Top Ten Characters I Can't Even

This post is inspired by my previous post (found here), and I have had a lot of fun writing it. I think we can all think, off the top of our heads, of at least 3 characters that immediately set our blood boiling and/or we wish would fall into a wormhole, never to be seen again. I am slightly disturbed by the glee I take in hating these characters. This is a post that I really, really want y'all to respond to; I'm dying to know who y'all loathe with your entire being.

I Can't Even With...

1. Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby. I do not like this book, and 90% of the reason why is freakin' Daisy Buchanan. She is awful and blind to her awfulness. Sure, she is a product of her society, but come on. You can't even go to the funeral?

2. Rosamond Vincy from Middlemarch. This girl literally exists in a world of her own making and refuses to let reality alter her ideas of who people should be and how they should act. Her poor husband views her as a special snowflake of a burden to endure by the end of the novel. I was choking on indignation (literally- I had to stop eating my cookie) at her reaction to needing to cut back on her spending.

3. Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights. I wish she would have made up her mind who she wanted, rather than pitting two men against each other. I realize she is not wholly at fault, but once she was married she was so unfair to Heathcliff. She is the definition of weak willed.

4. Tamlin from A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy. This guy was closemouthed, overbearing, selfish, irrational, condescending, and a coward. He could not see things from anyone else's perspective and was unwilling to change.

5. Oonagh from the Sevenwaters series. This woman is cruel and selfish. There is nothing redeemable about her. She does not love anyone- other than herself. She puts character after character through gut-wrenching trials and just does not care. (Caveat- I am glad that Marillier keeps her as a villain and not as a conflicted character. I like a good villain that is truly evil.)

6. Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series. I know I will get a lot of crap from this one, but seriously. He is a grown man who takes out his grievances on a boy who has no idea of the history between Snape and James. Why not try and befriend him for Lily's sake? It seems to me that his love for Lily was trumped by his hatred of James (except at the end).

7. Lissla Lissar's Father from Deerskin. I do not think I have to explain this one at all. He breaks several foundational bonds- emotional, relational, physical, spiritual- and is repulsive.

8. Bob Ewell from To Kill a Mockingbird. The man is a drunk. He beats his children. He has entitlement issues fueled by willful ignorance. He knowingly wrongfully accuses a black man of crime he and his daughter committed. He. Is. Repulsive.

9. Achilles from The Iliad. He is a whiny baby. For being the greatest warrior of the Trojan War, he sure is a diva. When he doesn't get his way? Watch out. He is going to throw a temper tantrum until he gets what he wants. Then, in The Odyssey, he has gotten what he wants but is unsatisfied.

10. Bella Swan from the Twilight series and Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games trilogy. I could not decide between these two, so I chose both. For one, freakin' love triangles. I hate them. Literally. Thoroughly. Completely. Bella's single-minded determination to hang on to Edward (while using Jacob as an emotional crutch) is creepy and selfish. Katniss's wanting to bury her head in the sand is selfish and impossible.

Man. This post was kind of cathartic. It was nice to get some of my frustration out. Please, let me know y'all's can't even characters. I really want to know!

Reading Goals Update

I (Jenny) thought it would be a good idea to do an update on the books I've been reading rather than a half way update. I don't know about y'all, but if I do not write about a book fairly soon after I read it, I will forget a lot. Even books that made strong impressions are hard to talk about if I wait too long. It starts sounding like, "It was so good! I loved... everything. The characters were awesome." Details, anyone?

If you are not familiar with my reading goal for this year, you can read about it here. I have 30 books I want to read this year. I think I am doing pretty well so far. Some I have loved, and some I am glad I do not have to pick them up ever again. I am trying to decide which ones to bring on vacation; I am always a much more inspired reader at the beach. Probably because the setting is my idea of perfection.

— Nonfiction —

1. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert — This book is one of my new favorites. It is about an English professor's journey to knowing Christ. It is well written AND thoughtful. Her logical working out of a) what being a believer means and b) what being a believer will cost is particularly searing in its honesty. I wish everyone who has had any contact with any type of faith whatsoever would read it. Its mirror-like properties are unavoidable; it challenges as it encourages.

2. The Land of the Green Man — This book was incredibly entertaining. Even though it is nonfiction, the content most often reads like a story. Larrington does an excellent job of describing the British Isles (almost too excellent — I am ready to pack my bags right now). She basically sets down the majority of folk tales floating around the British Isles. It makes me wish I lived in a place with such a long history.

3. Two Views on Homosexuality, the Bible, and the Church — I. loved. this. book. It is a presentation of two ways of thinking theologically and practically about homosexuality. 4 scholars wrote 4 short essays defending two views of the issue. The scholars were highly intelligent and, more importantly, compassionate. This is a book I am still wrestling with (in a good way). My only complaint was that there was not a recommended reading list. I think a list would have been a really great- and helpful- addition.

4. Four Views on Hell — This book was not near as good as the one on homosexuality, in my opinion. The scholars were much more antagonistic and the writing harder to follow. I do not regret reading it and I did learn things, but I probably will not read it again.

