Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Book List Meme: Characters I Love to Hate



This is the second of Rebecca's Book List Memes.  I couldn't think of a list for the first one but this one was fairly easy.  So without further ado ...

Three Characters I Love To Hate


1. Lydia Gwilt from Armadale by Wilkie Collins
2. William Collins from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. Phoebus Daunt from The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox

Miss Gwilt was the obvious choice here.  No character is more odious than she -- but in such a delicious way!  Mister Collins is revolting in every way possible and you can't help but smile every time he is insulted to his face.  And Phoebus Daunt -- oh how easy it is to hate what he makes Edward Glyver eventually do.

I love to hate you ... and you ... and you,
K

10 comments:

  1. I'm not sure I could limit myself to three, but I'm sure Lydia Gwilt would make the list. And I'd have to consider your other choices. And then there's Undine Spragg, Gollum, Count Olaf (Series of Unfortunate Events).

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  2. Exactly! How to stop at three? The ones that come immediately to mind are: First, of course, the Queens of Anti-heroines, Scarlett from "Gone With the Wind," and Becky of "Vanity Fair."

    I'd also throw in P.G. Wodehouse's Aunt Agatha and Roderick "Eulalie" Spode, as well as Elizabeth Mapp and Lucia Pillson, the starring roles in E.F. Benson's "Mapp and Lucia" series.

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  3. Ohmigosh, I have read all those books and hate all those characters, too! Which reminds me, I have to read the sequel to The Meaning of Night...

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  4. I don't know them but I'll hate them too!!!

    And I keep drawing blanks on all the questions and then forget to go back and think more about it. Once I get my horrible review backlog controlled, maybe I'll be able to think more.

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  5. Fabulous list, Kristen! Collins and Wickham are both characters that are good to hate.


    Btw, love the new look of your blog!

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  6. I almost picked Caroline Bingley from P&P!

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  7. What a fun meme.
    But oh so hard.
    Sooo many choices, and I often hate the characters I am meant to like!

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  8. Teresa - The main thing I focused on was that this didn't say "top three" -- otherwise, I would have thought about it for hours. But just listing three worked! I didn't think of Count Olaf but that's another great one. And I almost put Gollum too. :)

    Undine - I'm sure I could have kept going for quite a while!

    Aarti - Haha! Yes, you need to read The Glass of Time. It's not quite as good but I still really liked it.

    Jenners - I almost missed doing this but then I was really tired and had a headache and was trying to think of a quick post idea. I'm glad I chose to do this!

    Rebecca - Thanks and thanks!

    Lisa - Ooh ... I hate Caroline Bingley too! Don't they always just make her TERRIBLE in the films too?

    Al - I would love to hear which characters you hate that you are meant to like ... that sounds amusing!

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  9. Agree with Collins! And, why didn't I think of Gollum when I was doing my list? He's perfect for this list! I did consider other Tolkien characters though.

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  10. Tif - This is one that I keep thinking about. I could probably come up with a different list of three every week!

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