Pick-a-Shelf discussion

If you could be a fictional character who could walk off the page of a book, what character would you become and what would you do? Explain.

I would want to be a female protagonist from one of Barbara Taylor Bradford's books. The females in her novels always seem to have a strong character and despite hardships in their lives, they manage to overcome obstacles and become successful. I would like to use that strength (passion and drive) to open up a business or start a non-profit organization.

Considering my age, I'd like to be Mrs. Pollifax, but my mind wants me to be a forensic sleuth.

My character would be Mrs. Oliver in the Agatha Christie novels. She usually teams with Hercule Poirot. She is a mystery writer, and so she knows everything about murder to "help" Hercule find the murderer(or so she thinks). I would continue to drive Hercule Poirot crazy.

I think I would like to be one of the minor characters in Jan Karon's Mitford books, like maybe the vet's wife or something. That way I could live in that beautiful, small and quirky town, and know someone as wonderful as Father Tim. AWWW.

I would be Kate Connor from the Adventures of a Demon-hunting Soccer Mom series, by Julie Kenner I love these books because She has great family values and a wonderful life and friends, and can protect herself and the ones she loves from Demons.

Carnaval in Scar Night by Alan Campbell

She is everything a women should be, she is my hero.

I would like to be Elizabeth Bennett because I get Mr Darcy in the end! :)

I would want to be Wendy. I get to fly with Peter Pan!
[:

I would properly like to be Stephanie Plum. Regardless of all the dirt and many other things that she gets covered in, the number of cars she send to car heaven and the number of crazy people she attracts, all that would go away when two people arrive Ranger and Morelli!

Milli wrote: "I would want to be Wendy. I get to fly with Peter Pan!
[:"

Me too! Oh, I would love that. :)

Sophie wrote: "I would properly like to be Stephanie Plum. Regardless of all the dirt and many other things that she gets covered in, the number of cars she send to car heaven and the number of crazy people she attracts, all that would go away when two people arrive Ranger and Morelli!"

I agree :)

What a terrific question. I always enjoyed Nancy Drew. I started mystery with her. It was not in Vogue to do kung-Fu she just used her mind and gut feeling. She had classic looks that could offend no one plus she had a life with her boyfriend Ned. I wanted to put someone really 'today' down but honestly she came to my mind first. I'm such a simple girl at heart.

Betsy wrote: "What a terrific question. I always enjoyed Nancy Drew. I started mystery with her. It was not in Vogue to do kung-Fu she just used her mind and gut feeling. She had classic looks that could offend..."
I'm a fan of Nancy Drew books as well and I loved reading them when I was a kid. I remember they were all the rage in elementary school. Around the same time (mid to late 70's) a Nancy Drew tv series started (Pamela Sue Martin was the actress) and it only increased her popularity. I think they made a movie in the last couple of years but I haven't seen it.

Lauren wrote: "Sophie wrote: "I would properly like to be Stephanie Plum. Regardless of all the dirt and many other things that she gets covered in, the number of cars she send to car heaven and the number of cra..."

YAY! I have a fellow Stephanie follower!

I would like to be Anita Blake from Laurell K. Hamilton series. I already love penguins like her and tend to be attracted to vampires! lol besides she is one tough cookie!

I have thought and thought about this, and can not come up with one person. HELP!! I am too indecisive.

Lennie that's a good question. There are too many characters from books I like. I will have to think about that one.

Leigh Ann wrote: "Lennie that's a good question. There are too many characters from books I like. I will have to think about that one."No problem, Leigh Ann. Looks like you and Lyn are in the same boat. I'm sure one character will stand out for you eventually! Good luck! :-)

I would like to be Harriet from Harriet the Spy. She's a strong, independent protagonist who spies on people. :-)

Betsy wrote: "What a terrific question. I always enjoyed Nancy Drew. I started mystery with her. It was not in Vogue to do kung-Fu she just used her mind and gut feeling. She had classic looks that could offend..."
That's right I forgot Pamela Martin in the TV series. Thanks Lennie for the great memory.

You're welcome Betsy! :)

After much thought, it is a toss up. I would like to be Wendy from Peter Pan or Jo from Little Women. Wendy for her child views and Jo for her strength.

I don't think I ever wanted to be a particular character, but there are tons I wanted to be best friends with--or even their sister! Jo from Little Women and Laura from Little House in the Big Woods. Oh and Anne from Anne of Green Gables. And Ender (Andrew Wiggins) from Ender's Game.

Wonderful question. I have so many characters that I have just fallen in love with. So my decision would have to be a few of those...

If I could be a fictional character I would like to be

Elizabeth Bennett or a leading lady from a Cathy Marie Hake story.

I change my mind!! And yes I know that all of you probally don't even know who that was before...so I chose Wendy from Peter Pan. Now I would love to be Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. She's just so...strong as a person?

Since I just finished up A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and it's my new favorite top 5 book, I'm going to have to add Francie Nolan to the list.

**Gotta read Hunger Games. Everyone I know has raved about it. hmmmm

Oh, it is so amazing. I don't see how any one can dislike it. It's got action, likeable characters and everything about it is just so different.

Katniss is a great choice, Madison! Have you read Catching Fire yet?

