Introverted Reader Features

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. With a name like Judy Plum, you know you have stumbled on a great character. A character with character, let's say. Judy is obviously not the main character in L. M. Montgomery's Pat of Silver Bush, but she is the heart of the book and the Gardiner family. I suppose she would technically be the maid, but she's really an adopted member of the family. Originally from Ireland, she traveled around a bit with her brother before settling in Prince Edward Island in Canada. Her Irish brogue is still thick, as evidenced by statements like, "'Tis hardly a civil question that, but ye're too young to know it. I do be as old as me tongue and a liddle older than me teeth. Marrying's a trouble and not marrying's a trouble and I sticks to the trouble I knows." Judy obviously has a knack for laying out maxims in unusual ways. Her Irishness also means that she…

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. Maybe I liked Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones so much because we're both the eldest. And let's face it: the eldest don't fare very well in fairy tales. We're always protrayed as mean and selfish and we end up losing out on everything in the end. Maybe the youngest siblings would agree with that summation of us, but we deserve a chance too! Sophie has resigned herself to being the lackluster eldest daughter. She's basically a drudge working in her father's hat shop, making beautiful hats that make the ladies who wear them look good. She thinks of herself as nothing special and she just sort of fades into the background. When an evil witch casts a spell on Sophie, making her appear to be an old woman, she inadvertently feels free to be more herself. Everyone knows that most old women speak their minds, so Sophie starts saying what's on hers.…

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. Someplace to be Flying by Charles de Lint is probably my favorite fantasy novel, and one of my favorite characters in the book is Jack Daw. "He was a tall, gangly man, all long legs and arms, smooth-shaven and raven-haired, with skin a few shades darker than her own coffee-and-cream complexion. His cowboy boots were black. His jeans were an old and faded gray, shirt black, as were the flat-brimmed hat and duster he invariably wore." Jack is a storyteller. Even though he's telling impossible stories that have their roots in Native American creation myths, he's such a great storyteller that while he's talking, you believe every word he says. Raven created the world by stirring his pot? Sure, he did. Coyote wants to steal that pot and causes all kind of trouble as he tries? We know it. We believe because he believes. Which leads to the interesting part of Jack's character. One prosaic character says…

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday.Guy Gavriel Kay writes these historical fantasy epics that will just take your breath away. Along with a sweeping, involved, twisting plot, he peoples his stories with characters that become real to me. Tigana is one of his best books. It's hard to pick one character from Tigana to write about, but this time, I'm going to choose Catriana. Background: An evil sorcerer (don't be put off by that, non-fantasy fans; there's very little actual fantasy in most of GGK's books) has taken his revenge on a country he conquered, Tigana, by making the world forget the name. Well, all the world except for the former residents. They can speak it, but only others who were born in Tigana can hear it, and they're widely dispersed. No one else can remember that the country ever even existed. A group of Tiganans are working to defeat the sorcerer and bring their country back. Catriana is one member of that…

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. I literally just finished reading Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund, and while I didn't love the book, I did love Adam Black. Photo of Michelangelo's David taken by David Gaya and posted on Wikimedia Commons Adam is the embodiment of male beauty.  There's a period through the middle of the book when he is living in an Eden that seems to be outside time.  Well, how did Adam live in Eden?  Naked as the day he was born.  I couldn't help but picture his body as being that of Michelangelo's David.  He is perfectly sculpted.  He has complete confidence that his body can do whatever he asks of it.  But he has blue-black hair and a strong jaw and is actually described as looking like Superman. There's more to Adam than physical perfection though.  Where to start? Lest you think he's too perfect, I'll tell you that he's broken and fragile.  We never get his…

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. I promise I will get my blog and work schedule worked out one of these days, but until that happens, I will have to cut and paste from old reviews. Lazy? Yes. But this is an adjustment period for me. Jacky is an orphan girl living on the streets of London who realizes one day that her life will be short and brutal if she doesn't do something to change it. So she disguises herself as a boy and hires on to a ship in the Royal Navy. Who doesn't love a good story about a girl disguised as a boy? From my review of Bloody Jack by L. A. Meyer: "I loved Jacky! She is such a strong, true female character! I was thrilled to find her in a YA/MG book. She's not unrealistically tough either. She has her fears, and when she gets scared she starts crying and screeching like a banshee. She admits that…

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. Character Crush today! Stoyan from Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier made me weak in the knees. If there were such a thing as a perfect man, it would be him. I think I really said it all in my review, so please allow me to cut and paste. "And then there’s Stoyan. Oh, Stoyan, my love. He almost made me cry. The page got all blurry on me and everything. Do you know how it is killing me to admit that? I absolutely hate to cry, but he got to me. Captain Wentworth’s letter is the last word in romance from an eloquent lover, but Stoyan takes the cake for the blue collar guys. He’s tall and handsome of course, but he’s a wise, old, gentle soul. He can handle himself in a fight, but he ultimately knows what’s important in life and inadvertently reminds Paula of that frequently. He’s loyal, quiet, and willing to do anything…