Monday, February 18, 2013

Top Ten Favorite Characters in Historical Fiction

Today's topic was Top Ten Favorite Characters in X genre  and since there isn't a genre i read more than historical fiction it was the obvious choice.

Lavina Waterhouse - Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier
Back when I was in middle school and still trying to figure out my reading style I happened upon Tracy Chevalier. The girls in Falling Angels were around my age, and while I related more to Maude, I was envious of Lavinia. She fascinated me and even looking back now she remains one of my favorite characters of any genre.

Anne Neville - The Kingmakers Daughter - Phillipa Gregory
Anne Neville isn't remembered very glamorously  As wife of Richard III (that dude they just found under a car-park in England ) she is often portrayed as frail, dumb and tragic. In The Kingmakers Daughter Gregory creates an Anne that fights for her place, defending her position and eventually becomes the first lady in the land. She really is awesome.

Hadley Hemingway - The Paris Wife - Paula McLain
I'm not a huge fan of Ernest Hemingway as a writer, but as a person he is fascinating  Well, at least he's like reading about a really awful train wreck. Hadley is his first wife. She gets the years of struggling before Hem makes a huge name for himself.

Griet - The Girl with the Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
Above I talked about Tracy Chevalier, and Girl with a Pearl Earring was the first novel of hers I read. Griet was fascinating. A Protestant in a Catholic house. A maid in the Vermeer house. She's clever and ever so slightly tragic. She's fascinating and I love how Chevalier imagined the origin of the most memorable of Vermeer's works.

Anne Boleyn
It doesn't even matter who's writing Anne Boleyn. If she's there, I'm probably going to read it.

Zelda Fitzgerald - Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald - Therese Anne Fowler
I just finished Z and Fowler's portrayal of Zelda Fitzgerald was outstanding. She's strength and wisdom, but bound by her love for her husband, a love that will be the downfall of both of them. She truly is America's First Flapper and her story is one to rival some of her husbands works.

Julian Carax - The Shadows of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A creepy man who is trying to wipe out his own existence? I'm all over Julian and his sob story.

Nell - Exit the Actress - Priya Parmar
Nell is a super cool chick. Her sister ends up a prostitute but Nell gets to be an actress, and then eventually the Kings favorite mistress. She lives through a compelling time and her story is one worth hearing.

Claude Monet - Claude & Camille - Stephanie Cowell
I hate Monet as an artist. I don't care for his waterlily's and I avoid his wing of the Chicago Art Institue at all costs. However, his portrayal in Claude & Camille make me wish that I had a front row seat to the Impressionists club. Him and all of his artist friends invoke in me the same feelings that the Lost Generation does.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've got 'Z' sitting in my TBR stack - glad it made a favourable impression on you!

danicapage said...

Wow! Thanks for giving me a list of so many new books to read. I love historical fiction and can't wait to read more of these.

Check out my Tuesday meme post here

~Danica Page@Taking it One Page at a Time

Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies said...

Nice list! I was tempted to focus on historical fiction as well, but since I feel like I've highlighted characters from this genre a lot recently, decided to go with fantasy instead. I've read some of the books and authors on your list - thanks for giving me new ideas to explore!

Annabel Smith said...

I keep hearing about The Paris Wife. I've read about that time of Hemingway's life in A Moveable Feast so I'd like to give this a go. I'm fascinated by the Fitzgeralds too. Here's my list: http://annabelsmith.tumblr.com/post/43458405509/top-10-tuesday-favourite-speculative-fiction

Nina said...

Anne Boleyn! She's a interesting woman. I like to read about her too.

J'adore Happy Endings

Cindy said...

I have to admit, I share your fascination for Anne Boleyn, as well. I also like Mary...really interesting time.

Monica said...

Ive been dying to read Z. Great choices. New follower via GFC. Here's my TTT

Anonymous said...

Great list, I really want to read Claude & Camille now! :) Thanks for stopping by my TTT list!

Alice @ Alice in Readerland

Jenni Elyse said...

I haven't read a lot of historical fiction, but what I have read, I love. And, I really enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl. I really want to read more stories set in that era.

My TTT Post

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

I love Falling Angels! It's been years since I read it, but it was so good. I love Julian Carax too!