Top Ten Books I Read In 2013

TTT is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

 I'd ummed and aahed about doing Jamie's epic End of Year Survey again this year, and even started a post... but the truth is, I'm knackered and I just can't be bothered.  The post-Christmas pre-New Year rush at work has been crazy - far busier than before Christmas! - and I've spent every day dusting and sweeping and cleaning the shop from top to bottom ready for the new owners to take over.  Our last day was yesterday, we're doing the last round of mopping and vacuuming this morning (after treating ourselves to a Full English at the lovely coffee house over the road, which we've always said we'd try but never had time!), and then... that's it.  Well, we're signing papers in town in a couple of days' time and the official completion date is 6th January, but as far as being at the shop goes...  that's it.  So, yeah, the point is, KNACKERED.  A round-up of my favourite books of the year seemed easier than a huge survey, much as I love huge book-related surveys!

These, then, are my ten 'best of...' candidates for 2013.  They're not in any particular order - reading order, mostly - except for Kevin which had to be at the top because it blew most other books ever out of the water...


We Need to Talk About Kevin

by Lionel Shriver

 Ohhhh, this book.  It was absorbing and gripping and felt so utterly real.  My poor mother had to listen to me ranting all the way to work and back every day, about the US gun culture and school shootings and family dynamics and parental responsibility and emotional damage.  My sympathies shifted backwards and forwards and I was questioning my own morals and responses and feelings every step of the way.  A few people have voiced their issues with combining this sentiment with this book - but I unashamedly LOVED EVERY PAGE.  Best book of the year - in fact, one of the best I've ever read full stop.

Warm Bodies

by Isaac Marion

This was one of those books where I knew by the end of the first PAGE that we were going to get along just fine.  If you'd have said to me, "It's like Romeo and Juliet, only with zombies and a human girl, and it's really funny, and also there are brains", I'd probably have looked at you very strangely... BUT THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT IS.  I loved the cheeky Shakespeare allusions, I loved R's deadpan narration, I loved the clever world-building...  Laura found me a copy of Marion's prequel, The New Hunger, during our blogger meet-up in Leeds, so I'll be reading that in 2014!

The Moonstone

by Wilkie Collins

 I've been meaning to read Wilkie Collins for SO LONG, and finally, 2013 was the year!  I was a bit unsure about taking part in Ellie's readalong in case I was... y'know, crap at it... but the blogger peer pressure was too great to resist and I caved and signed up just before it started.  And thank heavens I did, because it was a brilliant read, filled with memorable characters and madcap shenanigans and exotic mystery.  I already have a copy of The Woman in White (courtesy of Laura), so maybe that will appear on my list of favourite books this time next year?

The Shining

by Stephen King (my double review)

 Wooooow.  This was a very, very scary book, saved from being nightmare-inducing by the narrative presence of a very, very sweet psychically gifted small child called Danny, who I already knew survived thanks to the timely publication of the sequel, Doctor Sleep.  It's actually not at all freaky to start with, but King builds the terror gradually so that it creeps up on you before you realise what's happening.  I was seriously disappointed by Kubrick's film, despite the awesomeness that is Jack Nicholson, but the book was intriguing and memorable and utterly impossible to put down.

Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop

by Abby Clements (my review)

I wasn't that impressed by Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Clements' debut novel, and I've heard mixed things about her latest too, but I LOVED this summery middle offering.  Katie very kindly sent it to me after she read it on the beach for one of the summer readathons, and I started it almost immediately.  It was the perfect antidote to the madness of working at the shop towards the end of the summer holidays!  I read it with a smile on my face and a very definite craving for ice cream, and it's now firmly ensconced on my comfort reading shelf (with Katie's Penguin postcard tucked safely inside) for next time I need a happy-fix.  :)

Ashfall

by Mike Mullin (my review)

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by this one.  When it arrived it looked suspiciously... amateurish?...  Simple cover, cheap paper, you know what I mean.  But it turned out to be an absolutely superb enviro-dystopian top-end-YA novel about what it might be like if the Yellowstone supervolcano finally erupted.  Every aspect of a brutal new world is touched on - politics, medicine, families, food, violence, farming, power - via the experiences of teenager Alex, alone at his house when the eruption occurs, who sets off cross-country to try to reach the rest of his family at his uncle's farm a couple of hours' drive away.  The next book in the trilogy, Ashen Winter, is up near the top of my wishlist, so hopefully I'll read on with Alex's adventures in 2014!

