Top 10 Character Names I Love

This week's Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish feels oddly appropriate for me right now with NaNoWriMo right around the corner. One of the things I become all consumed with when starting a new fiction project is the naming of my characters. Will I ever do a good job? Will the names give away too much? Will they not represent the characters at all? Too many questions filter through my mind. Strangely, when I read a book, I don't analyze the character names on the same level - I read them and love them or hate them as the character develops. Occasionally, when I learn about there derivations later on, those feeling can be altered by what I learn.

Top 10 Character Names I Love

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1. The cast of characters on The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

As soon as I read this week's topic I thought of Hazel and Augustus. These two names just jumped off the page for me for some reason. I think part of the reason for me is that Augustus has always impressed me as a very strong name, so to be given to a sick kid was something I loved. He may not have been strong physically, but his name drove me to find his strength in other places. Also, later on I learned that Isaac's name was intentionally a name with "EYE" in it, for a boy who was blind. I love that.  


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2. Eustace Clarance Scrubb in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

He was introduced in the most wonderful way: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." How do you not love a character name like this?! Instantly all types of feelings rise up inside about this little boy. Poor Eustace, you may think, until you realize, Oh no... he deserved it. I better watch out for this kid! Brilliant character naming!

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3. Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Let's be honest, there could be an entire list of Harry Potter names I love, but Luna Lovegood is my favorite. This could be because I have a secret fascination with the moon, but as we meet Luna and learn more and more about her, the name simply becomes her. At first, we swear she's a bit Loony, hence the Luna fits a little too well, but as we peel away the layers of her idiosyncrasies, we find that she is 100% sincere in all of her beliefs and devotions. Luna loves really, really good!

4. Annabel Lee from Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe

I love this poem. How could I not fall in love with Annabel Lee after Edgar Allen Poe tells me how wonderful she was - or rather - how wonderful their love was? We never truly get a description of Annabel Lee, but the love she an the author shared was envied by angels - how wonderful! I have never met an Annabel Lee, so, for me, this name has always represented the magical entity of true love!


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5. Arya Stark and Jon Snow from A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin

This is another series jam packed with brilliant character names, however, my two favorites come from the North. It is no surprise to me that Arya (or Aria) is rising up in popularity in girl's names within the last couple of years. It is such a pretty sounding name. It is so very girly sounding, which makes Arya Stark an even more awesome character. She gives this feminine name a whole new depth with her every action. Her half-brother, Jon Snow, is another fascination for me. I can not readily identify what it is exactly I love about this name, but the fact that he has the last name "Snow" is the piece I can't let go of. He is a Stark by blood, but, instead he must be named for the number one visual cue that WINTER IS COMING.

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6. Cinder in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

The first book in the series is a retelling of the Cinderella. I love that the protagonist is named Cinder. It is an obvious nod to the inspiration for the story, but it is also an appropriate name for a girl who spends most of her time as a mechanic.


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7. Lena Duchannes and Ethan Wate from the Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

So far I have only read book one, but one of the things that I loved about that book was how I felt like I was completely immersed in the culture of the South. That begins with these names! Both Lena and Ethan have old southern family names that are just dripping with southern accents, peach cobbler, lush green landscapes and the unforgiving heat of an afternoon in the south east.


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8. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

I'm a sucker for alliteration, in general, so there is no surprise that Bilbo Baggins makes this list. Also, long before I was introduced to The Shire and Middle Earth this is one of those names that sounded like the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. Now I know it is just plain Hobbit perfection!  (Side Note: A separate list of awesome LotR names could be made here.)

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9. Arthur Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

What? WHO? Oh... you probably know him by his much cooler name: BOO RADLEY. Forgive me for including him in nearly ever top ten list The Broke and The Bookish give me - I can't help myself. I LOVE BOO!

10. Mr. Men and Little Miss characters from the Mr. Men and Little Miss Books

This character naming genius at its best. When I was a kid I gobbled up these cute little characters and the pieces of me they represented.

Top 10 Books That Take Place in New York

This week's topic from The Broke and the Bookish's meme Top Ten Tuesday is the Top 10 Books that Took Place in ________ Setting. Since I absolutely love my hometown, I filled in the blank with NEW YORK!

Top 10 Books That Take Place in New York 

Shop Indie Bookstores 1. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

I love this book. I also love how I discovered it. I was in the Barnes & Noble on Court Street in Brooklyn. I was having a pretty crappy day dealing with the disability people in the Department of Ed office across the street and I escaped to the bookstore for a little unwinding before I set out for my journey home. I ended up in the children's section where this book caught my eye. I had never heard of it before. I was surrounded by strangers - children and their parents - and I couldn't stop myself from smiling from ear to ear and laughing out loud. Knuffle Bunny will forever be my Brooklyn book love. I didn't buy this book that day, but I did buy myself a brand new copy of the next book on my list!



Shop Indie Bookstores 2. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume 

This is probably the first book I ever read that took place in New York City. There were so many reasons why I related to this book and fell deeply in book love with it and its New York backdrop was definitely one of them. The world was so real to me and so unlike those that I was reading about in other books.



Shop Indie Bookstores 3. The Pigman by Paul Zindel

Reading this book just plain freaked me out. It didn't just take place in New York City, it took place in STATEN ISLAND! That's really where I live. While it has been so long that most of the story escapes my memory these days, I will never forget reading "Staten Island Zoo" or "Clove Lakes Park" in the print of a truly legitimate book that I was reading and thinking, Whoa! We matter.



