Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This weeks Top Ten topic is:

Top Ten Favorite Quotes From Books

Because I don’t really think about quotes in books I particularly love, I am going to tweak the topic a little bit and instead do:

Ten Quotes From Books I Love

The quotes are given in no particular order. I’ve tried to make sure that none of the quotes constitute as spoilers, so even if you haven’t read any of the books all my quotes should* be safe to read.

*I hedge, because life doesn’t come with guarantees, but I’ve tried hard not to include spoilers.

‘I like the cover,’ he said. ‘Don’t Panic. It’s the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody’s said to me all day.’

– Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts (William Heinemann, 1995), p. 47.

I’ve watched the film, read all five books (I think) and heard the BBC radio play (well, some of it). I think this is a brilliantly funny series. There’s nothing quite like it.

Sabriel followed Mogget’s instructions, then watched with resigned condescension that rapidly changed to surprise as the cat crouched by the square of paper, his strange shadow falling on it like a dark cloak thrown across sand, pink tongue out in concentration. Moggest seemed to think for a moment, then one  bright ivory claw shot out from a white pad – he delicately inked the claw in the inkwell and began to draw.

– Garth Nix, Sabriel (Collins, 2003), p. 121.

Mogget is an awesome secondary character. I like his cunning and cleverness and wit.

She began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. As she stood looking at it, wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood [. . .]

– C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Collins, 1980), pp. 13-14.

I fell in love with this series as a child, and I still have a soft spot for it. I know a lot of people don’t like it because of the ‘obvious’ Christianity in it, but to be honest it’s never bothered me. And I think Lewis expresses some interesting ideas within the chronicles.

All of it sometimes seemed to be happening to someone else, someone she was still getting to know. Never in a million years would she have considered the idea that a sleepy beach town somewhere in the South would have been filled with so much more . . .

– Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song (Sphere, 2010), p. 294.

I saw the film before I ever read the book, and I just fell in love. There were certain scenes in the narrative that I related to, and I like going back and re-reading it. I also like the idea that the film existed before the book.

Life at The Burrow was as different as possible from life in Privet Drive. The Dursleys liked everything neat and ordered; the Weasley’s house burst with the strange and unexpected.

– J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Bloomsbury, 1998), p. 37.

What sort of list would this be if I didn’t include a Harry Potter book, in some form. There’s just something about the Boy Wizard that really appeals me to me in the early books – not so much in the later ones. Harry gets to visit (and eventually live) in a world as a child I would have liked to have inhabited – I’d like to stop in for a visit even now. I like the contrast between Harry’s two ‘families’, and also his two worlds that this quote highlights.

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you plan on joining the Players, then?” he asked mildly. “Take up dancing, or some such thing?”

Aly dropped her pretence and removed her veil, the embroidered cloth band that held it in place, and her wimple. Her hair, once revealed, was not its normal shade of reddish blonde, but a deep, pure sapphire hue.

George looked at her. His mouth twitched.

“I know,” she said, shamefaced. “Forest green and blue go ill together.”

– Tamora Pierce, Trickster’s Choice (Scholastic Children’s books, 2003), p. 5.

I had to include Tamora Pierce’s work in this list. She creates such vivid worlds, and brilliant characters.

The forest was hidden under a fog. It was like looking down to a sloping cloud-roof from above. There was a fold or channel where the mist was broken into many plumes and billows; the valley of Withywindle. The stream ran down the hill on the left and vanished into the white shadows.

– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (HarperCollins, 1995), p. 126.

Tolkien’s use of language is, at times, utterly brilliant. So, I had to include a passage from his book in this meme. The trouble was, most of my favourite scenes are somewhat spoiler-ish, so I couldn’t include them. However, I think this exerpt gives a little taste.

“We have a serious problem,” Mae told him, now looking angry rather than appreciative.

Nick came in, idly swinging his sword, and took a seat on the other end of the sofa. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “And I’m still hungry.”

“I’m sorry about him,” Alan put in, glaring. “He get’s cranky.”