Attachments

by Rainbow Rowell (my review)

Yup, at the very start of last month I finally jumped on the Rainbow bandwagon - and I FRICKIN' LOVED IT.  If Nora Ephron was still with us, she'd be casting the movie adaptation as we speak, I'm sure.  Chris Hemsworth would play Lincoln, Jennifer Lawrence would be Beth... it'd be beautiful.  I laughed out loud so many times (definitely a rarity with 'funny' novels), and did that ZOMGSOCUTE inner squeal at all the adorably romantic moments.  Needless to say, Fangirl and Eleanor and Park are slap bang at the top of my must-read list for 2014...

The Hunger Games / Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins

 I was so horrified when I was writing this post and realised that I last read The Hunger Games in MARCH 2011.  How the hell did I not read on before now?!  Still recovering from the Overwhelming Feels, perhaps.  Anyway, this year I reread The Hunger Games, FINALLY watched my long-neglected DVD, and hopped straight on to Catching Fire in the hope that I'd be able to see the movie at the cinema.  Sadly life intervened and I missed it, but I've preordered it already!  The first book was just as fantastic as I remembered - and possibly even better paced this time, because I wasn't breathlessly awaiting the next twist - and I absolutely LOVED Catching Fire.  I thought it was packed with powerful moments, the new arena was absolute genius, and do I NEED to mention my Haymitch crush again?  No, probably not...  On to Mockingjay in early 2014, definitely!

Hyperbole and a Half

by Allie Brosh 

I've been a huge fan of the Hyperbole and a Half website for a while now, and even sent a bunch of people over to Brosh's posts on depression when I was struggling earlier this year because she explains things so perfectly.  That's the amazing thing about her posts - she captures life and emotions and experiences with such precision, and yet also makes you laugh like a maniac every step of the way!  My favourite is probably This Is Why I'll Never Be an Adult, which is so like me it's spooky.  Throw all this together into a multi-coloured book of hilarity, and how could I NOT love it?

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

by Holly Black

 I'm taking a bit of a gamble with this one, because I haven't actually finished it yet... but so far it's superb so I'm sticking it on here and hoping for the best!  It's a really interesting take on vampire lore - whereby people who get bitten go 'Cold' and either succumb to their thirst and change, or go into quarantine for 88 days until the infection leaves their system - and the lustful tension between (thus-far human) Tana and (all vampire) Gavriel is electrifying.  Happily Tana is definitely a Katniss, a survivor with tough instincts and a kind heart, and she makes a great guide to Coldtown, where vampires and wannabes mingle in a decadent mixture of blood, death and desire.  I hope the end's as good as the rest!

That's my Top Ten (well, eleven, but sssssh) books of 2013, which seems a fitting last post of the year...
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Top Ten Books For When You Need Something Light And Fun

 

 TTT is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

 

This week we're talking light reads... books that are easy to read, fun and good for a giggle.  I tend to turn to super-light books when I'm tired or the shop's crazy busy, when I'm ill or miserable, or occasionally as a bit of light relief alongside heavier reading fare.  These are some of my favourite go-to choices!  I missed off Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country, just because it appears on these lists a LOT... but that would totally have made my top five otherwise.  :)

 

 

The Undomestic Goddess

by Sophie Kinsella

Yeahhhh, this one again.  SHUT UP IT'S AWESOME.  If I'm still in the mood for an actual novel, but I want something with a serious feel-good factor, then this is usually at the top of the list.  The story of a woman on the run from her high-pressure work as a lawyer, it makes me want to slow down and be domestic and bake things, and generally relax and enjoy life and the countryside and good food and good company.  Perfect.

 

The Pirates! series

by Gideon Defoe

Yay pirates!  Chris Addison first turned me onto these books when he was a guest on My Life in Books, and then Hanna got hooked on them, and then I read The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists from the library, and THEN she sent me the first book in the series for my last birthday, and THAT'S where we're at right now.  They're funny and ridiculous and occasionally a tad Carry On, and I think Gideon Defoe might be a bit of a genius.

 

 

The World According to Clarkson, vols. 1-4

by Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson's a pretty divisive bloke, especially on telly when his mouth runs away with him, but his collections of newspaper columns are really quite hilarious.  Occasionally a particularly un-PC moment might make me cringe, but mostly they're just deliciously earthy and make me laugh when I need it most.  There are four volumes of 'general' columns (ie. not all car and transport-related) so far!