Yes! I was so shocked about the big event, you know? I loved all the new characters though. :)

Me too! And I liked some of the old characters better since we learned more about them - like Haymitch. Now it's just a "waiting game" until the third book! :)

Meghan wrote: "Since I just finished up A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and it's my new favorite top 5 book, I'm going to have to add Francie Nolan to the list.

**Gotta read Hunger Games. Everyone I know..."

I am tempted to read Hunger Games next even though the next shelf down for me is Vampires. :)

My choice, without a doubt, would have to be Claire Fraser from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Series.

She is a very strong woman who has many talents and has possibly the hottest husband ever. I partly want to be Claire because I want to have Jamie (her husband).

I highly recommend the series. Just don't be scared by their size.

- Jessica

My first thought here was Lazarus Long from many of Robert A. Heinlein's books. Why? The guy lives forever, and starting with The Number of the Beast gains the technology to engage in not only time-travel (which I normally hate in stories), but also travel to fictional worlds. (Yes, that's right, not only alternate universes, but universes created in books by authors. Oh, and the only beasts in The Number of the Beast are Barsoomian Martians.)

Sure, he does end up having an incestuous affair with his mother after using said time-travel, and that's not something I'm really down with, but living forever due to genetic quirk could be handy.

He does age, so he's not quiet as eternally youthful as the characters in The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson, but before he could ever die of old age technology came along to mend things, and -- as I said -- he has the technology to visit any other fictional universes I may think of later.

The Notebooks of Lazarus Long is one of my favorites! Heinlein may have been a misogynist and a bit juvenile, but he was also my favorite author for most of the 80's. An important author in my teen years, I fondly reread one of his books every so often.

So of course I gave Stranger in a Strange Land to my eldest when he was looking for a classic SF tale that was a genre influencing book a couple of years ago. He thought it was pretty good and we had some good discussions over this one.

I can see the draw to Lazarus Long. Rich, with vast experiences that have colored his remarkable life. And yet at the same time the dangers he seems to face are almost inconsequential as you know he will overcome any difficulty. When I first read this thread, that was the first name that popped into my head as well. And then I thought, 'Would I really want to be an old guy with unlimited resources, an endless supply of beautiful woman that want to bed me, and the ability to do anything I wanted?' The answer is no. So I have not yet picked my character whose existence I will take over if wish becomes reality.

I'm not even sure if Heinlein was ever actually a favorite of mine. I liked him well enough, and -- most importantly -- he wrote a lot of books that touched upon interesting ideas. There were also a lot of his books around the house growing up, so the easy access certainly helped.

He did some really good stories with some essential plot elements other people have never managed to get right at all. (For instance, The Puppet Masters is actually a good book about parasitic mind-controlling aliens.)

I think Asimov and Herbert were, overall, preferred to Heinlein. Two of my favorites of Herbert's are The White Plague and The Green Brain, neither really present worlds I'd be comfortable with. (Though the world of The Green Brain promises great things in its future.)

Ultimately, I think I wouldn't mind a character on par with Wedderburn from The Strange Orchid. He lived a remarkably quiet and contented life, however on one day something happened to him.

The last thing you'd want would be to pick someone, think everything was all sorted out and your happy ending was all set, then find there was another book in the series (for instance, with the Hitchhiker's Guide series, you liked the end of #4, then #5 comes along), or you were content with the ending the original author provided, but in the minds of the media and some fans some horrible piece of fan-fiction was elevated to the place of official sequel (as I've heard some describe Scarlett).

For whatever reason, I never became a big Asimov fan. Herbert on the other hand is a different story. My favorite Herbert trilogy has a co-author, Bill Ransom, for the second book and third books but not the first. How odd is that? In any event the notions of cloning, self, and God are well explored in Destination Void, The Jesus Incident, and The Lazarus Effect. Same character in the first two books, just different clones of him.

Agreed on The Puppet Masters although Stephen King did OK with the one about the alien spacecraft being buried (*brain not yet working at 5:30 AM or I'd have the title for you).

Jim, there's another. That's one of my favorites by Herbert as well. I always considered Destination Void the prequel to the trilogy, being that the later three all take place on the same planet. The last book is The Ascension Factor -- unfortunately, I can not link to it as GR has it confused with Heretics of Dune. (I posted on "Goodreads Librarians/Book Issues" about the issue.)

LOL. I always stop the trilogy at The Lazarus Effect. For some reason the Ascension Factor never sat right with me. I've read the first three several times over but the last only once and didn't care for it. Maybe I should try to track it down and give it another chance.

Some people really don't like some books, and wish they could unread them. If you even suspect that may be the case, you should trust your instinct and avoid it.

Otherwise I see no harm in rereading it once, as then you could at least give it a review. Once you'd reviewed it on GR it would be easy for you to remember why you didn't like it in the future. :)

Yeah, I joined GR in August of this year. I've written a review for almost everything I've read since joining. However, my chances of going back and writing reviews for everything I've read since I started reading for fun in the mid-70's are damn near zero. If that re-read ever comes around, I'll be sure to write a review for it.

If I could be any fictional character for a day, I would pick Tessa Gray from "The Infernal Devices" trilogy by Cassandra Clare. I really admire her, and I would love to hang out with Jem and Will! ;) As to what we would do...why, Shadowhunt of course!