Nick raised his eyebrows. “I’m only cranky when I’m not fed.”

– Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon’s Lexicon (Simon and Schuster, 2009), p. 18.

Sarah Rees Brennan writes some of the funniest lines, and I like how she writes her characters. I’m sad that this series is finished, but looking forward to starting her next one.

On the way to the car, Phillip turns to me. “How could you be so stupid?”

I shrug, stung in spite of myself. “I thought I grew out of it.”

Philip pulls out his key fob and presses the remote to unlock his Mercedes. I slide into the passenger side, brushing coffee cups off the seat and onto the floor mat, where crumpled printouts from MapQuest soak up any spilled liquid.

“I hope you mean sleepwalking,” Philip says, “since you obviously didn’t grow out of stupid.”

– Holly Black, White Cat (Gollancz, 2011), p. 31.

Reading Holly Black makes me smile. I also like the way she looks a the world. I particularly love her world in The Curse Workers.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

– Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 1.

How could I not include this opening line?

So, that was my Ten Quotes From Books I Love. What are yours?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This weeks Top Ten topic is:

Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters In Books

This is actually quite a broad topic. I’m tempted to specify – maybe top ten all time favourite characters in YA books – but in some ways it would be too easy. So, here are my top ten all time favourite characters in books listed in no particular order.

* Alanna the Lioness & Faithful from the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce (YA)

As I mentioned in last week’s TTT, Alanna is one of my top five kick-ass female heroes. She absolutely rocks. I particularly love her interaction with her cat Faithful. Faithful is quite a funny character, and he usually ends up making me smile.
* Cassel Sharpe from the Curse Worker Trilogy by Holly Black (YA)

Cassel also made it onto last week’s TTT, and he’s on this weeks for pretty similar reasons. There is just something that is infinitely likeable about Cassel. I haven’t managed to read Black Heart yet, so I’ve still got my fingers crossed for him.
* Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

What can I say about Puck?! He is probably my absolute favourite character ever. I love reading about Trickster characters, and Puck is definitely a Trickster.
* Elena Michaels from Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong

Elena rocks. She is kick-ass and fights for what she believes in (and she was also on my TTT last week). She is one of my favourite characters because she is so strong, she never gives up.
* Katy Carr from the Carr Family series by Susan Coolidge (YA/MG)

Katy is the kind of character I really enjoy reading about. She’s got a very strong personality and she puts on a front, but underneath that there is a heart of gold. She cares very deeply for her family, and I really enjoy reading her journey.
* Nick Ryves from The Demon’s Lexicon Trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan (YA)

Nick . . . what can I say about Nick? There is just something about Nick that really appeals to me. He’s really difficult to describe, and in him I think Sarah Rees Brennan has created an absolutely brilliant character. There’s no-one quite like him, which all things considered is probably a good thing.
* Julian from The Forbidden Game Trilogy by L. J. Smith (YA)

I think Julian was one of my first literary crushes.  I still think he’s brilliant. Julian is the perfect mix of bad boy and love interest. L. J. Smith writes these types of characters quite well, you just have to look at Damon from Vampire Diaries and Nick from The Secret Circle, but with Julian in The Forbidden Game I think she excels.
* Fleabag from The Fleabag Trilogy by Beth Web (YA/MG)

I have a thing from Fleabag because he is a talking cat. I think Beth Webb has managed to capture the qualities of a cat quite well, and I love hearing Fleabag’s thoughts – he’s not always easy to get along with. Then there’s the air of secrecy that hangs around him – there is definitely more to Fleabag than there seems.
* Mercy Thompson from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs

There’s no character quite like Mercy. I love the way she doesn’t quite fit in with the typical female lead in an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance – she’s a car mechanic, and she turns into a coyote. What is not awesome about that?! She keeps all the other characters on their toes – my kind of girl 😉
* Merry Gentry from Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton

From the moment I read the first page of the first book in the series I knew that Merry Gentry would be one of the characters that would stay with me. There’s just something about Merry. She wants to do what is best for everyone, and yet at the same time she can be incredibly selfish. I like the dichotomy of her.