 

 

The Mighty Book of Boosh

by Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Dave Brown

This is a new one for me, but it's what's putting a smile on my face RIGHT NOW so it's getting a mention anyway.  I'm a few years behind everyone else with The Mighty Boosh, it seems, but now I've discovered it it's my favourite form of escapism of a tired evening.  The book's crammed with art, funny stuff, photos, comic strips and everything else under the sun, and I love it!
 

 

Anything by/featuring Karl Pilkington

by Karl Pilkington and/or Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

I've read two of his books now: Happyslapped by a Jellyfish (a bunch of his travel anecdotes, diaries and little poems), and The World of Karl Pilkington (scripts from The Ricky Gervais Show).  Both have been funny, ridiculous, easy to read and a great dose of light relief on a bad day.  Next up will be An Idiot Abroad, which is waiting patiently on Mount TBR!

 

 

Deric Longden's cat books

by, ummm, Deric Longden
Like The Undomestic Goddess, these are for when I still want an actual narrative but also want to smile and laugh and be happy.  Mum gave me my first one (The Cat Who Came In from the Cold) as a kid and I still reread them on a regular basis, giggling at the antics of Deric's very anthropomorphic cats, and snorting at his wry take on life and his warm sense of humour.  Read 'em, cat people!
 

 

It Is Just You, Everything's Not Shit

by Steve Stack
Subtitled 'A Guide to All Things Nice', this is a kind of counter-volume to the two Is It Just Me or is Everything Shit? encyclopedias (which I've also read!).  Rather than a guide to everything annoying in life, it's a celebration of all the happy things that cheer us up but sometimes get taken for granted.  Things like David Attenborough, crumpets and bubble wrap.  I love it - and it's how I first heard about LibraryThing!  :)

 

Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table

by Nigel Slater

I read and reviewed this one back in 2010, and it was so delicious that I knew I'd be keeping it as a comfort read.  With bitesize morsels on everything from seaside rock to strawberry picnics, old-school puddings to supermarket shopping, all written with warmth and humour, it's guaranteed to make me smile AND make my stomach rumble, all at the same time.

 

 

Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction

by Tom Raabe

 A book about books can usually be relied upon to make me feel relaxed and inspired.  This one has the added advantage that it's very relatable and really funny!  It's about due a reread actually, but from what I remember I recognised myself all the way through and had a good chuckle along the way!  The alternative history of the book was particularly brilliant, and the little quiz to find out if you're a biblioholic (I scored impressively on that one!)...
 

 

The Babylon series

by Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous

In the middle of summer, when I need something cheerful and light and utterly scandalous to while away some hot days in the garden and manic days at work, I could do much worse than these books.  Structured as semi-fictional 'week in the life' exposés, written with the input of various top industry insiders, the series is fun, insightful and occasionally damning.  I've already reviewed Beach Babylon and Wedding Babylon here on the blog, and I have Fashion Babylon waiting on Mount TBR!

 

 

These are some of the books that I turn to when I need a light, easy and uplifting read - what would make your list?

Top Ten Characters I Would Crush On If I Was Also A Fictional Character

 

 TTT is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

 

Today's a rewind!  I'd half-written this post two weeks ago and never got chance to finish it, so it seemed like a good opportunity to catch up...  I actually really like this prompt - it's a slightly different slant on the 'hot fictional character' thing, when you think about it.  Some characters are sexy for the reader, but might not be if you were living the novel alongside them.  For example, Heathcliff has a certain "passionate bad boy who could be tamed by the right woman" thing going on - but you wouldn't want to be Isabella.  Noah Calhoun is perfect - but he's already hopelessly in love with another woman.  Mr Darcy is one fine specimen of gentlemanhood - but you might not think so if he was poncing around your local dance hall sneering at your friends...  See my point?  With these things firmly in mind, here are my ten, in no particular order:

 

Dorian Gray

From:  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I'd fancy him if:  I was alive

Dorian always seems to be top of my hot-lists!  He's young, beautiful, and devilishly sexy - and if you were a not-so-prim young lady (or man!) or a bawdy bargirl, you wouldn't KNOW that he'd made a pact with the devil and was actually getting older and more vile all the time, would you?  He's irresistable and uninhibited, which makes him eminently crushable for me...  ;)

