it's the perfect weather to curl up with a good book. Reading is one of my fave pastimes even though I haven't read a good book in too long. I thought for fun, and to get people talking about their favourite books and authors, I would count down my top 15 favourite recurring fictional characters. Let me know who are your faves.

15)Eve Duncan - The heroine of Iris Johnannsen's suspense novels annoys me because she is remarkably stubborn, especially when it comes to returning the feelings of her love interest. You still end up rooting for her though.

14)Kinsey Millhone - Sue Grafton's private eye is a bit of a loner and has lousy luck with love but is a good person to have on your side.

13) Stephanie Plum - A wackier version of Kinsey Millhone, the bounty-hunting Plum and her family deserve their own sitcom. The series is by Janet Evanovich.

12) The Vampire Lestat - The anti-hero of anti-heroes, Anne Rice's Lestat somehow gets you to feel sorry for him, even when you're upset that he's killing off secondary characters.

11)Briget Jones - Yes, Bridget was a book character before she made it to the big screen. Helen Fielding's lovable and insecure protagonist is a favourite of many.

10) Anita Blake - I've only read one book in Laurel K. Hamilton's series, but her gun-toting, zombie-killing heroine will grab you instantly. Oh and she's part-vampire and has a very interesting substitute for blood-sucking.

9)James Bond - Ian Fleming's British uber-spy is a big screen hit. Bond is the ultimate male chauvinist, and I tend to root for the female characters to kick his butt.

8) Dr. Alex Cross - The ultimate profiler of serial killers, James Patterson's hero is smart as a whip and definitely the person you need on your side when there's a murderer lurking around.

7) Eve Dallas - J. D. Robb's heroine of the In Death series is one of my favourites. A smart aleck with a rough past, Eve is a bit of a maverick and as sarcastic as they come.

6) Anansi - Though the Anansi tales came mostly from oral tradition, a few of his stories were written down. I had to get some Caribbean flavour in here!

5) Mack Bolan - Don Pendleton's Executioner is all about revenge and boy does he know how to exact it. Pendleton actually wrote a few of the Mack Bolan books in Barbados.

4) Professor Robert Langdon - Dan Brown is the new kid on the block compared to a few of the other authors here, but boy did he arrive with a bang! The hero of Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons is not a tough guy, but he's smart and one lucky fellow. You'll understand when you read the books.

3) Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes is so iconic many people think he actually existed. I hope he did and I would have loved to meet him. Capital!

2) Sean Dillon - Jack Higgins' former IRA bad boy gets under your skin from the first page. You're not sure you're supposed to like him but he's so darn likeable that you give in.

1) Lucas Davenport - The protagonist of John Sandford's Prey series is my favourite because he is so three dimensional he pops off the page. He's smart like Holmes, rich, good-looking but far from perfect. He makes a good friend but a real bad enemy.

Special mention goes to J.T. Edson's Floating Outfit characters - Dusty Fog, the Ysabel Kid, Waco, Mark Counter, Doc, Red Blaze and others. Those cowboys used to liven up my summer reading and they need a category all by themselves.

Next week, we do movies!!
Have a great weekend!

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