What character reminds you of yourself?

Of the books on your shelves, or the books that you've read, what fictional character speaks most to your experience and your reality? Which character(s) made you cry from relief or shirk back with blushing shame?

This is a spur of the moment response and I'm likely to think of better ones later, but here's right off the top of my head...

I wish that I were like Mary Garth from Middlemarch or even Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility but I fear sometimes that I'm more like Sonny from The Last Picture Show or possibly Ignatius J. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces. Horror of horrors!

Also, Mick Kelly from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

I have to post now or apparently I'll keep adding

I was kind of reminded of myself by the character Irene from The Beginning Place.

Some odd cross between Hannibal Lecter and Cthulhu. ;)

I empathize with a lot of characters from my favortie books. That's probably why they are favorites. I see some of the character in myself....

If were talking about any FICTIONAL character overall... Dr. Gregory House is my role model. =)

Cassandra from I Capture the Castle.

not because we're truly the same but because i love the fantasy of being able to write in an old, rickety English castle. the setting is a perfect place to let your imagination run loose. everytime i read this book i want to be in that castle-

Oh, wonderful call. I got a 1948 reprint of I Capture the Castle in beautiful condition FOR NOTHING because they didn't think it would sell. Amazing.
I love Cassandra. "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."

You guys are getting me HUGELY excited about this book. I just mooched it after glowing reviews on another site I visit. Can't wait now!

A friend, answering a meme in which they were supposed to tell me what fictional character most reminded them of me, once told me Jon Snow from the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I hadn't read it at the time, but I have since. It kind of feels right, but don't ask me to explain it.

I *loved* I Capture The Castle - I wish I had a stepmother who would go out "communing with nature" on stormy nights, nude except for her wellingtons!

Unfortunately, the character I identify with most has to be the narrator from Notes From Underground... this, I have been told, is rather worrying.

Now I'm going to have to get a copy of I Capture the Castle, it sounds really interesting.
I identify with Rae in Sunshine pretty well, I love to do all the things she does like create new baked goods, although mine don't always work well. I also love to read including horror, am a vegetarian because I can't stand the idea of all that stuff, but am willing to fight over some things. Also my mother is about the same as hers, which made it more realistic for me. I don't know if I'd handle the freaky stuff so well though.

While she's not the character I wish I was most like ideally, I do identify with Elinor Dashwood. She feels the need to be strong for the sake of her more expressive and outwardly hurting younger siblings. She's intelligent and caring with many good qualities to recommend her but almost pathologically passive. And she allows people like Lucy Steele to drag her into emotionally painful situation without showing any inclination towards standing up for herself.

I think she was taken advantage of because of her desire to do the right thing, not cowardice and passivity. I believe that she had such staunch standards (say that five times fast) when it comes to what she expected of herself as far as her duty to others and to her own integrity. She is a remarkably unselfish character and that is what I wish I could be like. Admittedly, I was also pleased when she finally broke and thought of herself a bit. You can only be perfectly unselfish for so long before you crack.

Susan, from the Discworld books. I just started reading her series, and I absolutely love her, especially when she's a governess. It drives me crazy when people try to scare their children into good behavior by threatening them with supernatural evil things that are going to EAT YOU!!! if you (insert undesirable behavior here).

Wierdly enough, I remember one of Augusten Burroughs short stories in Possible Side Effects I had this moment where I thought "Whoa.. that sounds like it came from inside my head..something I would do!" and I started laughing because it made me want to meet this person who sounded like the 'me' in my head. (if you've read this book, that might worry you until I tell you which short story it was)

guess some things can transition across all lines of life such as age, sex and orientation. Somehow, I think thats great... or me and him are just a special ;)

I've always thought I'm some strange combination of Oedipa Maas of The Crying of Lot 49, Henry Chinaski of any Bukowski novel, Rob Gordon of High Fidelity, and Mardou of The Subterraneans. In high school, I was oh-so-demurely nicknamed Lolita, which is probably truer than I'd like to admit.

There's some books that just change your life, the best in my opinion being those in which you can't help but relate to its characters. Those are the books that, no matter what happened, always follow me around from place to place. I definitely agree with dancingstarfish... there's a universality to well-written characters that transcends space, time, and statistical demographics... and thank god for that.

I think I'm a little like Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway, i don't know if that's a good thing.

I also related greatly with...I can't remember her name...from Karen Kingsbury's redemption series...the 3rd sister, the artist. I feel that way sometimes - different and judged.

I recently read Anna Karenina and I really related to Levin. In my least flattering moments, I'm afraid I'm too much like Scarlett O'Hara.

Off the top of my head, I'm kind of a cross between Elizabeth and Mary Bennet. I come alive on a sunny day, I read to improve myself, I find it hard to hold my tongue if I am irritated - and like her, I am quick to spot utter tactlessness and try to shut someone up before they put their foot in it - but at the same time I am rather antisocial and tend to read TOO much... I guess I have Cassandra's naivety - her ability to fall completely under the spell of a romantic situation only to have to reality crush her.

Oh, I don't know!

I know he's a boy and I'm not, but my life has kind of followed the same arc as Gunnar Kaufman in The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty.

As far as personality, probably Eva from Eva Luna by Isabel Allende. Or basically any of Allende's female characters.

I know he is male, but I have to say Grigg from Karen Joy Fowler's "The Jane Austen Book Club". Grigg is a little off-beat, and a sci-fi fantatic, but is open to doing new things.

I also connected greatly to Holly Kennedy in "P.S. I Love You" by Cecelia Ahern. Mostly sympathizing with her grief, which may be because I read it right after losing a family member.

I think I possess the best qualities of Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Conan the Barbarian...

...ok ok, maybe not.

Haha @ 21!

I think I always related to Anne from the Anne of Green Gables series. While I'm no red head, I think I have the temper of one and the grudge to match. (Though I don't think I could have stayed mad at Gilbert for so long...le sigh!) But on the other hand, Anne was imaginative and smart and I really loved her ambition and always try to match it in my own life.

So should I post a serious answer? Are there any characters out there who are so anti-social, shy, and quiet they just spend all their time alone reading? I can't imagine so, as it would make for an incredibly boring book! What about Sam from Lord of the Rings? Reasonable and cautious, perhaps viewed as a bit of a weakling, but comes through in the end! :)

From about 4th grade on, my favorite book was Little Women. I always thought I was like Jo, which caused me to try to be like her even more. In truth, I've come to realize I am more of a combination of Jo, Meg, and Beth. I can see aspects of all of their personalities in myself...once in a while Amy rears her haughty little head, too.

#22- I also went through an "Anne" phase, where I tried to be just like her! While I do have some of her qualities, my personality is probably more of a "Diana"- more proper and inhibited. Though I have treated some guys the way Anne treated Gilbert and used to be quite imaginative...maybe I've just settled into a Diana as I've gotten older.

@ Ape - I can't think of any specific title offhand, but I find that authors are often bookish people themselves so they create bookish characters.

Ape, I hear you. Half of Stephen Kinds characters are wannabe writers. F. Scott Fitzgerald had a series of short stories that were all about a hack screenwriter trying to get cushy jobs.

As for what character I think best fits me. I think I'm the character in Murakami's Wild Sheep Chase Trilogy (also the main character in Dance, Dance, Dance).

My favorite line from Dance, Dance, Dance is when the character says that his magazine writing is like shoveling cultural snow. Sometimes that what I think I'm doing, shoveling academic snow.