 

 

Eric Northman
From:  The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
I'd fancy him if:  I was alive OR dead
Well, come on, look at him!  He may be a fast, mean drinkin' machine, but he's also a six-foot-something hunk of Viking muscle with 2000 years of lusty experience and no intention of toning it down anytime soon.  Works for me...  (Note: leggings optional)

 

 

Grigg Harris
From:  The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
I'd fancy him if:  He recommended one of his favourite authors

I have the softest of soft spots for Grigg - the fact that he's played so adorably by Hugh Dancy in the movie definitely helps...  Grigg is a sci-fi-loving IT nerd with a thirst for books, a hearty respect for women, and a heart of gold.  How could I not love him, really?
 

 

Nan King

 From: Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
I'd fancy her if: She threw a rose at me
I love Nan.  Her journey from oyster girl to happy member of the London queer community was such a riveting read, and her strength, earthy wit and resourcefulness shone out of every page.  If I was in the audience at her shows with Kitty and she tossed that coveted rose my way, or if she threw a saucy glance in my direction as I walked past on the street, I'd definitely look twice!
 

Roux
From: Chocolat by Joanne Harris
I'd fancy him if: He played gypsy guitar for me
There's something about the dark, slightly wild stranger blowing in on the breeze...  For me, Roux is kinda what Heathcliff could have been if he hadn't gone crazy over Cathy, only with a boat and a guitar and a lilting Irish accent.  He also likes chocolate, and in my head, will forever be a very sexy Johnny Depp.  Politics be damned, if he arrived on a riverbank near me I'd be head over heels!

 

 

 

Aragorn

From:  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

 I'd fancy him if:  I possessed ovaries (human or elf variety)
Dishevelled ranger turned wise king, proficient with a big sword and a nice guy to boot?  Well, duh.
 

 

Miyuki Woodward

From:  Gold by Dan Rhodes
I'd fancy her if:  She made me spaghetti hoops on toast in her clifftop hut
This book's come up a few times in recent TTT posts!  I'll be rereading it soon as well, so a full review is on the way...  Anyway, Miyuki is probably my perfect woman - artistic, laid-back, low-maintenance, but with a healthy appreciation of the magic in the world.  We'd spend lots of time wandering in the sea air, reading and eating odd mixtures of student food in a deliciously carefree fashion.  :)
 

 

Charlie
From:  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I'd fancy him if:  He made me a mix tape with Asleep on it... twice
Oh come on, Charlie's a sweetheart.  He's smart, he's cute, he thinks about life in a unique way, he loves to read and discover new things, he becomes more and more of a whole person as the book goes on, and he's tremendously loyal and generous to the people he loves most.  With Patrick hot but unavailable, Charlie would definitely be top of my list on the Island of Misfit Toys.

 

 

Dickon Sowerby
From:  The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I'd fancy him if:  He brought his animals and taught me how to grow things
When I was a little girl I was a bit in love with Dickon.  A grown-up version would definitely still work for me...  He was servant Martha's little brother, the one who wandered the moor with his tame animals and helped Mary bring the rose garden back to life and became her best-friend-with-a-side-helping-of-youthful-chemistry.  Gentle, intuitive, earthy and a good laugh - what's not to like?!

 

 

Percy Jackson
From:  Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series
I'd fancy him if:  He did something cool with water
Yeah, so, Percy Jackson is also technically rather on the young side... but come on, ladies.  SON OF POSEIDON.  He can control water and loves being anywhere near it and is also really smart and brave and good looking.  And did I mention... SON OF POSEIDON!  DEMI-GOD.  Oh yes.  I'd share an oceanside house with him any day.

 

 Alrighty!  I think that's quite enough swooning for one week - tell me, if you were between the pages of a book, which characters would you be eyeing up?  And if you're a fellow TTT-er, feel free to leave a link to your own post in the comments so I can return the visit!

 

Top Ten Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger

TTT is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

This prompt took a bit of researching, I can tell you...  Sometimes I'm amazed to realise how long ago I read a particular book - usually when I go to my review archive and find that it's not there after all.  I see this as a good opportunity to revisit some of the great books I read BEFORE the blog - though you'll be happy to know that I've deliberately left out the ones that come up week after week (The Secret History, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the book about Shakespeare and Co., all those usual suspects) to focus on boosting some different titles!  I wouldn't call this my ultimate top ten pre-blog reads, but I'd say it was ten of my top pre-blog reads.  Subtle difference.  Here goes nothing!