— Classics —

1. Middlemarch — George Eliot is one of the most astute writers I have ever read when it comes to understanding human beings. The whole book is about a small town in England with, quite frankly, not the most interesting characters or plot. Her insights into human nature, however, kept me coming back for more. (Side note: Rosamond Vincy has joined Daisy Buchanan on my Can't Even list)

— Fiction —

1. The Enchantress of Florence — I was really enjoying this book until about 3/4 of the way through. I cannot tell you my feelings on it with spoiling things, so just know I was extremely disappointed by the way everything happened and I feel that all of Rushdie's lovely, insightful thoughts got washed away in the yuck of the ending.

2. Silence Fallen — This is number 10 in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It is one of my favorite series and this entry did not disappoint. It was somewhat hard to follow because of how the story is told, but I did enjoy it. I really liked how Briggs expanded the world with a glimpse into Europe. 

3. Shylock Is My Name — This is a retelling of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. This is one of the most thought-provoking fiction books I have read in a long time. Jacobson wrestles with Shylock's Jewishness and its implications for Shakespeare's audience as well as the modern audience.  This is one of those books that I do not know whether or not to recommend it; it should be read, but not everyone would enjoy reading it. Conundrum. 

4. The Burning Page — I reviewed this book in a different post; check it out here.

5. A Court of Wings and Ruin — I was so disappointed by this book. It is the third in the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy and it was... dare I say it... kind of boring. The second book (A Court of Mist and Fury) was really good, YA at its finest good. The third one was definitely a let down. The main characters were kind of flat, there were some plot holes, and one deus ex machina moment was too much for me. If the second book hadn't been SO good, then the third would not have been as much of a let down.

Wow, looks like I need to do some work on the Classics category. I have picked up the Iliad and am about a quarter of the way in. It is more different from The Odyssey than I thought it would be. So far I am really enjoying this challenge I have set for myself. Hopefully I make much more progress this summer. How are y'all's reading challenges going? 

Jenny's Top Ten Favorite Retellings

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week was a freebie and, as Lesley Anne is currently unavailable, I decided to chose one of my all-time favorite genres: retellings. I will read practically anything (except erotica) if it is a retelling of a myth or fairytale. The dichotomy of beauty and suffering is so much clearer in these stories than in 99% of what is written today. J.R.R. Tolkien's essay, "On Fairy-Stories", sums up the necessity of these stories. This quote, though long, hits right at the heart of these stories:

"The consolation of fairy stories, the joy of the happy ending; or more correctly, the good catastrophe, the sudden, joyous "turn" (for there is no true end to a fairy tale); this joy, which is one of the things that fairy stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially escapist or fugitive. In it's fairy tale or other world setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace, never to be counted on to reoccur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, or sorrow and failure, the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance. It denies, (in the face of much evidence if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief."

Bet you didn't realize how incredible fairytales were, did you?





1. Till We Have Faces | C.S. Lewis

{A retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche}
This is, hands down, my favorite book. I think it might be because I see so much of myself in Orual. It is a beautiful retelling of the myth in Lewis's inimitable style.







2. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series | Rick Riordan
{A retelling of Greek mythology}
I never tire of talking about how much I love this series. Riordan's attention to detail and the amount of research that went into these books is second to none. Percy and Annabeth are on my all-time favorite characters list.






3. Black Ships | Jo Graham

{A retelling of the Aeneid}
I ran across this book while browsing Amazon one day and I am so glad I did. I read this book before I actually read the Aeneid so I did not appreciate, fully, how wonderful it was until I was familiar with Virgil's epic. This story is told from the POV of the priestess who goes along with them once Troy is destroyed. It is fantastic. Please, put this on your TBR list.






4. Deerskin | Robin McKinley
{A retelling of the fairytale "Donkeyskin"}
This is a hard retelling because the subject matter is not for the faint of heart. It deals with the ugliness of human nature (stress ugliness), and it can be hard to read at times. There is so much beauty to be found there, though, that it is well-worth the read. Don't expect to feel warm and fuzzy at the end, but expect to be humbled by the resilience of the human spirit.






5. The Scorpio Races | Maggie Stiefvater
 {A retelling of the myth of the water horse}
This is, so far, my favorite book I have read this year. Hannah, a fellow blogger, reviewed it here and it caught my eye. The premise is unique and it is about horses. What more could you want? This, to me, is YA at its absolute best.







6. Ella Enchanted | Gail Carson Levine
{A retlling of Cinderella}
I believe this book is why I love retellings so much. Levine does such wonderful job with this heroine. She is believable. For further gushing over this book, see the blog post here.







7. Daughter of the Forest | Juliet Marillier
{A retelling of "The Six Swans"}
This is book was another one that was hard to read in spots but was so, so good. It makes you want to live at SevenWaters and be a part of the magical world that Marillier has created. Again, as with Deerskin, the beauty of the human spirit is showcased by the difficulties Sorcha must endure.







8. The Once and Future King | T.H. White
{A retelling of King Arthur}
This is one of my top ten favorite books of all time. It is a fleshing-out of the the Arthurian legend and its surrounding stories while, at the same time, managing to be a social commentary on the 20th century. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.






9. A Court of Thorns and Roses | Sarah J. Maas
 {A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Tamlin, "East of the Sun, West of the Moon"}
There will be a longer blog post on this book, so I won't say much other than I liked this book so much more than I was expecting.









10. The Princess Bride | William Goldman
{A retelling — satire — of fairytales}
This is satire at its finest. Goldman is making fun of all sorts of tropes in fairytales and does it well. You will be laughing out loud at parts, so make sure you are not reading it somewhere where it would be embarrassing to draw attention to yourself.