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Now onto this week’s discussion question:
You walk into a room with every fictional character in every book you’ve ever read. Who do you look for first?
Huck Finn came to mind first (soft spot for wild boys?) but then just started imagining all kinds of characters and realized I would head for the corner bookshelf and find Elizabeth Bennet and Jo Marsh and who knows who else there.
What a fun question. I'm like a deer in the headlights. I'll go with the Baron Cosimo di Rondó, Calvino's nutcase who lived in the trees for so long during that fascinating period of Italian history. Though technically, he wouldn't be in that room; he'd be up in a tree outside a window.
The fever wracked Kurtz in Heart of Darkness. I’d have words with that boy.
And as an afterthought, in Apocalypse Now director’s cut, the ladies in the Bunny chopper at that wrecked forward supply base in the monsoon. Seemed fun.
Less well known: But either Elwin Ransom (From CS Lewis' "Space Trilogy") or Roderick Childermass (from any of the "Johnny Dixon" books by John Bellairs).
The Boxcar Children. If we hit it off, I'd invite them over to help me fix things around the house. Nobody is more resourceful, and hopefully they'd still charge 1924 prices.
James T. Kirk…nobody cooler than Jim Kirk. James Bond and Jack Reacher too. Round it off with the 10th Doctor (from Doctor Who). Ishmael from Moby Dick. Any of Hemingway’s main protagonists. I need to stop. Lol
a giant mole, then Joseph(and his brothers) then Sherlock Holmes then Gerda then I think wow overwhelming let them look for me ain't I fictional too, after all?
Mr Knightley from Emma. Every time I read that book I fall in love with him a little bit more. My eyes might also look for Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, because when I first read that book as a teenager, I thought he was terribly romantic and tragic, and I wept buckets at the end, though now I think his behaviour is a little disturbing..
I would love to have a tea with Death and discuss philosophy when he's off work. Then off to watch Sherlock and Poirot battle it off solving a crime while Ms Marple shakes her head and sighs.. "Men"
Then perhaps squeeze in the tight space of the beating tell tale heart to torment the protagonist to madness.
Oh and I wouldn't mind being one of the mad AI Pennyroyal's victim for transformation.
So interesting. Obviously avoid the villains and psychopaths. Too many heroes and heroines would be too glamorous for me. I'd like to find someone quiet and unassuming, just so that I could say thank you for their example, and check that it had all worked out for them. I'm thinking Ann Elliot from Persuasion, or the narrator of Rebecca!
Larissa Antipova, from Dr. Zhivago, no question (decision admittedly driven by Julie Christie). BUT, she's talking to George Milton from Of Mice and Men, and as I approach, I waver.
Id be interested in chatting with Bartleby, but I suspect he'd prefer not to.
Thanks for the shout out!! It’s a toss up between Poirot and Vito Corleone lol
Huck Finn came to mind first (soft spot for wild boys?) but then just started imagining all kinds of characters and realized I would head for the corner bookshelf and find Elizabeth Bennet and Jo Marsh and who knows who else there.
What a fun question. I'm like a deer in the headlights. I'll go with the Baron Cosimo di Rondó, Calvino's nutcase who lived in the trees for so long during that fascinating period of Italian history. Though technically, he wouldn't be in that room; he'd be up in a tree outside a window.
Ender Wiggin and then Harry Bosch.
Anna Karenina. She was hot and deserved better.
Thank you for the kind mention! And I think George Smiley would have some stories I’d like to hear.
Sherlock Holmes.
There is murder afoot.
The fever wracked Kurtz in Heart of Darkness. I’d have words with that boy.
And as an afterthought, in Apocalypse Now director’s cut, the ladies in the Bunny chopper at that wrecked forward supply base in the monsoon. Seemed fun.
Orlando has such chutzpah and intrigue. Also Darcy, I want to see if he holds up in real life.
Buck from "The Call of The Wild" (and I hope he doesn't go for my neck...).
