TOP TEN TUESDAY | All The Best Valentines are Fictional

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme for bloggers who like books and lists. It's awesome and is graciously hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Yes, I realize I am a week late.  Story of my life.  I wasn't inspired by the Valentine's day topic last week, but then received inspiration about it this weekend and decided I wasn't inspired by this week's topic. Clear?  Not really but I am pushing forward anyway.

So my topic is about characters.  My favorites, in fact.  Not just my favorites but those I'd love to send a shy little valentine to, asking them to hang with me for the next, oh, 50 years or so.  We all have favorites that on the page are great but we wouldn't want to meet them in real life.  The characters on my list are those that I wish were real and hanging with me on my couch watching The X Files.  I originally included both boys and girls but the list was HUGE so I decided to go with all male except for one female non-humanoid.

My Disreputable Valentines

1) The Disreputable Dog from the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix

Who says a valentine has to have two legs?  Sure Lirael and Sabriel are pretty darn cool but it's The Disreputable Dog that I loved the most from this series.  I adore her mix of goofy dogginess, wisdom, loyalty, protectiveness and humor. She's a dog but smarter AND magical.   

2) Adam Parrish from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

This one makes me feel a little icky because I am a middle-aged lady and Adam isn't even 18 but I feel like someone needs to show poor Adam some love even if it's of a more maternal variety.  He's a good kid who's been dealt a crappy hand.  He's a teenager I could appreciate - hard working, driven, smart, funny and sweet.

I can't figure out who did the art for this but whoever you are - well done!

3) Captain Carswell Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Smart alecky rogues with a heart of gold are so much fun.  I'd very much appreciate Carswell's commentary on Mulder and Scully's antics and I think he'd encourage me to be a little more adventurous.  I've kind of always wanted to be a crew member on a ship. Speaking of which...

4) Stephen Maturin from the Aubrey and Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian

These are the books that planted that weird seed of longing to be a sailor.  No small reason for that is being able to nerd out about Natural History with Stephen Maturin, not to mention that he's pretty much the best Doctor you could hope to have on a sailing ship in the Napoleonic Era. He's a great mix of nerd and adventurer.  It doesn't hurt that he was played by the very adorable Paul Bettany in the movie, Master and Commander.

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5) Colin Bridgerton from The Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn

And speaking of wise asses...  Colin Bridgerton is probably my favorite ever romance hero....that is until he gets his own book in the Bridgerton series (Romancing Mister Bridgerton).  Up until that point however I thought he was a blast.  Charming, friendly and a witty jokester, he doesn't take life too seriously.  It's good to have someone like that in your life.

6) Gus McCrae from Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

While I do think Gus could become a little tiresome in too large of doses but hanging with him, drinking some homemade hooch would be totally amazing.  He would regale me with great stories that would be both funny and wise.  I'd also feel a good deal safer having him around because he's a total bad ass.

7) Walt Longmire from the Longmire Mystery Series by Craig Johnson

Speaking of salty old Western dudes.... I'm not gonna lie, part of my love for Walt comes from the television show based on the books but the character in both is great.  As with the above, I would certainly feel safer with him around and he's got a laconic sense of humor that never fails to induce chortling.

8) Mark Watney from The Martian by Andy Weir

So it's pretty clear, I really enjoy characters with a good sense of humor. I am also a natural history science nerd.  So combine these things into a single character and make him an astronaut too?  It was inevitable that I would have a huge crush on Mark Watney.
 

9) Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Arthur is a little clueless and prone to panicking but it's understandable.  I like his air of ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.  He's resourceful and... you guessed it... funny and I wouldn't mind having a beer with him down at the pub.

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10) Jean Tannen from The Gentleman Bastard's Series by Scott Lynch

Locke Lamora may be the star of this show but I would much rather hang with Jean who is unflappable, steady, loyal, smart, surprisingly soft-hearted, a badass and has the most deliciously understated dry wit. He is welcome to hang at my place any time.  He can even bring his axes.  And Locke.

I think that's all for me this week!  What about you?  Who would you like to set up camp in your living room?