Shop Indie Bookstores 4. The Dead and The Gone by Sarah Beth Pfeffer

This is the second book in a trilogy (Books one and two do not have to be read in order) that I absolutely loved. The moon comes too close to Earth, wreaks havoc on our weather and we are thrust into a survival situation. While book one is written from the prospective of a girl somewhere else n America, The Dead and The Gone dealt with the calamity of my own city under this natural disaster. I LOVED THIS and I need to read this book again sometime soon!  



Shop Indie Bookstores 5. The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

While Percy and the Half-Bloods do travel all over the country, home base is in New York. Camp HalfBlood is in Long Island and Olympus is smack dab in the middle of Manhattan. Riordan has helped me find magic and myth on the streets of my city.   



Shop Indie Bookstores 6. The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins 

Similar to Percy, Gregor and his family spend most of their time seemingly apart from New York, but the fact is - they are under it. I haven't finished reading the entire series yet, but I already know the next time I am in Central Park that I need to watch my back for any creatures coming out of the entrance to the Underland found there!



Shop Indie Bookstores 7. The Gunslinger by Stephen King

My husband and I argued over this one as he continued to say, "The Gunslinger takes place in an alternate universe!" Yes. This is true, but its attachment to "our world" is in New York. Just like Gregor and Percy, this series gave me the sense that my city holds secret doorways every way just waiting to whisk me off to someplace mysterious! 



Shop Indie Bookstores 8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I love how this book captures a New York I never knew. The New York of my ancestors. This is really such a beautiful book that captures a culture, a time, and a place I have no right to feel nostalgia for.



Shop Indie Bookstores 9. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

As half of my family is Sicilian-American, I loved every setting of this book! Just like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I felt like this book gave me a sense of my city's history and, perhaps what some of my family saw as they grew up here and traveled here from Sicily.  



Shop Indie Bookstores 10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 I reluctantly add this book to the list because, to be honest with you, I don't love the book. However, as I reflected upon my choices to write about today, I realized that the one aspect of the story I loved was the setting. I found myself daydreaming away about Long Island, the city, Gatsby's travels in between and, again, what my hometown must have looked like once upon a time... 

Do you have any favorite books that take place in your hometown?

What about favorite books that take place in mine - New York City? Which ones am I missing?  

 

Top 10 Words/Topics That Make Me Not Pick Up A Book

It's been a while since I have participated in a Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish blog, but I figured it was time to get my act together. This week's topics is:

Top 10 Words/Topics That Make Me Not Pick Up A Book

I didn't think I'd be able to come up with ten since I will read almost anything that stops moving in front of me long enough, but here they are:

1. Erotica

Even when Fifty Shades of Grey was all the rage and all of my family and friends were raving about it, laughing about it and insisting the I, "the reader" must read it I knew it wasn't my thing. I don't know what it is, but I am just not interested in a story where the point is sex. Sex can be a part of a story and oftentimes should be, but not the driving force. 

2. Historical Fiction

I keep telling myself that I should reconsider this particular aversion, but right now it exists. I didn't really appreciate History as a subject in school either. Now I wish I paid more attention. I worry I will have the same thoughts one day about historical fiction as well. Oh well... it isn't going to happen unless I stumble upon a historical fiction story that knocks my socks off (suggestions?).

3. Unauthorized Biography
This just feels all kinds of shady to me.

4. Abridged
Oh hell no. When I was younger I once read a Reader's Digest book that had four abridged novels jammed into one hard covered book. I distinctly remember that one of the books was Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. It was painful to read through the rush. I was in junior high school and I knew there was a problem!

5. [in audiobooks] Enhanced
I am cringing as I write this. Whenever an audiobook has been enhanced with music or, even worse, sound effects I just want to throw a pillow over my head. There is nothing more distracting to me than this. It does not enhance the story for me at all - it takes me right out of it!

6. John Grisham/Dan Brown
I am not trying to be a hater here. I loved the books I read by these two men. In both cases, when I read their books I was in some serious head-over-heels book love. I look back on the reading experiences of The Firm and The DaVinci Code with great fondness. However, in both cases, when I dove in to read more from each author, I found myself reading the same story again. This irked me so much that, as much as I loved them both, I have been turned off.

7. Ernest Hemingway
Don't throw anything at me! I had a bad experience. It was called The Old Man and The Sea. Grant it, I was probably too young or immature to read and fully grasp whatever the heck was going on, but that was one high school book that I thought was torture to read. Surprisingly, even though I later read A Farewell to Arms and loved it, it wasn't enough to shake my aversion to him.

8. Part (anything but 1) of a _____ book series
If I wasn't waiting anxiously for this book's release, then that means I haven't been reading the series. If I haven't been reading the series, I am not picking up a book that is somewhere in the middle. I keep telling myself that I have to get over this, but it is not working!

9. Based on the video game ________
My husband reads some of these. He was particularly hooked on one author of the Halo books. I suppose I haven't needed to stay in a video game world without the graphics, so these books just never appealed to me.

The last one is a topic that gives me pause, but I'll probably pick up the book anyway. 

10. High Fantasy
Is there anything more intimidating than these two words? I love high fantasy, but it scares the heck out of me. I wait until I have tons of recommendations before I take the leap into the dense reading that is high fantasy. 

What about you? What words or topics keep you away from a book?