Dracula, maybe- gotta get him before sundown.
Natasha Rostov, the first woman I ever loved.
@M. E. Rothwell What a brilliant question! Gonna take a bit to think about this one. And thanks for such a lovely mention.
Less well known: But either Elwin Ransom (From CS Lewis' "Space Trilogy") or Roderick Childermass (from any of the "Johnny Dixon" books by John Bellairs).
Both professors oddly enough. And I'm a dropout!
Edmund Dantes from Count of Monte Cristo. Too many questions to ask. That or Achilles.
The Boxcar Children. If we hit it off, I'd invite them over to help me fix things around the house. Nobody is more resourceful, and hopefully they'd still charge 1924 prices.
Albus Dumbledore, because he’s the only one I trust to protect me from all the psychos, killers and demonic creatures in the room.
Holden Caulfield
Although he probably wouldn't speak to me --too old! lol
From LOTR, Legolas, but only if it's Orlando Bloom dressed up as him (BE STILL MY HEART)
From The Dragonbone Chair - either Simon or Miriamele
Hmmm, there'd be quite a crowd....but I'd be on the lookout for
Fabrice de Sauveterre (if I was younger)
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - he'd be fun, drinking too much, followed by wild girls and sooo interesting
Miss Marple (she'd have all the gossip on everybody)
Dickon Sowerby (grown up, of course)
I will love to meet Don Quixote de lá Mancha
zerbino
James T. Kirk…nobody cooler than Jim Kirk. James Bond and Jack Reacher too. Round it off with the 10th Doctor (from Doctor Who). Ishmael from Moby Dick. Any of Hemingway’s main protagonists. I need to stop. Lol
(wow. telepathy)
a giant mole, then Joseph(and his brothers) then Sherlock Holmes then Gerda then I think wow overwhelming let them look for me ain't I fictional too, after all?
PS only mistakes are real lol
Mr Knightley from Emma. Every time I read that book I fall in love with him a little bit more. My eyes might also look for Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, because when I first read that book as a teenager, I thought he was terribly romantic and tragic, and I wept buckets at the end, though now I think his behaviour is a little disturbing..
I would love to have a tea with Death and discuss philosophy when he's off work. Then off to watch Sherlock and Poirot battle it off solving a crime while Ms Marple shakes her head and sighs.. "Men"
Then perhaps squeeze in the tight space of the beating tell tale heart to torment the protagonist to madness.
Oh and I wouldn't mind being one of the mad AI Pennyroyal's victim for transformation.
Nicholas Jenkins, the central character in Anthony Powell's 12 volume "A Dance to the Music of Time."
Jo March
So interesting. Obviously avoid the villains and psychopaths. Too many heroes and heroines would be too glamorous for me. I'd like to find someone quiet and unassuming, just so that I could say thank you for their example, and check that it had all worked out for them. I'm thinking Ann Elliot from Persuasion, or the narrator of Rebecca!
Professor Woland (the Devil) from Bulgakov's Master and Margarita
Charlotte and Thomas Pitt from the Anne Perry mysteries.
Larissa Antipova, from Dr. Zhivago, no question (decision admittedly driven by Julie Christie). BUT, she's talking to George Milton from Of Mice and Men, and as I approach, I waver.
Alice (in Wonderland)
Gandalf––but he may not be there because he can appear whenever he wants and still be on time––and so in that case Charles Swann.
First thought, the Finch family from To Kill A Mockingbird
Charlotte and Thomas Pitt from the Anne Perry mysteries
From Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden, The Authoress, Eliza Makepeace
Also Kate Morton, Homecoming, Jess and her mother
Thomas Cromwell
I know the question says room and not party, but I picture it as a cocktail party and as such, I want to be standing with Francis Abernathy.
007
Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell
Alice…I’d want her to show me the rabbit hole
Alice…I’d want her to show me the rabbit hole
Vimes.