 

Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
This is possibly my... second?... all-time favourite book.  Maybe even first.  It's definitely toppled Jane Eyre off the top five, if my recent stalled-halfway rereading of THAT is anything to go by.  Clearly I just like my sweeping Yorkshire gothic romances with more madness, more passion, grumpier servants and less morality-based TALKING.  :)

Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
I've actually only read this book once, but whereas these days I feel a little... intimidated... by Defoe, back then I sailed through it!  Maybe it's because it's one of those books that's so tangled up in the public conscience already?  In my head it's mixed with The Coral Island and Castaway and Pirates of the Caribbean and Sebastian Faulks's television series and even *whispers* The Nightmare of Milky Joe, which all adds up to a must-keep for me!
 

The Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
Such a tiny, tiny book, but by the end of it... OH MY GOD SO MANY FEELS!  "Whiling away an hour" my butt - it was more like "whiling away half an hour followed by an hour of sobbing into my pillow and a nap".  It's such a beautiful, tragic, heartbreaking little novella, about love and nature and war, illustrated with scratchy line drawings, and I still sometimes think about it now. 

 

My Booky Wook
by Russell Brand
Surprised?  Bear with me... because this is a great book!  I think the reason a lot of people don't like Russell Brand is that his mouth tends to run away with him - but that's not a problem in a book.  This memoir of addiction and recovery, fame and friendship, is beautifully written and has all of Brand's self-deprecating humour and exquisite flights of speech, only... y'know, edited.  I loved it.
 

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
The story of a woman's solo journey to a more fulfilled life via indulgence in Italy, spirituality in India and finding balance in Bali, this came along at just the right moment in my agoraphobia recovery.  Elements of her journey inspired me, some of what she learned applied to my own life, and the book made me really want to be out there in the world again...  For that it will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart!

 

The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
How could anyone not like The Secret Garden?  The little girl in the spooky mansion?  The tormented lonely uncle?  The crippled cousin learning to live again?  The earthy boy with the tame animals?  The robin mysteriously leading the way?  The deserted garden, slowly returning to life under small, searching hands?  Can't you almost catch the scent of grass and roses just thinking about it?

 

Cinnamon City: Falling for the Magical City of Marrakech
by Miranda Innes
If this book doesn't make you want to pack a case and head off to Marrakech, nothing will.  It's about the painstaking - and frequently frustrating - renovation of an old riad in the middle of the city, now open to travellers as the beautiful Riad Maizie.  It is alive with the scent of spices, the bustle of the bazaars, the music of the snake charmers and the cries of the local muezzins, and it pushed Marrakech straight onto my travel list!

 

Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime
by Joe Moran
A brilliantly quirky book in which each chapter discusses the social history of one element of our daily life.  Topics include what we eat for breakfast, the daily commute, cigarette breaks and bedtime.  It's such a clever way to explore the way our most basic routines have evolved, and it's one of the few history-type books that I know I'll definitely reread, just because it was so much fun!

 

Gold
by Dan Rhodes
A gentle, funny and unique novel about a girl called Miyuki who arrives in a small coastal town at the same time every year to walk, read and find some peace.  This year she'll do all these things, reacquaint herself with some of the madcap small-town characters in the local pub, and take part in something of a miracle down by the cliffs...  I'm rereading this one soon!

 

No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
by Naomi Klein
This was probably THE book that first awakened a spirit of anti-consumerism and anti-materialism in me.  It was the first book to tell me about sweatshops and how they operate, the first to tell me how supermarkets drive down the price of food, the first to tell me how brands manipulate our need to buy.  It was also the first book to tell me about the people fighting back.  It was possibly the most powerful book I read in my teens!
 

Those are ten of MY favourite books from before I started the blog; what would be on YOUR list?  If you're a fellow Top Ten Tuesday participant, feel free to leave a link to your post!
 

