Categories
Memes Starred Recommendations

Top Ten Literary Crushes

Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. This is Valentine’s Day week — so, a good time to think about my top 10 literary crushes over the years.

1] Richard Kane (The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer)

Richard Kane is the scion of the Kane banking family, but he goes against his father’s wishes to marry Florentyna Rosnovski, the daughter of his father’s archnemesis. But this is no Romeo-Juliet tragedy, because Richard goes on to become a much finer man. Richard Kane is one man who is the reason for his wife’s success too, when she becomes the President of the United States. Kane is the hero of The Prodigal Daughter, possibly my favourite Jeffrey Archer book.

“What does your husband feel about you wearing the trousers in your family?” demanded an unsolicited questioner.
Laughter broke out in certain parts of the room and Florentyna waited for complete silence. “He’s far too intelligent and successful for such a pathetic question to occur to him.”
2] Captain Haddock (The Tintin comics by Herge)

Oh, Captain Haddock! When you are madly spouting your angriest words at your dearest friends, you are fooling no one, y’know. You are like the crab, tough outside, an old softie inside. Our beloved Haddock is a retired navy captain, the best friend of Belgian reporter Tintin, and the love interest of the most inimitable Bianca Castafiore (may her voice rest in peace!). Yes, an odd choice — but if ever a heart was true and loyal, it would be Haddock’s.

Literary Crushes
Ten thousand thundering typhoons! Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles! Addle-pated lumps of anthracite!
Two-timing Tartar Twisters! Dictatorial duck-billed diplodocus! Ectoplasmic By-product!
3] Robin Hood (English Folklore)
Robin Hood

There are so many versions of tales about this outlawed hero of medieval feudal England. Robin Hood is the classic ‘good thief’ who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, and fights against the atrocities of the evil King John and his minions. But I like him best for treating Maid Marian, his childhood friend and lady love, as an equal. In one of the Reader’s Digest versions I read, Marian was no damsel in distress, but defeats Robin easily with her bow-and-arrow — and he is happy as a clam about it. Sigh!

Perplexed and vexed, and troubled in mind,
Shee drest her self like a page,
And ranged the wood to find Robin Hood,
The bravest of men in that age.
4] Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

You probably knew he was going to be on this list. I first read Pride & Prejudice in my teens, and I am still in love with him. Movies have ruined him, though the BBC version comes quite close, what with Colin Firth playing the role. The idea of a proud man falling in love with a woman so that he becomes humble and wise, and who simply can’t resist proposing to her twice is quite possibly unrealistic, but hey, we’re talking about literary crushes, not real ones.

“My object then,” replied Darcy, “was to show you, by every civility in my power, that I was not so mean as to resent the past; and I hoped to obtain your forgiveness, to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you see that your reproofs had been attended to. How soon any other wishes introduced themselves I can hardly tell, but I believe in about half an hour after I had seen you.”
5] Faramir (Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien)

It’s too bad Faramir gets overlooked so much. All his life, Prince Faramir has lived in the shadow of his more valiant and famous brother, Boromir, and has had to deal with his mad father’s tantrums. But Faramir never lets this rule his life. He is the noble hero who would do the right thing every time, the hero that soldiers would follow into battle gladly. Also, he manages to resist the lure of the ring and falls for Eowyn (another strong character in the series).

… Faramir said: ‘Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart, Éowyn! But I do not offer you my pity. For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten; and you are a lady beautiful, I deem, beyond even the words of the Elven-tongue to tell. And I love you. Once I pitied your sorrow. But now, were you sorrowless, without fear or any lack, were you the blissful Queen of Gondor, still I would love you. Éowyn, do you not love me?’
6] Charles Cornick (Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs)

This Urban Fantasy series features Charles Cornick, the son of a Welsh werewolf and a Salish Native American witch. Charles carries the magic of both bloodlines and is a formidable force. He is his father’s enforcer and executioner of rogue werewolves, but his actual spirit is wise and merciful. He is alpha, the predator at the apex of the food chain, while his wife Anna is omega, the one who calms his wolf-like tendency towards violence; it all makes a nice dynamic.

Charles couldn’t remember not knowing that there were two souls that caused his single heart to beat. Brother Wolf and he lived together harmoniously for the most part, utilizing the specialized skills of either for the sake of their goals.
7] Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery)

I completely adore this doctor from Prince Edward Island. He and his wife Anne knew each other since childhood and were staunch rivals at school. His practicality is a delicious contrast with Anne Shirley’s whimsicality, and he is one of those men who’ll call her out on her harebrained schemes and yet support her whole-heartedly in her career as a writer and teacher. Gilbert can’t give Anne sunbursts and marble halls, but he can give her happiness and love for sure.

“Maybe if you just let your characters speak everyday English, instead of all that highfalutin mumbo-jumbo.” ~Gilbert Blythe to Anne, about her melodramatic flair of writing.
8] John Galt (Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand)

Technically, Atlas Shrugged is a door-stopper classic for capitalism. John Galt, a legendary figure, gathers all the heroes of the world into sanctuary, and leaves the loser moochers behind in the dust. Dagny Taggart can’t make up her mind about Galt’s revolutionary ideas. It took me several attempts to understand the half of it. But I still loved Dagny for her spine of steel. And the fact that John Galt loved her enough to (sort-of) break his own rules was icing on the cake.

