Speaking Volumes

I usually post on Friday, but with doing inventory this week I am a little late : ( . Although, I did have an idea rolling around in my head about that I wanted to write about – friendship. Inspired by Carol's recent post on books with the theme of female friendships I got to thinking, out of all the characters in all the books that I've read, who would I like to be friends with?

Actually, no one popped to mind right away, and I realized that many times the characters that make a good story are damaged, flawed, and sometimes even evil. But, after some thinking I came up with a short list of characters that are sweet, charming, funny, or just so special that I would love to have a real life friendship with them.

I would have to list the Big Friendly Giant, from the BFG, by Roald Dahl. I love the way he talks, I love that he catches dreams for a living, and in the end he is the hero. Plus, just imagine the perks that might accompany having a giant as a friend!

I know I mention this book ALL the time, but I could not write about characters that I'd love to be friends with without including nine year old Oskar Schell from Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. I love him because of his inventions, because of what he wears, because of his heavy boots, and because he's so hilarious and so sad. I also love Mr. Black and Oskar's Grandma. Basically, if you haven't read this book yet, what are you waiting for?

I also can't leave out Randle Patrick McMurphy, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, even though he's “crazy,” I think I'd like that friendship in small doses.

Lastly, I know I wouldn't want to be friends with Ignatius Reilly, from A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole, but I do think I would get hours of entertainment out of being pen pals with him, just like Myrna Minkoff seems to get in the book.

Click below to see NPR's list of the top 100 fictional characters since 1900. Not quite the same thing as characters you'd like to be friends with, but still pretty interesting!

http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/features/2002/mar/020319.characters.html

As I think of more of my favorite characters I'll add them to this post, in the meantime tell me what you're favorite characters are, who would you like to be friends (or maybe just pen pals) with?