Top Ten Literary Names I'd Totally Give My Non-Existent Kids

 

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this week's Top Ten Tuesday is a rewind!  Looking back over all the TTTs I've missed, I picked this one from February 2011: 

 

Top Ten Characters (Or Literary Figures) You'd Name Your Kids After

Because who DOESN'T occasionally sit pondering what they'd call their completely hypothetical and (thankfully) non-existent children?  And when you're a book fiend there are so many brilliant names to choose from!  Not only that, but a beautiful edition of a namesake book would make a fantastic gift for, say, a 16th birthday.  See, I THINK about these things...  Some of the names could obviously be strung together into a first AND middle name, so really, the combinations are endless.  I have a feeling this might be harder than I thought...

Lorna Doone -  This one's been set in stone for years!  My first daughter (should I ever have one) will be Lorna Rose, after Blackmore's beautiful and feisty young heroine.  I fell in love with the book - and the characters - as a young teenager, and with the BBC's gorgeous adaptation as well, and that was that!

Lord Byron - I LOVE the name Byron for a boy, and always had it in mind for my first son.  Not only was he a passionate, witty and brooding poet who cast his shadow over large swathes of my teen years, but She Walks in Beauty remains my all-time favourite poem.  Now I just need a middle name...

Dorian Gray - Okay, so like Byron, he's not the most morally sound of namesakes - but I love him anyway.  The Picture of Dorian Gray was the first classic I ever bought myself and it's been my favourite book ever since.  I'm a sucker for a tormented bad boy, and I always secretly hope Dorian will be redeemed before it's too late...  Also, it's a bloody awesome name!

Edmond Dantes - Or as he is perhaps better known, The Count of Monte Cristo.  I actually like both Edmond AND Dante, so either would work.  The epic story of a humble man wronged and imprisoned, only to rise again as a strong, intelligent and wordly avenger, this book absolutely blew me away.  Incidentally, it was also my very first review on this blog!  Yes, the Count is occasionally a bit scary - and very dangerous - but at his heart he is still Edmond Dantes, the hard-working sailor deeply in love with the beautiful Mercedes...  That's got to be worth naming someone after, right?

Isabella - This has become seriously clichéd in recent years thanks to the number of breeding TwiHards who couldn't come up with a less obvious tribute, but it is a beautiful name.  Not only is there the vampilicious Miss Swan, but Bella was the name of the title character in one of my favourite books as a child, The Enchanted Horse by Magdalen Nabb.  She was a wooden horse who came to life at night under the tender care of a little girl, and the book always made me cry.  Bonus point: Bella was also my great-grandmother's name.

Jolyon Forsyte - That's pronounced Joe-lee-un, by the way.  Like Lorna Doone, I fell in love with the book AND adaptation of The Forsyte Saga in my early teens.  There are three generations of Jolyon Forsytes across the trilogy, all of them generous and kind-hearted; like the youngest, I'd probably shorten it to Jon.  The alternative, of course, would be to go for good old John - perhaps as a middle name - which immediately brings to mind steadfast John Ridd (Lorna Doone), loyal John Watson (Sherlock Holmes) AND hard-working John Thornton (North and South)...

Beth March - When I was younger I, like every other wannabe-writer book-loving kid out there, always thought of myself as a 'Jo'.  But over the years I've come to appreciate quiet Beth far more than her rowdier sister.  Sweet, innocent and selfless, she's the one the other girls depend on without knowing it, the one they turn to for comfort and balance and a kind word.  If you wanted to name your little girl after a literary character, you couldn't choose one much lovelier! 

Daphne du Maurier - Daphne is a beautiful name, and I love her novels (Rebecca is one of my favourite books), so this one's a bit of a no-brainer really.  Not only is du Maurier a bit of a literary legend, but Daphne is also the name of one of the characters come good in Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series, AND it was the name of my stepdad's witty and wonderful mother.  I didn't know her very well but she was a sweetheart, and sharp as a thumbtack!

Harry - Include Henry in this bunch, and you've got a hat trick of characters to choose from as a namesake: the dashing Sir Henry Curtis in King Solomon's Mines, the incorrigible Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray, and of course, the boy wizard himself.  Plus Prince Harry was always my favourite...   ;)

Charlie - I know I only read The Perks of Being a Wallflower recently, but I completely fell in love with Charlie.  It's a lovely name, and if I had a son who was even half as sweet, thoughtful and bookish as the blossoming young wallflower he was named after, I'd be a very lucky woman!

Come on then, fess up - if you had to name a child after a literary figure, who would it be?  Perhaps you already have?  And if you're a TTT participant, feel free to leave the link to your Top Ten Rewind in the comments so I can come a-visiting and check it out!