“He, too, stood looking at her for a moment–and it seemed to her that it was not a look of greeting after an absence, but the look of someone who had thought of her every day of that year. She could not be certain, it was only an instant, so brief that just as she caught it, he was turning…”
9] D’Artagnan (The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas)

This ambitious young man from Gascony wanted to become one of the King’s Musketeers. Country boy meets city life, and D’Artagnan becomes hopelessly embroiled in court politics and treasonous plots. But he manages to hone his sword-fighting and musket-firing skills along the way, and befriend the cynical Athos. He also falls in love with the sweet Constance, around whom he behaves like a complete fool. Never mind; for all his foolhardy ways, D’Artagnan is swashbuckling to the core.

They walked arm in arm, occupying the whole width of the street and taking in every Musketeer they met, so that in the end it became a triumphal march. The heart of D’Artagnan swam in delirium; he marched between Athos and Porthos, pressing them tenderly.
10] Tybalt (October Daye Series by Seanan McGuire)

And the countdown rolls down to…. Tybalt, the adorably snarky and sly Fae King of the Cats. Tybalt’s loyalty to his people is unmatched, and he is a most capable, dutiful ruler too. He has big secrets up his sleeve, can smell a lie from miles away, and has the nine lives of a cat up his tail. When he is not ruling over his faerie kingdom, he loves to tease, irritate and pester Toby Daye, private investigator for the magical world. But he is also Toby’s true friend in need.

“Are you really the October my Uncle Tybalt knows?”
I sighed. “Yeah. That’s me.”
Raj frowned. “My father says Uncle Tybalt’s friend October is an adult.” He paused. “And a hussy.”
“I usually am. An adult, not a hussy.” Hussy? What the hell was Tybalt telling his Court? The King of Cats and I were going to have a long talk when I got my own body back.

Who are your literary crushes? Would love to know!

28 replies on “Top Ten Literary Crushes”

Ooh you have Capt. Haddock here! I love his tantrums! Robin Hood is a fave of mine, and Darcy’s great (and I say that as a guy!)

Faramir rocks.

October Daye sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve been eyeing that series for a while…

Glad that Darcy gets the special vote of confidence ;-P

I highly recommend the October Daye series, at least till Book 5 (One Salt Sea). The best part is that McGuire titles each book after a quote from Shakespeare – Rosemary and Rue, Late Eclipses, Artificial Night… and so forth. There’s a strange, slow start to things – Toby (October) comes back to human world after being ensorcelled as a fish for 14 years! The mystery of why this happens ties in to some larger themes of some wonderful faelore / creation mythology…. And I’ll stop here.

So… that makes me even more curious! And if I may ask- does the quality sorta fall off after book 5? Just curious. I did see that, BTW, about her rather inauspicious beginning as a fish haha- that makes me even more interested!

Yes, that was very different from the usual Urban Fantasy PI tropes. By book 3, I was a total fan.
Post Book 5, it’s not as if the quality suffers. But it’s just that McGuire then starts repeating the earlier mysery themes from Books 1-5. I mean, it’s high time we reach some sort of final battle between Toby and “The Real Enemy” — the series has got to end some time, no matter how good it is. I think McGuire’s having a hard time killing her darlings.

Who hasn’t had a literary crush? Mine is Captain Wentworth from Persuasion. I’ve not read P&P.. Shame, I know, but of course Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is a favorite too. What a fun post!

I know. Haddock was so unusual and endearing to my school days. He was that guy who’d stand up for you, you know? He’s not dashing as such, but I really enjoyed seeing him on page

Great list! I love Faramir, he’s so lovely, and I need to continue with the October Daye series–I’ve only read the first two books so far but I’ve already loved the scenes between Toby and Tybalt. Alexandre Dumas is an author I keep meaning to read, too!

Ha! Love what you did here!! Yes to Robin Hood (especially when Kevin Costner portrayed the role) and yes, oh yes to Mr. Darcy. I think my current literature crush is Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings. LOL!!

Aww, you Bridgerton fan! But seriously — you liked the Kevin Costner movie too? So did I! *happy dance* And that song from Bryan Adams (Everything I Do, I do it for you), oh, just awesome

Oh yes, the Errol Flynn version. I think that’s what immortalized my love for Robin Hood. Though I liked the Kevin Costner version too… And now I want to go see all the movies again

I am also a Faramir fan and Darcy and Gilbert. Some depictions of Robin Hood are very appealing (isn’t there even a cameo in Knight’s Castle?).

My literary crushes: I do love John of Gaunt and Joe Willard, but Oliver Sprague in The Light Heart is one of my very favorites. And Peaceable in The Sherwood Ring.

Peaceable! Yes and yes. But the others, do you know I haven’t yet read Betsy and Tacy or the Williamsburg series? I know you’ve recommended them on your blog before — really should get started on those books! And John of Gaunt, now that’s a really interesting choice!

Hmm. I don’t think I liked Lancelot much, mostly because he broke up Arthur’s marriage (as per the rumors!). But Tengo in 1Q84 — now that’s new for me, as not read that one. Will check it out, thanks!

Comments are closed.