Top Ten Tuesday (June 26) – Characters I Think I Know in Real Life

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, where the terrific team over at The Broke and the Bookish give us excuses to make lists and indulge our inner OCD tendencies.

I’ve got to be honest, guys. I looked at the topic for this week, and I just about skipped it, because I’ve got nothing.

But then I was sad, because Top Ten Tuesday is my favorite meme, and I always enjoy coming up with my lists and seeing what others come up with. Plus, I’ve seen Galaxy Quest enough times that “Never give up, never surrender” is kind of emblazoned on my psyche, so admitting defeat wasn’t really an option.

The good news is that my psyche is apparently not opposed to a bit of cheating, so I decided to tweak the topic to one I could do.

So here’s the topic I was supposed to do:

Top Ten Characters Who Remind Me Of Myself Or Someone I Know In Real Life

Yup, complete blank. Part of the problem is that most of what I read is YA, and I am just…A. But even if I think of myself and my friends from back when I was in the YA age bracket, I still came up blank. Not a lot of authors tend to write books featuring characters who enjoy Star Trek and Scrabble. Comic books, maybe, but that’s probably because characters in books are on the verge of developing superpowers, and my friends and I never developed superpowers. So. This topic wasn’t going to work for me.

Here’s the one I’ve decided to do instead:

Top Ten Characters I Think I’d Have Been Friends With If We Went to High School Together

(That’s close enough, right?)

1. Hermione GrangerHarry PotterI was a big nerd and a squeaky clean kid. So was Hermione. We would either have been BFFs or arch nemeses, because that’s the way it works with smart kids.

2. Simon, The Mortal InstrumentsI have only read the first book in this series, but Simon was my favorite and I could totally see us hanging out and not wanting to go to clubs together.

3. Kent McFuller, Before I FallI can’t say anyone I was friends with in high school actually wore a bowler hat, but I still think that Kent would have fit right in.

4. Angela, TwilightShe’s sweet and soft-spoken and kind of hangs back while her friends arm wrestle for attention. I can relate to that.

5. Peeta, The Hunger GamesOkay, it’s highly probable that Peeta would be too cool to be my friend because he’d probably be on the football team or something like that, and not in the marching band with me, but I’m going to hold out hope that we’d be buds.

 6. Chuck, The Maze RunnerGranted, we will probably never know what Chuck was like before the Maze, but he seems like the kind of kid I would have joked with in study hall.

7. Kate, Die For Me. Assuming her parents never died and she never moved to Paris and never fell for the undead Vincent, we’d probably have gotten along pretty well. She’s quiet and bookish and not one for large groups of people, and that was pretty much me in high school.

8. Beth, Little WomenI love Jo and all, but Beth is the one I think I would have clicked with. She was probably the type that was quiet in groups, especially when there were strong personalities present (like, you know, every other member of her family), but was lots of fun one-on-one. Some of my best friends are like that.

9. Inigo Montoya, The Princess BrideI’ll admit this one is probably just wishful thinking, but wouldn’t it be great to be friends with teenage Inigo? Maybe he’d have been an exchange student. I never actually befriended any exchange students, but I probably would have if Inigo was one.

10. Marlee, The SelectionBecause honestly, Marlee would have been friends with everyone in high school.

So there you go. Sorry I cheated.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (June 4)

Welcome to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It’s time again for me to set lofty reading goals for myself! And maybe kind of achieve them! Huzzah!

Last week I actually read all the books I wanted to read (although I wasn’t able to acquire the two new books. Ran out of moolah. Darn it. Who wants to buy me a present?) so this week I can start all fresh and new. How exciting!

My library finally came through for me this week, and I now have the first books of several series I’ve been hearing tons of good things about. I can’t possibly get through them all this week, so I hereby dub June “Bandwagon Month,” wherein I will finally find out what all the hype is about.

On the docket for this week:

Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card. This is not part of Bandwagon Month (although I guess the Ender series could be considered a bandwagon series in the sci-fi crowd). This one’s just for me. I’ve read every other Ender/Shadow book and loved them. Time to find out what’s happening to a very tall Bean in space.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. No, I’ve never read the Mortal Instruments books. Yes, I know this is a travesty. Time to take the plunge.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about this fantasy series, and I’m so, so excited to finally get to read it. I also checked out Fire, which will probably kick off next week’s list.

And three books is probably about all I can manage this week, considering I’m also behind on my reviews, plus I need to allow time for all the Armchair BEA madness. I think it’s going to be a good week.

PSA: I will probably be behind in my commenting for memes this week because I’m on a Commenting Committee for Armchair BEA, and keeping up with that will be taking up a lot of time. But I WILL reply to your comments after the Armchair BEA madness is over. So please be patient! Thanks!