This is my entry in the Top Ten Tuesday meme hosted today by Jamie at The Broke and the Bookish. Go take a look and see who the other participating bloggers are listing. Here's the link. Every Tuesday we list the Top Ten whatevers chosen for that week.
TOP TEN CHARACTERS I'D WANT AS FAMILY MEMBERS.
Hmmm....I'm thinking, I'm thinking....!
Okay, here they are, in no particular order:
1) Dr. John H. Watson as my grandfather (From the books by Arthur Conan Doyle.) So I could hear all about the Holmes stories at first hand. Watson is described by Doyle and Laurie R. King as a truly good man, seeming untouched by the sins of the world. (I paraphrase.) I like him. Plus it never hurts to have a doctor in the family.
2) Roderick Allyn as my father. (From the books by Ngaio Marsh.) Ngaio Marsh's splendid Scotland Yard inspector is well-read and brilliant, charming and good looking. A thinking man. A man devoted to his wife and family as well as his job. Plus, I'd get to live in England and travel all over Europe. If I couldn't have him as a husband, I'd want him as my father. Hmm, that sounds wierd. Well, you know what I mean. There's only one man in literature I'd want as a husband and he's coming up later.
3) The Dana Girls as my sisters. (From the books by Carolyn Keene.) And boy would we have fun adventuring and solving mysteries. I like the closeness these two characters have. I've never had a sister, but I'd sure like these two to tag around with.
4) Elvis Cole as my brother. (From the books by Robert Crais.) I love a competent man who knows how to get things done. And who better to have as a brother than a private eye who is close friends with Joe Pike? I could swoon over Joe from afar. (He is far too dangerous for me to fall in love with, although I would have a crush on him forever.) Elvis would be the go-to guy when trouble comes calling. Plus he would always have a handy shoulder to cry on.
5) Cliff Janeway as another brother. (From the books by John Dunning.) A cool guy who is a book collector/book dealer and shop owner in Denver. We could talk books and book collecting to our hearts' content. And when an adventure beckons, he'd be ready for that too.
6) Troy Allyn as my mom. (From the books by Ngaio Marsh.) Nice and handy since she's already married to Roderick Allyn. (Wouldn't want to break them up.) A brilliant artist and devoted mother. She is also not averse to adventure and mystery. What could be better?
7&8) Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy as aunt and uncle. (From the book by Jane Austen.) Don't know that I'd necessarily like living with them, but I'd sure want them in my life in some capacity. Uncle and aunt make a nice inclusion. We could visit them at Pemberly whenever we got an invite and we'd have a place to run to if life got too hectic. Plus hopefully I'd be remembered in their will. Never hurts to have a rich relative or two.
9) Forgot about a grandmother. Well, how about Thursday Next? (from the books by Jasper Fforde.) She's a literary detective, a traveler in the fictional world as well as the 'real'. She has a pet dodo named Pickwick. She solves mysteries and she knows a thing or two about what really goes on in literary circles. Think of the stories she'd have to tell.
10) The only man in fiction I'd marry. (Family includes marriage - right?) The man for me is: Archeologist/Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson. (From the books by Elizabeth Peters.) If you read these books you know what a larger-than-life character Emerson is. You also know that he's opinionated and a bit loony-tooney. (Well, maybe more than a bit.) He's also given to gigantic gestures and causing scenes wherever he goes. But he's also brilliant, romantic, handsome, devoted and mostly right most of the time AND he sits a horse beautifully. His wife Amelia Peabody and I would have to duke it out, though.
The thing is: You can't really do this kind of list so it makes any sense. Primarily because you have to disassociate the characters from their relationships inside their own fictional worlds. AND it's THOSE relationships and stories that make them the characters they are in the first place. This was the hardest list to work on for that reason alone.
Plus, I'm trying to imagine all these people cooped up together at a Christmas dinner celebration, and failing dismally. HA!
What do you think? What fictional characters would you like to call 'family'?
I like your reasons for all of them! Pemberley would be an excellent place to escape to, and Grandfather Watson would probably be the best storyteller ever :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dani. And thanks for hopping over and leaving a comment. This was the hardest list to make, yet. ;)
ReplyDeleteLet's bring Mma Precious Ramotswe of the Alexander McCall Smith books over from Botswana and make her a second grandmother. She's bright and capable as well as kind and understanding, and her lap would be just the right size to hold grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteA great choice, Grammie. She likes to solve myseries, too. She'd fit right into my fictional family. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd like Mma Precious Ramotswe as a sister, to adventure with and sit and chat with, have fun, laugh, confide in.
ReplyDeleteI can think of lots more women characters to have as sisters for adventures and chats and laughs.
All of your suggestions are good about fictitious relatives. I can't begin to think of this.
I'd like Commissario Guido Brunetti and Paola Brunetti as in-laws, so I could visit them and partake of pasta and fish dinners cooked superbly.
Kathy: Oh yes, we must have Italian relatives who invite us over for great big pasta dinners. Then aferwards we'd drink good wine and listen to the Commissario tell stories of his many cases!
ReplyDeleteMame Dennis would have to one of my aunts.
ReplyDeleteNick & Nora Charles would make excellent parents (at least for me)
Jane Marple would be my grandmother
Dagny Taggart from Atlas, Shrugged would be the judgmental but loving sister I never had.
Vanyel Ashkevron, form Mercedes Lackey books, would make a great spouse.
Perry Mason would make a great uncle
Sherlock Holmes would be another great uncle
Encyclopedia Brown would be a great son for me, if this was my family
Nancy Drew would be my niece
I can tell I'm reading too many mysteries right now. Only 3 of these "family" members are non crime solvers.
Nick and Nora Charles would make great neighbors. Then one could crash and have cocktails, and chat for hours--and play with Asta. And then go home, watch old movies and chill.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, Italian relatives, especially the Brunettis, as Paola is a terrific cook. She is an English professor who loves Henry James (he's the second man in the marriage), is very smart and outspoken (some folks don't like her, as she is a "scandalous liberated woman," meaning she says what she thinks, and gives her spouse a hard time when he wakes her at 6 a.m.), and she is a fabulous cook. Every time I read a Donna Leon book, I am ravenous, between the pasta dinners and the trattorias for coffee and a pastry. All my will power vanishes, and I'm ready to run to the nearest Italian restaurant...if only trattorias were on my corner--or maybe not!
You would love these books; I hope you read them.
Ryan: Oh, Auntie Mame! How could I have forgotten her? She's make a great...aunt! I think for a mom, she'd be too exhausting!
ReplyDeleteJane Marple is TOO sharp. I thought of her and then I thought you'd never be able to get anything by her. HA!
All of mine were mystery characters except for Liz Bennett and Mr. Darcy. Oh well, they're my favorite type of books.
Perry Mason, of course. It's always good to have a lawyer in the family. ;)
Kathy: Nick and Nora WOULD make great neighbors, you're right. Okay, they've just moved in next door. Ha! Don't know what Rocky would have to say about Asta. Oh yes I do!
ReplyDeleteWell, Kathy, in this fantasy world, we would make sure to have a trattoria across the street.
How's that?
I have to get my hands on some more Donna Leon books, that's for sure.
You picked some great ones! I just checked over at your blog and posted a comment. I like your choice of Captain Haddock. Your list was a refreshingly different one. :)
ReplyDelete