Hello Clubbers!
Way back when, in 2012, the Classics Club came into being. A monthly meme was devised to bring clubbers together to chat about classics. A question was posed for you to ponder and discuss. You could write a blog post and leave the link or simply put your thoughts in the comments.
Earlier this year, no doubt thanks to a certain virus disrupting our regular lives, I had a few requests to revive this tradition. I have struggled to keep my own blog going, let alone anything else during this time. This post contains no pressure or expectation for widespread participation. Everyone is going through their own thing right now. But if you feel like engaging in a classic bookish chat, then feel free to jump on board The Classic Meme 2.0.
This is the 2020 reboot.
Our latest question for you to ponder is:
Who is your favourite classic character? Why?
As always, we are very relaxed about how you interpret the question.
The idea is to have fun, talk classics and get a little social.
We welcome any suggestions for future discussion topics in the comments below.
I just posted my answer on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2021/02/24/the-classics-club-2-0-february-2021-ccmeme/
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Definitely Dick Whittington and his cat. His cat will have to be my favorite Classic Character of all time. I’ve even wrote a blogpost about it.
Elza’s Favorite Classic Character
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I’ve combined my answer of Who is your favorite with Who would you save from the Vince Review. Cheers!
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Oops…I meant to give my answer (for those who refuse to follow links). Favorite = Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities. Who would I save = “the Girl” from the same book…to entice you to follow the link 😉
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I will work up a blog post about this, I think. For now I will say that I tend to deeply connect with classic children’s book characters. Not sure what that means.
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First to mind is Anne Eliot from Persuasion…but will need more time to flesh this one out… 🙂
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I think I’ll write a blog post on this, but for now a little tease. It is someone from either: The Lord of the Rings, Moby Dick, Beloved, Atlas Shrugged, The Stand, Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities, or Winnie the Pooh
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My first thought was Jane Eyre because she’s brave, but I agree with Rose, when I was young I wanted to be everything to Anne now I’m torn with Molly Gibson from Wives and Daughters. I think she’s as brave as Jane and as imaginative and fun as Anne!
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Oh, really? Molly is comparable to Anne Shirley? I didn’t realize! AND NOW I MUST READ WIVES & DAUGHTERS.
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I’m sure they would be friends !
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I have Wives and Daughters on my Classics Club list.
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Jane Eyre, of course. She forged the way for small, plain heroines who overcome ridiculous odds and remain independent.
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Great one. x
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Hm… I think I’ll do a post about this. Is next week okay?
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Gosh, just one?? I agree with Rose about Anne of Green Gables, but if I really have to limit myself to one, it’d have to be Elizabeth Bennet – she’s such a refreshing change from so many of the submissive misses of older fiction. Plus I think she’d actually be quite fun to have as a friend…
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Anne of Green Gables. I wanted to be her, wanted to be her friend, wanted to live in the Avonlea community, wanted to go on adventures with her and her friends and later, wanted a ‘Gilbert’ of my own!
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I am going to read AofGG this year for the first time. All of my girls have read it over and over and love her, too. So I am really excited to finally read this. 🙂
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OH MY GOODNESS, RUTH. THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME!!!!!!! ❤
Literally, I adore it SO MUCH.
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Oh, yeah? I’m so excited to read it. I can’t remember if we said in April or May. But I know it will be a pleasure to read.
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My mom & I read it aloud together recently & laughed & cried SO MUCH. Now we can’t stop watching this OVER AND OVER.
(That’s a trailer for Anne with an E, which you shouldn’t watch if you don’t want spoilers, but YOU SHOULD IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THE STORY & WANT TO SIGH!)
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Looks inspiring!
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I hope you enjoy it too 🙂
If you do, there is a whole series of ‘Anne’ books to go with!
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My first time participating! I posted on my blog here: https://www.truebookaddict.com/2021/02/the-classic-meme-20-favorite-classic.html
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Sherlock Holmes. 🙂 He is a lot more nuanced in the book series than in the film/TV portrayals. He helps rich and poor alike, truly cares about people and yet doesn’t really fit in himself. You’d find it hard to be his friend under normal circumstances, but when push comes to shove, he would put everything on the line for you. I think Holmes was one of the earliest fandoms, too, with the series following his life from age 27 to age 60-ish, out of popular demand.
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Harriet Vane who appears in several of Dorthy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. She is smart, kind– but not ridiculously so–and faces what comes at her squarely as best she can.
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I think maybe Dorothea Casaubon, just because she tries so hard and is so naive at the beginning of Middlemarch, but learns.
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This is mind-blowingly hard. I think I find a favorite, and then another comes to mind, and before I know it, I have almost all the Middle Earth characters down. Woops!
But, I think I can say that for Jem Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite child from literature, if not my favorite character, period. He’s flawed, sure, but he loves his family so much, and you get to see him grow and change, and learn. He’s getting older. He not only just wants his father’s love, but he wants his respect, and he would hate it if he ever actually disappointed his father. He isn’t as blind to things and innocent like Scout. No, he may not see things like an adult, but he is the perfect mix of seeing through a child’s eyes, and an adults.
People who truly care, and have compassion and empathy for others are my favorite kind of people, and it’s no less in my favorite book characters.
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Oh, what a lovely choice! Jem is a wonderful character. I love the sense throughout the novel that he is watching & reassessing his father. I haven’t paid him much notice before as I tend to focus on Scout & her father, but you’re right — he is a great character.
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Thanks! Yes, we tend to pay more attention to Atticus and Scout, but Jem is very important, too.
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SCARLETT O’HARA. Why? Because she is both horrible & ridiculously brave. Margaret Mitchell was writing a woman in the nineteenth century & might have made her sweet or given her a positive change arc to make up for her flaws. But instead we get this incredible, ridiculous, awe-inspiring, totally flawed character bulldozing her way through a war & when it’s all over it’s hard to say if she’s a hero or a villain, & that seems piping human to this reader. x
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Hi, Jillian. I think your take on Scarlett was very interesting. You see, when I think of a favorite character, I tend to think of someone that I would aspire to be like, or someone that made me laugh the most. I guess that’s pretty shallow of me. A well written character can be someone’s favorite, even if they aren’t the most lovable. I see Scarlett as selfish and cruel, but having read your comment, I can also appreciate a well written character. Thank you!
Lila
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Thank you, Lila! 😉
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She’s also one of my favorites. 🙂
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I wanted to include Scarlett, at least as honorable mention, but the “horrible” part deterred me. Had it been “most interesting characters” she’d have made the cut. Good pick though!
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Just to late to know- I still can not exactly post reviews. Not recognizing my new link.
Plus, that is a very very hard answer
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That *is* a very hard answer to come up with! My favorites, though, are the ones I’m likely to see a bit of myself in, especially the best parts of me. However impressive, Iago or Uriah Heep aren’t going to be a favorite.
But still, so many choices: Bilbo, Jane Eyre, Tom Jones, Dorothea Brooke. But, for now I’m going to go with Cosimo Piovasco di Rondó, from Calvino’s Baron in the Trees!
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Uriah Heep is hilarious. 😀 Bilbo is a great pick!!
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