 

So that was my list, what are your top ten all time favourite characters?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This weeks Top Ten topic is:

Top Ten Tips For New Book Bloggers

I still consider myself a bit of a newbie in book blogger terms – this blog has only just had it’s one year birthday – so I don’t really feel I can (or should) answer the question. So instead, I am going to do:

Top Five Female Heroes

5. Raksha Keller from Witchlight (Night World #9) by L. J. Smith (YA)

Raksha is one of my top five female heroes because she is totally kick-ass. She is a very strong female lead, and knows her duty – and is prepared to do her duty at all costs. She is also very brave. I really enjoyed reading about her in Witchlight and am looking forward to seeing if she’ll appear in Strange Fate (whenever it is published).

4. Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (YA)

I’ve only read Vampire Academy so far, but I’m really loving Rose as a character. She’s really strong. She’s someone who lives in the now. She’s brave and I think totally awesome. I also like that she has a strong sense of duty. I’m looking forward to reading more about her 🙂

3. Elena Michaels from Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong

Elena rocks. She does, trust me. She’s a very strong and caring character. She knows what she wants. She is also very loyal – she’ll do just about anything for those she loves. She’s also quite fun and she doesn’t let anyone boss her around. She has brute strength but she also uses her brains, and I like that. I also love her banter with Clay, but that’s for a totally different list 😉

2. Anita Blake from Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton

Anita Blake is kick-ass. She’s powerful and she can shoot, so who seriously would want to mess with her?! She’s also very moral, and dislikes hurting those weaker than her. She can’t stand bullies. She may doubt herself from time to time, but when the bullets start firing or the magic starts she’s there trying to solve the problem. I really admire that about her.

1.  Alanna the Lioness from The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce (YA)

Alanna has to be my number one female hero. Her quartet was the first series I can remember reading that had an awesome kick-ass female lead, that could stand up to AND beat her male contemporaries. The girl has backbone – she trains to become a knight when only men can become knights. She knows her duty and is very loyal. She is good with a sword and with sorcery. What more could you want from a female hero – she can protect the people she loves.

Top Five Male Heroes

5. Althalus from The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings

I have a soft spot for characters that don’t really fit the typical hero characteristics, and Althalus is definitely one of those characters. He’s a professional thief, about as far away from a typical hero as you can get. Yet Althalus is very definitely a hero. He just uses his cunning rather than a sword to win his fights.

4. Cassel Sharpe from The Curse Worker Trilogy by Holly Black (YA)

In many ways Cassel is almost an anti-hero, but he is very definitely a hero – he can’t help doing the right thing. Cassel cares about people, particularly those closest to him. Yet Cassel is very much a con artist – he likes skirting the letter of the law. So why have I included him in a list of heroes? Because when it comes down to it, when all the cards are down, there is a definite moral streak in him. He does what’s right, even if it costs him. And I admire that.

3. Wizard Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (YA)

Howl isn’t what most would consider a typical hero. He can appear selfish, self-absorbed, cavalier and dishonest. But there’s more to him than there appears. There’s something very likeable about him, and I think heroes should be likeable.

2. Harry Potter from Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling (YA)

How could I have a list of male heroes and not include the Boy Who Lived?! The answer is, I could not. Harry is definitely a hero. He’s brave and he doesn’t give up. He relies on his friends and is very loyal. He tries to see the best in people (though not all the time, and not with every person). He doesn’t see himself as special – but he is.

1. Aragorn son of Arathorn from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Aragorn has to be my number one male hero. He knows and does his duty, even when it costs him. He is very loyal to those he trusts. He doesn’t give up. He’s brilliant with a sword and he knows how to look after himself. I wouldn’t want to meet him across a battlefield.

What are your tips for new bloggers? Who are your top ten heroes? Please comment below with either your list of a link, as I would love to hear your thoughts.